Crimson Banners Fly: The Rise of the American Left Revisited

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Internal View of the Republican National Convention, June 17th, 1908 - Source: Wiki Commons

Chapter XIV: The Election of 1908: Democracy for the Highest Bidder

Over nine hundred delegates and thousands of guests and onlookers arrived to Chicago on June 16th. They did so in order to take part in the opening of the Republican National Convention: To craft the renewed platform and formally nominate their ideal suitor to clash with President Roosevelt in November. Knowing that the opposing parties were not winnable to their cause, convention security staff upheld a strict identification policy for all visitors as a means to ensure that the festivities were inaccessible to "socialists, anarchists, and nefarious Progressive and Democrat informers." Participants were visually scanned upon entry, and any individuals deemed unsuitable (including anyone under the age of 25 and all unaccompanied women) were denied access to the venue.

Even though the festivities were, by their very nature, exuberant and celebratory, an aura of unpleasantness pervaded the Chicago Coliseum. Despite assurances by the party leadership that the GOP was in a position to deliver a decisive blow to the president, much of the party remained unconvinced. President Chauncey Depew's miserable third-place performance in the 1904 election was commonly attributed to public distaste for avid conservatism as well as Depew's own rather despicable reaction to consolidation and labor agitation. Still, even with these drawbacks, Depew had had the advantage of incumbency. Now that the party was readying itself to designate a presidential challenger that essentially mirrored the much-loathed 1904 platform, some delegates doubted that any such candidate could sufficiently conquer burgeoning progressivism and zoom past Roosevelt in the Electoral Vote count.

Led by Senators Fairbanks and Cullom, a minority contingent proposed altering the convention platform to better recognize the validity of the Grand Bargain instead of acting as if it had never been struck. Appealing to the moderate Progressive faction could prove advantageous, men like Fairbanks presumed, so offering them enticing rhetoric had the potential to sink a huge section of the Roosevelt vote while sacrificing virtually nothing in terms of genuine policy. "We trust in the spirit of conservative progress," explained Representative Frederick H. Gillett (R-MA) during the platform dispute, "and that is why it is in the party's best interest to readmit those elements of the [1900] platform that had carried Albert Beveridge to the White House. Unrelenting orthodoxy will serve us no benefit if our position allows King Theodore I to grow ever fatter in his Oval Office throne."

Temporary Convention Chairman Morgan Bulkeley, Aetna Life Insurance Company president and incumbent Connecticut senator, allowed the plank proposals to come to a vote. Senator Frye spoke to the defense of the status quo, fiercely decrying the mediated platform amendment as a, "rotten component of the Progressive conspiracy to overturn the basis [of the Republican Party]." Representative John W. Weeks (R-MA), the former Mayor of Newton, Massachusetts and present congressman of the 12th District of the Bay State, firmly planted his flag on the side of the status quo. Weeks seconded Frye's defense of reiterating the previous platform as-is. "Surrendering our ideals to the league of radicals paraded by the charlatan president is not an option. If we resort to alteration, we may as well cast our lot with Bill Bryan! Weeks' exhilarating statement won over an adequate number of fence-sitter delegates to vanquish the mediation proposal, effectively ending that debate once and for all.

On June 18th, time arrived for the nomination. An overwhelming majority of delegates had all but settled their bets on Senator Knox after his rampage through the state conventions awarded the Pennsylvanian with confident support. His nomination was virtually safeguarded from any attempts to upend it, but the candidate looked to sew up any loose ends regardless. Not everyone was thrilled with Knox as the nominee, and the former Attorney General understood this. Some of the delegates quietly desired the renomination of Depew to the presidency, while others believed a more prominent figure like Senator Henry C. Lodge stood the best shot against the incumbent. Fortunately for the aspiring nominee, he had been gifted a worthwhile advocate who agreed to speak to Knox's nomination and rally support.

Roosevelt assures us of his readjustment. He swears to it, that no man in that Columbian catastrophe could sway his awakened convictions. If this is true, I ask, Mr. President, how then can we assume you hold to your word to any bargain? If you are a free agent, unrestrained by fraternization, all that you have sworn before Congress, and the country, is bunk. [...] It is folly to close our eyes to outstanding facts. The agents of discord and destruction have lit their torches in the homes of radical Columbians and wayward Democrats. Ours, the Party of Lincoln and Beveridge, is the temple of liberty under the law. Ours is the appealing voice to sober the nation. There can be no resolution but that truth. Now, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, my countrymen all. I obey the command of my state and the mandate of all Republicans, when I offer the name of the next President of the United States, Philander Chase Knox.

