On Feb. 12, 1936, former President Herbert Hoover gave a radio address from Portland, Ore., to honor Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. The Lincoln Club of Jackson County urged all members to arrive in time at its banquet in the Medford Hotel to hear the 7 p.m. radio broadcast.
Hoover urged the audience to look to Lincoln and other Republicans for relief from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Attendees at the Lincoln Club Banquet heard Hoover say, “Again we are testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.”
In addition to the national radio talk, Medford’s Billy Wilson recited Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, and C. E. Ingalls of Corvallis gave a speech titled “Lincoln, the Rugged Individualist.” As was their tradition, new officers of the Lincoln Club were introduced that night. Music included a lady’s trio and everyone sang the National Anthem to begin the evening and the song titled “America” to end it.
In recognition of the significance of the date in American history, Oregon declared an official holiday with closed schools, state offices and banks.
All of Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration workers had the day off, too.
Sources: "Lincoln Banquet Program Starts 6:30 Wednesday." Medford Mail Tribune 11 Feb. 1936. Hoover, Herbert. "The Confused State of the Union." Faculty Research The New Deal. Pepperdine University. Web. 6 Jan. 2014.
