Thursday, April 29, 2010

End of the Progressive Era



I. Roosevelt and the War

A. Openly Critical of Wilson

1. Outraged by German atrocities--the reports of German atrocities sickened Roosevelt, and prompted him to criticize these actions  to  put  distance between himself and his former political alliances with prominent German-Americans.

2. Critical of neutrality policy--Roosevelt was very critical of Wilson's hesitancy to lead the country into war when there was much public opposition for such action.

3. Critical of efforts to make peace--with the entry of the US, the precarious balance that had held since the start of trench warfare (despite German efforts after the surrender of Russia/Soviet Union to move large numbers of troops from the Eastern Front to the Western Front) began crumbling--as did the hold of the Democratic Party on the levers of power.

a. Brokering the Peace--it became apparent by October 1918 that Germany would not be able to holdout much longer, and hoping to get a boost at the polls, Wilson approached Germany about a peace deal without consulting the Allies--another thing for which Roosevelt severely criticized him for.

b. Loosing Congress--with the war dragging on beyond the fall elections in 1918, Wilson did not get the political bounce he hoped for, and the Democratic Party lost control of both the House and the Senate--critical issues for Wilson, as it turned out. Especially when the war ended just a week after the election took place.

B. The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th month--the armistice, ending hostilities, was agreed to on November 11, 1918.

1. Wilson's trip to Europe--while Wilson steamed across the Atlantic to take part in the negotiations at the war's end, Roosevelt was laid up in the hospital as his body was failing him. His frustration boiled over into a statement he released from his hospital bed, in which he warned "allies and enemies" that the man crossing the Atlantic, the President of the United States, had been repudiated by his own people, and had "no standing" to negotiate anything.

C. Roosevelt's Last Days--were spent largely in hospitals, or attempting to recover at home. Finally, early in the morning on January 6,  after putting in a full day's work the day before, Roosevelt passed away quiety in his sleep--probably from a heart attack.


II. Rehabilitation of Jane Addams


A. The Women's Peace Conference--the first conference had called women to a second conference that was suppose to meet when and where the actual peace conference itself was held; because of the choice of Paris, the women moved their meeting to Zurich, in neutral Switzerland, so women from the belligerent nations could attend.


1. Victim of red-baiting--Addams, even as her reputation was being rehabilitated, still came under attack for taking her communistic tactics of pacifism to college campuses and other settlement houses


2. Greater reputation in Europe--Addams' reputation in Europe did not suffer to the extent that it did in the United States; peace was more popular in the areas that suffered from the senseless devastation of the war then it was in the country largely untouched by the Great War.


B. The Nobel Prize--Addams name was submitted for consideration throughout the 1920s, but she had to wait until 1931 before actually being bestowed with the award--and then she had to share the award with Nicholas Murray Butler, a friend of Theodore Roosevelt who advocated for US intervention in the war.


C. The Great Depression--the economic distresses of the Great Depression, and the social and political dislocation this economic calamity caused around the world, made Addams' strengths seem stronger, and her weaknesses disappear. Particularly with Adolph Hitler coming to power in Germany in 1933, and advocate for peace was looked upon with greater favor.


D. Looking to the past--Addams was 71 when she won the Nobel Prize, and therefore seemed less dangerous to people. With the onset of old age, Addams also began to suffer a great number of health problems, which helped to remind people of her older work


E. Funeral Worth of a Saint--Addams died in Chicago on May 21, 1935. As she lay in state at the Hull House, thousand of her neighbors--and many who formerly had been her neighbors--filed past to pay their last respects.


III. Conclusion

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

From Heroine to Villainess



I. The Women's Peace Party

A. Addams the Pacifist

1. True to her ideals--Addams had long been a pacifist, stretching back to at least the War with Spain when she insisted that the boys at Hull House not drill with dummy rifles (in here presence, anyway)

2. January 1915--at the New Willard Hotel, 3,000 women gathered to form an organization dedicated to ending the war. Significantly, their aim was not just to keep the United States out of the conflict overseas--for which they would have found much agreement in early 1915--but to urge political leaders in the United States to act to end the war.

a. The resolution formulated at the convention noted women's roles as  mothers and nurturers of children to give themselves the moral weight for making this resolution.

