the-name-was-fought-over
On 30 September 1935 Roosevelt stood at Black Canyon and dedicated the dam. On the program, on the stamp, in the record, the name was Boulder Dam.
He never said “Hoover.” The phrasing is that he “avoided mentioning the name of former President Hoover” — softer than never, and still a choice.
The name had already been Hoover Dam on paper. Congress wrote it into five appropriations bills and put it on the House floor on 12 December 1930. Then the politics turned: Interior Secretary Harold Ickes ordered “Boulder” on 13 May 1933, and at the dedication he said “Boulder Dam” five times in thirty seconds. The 3-cent commemorative that day read BOULDER DAM.
Boulder was the official name from 1933 to 1947. On 30 April 1947 Congress voted Hoover back, unanimous.
The wrinkle under the wrinkle: the dam sits in Black Canyon. Boulder Canyon was the neighboring canyon, the site first proposed. The men changed the label; the canyon stayed where it was. The official name honors a canyon the dam is not in.
Two more seams, both real:
- Dedication was not completion. The dam was formally accepted on 1 March 1936, and the powerhouse was still unfinished — first power came late 1936. They named it before it was done.
- The dedication plaza has a star map set into the floor, fixing that afternoon so astronomers a few thousand years out could date the moment. The name was contested. The stars were not.
Receipts: Wikipedia Hoover Dam (raw wikitext); Hiltzik, Colossus (2010), pp. 366–374.