         Warren Gamaliel Harding, Republican Convention Speech, 1908

That did the trick. This nominating address by the incumbent lieutenant governor of Ohio, Warren G. Harding, was received warmly by the crowd. In effect, it considerably bolstered the plausibility that Knox would retain a two-thirds vote on the first ballot. Serving beside Ohio Governor Myron Herrick, Harding gained statewide notoriety for skillfully managing the Ohio State Senate and thwarting a lackluster Progressive uprising in that legislative body. Now in the midst of his second term in office, the stone-faced Ohioan arrived to Chicago as a delegate for his state's Republican Party representing the majority pro-Knox faction. His speech presenting the frontrunner not only assisted Knox's prospects, but perhaps his own as well. "I daresay," former Chairman McKinley was reportedly heard in conversation with Senator Harris, "that man has a future in the party. We would do well to keep an eye on that one."

FOURTEENTH REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION

THE BALLOT: PRES		1st Call		980 DELEGATES
Philander C. Knox ☑		762
James S. Sherman		62
Lawrence Y. Sherman		50
Steward L. Woodford		43
George W. Prince		39
Joseph G. Cannon		21
Theodore Roosevelt		1
OTHERS/BLANK		2

Exhaling a breath of relief, the Knox camp cleared the road ahead and passed the necessary delegate threshold on the first call. Not one vote went to either former President Depew or Senator Lodge, relegating that fear to the political graveyard. Knox's team, studious of the failures of the 1904 Republican ticket, settled on a vice president they believed would appeal to the oft-ignored Western Republican segment of the party. To this end, Knox recommended James Norris Gillett (R-CA), the railroad-friendly incumbent governor of California. Gillett promptly accepted, and the ticket was thence settled.

FOURTEENTH REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION

THE BALLOT: VICE PRES		1st Call		980 DELEGATES
James N. Gillett ☑		809
Jonathan P. Dolliver		71
Albert B. Cummins		70
Thomas N. McCarter		17
William H. Taft		13
OTHERS/BLANK		0

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Madison Square Garden in New York City, July 1908 - Source: Wiki Commons

From all corners of the country, Democratic politicians of prominence and state-designated representatives traveled to the party's nominating convention in New York City. Chairman Johnson headed the tie-breaking vote to settle on the venue, opposing the Western branch of Democracy which had preferred Denver. From Johnson's perspective, Senator Richard Olney's success in the Empire State four years prior exemplified that New York still proved a definitive swing state. If the party played its cards correctly, those 39 Electoral Votes could very well decide the outcome of the presidential race. Therefore, on July 6th, the doors of Madison Square Garden in Manhattan opened to the enormous, varied assemblage of the Democratic National Convention.

From the get-go, one of the earliest surprises of the DNC was the appearance of Governor Hearst alongside the New York delegation. Typically, the candidates did not personally attend (Bryan in 1896 and Beveridge in 1900 were the exceptions, as neither anticipated the nomination landing in their lap). This caused quite an uproar in the press, whose journalists profusely cataloged the provocative governor's movements and reactions to the daily proceedings. It launched him onto the front pages far above the other potential nominees, and all but assured that Hearst's political career and public favorability stayed on the up and up regardless of the results of the convention. It was opportunistic to a T, and the Democratic leadership despised him for it.

As the delegates poured in amid stirring animation, the atmosphere seemed light and lively. No one candidate had the nomination sewn up on the first day of the event, yet the various sects were prepared to unite around whomever won out the day. Unity was the name of the game, as it was extremely important for the party to convey a spirit of solidarity as contrasted with the divisive Progressive-Republican spat. Most Democrats hoped to steer clear altogether of any contentious risks, and, in fact, they would congregate to form a strong, standardized platform clear of any controversy or alienating portions. It closely resembled the Omaha platform constructed by the Nebraska Democrats, combining pledges to suitably regulate industry with denouncements of President Roosevelt for failing to live up to progressives' expectations. Hearst and some of his Northern Democratic allies wished to add additional planks for nationalizing the railroads, a proposal previously brought up by former President Bryan, but they left the matter alone. The platform, Hearst believed, did not matter a pittance in comparison to the nominee.

Going into the convention, Governor Hearst had more delegates in his pocket than any other competitor, but not yet enough to claim a sure-fire majority. He was naturally suspicious of the party functionaries and immensely distrusted the pseudo-democratic nominating process. Democratic officials did not conduct their business openly, and, although they jeered at the Republicans for the same crime, all presidential, gubernatorial, and senatorial nominations were made behind closed doors and in smoke-filled rooms. Only when the candidate was an incumbent, already deemed a presumptive nominee, or somehow captivated the delegation in a frenzy were the wills of party leadership no serious concern. The 1904 convention and the sudden injection of Olney by the Reorganizers demonstrated the alternative. Hearst was not interested in playing their game, and fully intended to lock-in the nomination before it could be nabbed.

