Shaking Hands With the New Year

January 01, 2016  •  Leave a Comment

Until 1933, ordinary citizens could shake the hand of the President of the United States at the White House on the first day of the year. But Herbert Hoover had not been re-elected the previous November, and with the nation in the throes of depression, he went to Florida rather than face the increasing throngs of people showing up for a personal handshake. Hoover was the last to hold the traditional reception that had started with Washington at the first executive mansion in New York.

Woodrow Wilson had suspended it in 1914 for the entirety of his two terms. After Harding revived the tradition in 1922, it lasted only ten more years.


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