3. April 1915--Jane Addams received an invitation from Aletta Jacobs, a suffragist in Holland, to bring a contingent of women from the United States to the Hague for an international women's peace conference.

a.International Suffrage Alliance--the umbrella group that sponsored the peace conference, spurred because the international suffrage meeting to be held in Berlin in 1915 was canceled because of the war.

B. International Congress of Women--as the leader of the largest neutral nation, was invited to chair the meeting,  as she had the meeting of the Women's  Peace Party.

1. Dissension--the meeting was dominated, in part, by Rosika Schwimmer, who was a radical pacifist, and not prone to seek compromise like Jane Addams. Women from the belligerent nations also had difficulties, at time, finding common ground among themselves.

2. Messengers of peace--swept along by the eloquence of Schwimmer, the conference voted to send representatives to meet with ministers and government officials from each of the belligerent and neutral nations in Europe and to the President of the United States to call for liberal peace terms,  the establishment of a permanent international court, a permanent international conference, no transfer of territory without the consent of the people, and representation of women in both national and international political life.

a. Many of these proposals made it into President Wilson 14 points program, so they did have some impact on the world

b. Although Addams had  little hope that the groups would meet with any success, she did agree to become part of one of the two groups formed, and who crisscrossed war-torn Europe. While on this mission, Addams got to see much of the effect the war had on those involved,  and those related to those directly involved--who informed her of their displeasure over the way, and how soldiers coped with the demands of the war.

C. Killing the sacred cow--Addams' off-hand story about her encounters with those close to soldiers and their  coping mechanisms for the death and destruction  they encountered on a daily basis set off  a firestorm

1. Addams' return to the United States--feeling tired and worn out, and eager to get to Bar Harbour and here vacation home, she left for the United States before the planned  debriefing with the other group in Europe.

a. Mixed reaction upon her return; some hailed the effort, while others like Theodore Roosevelt belittled her efforts, calling her one of the"shrieking sisterhood," a "Bull  Mouse,"  and "one of the shrieking  sisterhood."


2. Speech at Carnegie hall--Addams returned to the country on July 5, 1915, and made a speech in Carnegie hall in New  York relating her experiences in Europe. At the end of the speech,  in an offhand aside,  she mentioned that some soldiers  and their families told he that they coped with the misery of war by turning to drink and/or drugs before going into battle.

a. Addams is accused by many of besmirching the bravery of men in uniform--and this signals the beginning of her downfall.

b.  Addams answered critics my naming specific instances (without revealing names), but this did nothing to mollify critics

c. Addams' point behind these stories was that war was dehumanizing for all involved, and that some soldiers chose  to anesthesize themselves to cope with the situation--a common practice among those persons today suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

3. Role of Gender--Addams' critics demean her arguments in gender-specific ways, in part because they view her critique as a challenge to manhood in general. As a result, she was referred to as "silly," and criticized for "dabbling in politics, her suffrage  activity,  and her ill-advised methods of working for peace."


D. Rehabilitation Road--this criticism stung Addams, but she persevered--while also changing tact. As the war wound down, she found that she was able to work with Herbert Hoover to raise awareness of the food distribution problems that were endemic in postwar Europe--even in defeated Germany. While she remained committed to pacifism, that ideal was obscured by other work that she moved to the forefront.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Fighting for Peace

II. War--What is it Good For?

A. War and the National Interest--nations fight wars because they see  them serving  a particular national interest. Democracies must also convince their people that fighting a particular war is in their national interest

1. Convincing the American People--the Wilson administration had to put a great deal of effort to sell the war to the American people, both with propaganda and with severe punishment for speaking against the war effort.

a. Government propaganda--the US government had to sell the war to the people when the "preparedness" contingent became more vociferous after the sinking of the Lusitania and the loss of American lives.

b.German bumbling--Germany mad a series of rather bumbling attempts to keep the Unites States neutral or to at least keep the country from providing substantial aid to the Allies. These attempts ranged from the purchase of the New York World by German investors to aid the spread of German propaganda to the destruction of the Toms River Arsenal in New Jersey, which shattered windows in skyscrapers across the river in New York City. Espionage efforts by the German government were fairly easily uncovered by the US government, and eventually led to the largest portion of the American people supporting the war effort of the government.