Those present at the convention anticipated a drawn-out affair engorged with successive ballots and rambunctious in-fighting on the floor. "They were always circuses," wrote Charles W. Bryan, brother to the former president and editor of The Commoner. "Patriotism stirs agitation, and it matters not the party affiliation or candidate preference. In New York, it felt no different. There was no drift of enthusiasm to any one man in particular on that first day. The newsmen speculated the fates of the twenty, or so, contenders in the evening papers. Theodore Bell, the temporary chairman, spoke at tiring length to the galleries, and alluded to the achievements of historical Democratic presidents. When he reached the 'earthshaking Bryan Administration,' the crowd leapt to its feet and wildly, frantically, burst into demonstration. That was as good a hint as any who they truly wanted." Ravenous applause for former President Bryan, who had been present and stood briefly to accept the clamor, concluded after nearly a full hour. Hearst, who watched the standing ovation with his teeth tightly clenched, was reportedly more nervous at that juncture than any preceding moment. The convention, if left to its own devices, would certainly renominate Bryan if given the opportunity.

The precise timetable is debated by political historians, but sometime between the evening of July 6th and the afternoon of July 7th, Governor Hearst and his operatives scrambled together impromptu appointments with several dozen delegates of varying states as well as with the beloved former president. The objective was simple: win the votes on the first call. Any other result practically guaranteed a Bryan nod. "He was your textbook crook," historian Russell Kirk wrote of Hearst in American Politics Reconsidered. "Unseen for decades, Bill Hearst unearthed the hideous customs of fraudulent electoral manipulation and political blackmail. It has been said by liberal historians that these allegations were unproven, but that is their muddling modus operandi. Hearst called to order those backroom deals and he certainly threatened Bryan to his weathering face." As has been hypothesized as the dawn of a greater scandal, Governor Hearst may, or may not, have approached Bryan and forewarned him of his plan to run as an independent candidate if denied the nomination.

It is crucial to recall that Hearst's publications played a significant role in Bryan's election campaigns, and assisted in spreading the Nebraskan's message to the American citizenry via the Hearst media empire. The New York Journal had been a pivotal ally of Bryan and an undeniable vehicle for Democratic reform for many years. Hearst also personally donated tens of thousands in campaign funds to the Nebraskan in 1896, and urged his readership to do the same. If he did indeed threaten a third party run, Hearst absolutely utilized the above points to guilt Bryan to act accordingly. For what ever the reason, the former president did his part to deliver his publishing ally the nomination. Bryan authored a brief memorandum to every last delegate expressing support for Governor Hearst and doubly affirming his unwillingness to accept the nomination of the party for president. Some blindly followed Bryan's statement. Others saw through the wool placed over their eyes.

What followed, on the third day on the convention, could only be described as a small-scale rebellion. A "Stop Hearst" sentiment rose amongst the delegates opposed to his nomination or otherwise incensed by Bryan's odd and uncharacteristic remarks. Through the nominating speeches of the non-Hearst candidates, a small segment of the party voiced their extreme displeasure of a Hearst presidency. Congressman Richmond Hobson (D-AL), for instance, asserted that, "Dirty money cannot buy the presidency. Not from any banker, nor oil magnate, nor publisher." He emphasized that final word in an obvious reference to Hearst, expectorating it like a foul curse.

Unfortunately for the Alabaman, it was far too late to close the floodgates. Hearst is said to have exhibited a sly grin on his face whilst observing Hobson's vicious speech, likely understanding that nothing could stop the locomotive he put into motion. Delegates from California, 100% behind the Hearst candidacy, brushed off the suspicions of their choice as sensationalist nonsense and held firm. "Hearst," a pro-Hearst Michigan delegate relayed, "draws upon a legitimate sense of resentment against the fleecing of Americans by the moneyed elite and political bosses. He's an outsider who cares for the common man." Another was recorded stating, "[Hearst] cannot be bought, and that is how we know he speaks the absolute truth."

At five minutes past 12 o'clock, Chairman Bell announced that the roll call would commence.
The tally was struck, and the fix was in.

