Timothy Walch, director of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, reflects on the the deep friendship between Herbert Hoover and Joe Kennedy, at the passing of his daughter Eunice in The Quad-City Times.

I asked her why it was so important that she visit West Branch. “My father told me many times,” she said, “that Herbert Hoover was the smartest man he ever met and I wanted to pay my respects to the person who meant so much to my father.”

Joseph Kennedy and Herbert Hoover were kindred spirits. Over nearly two decades, they met numerous times and exchanged dozens of letters. They commiserated about the war policies of the Roosevelt administration and worked together to reorganize the executive branch of the federal government. On occasion, they simply reveled in the success of their children.