70 years ago today - May 10, 1951

[J. Reuben Clark]
[BYU President] Ernest L. Wilkinson called about getting Pres. Herbert Hoover to give the Commencement Address. Pres. Clark said he did not think he could get him, and did not want to try, because would not want to be turned down. Pres. Clark also asked if he had sounded out the Brethren, th[at] there was some feeling that the Commencement Addresses ought to be given by our own people. He had asked J. C. Penney to give the Commencement Address but he could not; Nath[an] Mathesius had also turned them down. Pres. Clark said he did not think they ought to ask if it was a clear slate and he was the first choice, he might. He suggested that they wait until next year, and get one of the Brethren this year. He said that Mr. Hoover would find out and he would feel that he, Pres. Clark, had personally let him down, if he urged him to come, and he would not want him to feel that way.

[The Diaries of J. Reuben Clark, 1933-1961, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah 2015]

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