2. Preparedness--a number of influential Americans--most prominently, Theodore Roosevelt--called for the United States' government to make greater efforts to prepare for the war than the government was then engaged in--or, indeed, than a majority of the people of the United States were willing to engage  in. Much of Roosevelt's frustration was the realization that what he advocated was profoundly out of step with what most Americans wanted--and Woodrow Wilson was in step with the desires.

a. Rio Roosevelt--Roosevelt's frustrations with the result of the election led him on one of his periodic sojourns to prove his manhoood--this time to chart an unexplored tributary to the Amazon. This trip nearly cost him his life, as he developed a bacterial infection in his leg and malaria. Only the unselfishness of his son Kermit kept him alive. Ironically, his great-granddaughter Anna Roosevelt works as an anthropologist in the Amazon rainforest, and has uncovered evidence that suggests that the "new world" was inhabited well before was previously thought.

B. Peace and the National Interest--many other Americans saw the threat of war being contrary to the national interest--particularly those Americans who would be asked to fight it.

1. Socialists--argued that the war in Europe was being fought to line the pockets of capitalists, and to further their economic interests. Socialists argued that instead, workers should refuse to kill other workers in this war.


a. Eugene Victor Debs--Debs had won over 900,000 votes in the presidential election in 1912, the most ever for the party to that time Debs was an outspoken critic of the war, and continued to be so until he was arrested in Canton, Ohio for making the above speech.

b. Debs,  William D. Haywood, other socialist (and IWW members) were arrested, tried, and convicted of sedition--of speaking out against the war

C. Feminism and Peace--women were very involved in the peace movement;  many women (among them Jane Addams) argued that the role that women played in society--the nurturing mother--made women suited for maintaining peace in the world.

1. Rosika (Rosa) Schwimmer--Hungarian feminist and peace activist, who helped to found the Women's Peace Party with  Jane Addams. Schwimmer was able to persuade Henry Ford to put up the money to pull together the first international conference, where she proposed that the women offer their services for continuous arbitration.

2. Addams' Role--Jane Addams, because of her prominence in the American political scene, was elected to head up this new organization--a role that she was very good at, and a position that she held for most of the next two decades.

D. Why the Peace Movement Fails--the Peace Movement in the  United States failed because of the inept actions of the German government, the success of the British government propaganda, and the shift in support among the majority of American people

1. Government take action--the United States government, in response to the subtle shift in public opinion over the cause of war, passed repressive legislation to be used against those who spoke out against the war; indeed, the government quashed all dissident political movements, arresting and jailing members of these organizations. "Foreigners" were deported to their home countries, as a matter of fact.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

And the War Came



I. America and "Foreign" Wars

A. Historical Suspicion of Foreign Entanglements--most Americans viewed their separation from Europe as a positive, a feeling present since the founding of the country.

B. European War Aims--this war was not fought over democracy, but over retaining imperial control over territory; in fact, it can be said that the European powers (particularly Austria-Hungary) fought in order to deny peoples under their control democracy.

1. Germany--fought to gain more territory in Africa and Asia. Coming late to the game, they could only gain more territory at the expense of other imperial powers holding colonies on those continents. Especially valuable was the Belgium Congo, which not only had rubber plantations, but also valuable gold fields.

2. England--saw Germany as a threat to its place in the world, and therefore moved to challenge that country's every attempt to gain new colonies. While many American businessmen had close relationships with British counterparts, there was also a great deal of suspicion on the part of many Americans about British intentions.

3. France--had a long continental rivalry with Germany (including an embarrassing defeat in 1871, which led to the toppling of the government and the Paris Commune). France also had valuable colonies in Africa and Asia (Indochina) that it wanted to protect from German encroachment.