TWENTIETH DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION

THE BALLOT:PRES		1st Call Before Shifts		1st Call After Shifts		1002 DELEGATES
William R. Hearst ☑		684		855
James K. Vardaman		77		71
Clark Howell		65		35
Archibald McNeil		51		14
Charles A. Towne		33		4
William G. Conrad		30		4
David R. Francis		10		3
Jerry B. Sullivan		10		3
William H. Berry		8		1
William L. Douglas		4		1
Ollie M. James		2		1
John Mitchell		2		0
Thomas C. Platt		1		0
John S. Williams		1		0
William J. Bryan		1		0
OTHERS/BLANK		23		10

On the final day of the convention, July 11th, the delegates unanimously selected Minority Leader Champ Clark to join Hearst on the ticket. Clark had been a favorite of the delegates for his competent leadership in the House as well as his favor by the Southern and Midwestern Democrats. Few doubted the honesty of the Missourian representative, and it was said of the delegates that they simmered down once Clark won the vice presidential slot. They hoped that if the nominee was truly a man as dangerous as his opponents insisted, the running-mate could surely reign in the worst of it.

TWENTIETH DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION

THE BALLOT: VICE PRES		1st Call		1002 DELEGATES
Champ Clark ☑		Unanimous

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Internal View of the Progressive National Convention, August 2nd, 1908 - Source: Wiki Commons

Undeterred by the activities of the two major political parties, scores of Progressive delegates met to officially renominate President Theodore Roosevelt for a second term. Taking place shortly after the Democratic convention in mid-July, these men and women united under a common banner at the Chicago Coliseum intent on shredding the opposing contenders and defending the Roosevelt domestic agenda. In their view, the president had been brutally and unfairly judged by the other nominees. Progressives now prepared to relish in cathartic rebuttal.

It was largely an uneventful affair, especially when compared with the preceding convention, and relatively few members arrived with any plans to adjust the party platform or otherwise earnestly contest the national committee. Delegates universally held the Square Deal in high regard and championed the Roosevelt initiatives with critical acclaim. They too extolled McKenna's Justice Department in its high-profile prosecutions of Northern Securities, U.S. Steel, and Standard Oil. House Minority Leader Wesley Jones remarked during the PNC platform discussions that, "President Roosevelt confirmed only what we all already knew. He, as president, and the Progressive Party constituted the successors to Beveridge and his vision of Republicanism. Others may do quite a lot of talk, but from this leader we've seen action. Do not be misguided! Overturning the most successful leader of our generation would be a great historical error."

A compounded, multi-hour debate did ensue on the first day of the festivities regarding the party program in relation to the Grand Bargain. As was inevitable following the deal termed by some more radical Progressive affiliates as a "betrayal," a discernible segment of the party looked to instill a modification in the existing platform that addressed the perceived corrupt bargain with Fairbanks and the Republican Old Guard. This faction, albeit a minority in the overall scheme of the convention makeup, called for an amendment that more stridently chastised Republican Standpatters and aggressively reprimanded corporate influence in American politics (partially inspired by Hearst's similar virulence against corporations).

The final vote to amend the platform in this fashion failed, 4-1, although an alternative proposal to dedicate a plank to the New York City Bankruptcy Crisis did pass. The latter resolution called attention to the federal government's efforts in saving the city from total financial collapse at a time when the wealthy elite brushed off their public duty. To the chagrin of the further-left Progressives, this addition did not directly censure accumulated wealth in and of itself, nor did it name J.P. Morgan as a guilty party. The charge did little to mend the wounds of the so-called betrayal, and it is likely that resistance to the leftward pull additionally entrenched sentiment that Roosevelt's politics had mutated in the wake of the Grand Bargain.

Once the mainstays in the Columbian Party began, one after another, speaking to the credentials of President Roosevelt, ill-will from the platform debate fluttered away for a time. State representatives of the Progressive Party, in addition to assemblymen, local officials and mayors, spoke out in affection to the Square Deal and its architect. At the same time, the speakers intensely criticized the Republican establishment's renewed efforts to cut into Roosevelt's support, by, as described by Senator Borah, "Utilizing deceptive messaging and revising history to overlook the tragic consequences of Standpat Republican leadership." Governor Hearst, however, received the bulk of the attack. Congressman Albert Douglas (P-OH) called the publisher a "downright lout unfit for office," and State Senator John D. Achison (P-DE) referred to the Democrat as a "yahoo sensationalist." Senator Franklin Murphy tore the governor apart, dedicating fifteen minutes solely to attack the Californian for his sketchy business ties and suspected vote-buying.

It is fair to assert that the Progressive delegation in its entirety abhorred Knox and Hearst equally. Likewise, once the convention took its first (and only) state-by-state call, it was too evident that the party held steadfast behind President Roosevelt.

