Theodore Goldsmith Joslin
Encyclopedia
Theodore Goldsmith "Ted" Joslin was press secretary to President
Herbert Hoover
from 1931 until 1933.
, Massachusetts
, to Frederick A. and Hanna Hopgood Joslin. After graduating from high school, he took a job with the Boston bureau of the Associated Press
(AP), rising from office boy to correspondent. In 1913 he joined the staff of the Boston Evening Transcript
. In 1916 the Evening Transcript sent him to its Washington, D.C. bureau, and he became chief correspondent in 1924. From 1916 to 1931 he was also on the staff of World’s Week and contributed to other magazines. He married Rowena A. Hawes in 1913, and had two sons, Richard and Robert.
to President Herbert Hoover
, replacing George Akerson, who had taken the blame for the Republican president’s deteriorating relations with the Washington press corps. Joslin held that post until Hoover left office in March 1933. After his White House
tenure, he produced Washington reports for the statistician Roger W. Babson, 1933–1936, and served as president of The News-Journal Company of Wilmington, Delaware
, 1936-1939 . In 1939, he became director of public relations for the DuPont Company, holding that post until he died in his office of a heart attack.
During his tenure as presidential press secretary, Joslin struggled to improve President Hoover’s public image, an impossible endeavor given Hoover’s distaste for the press and personal publicity, the collapse of the national economy in the Great Depression
, and such public relations blunders as setting army troops on the Bonus Marchers in 1932. Joslin admired Hoover, and his diary recorded the president’s conversations and other events inside the administration, as well as during Hoover’s race for reelection, which he lost in a landslide to Franklin D. Roosevelt
.
He died in 1944.
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
from 1931 until 1933.
Background
Joslin was born in LeominsterLeominster
Leominster is a market town in Herefordshire, England, located approximately north of the city of Hereford and south of Ludlow, at...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, to Frederick A. and Hanna Hopgood Joslin. After graduating from high school, he took a job with the Boston bureau of the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
(AP), rising from office boy to correspondent. In 1913 he joined the staff of the Boston Evening Transcript
Boston Evening Transcript
The Boston Evening Transcript was a daily afternoon newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts, published from July 24, 1830, to April 30, 1941.-Beginnings:...
. In 1916 the Evening Transcript sent him to its Washington, D.C. bureau, and he became chief correspondent in 1924. From 1916 to 1931 he was also on the staff of World’s Week and contributed to other magazines. He married Rowena A. Hawes in 1913, and had two sons, Richard and Robert.
White House Press Secretary
In March 1931 Joslin was appointed press secretaryPress secretary
A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage....
to President Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
, replacing George Akerson, who had taken the blame for the Republican president’s deteriorating relations with the Washington press corps. Joslin held that post until Hoover left office in March 1933. After his White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
tenure, he produced Washington reports for the statistician Roger W. Babson, 1933–1936, and served as president of The News-Journal Company of Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
, 1936-1939 . In 1939, he became director of public relations for the DuPont Company, holding that post until he died in his office of a heart attack.
During his tenure as presidential press secretary, Joslin struggled to improve President Hoover’s public image, an impossible endeavor given Hoover’s distaste for the press and personal publicity, the collapse of the national economy in the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, and such public relations blunders as setting army troops on the Bonus Marchers in 1932. Joslin admired Hoover, and his diary recorded the president’s conversations and other events inside the administration, as well as during Hoover’s race for reelection, which he lost in a landslide to Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
.
Later life and death
After Hoover left office, Joslin published an expurgated version of the diary as Hoover Off the Record (1934). Much of what he omitted was later published by Timothy Walch and Dwight M. Miller in Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Documentary History (1998).He died in 1944.
See also
- Joslin’s obituary appeared in the New York Times on April 13, 1944.
- Louis W. Liebovich, Bylines in Despair: Herbert Hoover, the Great Depression, and the U.S. News Media (1994).