4. Austria-Hungary--was attempting to retain parts of its empire in Europe, particularly the Slavic enclaves, which had become flash points of the new nationalism that was sweeping much of the world--particularly in Europe.

5. Russia--longtime rival of the Austria-Hungary empire, and saw itself as the protector of its "Slavic brothers"; also trying to restrain nationalist sentiment in its own provinces.

6. Turkey--again, most interested in restraining nationalist sentiment in its  provinces, and in keeping Great Britain out of the Middle East.

II. The Battle for the American Soul

A. Roosevelt and Militarism--Roosevelt's vision of the United States was that of a country with great military might. Despite the conquest of much of the continent, the American Civil War,  and the War with Spain that Roosevelt took  part in, the United States had little interest in military conquest and the acquisition of colonies. The United States achieved these same aims by championing free trade, and  using its economic might to achieve these geo-political aims. Roosevelt and the militarists were at a distinct disadvantage.

B. Trading as a Neutral--while the United States remained neutral, it attempted to take full economic advantage and trade with both Great Britain and Germany. Because of British naval superiority--on top of the water, if not below it--Great Britain had been able to blockade German ports and prevent trade with that country. American loans floated mainly to the Allied side (due to prior business connections), and it was mainly the loans  and the  food America sold to the Allies that helped that side win the war, rather than American fighting might.

1. Sinking the Lusitania--this British luxury liner was torpedoed by a German U-boat at the cost of 1,198 lives--including 125 Americans. While this seems like an egregious war crime, it was sunk because Great Britain was using these liners to secretly transport arms from the United States.  After the protest from the United States over this matter, however, Germany agreed to stop attacking these passenger ships.

2. Germany rescinds the U-boat agreement--the German navy was unable to break out of its own ports in the following year, however,  and announced that it would begin attacking passenger and merchant ships it determined was heading to British ports.

3. Zimmerman telegram--intercepted communication between the German government  and its ambassador to Mexico, in which it was proposed to the Mexican government that they could regain the territory lost to the United States over the previous century by allying with the Central Powers and attacking the United States

III. War--What is it Good For?

A. War and the National Interest--nations fight wars because they see  them serving  a particular national interest

1. Convincing the American People--the Wilson administration had to put a great deal of effort to sell the war to the American people, both with propaganda and with severe punishment for speaking against the war effort.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

The 1912 Election


I. The Campaign for the Republican Nomination

A. Primaries--were a new innovation in 1912, pushed by Progressives like Roosevelt. Primaries were meant to open up the electoral process, and allow the most popular candidate to emerge from a choice of the people, rather than from backroom deals that allowed party bosses to chose a candidate--like Roosevelt was able to do for Taft in 1908. As we have since learned, primaries also make money even more important in a campaign, since a candidate would have to run multiple times in order to gain enough delegates to win a nomination. The media of the time (almost exclusively newspapers at this time) were also extremely important.

1. 14 States held primaries in 1912--although most states still relied upon caucuses to select delegates.

2. The Horse Race--the primary elections added a "horse race" element to the nominating process, since the competitive race created drama for the newspapers to sell.

3. Challenge to Taft--Roosevelt's campaign manager, Medill McCormick, challenged the Taft campaign to contest the primary elections. The first contest was in Illinois, which Roosevelt won handily; this was followed by victories in Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Oregon, California, and Maryland.

a. The Ohio primary--Taft put a lot of effort into winning the Ohio Republican primary, particularly since Ohio was his home state. Taft had been under a mounting avalanche of criticism from the Roosevelt campaign, and responded by trying to win the African American vote by reminding them of Roosevelt's actions at Brownsville; Roosevelt countered by recalling that it was Secretary of War Taft who recommended the discharge of the soldiers accused of rioting. In the end, Taft lost Ohio to Roosevelt.

b. Taft was greatly distressed about attacking his old friend, and broke down in tears after his first attack; Taft even contemplated dropping out of the race. In the end,  however, both his fear over Roosevelt's plan for recall of federal judges and the hardening feelings between the two men compelled him to remain in the campaign until the bitter end.

