On June 15, 1933, Auburn Journal readers were excited to learn about a visit to their town by former president of the United States, Herbert Hoover. Hoover first visited Ted Crosby’s service station to inquire directions to Placerville.
Several days later, on June 10, he stopped at the Freeman Hotel on his way home to Palo Alto from Lake Tahoe. City councilman and proprietor of the hotel, Jack Walsh, immediately recognized the former President and invited him to sign the guestbook, which he did.
Hoover commented that he often stayed at the Freeman Hotel when he was a mining engineer traveling between home and his work in Nevada County. When asked by Walsh if he was glad to be back in California, Hoover replied that, “I certainly am. There is more to be seen in every 100 miles of California than in any other 1,000 miles in other parts of the United States.”
Herbert Hoover was elected president Nov. 6, 1928, and took office March 4, 1929.
A little under 8 months later, the stock market crashed Oct. 29, 1929, which led to the Great Depression. This, fairly or unfairly, marred his term in office. He lost the 1932 presidential election to Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Nov. 8, 1932, and he left office on March 4, 1933.
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