SECOND PROGRESSIVE NATIONAL CONVENTION

THE BALLOT: PRES		1st Call		1993 DELEGATES
Theodore Roosevelt ☑		Unanimous
OTHERS/BLANK		0

As predicted, Roosevelt stormed in on the initial tally without a whisper of opposition. No other figure in the premier band of Columbians could have hoped to contend with the mighty incumbent even if were to wish it so. Those like Senator La Follette privately toyed with the concept of challenging Roosevelt for the nomination, if only to push him further left and force disassociation with the Republican Party. A fair amount of delegates, specifically those representing populist bastions in the Prairie and Mountain states, discreetly looked to reign in the president and deter him from a second Grand Bargain. To them, garnering minor policy achievements in exchange for succumbing to the corporate-influenced GOP sacrificed their sense of moral superiority and belief in the Progressive program.

After Roosevelt presented a welcome acceptance speech, one that subtly pricked the hardline left-wing with the line, "I believe in men who take the next step, not those who theorize about the 200th step," the aforementioned skeptics pushed one final objective. In no short order, they schemed to remove Vice President Taft from the ticket. Taft, as a center-right Progressive, embodied everything the La Follette's of the party had issue with. The vice president had been overly accommodating to congressional Republicans and cast only a single tie-breaking vote for the entirety of his four-year service. By all accounts, Taft failed in convincing Republicans to lean toward President Roosevelt and the Square Deal. For what purpose did it serve the party for Taft to then remain on the ticket?

The Vice Presidential situation offered the greatest encouragement to that class of delegates which is looking always for excitement at a political convention. Delegates opposed to incumbent William Howard Taft hoped to invigorate a well-fought contest in the race for second place. They appealed to the aggressive nature of progressive philosophy, calling for a second-in-command more closely resembling La Follette or Borah. After a period of time and consultation with state officials, Roosevelt shut down the debate. He demanded of his friends the selection of Taft. [...] Pro-Taft delegate Herman West officially nominated the incumbent, noting that his achievements in office merited re-nomination. Clarifying the appeal of the Columbian Party to business owners, West said that the conservatives "fight socialism blindly" while Taft and Roosevelt "fight it intelligently in the pursuit of eliminating the conditions that allows radicalism to flourish." Taft was confirmed on the first ballot with few dissidents.

         Jacob B. Allison, "Brief War for Vice President," Chicago Tribune, August 5th, 1908

SECOND PROGRESSIVE NATIONAL CONVENTION

THE BALLOT: VICE PRES		1st Call		1993 DELEGATES
William H. Taft ☑		1773
OTHERS/BLANK		220

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Bill Haywood Portrait, Circa 1907 - Source: Wiki Commons

The cause of American Socialism was in a puzzling place. Socialists experienced tremendous success on the electoral front, capturing a handful of mayoral and municipal offices in addition to its two congressmen. Eugene Debs' performance in the 1904 election was incontrovertibly staggering. Metropolitan centers like Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Pasadena, and Flint demonstrated huge favor for the Socialist Party and their reputations as radical havens began to reflect that new reality. The activist lifeblood of the left-wing also took a leading role in developing early twentieth century popular culture with publications like Appeal to Reason, Forward, and the International Socialist Review reaping mass circulation and significant readerships. Still, the growth of leftist tendencies brought about a new facet to the movement that these organizations hadn't yet dealt with. Namely, co-option.

Upton Sinclair had written The Jungle in 1906 not to provoke an interest in commodity oversight, but to stir empathy for the condition of the laborer and present socialism as the sensible solution. The author had helped found the Intercollegiate Socialist Society in 1905 to act as an intellectual organization for student activists and organizers. It was constructed, chapter-by-chapter, to elucidate the principles of socialism to the next generation and build a class of revolutionaries from below. When Roosevelt declared an interest in The Jungle, Sinclair may have been hopeful that his work had been popularized to such an extent. Yet, when all that it generated was inoffensive food product regulation, the author famously quipped, "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach." Similarly, novelist Jack London indicted capitalism at length in The Iron Hell, postulating a nightmarish right-wing society void of true personhood. "Let us control them," London wrote. "Let us profit by [machine] efficiency and cheapness. Let us run them for ourselves. That, gentlemen, is socialism."

