I DEEPLY appreciate this greeting. You have shown a cordiality and a welcome that sounds like Illinois itself. No one could pass through Danville without memories of a great citizen whom Danville contributed to the United States for a period of nearly 40 years, in the shape not of Mr. Cannon but of Uncle Joe. He was indeed a rugged American citizen, and he represented the character of our people in the Middle West.
I greatly appreciate your coming down. It is a greeting with a warmth of welcome that is an encouragement to anyone in public life, and it is not alone an opportunity to greet myself and Mrs. Hoover, but your own able Senator. You ought to know more of your Senator and the work which he is accomplishing in Washington.
There is very little that one can say on these occasions. We have been today engaged in celebrating a matter that is of deep interest to our whole country. I have no doubt that you have taken part in it in spirit at least over the radio, because Mr. Lincoln came originally from this part of Illinois. Part of his life was spent in your town. He practiced law in this region, and Mr. Lincoln was a part and parcel of this section of the community.
I do thank you for your greeting.
Note: The President spoke from the rear platform of the Presidential train, which was en route to Washington, 1).C. Senator Otis F. Glenn introduced the President to the reception committee. In his remarks, the President referred to former Representative Joseph G. Cannon.
Herbert Hoover, Remarks at Danville, Illinois. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/211207
