Message to Hugo Eckener on the Completion of the Round-the-World Flight of the Graf Zeppelin.
[Released August 29, 1929. Dated August 28, 1929]
ON MY OWN behalf as well as my fellow countrymen it gives me great satisfaction to welcome you and the members of your party upon the completion of your memorable flight around the world. It has been a great adventure which again stirs the spirit and interest of all men and women. It marks another step in the progress of aviation. The German people are to be congratulated upon this evidence of their great contributions to the art and you are to be congratulated upon your courage and skill. Mr. Hearst, who I understand has importantly aided the trip financially, is also to be congratulated upon its outcome.
Note: The President's message was delivered to Dr. Eckener by William P. MacCracken, Jr., Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics. William Randolph Hearst was editor and publisher of the chain of newspapers which sponsored a worldwide radio broadcast of the arrival.
The Graf Zeppelin arrived at Lakehurst, N.J., at 8:13 a.m. on August 29, 1929, completing the first circumnavigation of the world by a lighter-than-air craft.
Herbert Hoover, Message to Hugo Eckener on the Completion of the Round-the-World Flight of the Graf Zeppelin. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/212015