Under a blazing sun on Saturday, May 30, 1931, President Herbert Hoover urged the “U.S. to adopt ideals of Valley Forge.” A crowd of 20,000 men, women and children assembled on the grassy tiers of a natural amphitheater in Valley Forge Park near Washington Memorial Chapel.
“WE ARE upon the eve of the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of George Washington. It is, therefore, appropriate that our observance of Memorial Day should this year be at this place, so intimately associated with the moral grandeur of the Father of our Country.
This national shrine needs no description; the events enacted here require no recounting to the American people. The very name, Valley Forge, swells within us a pride of nationality. These peaceful fields hold a glory peculiarly their own. The sufferings of Washington’s army in that dreadful winter of privation have made this place famous among all men.
It was not the glory of battle for which these fields are remembered. No great battle was fought here. It was not the pomp of victory, for no martial triumph was won here. It was not the scene where peace was signed by which independence of a great nation was won. It was not the tombs of courageous men who, facing the enemy, gave the supreme sacrifice for their country to which we bow in reverence. A thousand other fields mark the courage, the glory, the valor, the skill, the martial triumph of our race. Yet the instinct and the judgment of our people after the abrasion of the years has appraised this place as a foremost shrine in the War of Independence and in our Nation. It is a shrine to the things of the spirit and of the soul. . . .
Link to the full text of Hoover’s speech http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=22683
Highlights of President Hoover’s Memorial Service Address as reported in the 31 May 1931 Philadelphia Inquirer:
- “The American people are going through another Valley Forge at this time. . . . The whole Nation is beset by difficulties incident to a world-wide depression. . . . No one who reviews the past and realizes the vast strength of our people can doubt that this . . . is a passing trial.”
- “Amid the scene of vastly growing complexity of our economic life we must preserve the independence of the individual from the deadening restraints of government . . .”
- “Such battles as we are in the midst of today cannot be won by any single stroke. . . . Rather we must pin our faith upon the inventiveness, the resourcefulness, the initiative of everyone of us.”
- “We are enduring sufferings and we are assailed by temptations. We, too, are writing a new chapter in American history.”
Other headlines in the 31 May 1931 Inquirer read:
- Huge Throng Joins in Singing National Anthem as Stirring Plea Concludes With “What Right Have We to Be of Little Faith?”
- All But Hoover Hear Valley Forge Carillon
- ‘Her Own Troops’ Salute First Lady
- Mrs. Hoover Kept Busy at Valley Forge Greeting Delegations of Girl Scouts
- White House Mistress Shows Interest in Kitchen of Revolutionary Days
- Jammed Roads Force Many to Miss Speech
- Heat Fells Scores As Sun Beats Down Upon Valley Forge
- Prompt Aid Rendered by Red Cross Nurses, Boy Scouts and Soldiers
- Victims Conveyed to Emergency Hospital on Stretchers, All Quickly Revived
- 3 Hour Auto Tie-up At Valley Forge