Dynamic Socialist literature that filtered through the American citizenry did not seem to connect as well as intended. Muckrakers agitating the public likewise meant to incense anti-establishment fervor, but, on a consistent basis, little to nothing was gained from it. Fundamental conditions hadn't changed for the working class under a Progressive presidency - the party most often identified as co-opting socialistic rhetoric. Some felt as though the Columbians had undercut the Socialists' work, naming capitalist excesses problematic whilst proposing ineffective solutions. Moreover, Hearst's populism was viewed skeptically by scores of SP members who detected a deceptive aura around the publisher. Progressives and Democrats both muddied the waters for the American Left with their own reformist solutions, falling far short of what class-conscious workers desired from their government. A moderate expansion of federal oversight was simply futile if one hoped to quell the ABCs of capitalist contradiction.

In the midst of this rise of middle-class, liberal reformism, the Socialist Party congregated in Chicago to name their presidential nominee. Hopefully, the delegates prayed, their candidate could break through the mold and present theirs as the dominant vision for a brighter future. Despite having run twice and failed to overcome the opposition, Eugene Debs stayed the obvious choice. Just as he was in 1900, Debs remained the most well-known standard bearer of socialism in the modern American era and the greatest asset to the organization he once called, "A monument above internal dissension and factional strife." He had written to the effect of disfavor with a third consecutive run, however granted that he would head the campaign if nominated. Those like Illinois UMWA organizer Adolph Germer egged the mainstay candidate on. Germer stressed in April of 1908 that, "No man is better suited to appeal to the cause of a worker-ran society than [Debs.]"

As an aftereffect of the newfound camaraderie shared by Eugene Debs and the Industrial Workers of the World, Bill Haywood became more receptive to the Socialist Party than he had once been. Haywood's notoriety by industrial workers was towering by this point in the public consciousness, so it had made sense for the former to enter as a candidate if Debs declined the offer. The Western organizer lettered the SP that he would be willing to accept the nomination if offered. A majority of convention delegates were not convinced, however, with moderates and conservatives ardently opposing Haywood's interpretation of socialism. Other candidates like State Senator James Carey of Massachusetts (Morris Hillquit's associate), former ISR editor Algie Simmons (preferred by civil liberties lawyer Seymour Stedman), and Wisconsin State Representative Carl D. Thompson (propped up by Victor Berger) sharply obstructed the Haywood candidacy.

Executive Secretary John Mahlon Barnes, acting as chairman of the convention, worked to retain order as debate escalated on the second day. The fate of the nominee, it seemed, would also decide the fate of the Socialist Party's union policy. Haywood, as a member and founder of the IWW, would obviously support intimacy with that organization. A more conservative selection, like Thompson, called to continue efforts to reform the AFL. This fight that had heated the convention hall in entrenched deliberation lasted until a telegram arrived from Eugene Debs. Debs, recalled by one delegate as "the embodiment of the American proletarian movement," offered Haywood a personal endorsement. Though that did not suddenly end all debate, nor did it dissipate the sense that the nomination was an open free-for-all, his invisible hand did, eventually, guide the delegates.

THIRD SOCIALIST NATIONAL CONVENTION

THE BALLOT: PRES		1st Call		Unanimous		216 DELEGATES
William D. Haywood ☑		145		216
James F. Carey		26
Carl D. Thompson		22
Algie M. Simons		16
OTHERS/BLANK		7

THIRD SOCIALIST NATIONAL CONVENTION

THE BALLOT: VICE PRES		1st Call		Unanimous		216 DELEGATES
John W. Slayton ☑		101		216
Benjamin Hanford		48
Seymour Stedman		41
May W. Simons		20
Caleb Lipscomb		4
G.W. Woodby		1
OTHERS/BLANK		1

To Hillquit and Berger's immense dissatisfaction, the incendiary Bill Haywood won the nomination in a majority vote. He did not personally attend the SNC, instead taking time to rest at his Idaho abode following a strenuous engagement the state court system, but the nominee did telegraph an acceptance speech to the Chicago convention. During the proper campaign, Haywood reiterated the core tenants of that speech.

Tonight I am going to speak on the class struggle, and I am going to make it so plain that even a lawyer can understand it. [...] They can't stop us. No matter what they do we will go on until we, the roughnecks of the world, will take control of all production and work when we please and how much we please. The man who makes the wagon will ride in it himself. The capitalist has no heart, but harpoon him in the pocketbook and you will draw blood. [...] So, on this great force of the working class I believe we can agree that we should unite into one great organization—big enough to take in the children that are now working; big enough to take in the black man; the white man; big enough to take in all nationalities, an organization that will be strong enough to obliterate state boundaries, to obliterate national boundaries, and one that will become the great industrial force of the working class of the world.