B. Roosevelt on the Attack--Roosevelt reveled in campaigning, and loved being on the stump making speeches.

1. The Ohio victory--after his win over Taft in Ohio, Roosevelt believed that the nomination should be his--he had proven to be the people's choice, after all. Despite his knowledge that party officials (sympathetic toward Taft) could deny seats to disputed candidates, Roosevelt made little effort to attempt to attract the support of these party regulars--in fact, they were what he was campaigning against.

C. Losing the Republican nomination--through his use of party patronage,  Taft  was able to get enough delegates--and prevent Roosevelt from getting all of his seated--to win the nomination.

II. The Campaign for the Progressive Party Nomination

A. The Progressive Party  Platform

1. The Race Question--Progressives had high hopes for Roosevelt taking a stand for racial equality. W.E.B. DuBois of the NAACP recommended to Roosevelt that planks be added ending lynching and cutting southern congressional delegations in those states where black were not allowed to vote (a provision provided in the 14th Amendment). DuBois also recommended that a prohibition of the segregation of housing, integration of the military, ending the segregation of education, and public transportation; DuBois proposed that the party pledge to end Jim Crow.

a. Roosevelt was angered over rumors that Taft had bribed some southern African American Republicans (the only kind of Republicans in the South)

b. Roosevelt voiced fears that such a platform would incite and ignite racial conflict

c. Roosevelt still harbored the illusion that he could win away some support from Wilson from Progressives in the South, and thus win a couple of states there in that manner.

d. Roosevelt rejects most of the ideas proposed by DuBois

e. Refuses to seat black delegates--Roosevelt, again with the delusion that he could  siphon enough votes from the Democratic Party to win a couple of states in  the South from Wilson, refused to seat any African American delegates.

f. Despite Roosevelt's stand on this issue, most African American leaders still backed Roosevelt--probably working on the assumption that he would be better for African Americans than the "son of the South" Woodrow Wilson--an assumption which proved prescient in the coming years.
2. Women's suffrage--on this issue Roosevelt was more reliable

a. Jane Addams as presidential adviser--Addams was at the pinnacle of her  popularity by 1912, and became one of the founding members of the NAACP, as well as a member of the National American Women's Suffrage party. Addams' commitment to equality for all led her to contemplate withdrawing her  endorsement of Roosevelt for the Progressive Party over his refusal to seat African American youths.  Only the intercession of African American leaders on Roosevelt's behalf kept Addams from reneging on her promised endorsement.

B. Roosevelt's Acceptance Speech

III. The Fall Campaign

A. Woodrow Wilson--former president of Princeton University, and sitting governor of the state of New Jersey. While governor, Wilson had led the charge on a number of Progressive legislatative initiatives.  Wilson's ideas for Progressive legislation for the fall election were largely the work of Louis Brandeis (who Wilson would appoint to the Supreme Court in 1916), and packaged at the "New Freedom"

B. Theodore Roosevelt--Roosevelt's policy initiatives, first formulated in a speech given at Osawatomie, Kansas at a memorial service for John Brown, which he labeled the "New Nationalism." The most important part of the speech was Roosevelt's approach to monopolies, trust, and big business in general; Roosevelt called for the end of prosecution for these miscreants, and instead for their regulation.

C. Jane Addams--made numerous campaign stops for Roosevelt during the campaign--especially women dressed conspiculously in white

Sunday, April 18, 2010

The Emergence of the Bull Moose


I. Sagamore Hill


A. Family life

1. Being a father--although his children were largely grown up by this time (the two youngest were of high school age), "retiring" from politics allowed Roosevelt to become reacquainted with this family.

a. In comparison with his own father, Roosevelt seems to have been less involved with the upbringing of his children. Whether this was because of the demands politics made on his time, the fact that his wife Edith was much more involved in the day-to-day management of her family than his mother had been, or a combination of these reasons, his children did not have the same self-confidence that he and his siblings shared.

b. Archie--like Roosevelt himself, Archie was a very sickly child. But Archie lacked the intellectual rigor that defined his father's childhood. Archie believed that his father thought him to be stupid--and Roosevelt did nothing to dispel that belief.

c. Alice--Alice was on her own at this stage, well into her unhappy marriage to Nicholas Longworth. Alice always felt shut off from her father, whose attention she craved. Despite this belief, Alice was fiercely loyal to Roosevelt--even to the defiance of her husband.

