Who really shot J.F.K. and did George Washington honestly have wooden teeth? These are just two of the 30 historic questions addressed in a new exhibit at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch. Museum director Tim Walch says the exhibit’s goal is to spark an interest in our nation’s past and get people talking in the present.
Walch says, "These are historical questions that have been with us for, in some cases, 200 years or hundreds of years beyond that because people find that there are no real answers, there are just better questions." The exhibit is called "American Mysteries, Riddles and Controversies."
Walch says it covers a range of topics, some of which have kept people guessing for decades. Walch says the museum curator picked 30 chief questions in American history, like: Who really killed the Lindbergh baby? What really happened at the Battle of Little Big Horn? Did Mrs. O’Leary’s cow really kick over a lantern to start the Great Chicago Fire? Should we really blame Herbert Hoover for the Great Depression?
Walch says there are conspiracy theories abounding in our society on everything from Amelia Earhart to Watergate. Walch says: "We’ll be successful if, when people come and start reading and say to their partner or family member, ‘Come here, take a look at this!’ We even have casts from the footprints left by Bigfoot. Our curator says there really is a Bigfoot, but I think it’s all hooey. We’ll let the public decide when they come to see this exhibit." The Hoover library and museum is open 9-to-5 every day. For more information, visit: "www.hoover.archives.gov".