         Bill Haywood, "Speech to Cleveland Steelworkers", September 9th, 1908

Traveling state-by-state in a customized train, referred to in the press as the "Red Special," the Haywood Campaign brought its arguments to the people. Alongside Barnes and vice presidential nominee John Slayton of Pennsylvania, the campaign darted across the country for a period of four months straight. It distributed radical literature to the huge audiences it encountered, and occasionally brought on other well-known figures like Debs for short duration of the tour. Haywood recognized the compounded problems facing industrial workers at the turn of the century and looked to attach the lines betwixt individualized cases of exploitation and employer negligence with the grander mission of attaining socialism.

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President Roosevelt Speaking in Madison, Wisconsin, October 2nd, 1908 - Source: Wiki Commons

Four prominent presidential candidates took center stage as the election season rolled into the autumnal equinox. Democrat William Hearst, Republican Philander Knox, Socialist Bill Haywood, and Progressive Theodore Roosevelt were the prime contestants for the administrative pageant. Plentiful policy points ranging from trust-busting to the income tax swarmed throughout the race, but let there be no doubt that President Roosevelt was the primary focal point of the election. Nominees for the Republican and Democratic parties, reversing their flippant evasion of the boisterous New Yorker four years earlier, concentrated all fire on the Progressive. Differing policy proposals were doubtlessly relevant, as in any electoral bout, but a worthwhile challenger to President Roosevelt would not find success unless they fixated on the incumbent's perceived shortcomings.

Senator Knox modeled his campaigning style after Albert Beveridge, appealing to the electorate in a whistle-stop format (a move that somewhat displeased RNC traditionalists). He spoke to the merits of "conservative progress," and, "the return to prosperity and sensibility to aid the business of the nation." Knox was not an inflexible reactionary like some of his colleagues. He had no intention of proclaiming support for a progressive agenda, but neither did he wish to fall into disconcerting obscurity as Depew had in his re-election attempt. The Pennsylvanian ran a campaign centered on the fortunes of the past set side-by-side with Roosevelt's turbulent reign. He stated, nearly verbatim from a Beveridge address, "Always and in all places, the Republican Party in control means prosperity of the people, debt reduction, and a common sense handling of revenues. Prosperous times are always Republican times. In four years of Progressive rule, our government has declared all-out war on American enterprise. It peered down into the gaping hole of economic calamity and just nearly fell in - a hole dug by Mr. Roosevelt."

The Roosevelt Campaign struck back, attesting that neither a return to Gilded Age Republicanism nor a dangerous leap into "Hearst Demagoguery" would magically cure the cantankerous issues facing the country. Progressive businessmen towed the party line on capitalist critique and offered that a reformed economy was safer for systematic longevity than an archaic, private economy. If the federal government were to neglect its responsibility in initiating the necessary changes to liberalize and stabilize capitalism, protest from below would seek its total overthrow. This had been the essence of Roosevelt's governing policy, and, especially after observing the steady growth of socialist organizations and political parties, the president feared that a return to the Depew Economy would virtually ensure the supplanting of American democracy with radicalism and mob-rule.

Hiram Johnson, a district attorney and anti-corruption reform advocate, administered the Roosevelt Campaign's Western branch based out of San Francisco. He directed leaflet printing for the region and communicated daily events and experiences to the president via telegraph. By all measures of gauging public opinion, Johnson discovered that city residents were not squarely committed to any one candidate. In San Francisco, as was the case along much of the West Coast, voters who favored the Progressives in wide margins four years ago were presently split between Roosevelt and Hearst. The Columbian leader no longer had a monopoly on anti-establishment fervor, and the spirit of Bryanism that captivated Californians in 1896 began to bubble up for Hearst.

Progressives also noticed a corresponding trend taking shape in New York. Ceremonies for the Democratic nominee far surpassed the competition in pure audience figures, indicating public opinion favoring Hearst. Representative William Sulzer, a staunch supporter of the governor, stated in a public forum, "I know Governor Hearst well, and have known him for a long time. I regard him as one of the greatest men of our time. It is no child's play to build up seven great newspapers in three of the largest cities in the country. A man to do this must possess executive ability of a high order. From the very nature of things he must be a broad-gauge man. Such a man I know Mr. Hearst to be." Sulzer became an essential piece to Hearst's Napoleonic campaign operation, invigorating local voter interest while the governor traveled westward.

Governor Hearst ran his campaign much like his business, focusing squarely on sensationalism to vacuum public excitement to his corner. He utilized the talents of journalist muckrakers like Lincoln Steffens and Ida Tarbell to drive home his central thesis that politics as-is was filled with corrupt bureaucrats hell-bent on serving the interests of corporations above the common man. Hearst even appeared at one campaign event aside David Phillips, and personally attested to corruption in the New York political game. "These men," he thundered, "have no consciousness of their own. They ask businessmen, like myself on multiple occasions, for campaign funding. This is commonly granted under the presumption that the donor will receive a return on investment. That is why I've called on Congress to pass no-nonsense restrictions on political contributions and bar corporate donations entirely. If they refuse, my administration will prosecute and convict obstructing party bosses."