2. Edith's riding accident--while riding her horse Pine Knob with Roosevelt, the horse was frightened by a passing car, reared, and threw Edith, who landed heavily on the pavement, knocking her unconscious.

a. Coma--Edith remained unconscious for more than two days. and for weeks afterward she remained bed-ridden

b. Extended recovery period--for months afterward it was not clear how much of a recovery Edith would be able to make. After several set-backs, she was able to regain much of her function--although she did  suffer short-term memory loss afterward.

3. Roosevelt's reaction--during the most serious phase after Edith's accident, Roosevelt never left her side, staying up with her through the night, holding her hand. As she moved into recovery mode, however, his thoughts turned to his own mortality, and how he would be perceived by posterity--and he began to contemplate running for the Presidency again


B. Planning the campaign--the decision to seek the Republican nomination was not made overnight, but in several monumental steps.

1. The "People's Candidate"--Roosevelt was a much more popular candidate than William Howard Taft, who never really connected with people as a  populist candidate.

2. Outmaneuvered by Taft--Roosevelt was outmaneuvered at the 1912 Republican  convention by Taft and his supporters. Taft was able to use the powers of incumbency to place party member loyal to him on the credentials committee, who in turn decided which delegates would be seated, and which would not. In this way, Taft was able to get his supporters into the convention,  while excluding many of Roosevelt's supporters.

3. Taking over the Progressive Party--Roosevelt's popular appeal made him a more attractive candidate for the disaffected Republicans who had founded the Progressive Party.

a. Robert LaFollette--LaFollete had explored making a challenge from the Progressive wing of the Republican Party, and because he made this an open challenge (as opposed to Roosevelt, who vacillated on this issue), LaFollette gained the support of a number of like-minded people who were disappointed with Taft--including a number of Roosevelt supporters. LaFollette was hugely popular in his native Wisconsin, somewhat popular throughout the rest of the Midwest--and practically unknown in much  of  the rest of the country.

b. Soft support--LaFollette was leery of the strength of his support among the formers Roosevelt supporters--rightly, it turns out, since  they were among the first to call for LaFollette to drop out of the race when Roosevelt decided to "throw his hat into the ring" (another phrase that he coined).

c.LaFollette drops out--after meeting with Roosevelt, and finding him simpatico on a number of issues,  LaFollette agreed to end his  nomination campaign, and endorsed Roosevelt.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

The Post-Presidential Years

I. Choosing a Successor

A. William Howard Taft--during Roosevelt's presidency, Taft was the go-to guy to troubleshoot problems that Roosevelt wanted to solve, foreign or domestic. Roosevelt mistook Taft's willingness to carry out Roosevelt's directives as like-mindedness on these issues; when this proved not to be the case, Roosevelt became increasingly disenchanted with his hand-picked successor.

1. Taft and the Trusts--where Roosevelt simply called those trusts that he considered "bad" (a determination that was wholly idiosycratic) to the White House for a dressing down;  Taft, on the other hand, because of his training in the law, relied more upon the Justice Department to bring lawsuits against those trusts in violation of the law. Although Roosevelt saw this as a failure, in retrospect Taft was more effective in breaking up trusts. Roosevelt saw trusts as endemic to capitalism; his major concern was making sure that they knew (or acted as if) they were subservient to the US government.


2. Taft and the (non)Vigorous Life--Taft, as a man who much of his adult life weighed more than 300 pounds, was a much more sedentary figure. His major form of exercise was the occassional game of golf; even more so than today, golf was a game for financial and social elites, since there were few public courses available to play the game. Taft's weight gain seems to have been tied to his own personal happiness (or depression)--therefore, he was at his heaviest during the 1912 campaign, with his personal friendship with Roosevelt in tatters, and the campaign itself floundering.

