[4] He recalled in his autobiography, What Is There to Say But Amen?, that as a five-year old he frequently heard the bell tolling at the church pastored by his father for the victims of the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918.

[4] Hoffmann's family moved to Springfield, Illinois, in 1921, when his father became a professor at Concordia Theological Seminary there.

[5] After the family subsequently moved to Chicago, Hoffmann attended high school at the Luther Institute.

[8] In 1948, Hoffmann helped found the LCMS Department of Public Relations in New York City and served as its director until 1963.

He served in that position for thirty-three years, broadcasting his last Lutheran Hour program from mainland China on Christmas Day, 1988.

[10] In a 1987 interview, Hoffmann cautioned that radio and television ministers must be on guard against being influenced by public adulation, saying it verged on idolatry.