Editor’s Note: When Herbert Hoover was elected President, he confidently predicted, "We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land." A few months later the stock market crashed and a massive depression followed. Hoover became the scapegoat and in the election against Roosevelt, his reputation was besmirched and he was overwhelmingly defeated. Yet, he was the right man for President, although in the wrong place at the wrong time. Put simply, this man who held so close to the ways of God did not measure up to Mystery Babylon’s vision for a new America, one that has led to America as we see it today. The following are a few excerpts from a Curtis Clair Ewing article at the time Hoover closed his life.

Herbert Hoover recognized the place the Bible played in the formation of our national ideals and those things which have made us great.

For many statements made by Mr. Hoover on the Bible we present the one given when he accepted honorary chairmanship of the National Bible Week October 17-23, 1960. He selected for this occasion the following words, which were sent to the National Federation of Men’s Bible Classes, in convention at Baltimore, on May 12, 1929:

“There is no other book so various as the Bible, nor one so full of concentrated wisdom. Whether it be of law, business, morals or that vision which leads the imagination in the creation of constructive enterprises for the happiness of mankind, he who seeks for guidance in any of these things may look inside its covers and find illumination.

“The study of the Book in your Bible classes is a post-graduate course in the richest library of human experience. As a nation we are indebted to the Book of Books for our national ideals and representative institutions. Their preservation rests in adhering to its principles.”

Many years ago I wrote an article dealing with the Scriptural texts on which the Presidents chose to place their hand when they took their oath of office. President Hoover’s choice was Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision the people perish; but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” At least this was the one which had been officially quoted as his choice.

Note this text. The marginal reading for “perish” reads “is made naked.” There was nothing wrong with the ability of Hoover, it was the people who lacked the vision to recognize in him the leadership our nation needed. The next administration began the move toward socialism in America, which has increased more and more over the years.

Socialism means government control of the production of goods and services and the governmental control over the distribution of the same. From the time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt government has taken over more and more of the function of the individual and unless stopped very soon, will and us all in a socialist state. It was not Hoover’s fault, it was the people WHO HAD NO VISION.

We believe that one reason God gave Mr. Hoover such a long and useful life was to vindicate his position before the world. One TV commentator on the eve of Mr. Hoover’s death stated that if the people had listened to Mr. Hoover and accepted his formula for the future instead of the false charges leveled at him by Mr. Roosevelt, our nation would be taking a different road today in world leadership. Furthermore, international communism would not have had the help and recognition which it did get from succeeding administration, had Hoover been re-elected.