II. Roosevelt's Post-Presidential Depression


A. The African Safari--although Scribner Publishing gave Roosevelt a $50,000 advance for the book he agreed to right and the articles he was to produce while on the journey (an advance that would more than pay for the journey, even at its lavish scale), the safari was more about taking on another adventure than its was about supplementing his income

1. Media adulation--as during his presidency, the press treated his safari as a singular event, as if Roosevelt were the first white man to hunt "the dark continent." Part of this is again Roosevelt's genius of self-promotion; Baron Rothschild, during his safari earlier, had failed to bring along a movie camera and an operator. Part of Roosevelt's genius lay, however, in his ability to undertake tasks that did capture the imagination of large numbers of Americans. Although there were large numbers of Americans who were disgusted by Roosevelt's propensity "to shoot often" (if not particularly well--and this was before PETA), his enthusiastic embrace of this vigorous life made him admirable in the eyes of large numbers of supporters.

a. Good copy--Roosevelt's accessibility to members of the press--and his volubility--made it easy for members of the press to obtain a story, which made their jobs easier. The fact that he would sometimes say something a bit controversial was all the better.

B. The  European Tour--Roosevelt's even grander than grand tour of Europe--where the crowned heads of Europe vied to have him visit them, in the hope that some of his aura would rub off on them--played into his vision of himself as statesman; it should be noted that as these various kings confided to him their expectation to go to war in the next few years (which, of course, proved to be prescient), he really did nothing with the information.

1. Roosevelt and War--Roosevelt's view of war as a way to prove one's manhood undoubtedly shaped his response (or lack thereof); he undoubtedly saw a huge continental war through the lens that had been ground from his experience in the Spanish-American War, and from the tales of gallantry relayed to him by his mother of the chivalrous Bulloch clan--not the destruction visited the countryside of huge continental wars that had kept the bloodlust in Europe largely in check between 1814 and 1914.

2. Welfare programs--Roosevelt came away duly impresses with the social welfare programs some European states were implementing to soften the effects of  industrialization--particularly old age pensions and disability payments for workers injured on  the job.

C. Roosevelt's Return Home--TR returned to a hero's welcome, riding the popularity and adulation that had characterized much of his presidency. But he was no longer president--Taft was. And Taft was not governing as TR thought he should, and TR severely criticized him among friends for this shortcoming.

1. The Return to Campaigning--although not a candidate himself in the 1910 elections, Roosevelt did campaign for a number of Republican candidates that fall. While he continued to draw huge crowds, he had little success in persuading those crowds to vote for Republican candidates; many of the candidates he supported lost in the fall elections.

III. Conclusion.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Final Paper Assignment

One of the purposes of this class is to determine how greatness can be defined. Choosing one of the subjects from this class--Jane Addams or Theodore Roosevelt--describe what made them "great" in their time. What personal qualities made them great? Would those same qualities make them great today? Why or why not?

This assessment should be completed in a 3-5 page paper, double spaced with one inch margins, with an additional title page. If you choose to quote from outside sources, those sources should be cited according to the Chicago Manual of Style. This paper is due one the last day of class, April 30.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Jane Addams and Race



I. Women's Suffrage

A. Brief History of Women's Suffrage

1. Antebellum Era

a. Seneca Falls Convention (1848)--300 women and men met at Seneca Falls, New York, to advocate for women's right to vote.

b. By 1820, universal white manhood suffrage west of the Allegheny Mountains was facilitated by insecure land titles (granting all white males the right to vote also gave them the means to protect their land claims); western states also used the promise of suffrage to attract settlers (a practice continued later in the 19th century, when new western states granted women the right to vote to attract female settlers); lastly, the erosion of social distinctions also facilitated extending the voting franchise.

c. "Civic Virtue"--during the Revolutionary and Early National eras (1776-1820), property was fairly easy to acquire, and property as a qualification for voting was not particularly onerous; race and gender became disqualifing  in  its place.

B. 14th Amendment (1868)--granted  African American males the right to vote while implicitly excluding women.

1. 2nd Section--"Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to the respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed.  But when he right to vote for the choice of Elector for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crimes, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in proportion which the number of male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State."

2. The Suffrage/Abolitionist split--the willingness of abolitionists to accept the14th Amendment with its exclusion of women caused an irrevocable split between the two movements--to the detriment of both, in the long run.

a. Frederick Douglass

b. Susan B. Anthony--with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Anthony broke with abolitionists over this issue--and split the suffrage movement as well, since not all suffragists agreed with this strategy. The movement remained split until Anthony herself brought it back together with the formation of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1892.

C. Reforming City Politics--the ineffectiveness of the campaign against 19th ward alderman John Powers brought home to Addams of the need for women to gain the right to vote.

1. "Ethical Survivals in City Immorality: A Study of Aldermen"--written during the 1898 campaign against John Powers. In the essay, she called for middle class reformers like herself to attempt to understand the appeal of an alderman like John Powers to voters.


a. Desire for protection and kindness, which someone like Powers provided, and that was a holdover from their previous experience in Europe.

b. The effects of abject poverty--voter were often willing to sell their vote for what seemed like a pittance, because that pittance meant they were less hungry that day than they had been previously. The alderman, or the political machine of which he was a member, also had the ability to deliver jobs that were extremely important, as well, in helping politicians remain popular with their electorate.

II. Addams and Race


A. Small number of African Americans in Chicago--although during the 20th century Chicago was second only to New York City as a mecca for African American culture, before the First Great Migration (1916-1920), there were relatively few black living in Chicago.

1. 1890 Chicago population--1,099,850; African American population in the city  14,271, or 1.3%

2. 1900 Chicago population--1,689,575; African American population in the city 30,150, or 1.8%

B. Dr. Harriet Rice

1. Background--Dr. Rice was born in Newport, Rhode Island (the summer residence of choice for East Coast elites at the turn of the century), her family was relatively well off, but working-class. She graduated from Wellesley College, the University of Michigan Medical School, and  the Women's Medical College of the New York Infirmary For Women and Children.

2. Hull House Experience--unlike other Hull House residents, Dr. Rice was not at Hull House to serve the poor--but because there were no other options for her because she could not get a job at any of the "white" hospitals in the city, and could not afford to live anywhere else.

3. Addams' frustrations with Rice--because Rice had achieved everything that Addams had hoped to achieve in her life, Addams could not understand Rice's reluctance to devote her life to serving the poor, as Addams had done.

a. Provident Hospital--the "black" hospital was the only medical facility in the city, outside of Hull House, that would allow Dr. Rice to practice medicine.

C. Addams and the lynching controversy-- while Addams decried the violence and extra-legality of lynching, she failed to understand fully the reasons for such actions.

1. Addams' assumptions--Addams assumed that the reason usually given for most lynchings--black rape of white women--was actually the reason for the action to have taken place.

a. Ida B. Wells Barnett--African American journalist who demonstrated that most of the so-called rapes were actually consensual relationships--and that a rape was only alleged in about one-third of the cases.

D. Addams' Continuing Attempts to Understand--Addams realized that she lacked a greater understanding of the issues surrounding race, and she continually worked to deepen her understanding.

1. Sponsorship of Fanny Barrier Williams for membership as the first African American member of the Chicago Women's Club.

2. National Council of Colored Women--hosted a luncheon with the group at Hull House during their national meeting in Chicago.

3. National Convention of Women's Clubs--Addams advocated unsuccessfully for this group to accept black members.

E. Addams and Racial Equality--Addams, although often not understanding fully the advantages of whiteness in early 20th century American--or, perhaps, not fully appreciating the disadvantages of blackness--worked assiduously for racial equality.

1. Niagara Movement--worked with this group to persuade drama critics in larger cities not to review Thomas Dixon's racist play The Clansman (which later became the first blockbuster Hollywood film, Birth of a Nation).

2. Named to the executive committee of the NAACP in 1906.

3. Charter member of the Chicago Urban League

4. Vigorously protested Theodore Roosevelt's decision not to seat African American delegates at the 1912 Progressive Party convention.