Sweeping reforms like the type offered above were frequently touted by the publishing magnate as necessary steps to eliminate corruption and malfeasance in Washington. He proposed, among other things, a national mandate that all political parties participate in state-wide primary elections, granting constituencies the option to recall their representatives at will, and enshrining some form of direct democracy to gauge public opinion of major issues. Hearst argued in favor of a 10% tax on corporations as well (eight points higher than the 2% proposed by Roosevelt), and furthermore one-upped the Progressives by calling for a national eight-hour workday law for all public and private sector workers.

President Roosevelt, to put it lightly, was disgusted by Hearst and all that he stood for. Theodore Roosevelt believed in federal regulation and reform, that much is certainly true, but he distrusted those he viewed as uneducated, irresponsible, and lacking a proper vision to carefully win the country (and Congress) to his theses. Roosevelt considered Hearst no different than the class of investigative journalists he so despised. None of them were honest actors in his mind. They all had an angle that had no regard for the public good. Still, even the most blatant demagogue was a powerful force in politics, and for that reason the incumbent president saw Hearst as the greatest possible foil to his re-election prospects - far more so than a known entity like Bryan. Roosevelt fretted often over Hearst's influence among the working class, a group the president privately figured gullible and susceptible to impossible promises. He conjoined the governor's ideology to that of the Socialist Party, finding both identically reprehensible.

Associates of President Roosevelt harmonized on the topic of Hearst. They too found him a far more intimidating presence than Philander Knox. The upper echelon of the Roosevelt Campaign realized that, regardless of early indications in swing states that Roosevelt accumulated voter preference, Hearst alone represented the chief obstacle to the president's re-election prospects. John Hay, working diligently at the completion of his term as State Secretary, abhorred Hearst. He wrote that the Democratic nominee, "simply reiterates the unquestioned truths that every man with a clean shirt is a thief and ought to be hanged: that there is no goodness and wisdom except among the illiterate & criminal classes." Others like Vice President Taft shared this feeling. Therefore, Roosevelt shifted gears to more explicitly denounce the yellow press and muckrakers overall. Two birds, one stone.

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Caricature of Governor Hearst in Harper's Weekly, October 23rd, 1908 - Source: Wiki Commons

From mid-September to the end of his active campaigning in early November, President Roosevelt incorporated anti-muckraker sentiment in just about every speech in every city. He asserted to vast audiences, to the point that it grew rather tiresome for accompanying newsmen, that the sensationalist press constituted a mortal enemy to righteous democracy. He condemned investigative journalists for twisting the truth and conducting indiscriminate assaults "upon men in business or men in public life." He tied the expansion of untrustworthy reporting to the perceived commander of moral colorblindness: Bill Hearst.

Hysterical sensationalism is the poorest weapon wherewith to fight for lasting righteousness. The men who with stern sobriety and truth assail the many evils of our time, whether in the public press, or in magazines, or in books, are the leaders and allies of all engaged in the work for social and political betterment. But if they give good reason for distrust of what they say, if they chill the ardor of those who demand truth as a primary virtue, they thereby betray the good cause and play into the hands of the very men against whom they are nominally at war. The men who attack in sensational, lurid, and untruthful fashion by playing on their ignorance do so for self-interest.

We are witnessing in the state of New York an especially dangerous specimen of the kind of demagogue that I have described. Not only is the cause of popular government in danger of suffering injury and discredit from the vote for Mr. Hearst, but genuine reform, the real practical redress of the evils complains of by the people, is in danger of being weakened and brought to naught by this attempt of Mr. Hearst to get himself elected President of the United States. [...] Hearst is but a golden calf on the road to the Promised Land. It will do America well to avoid false idols.

         Theodore Roosevelt, "Muckraker Speech," September 19th, 1908

Roosevelt led all credible presidential polls since the spring of 1908. His achievements, minor though they may be, seemed to significantly bolster the incumbent's chances at re-election. Much of America sympathized with the cause of federal aggrandizement in order to eliminate corporate control of the political system, and some moderate Republicans felt inclined to applaud Roosevelt for his role in the bankruptcy crisis. However, several noteworthy facets prevented the popular press from outright deeming the president a clear-cut favorite for re-election.

The inflexibility of the party to adjust its platform and messaging to suit the growing need for earnest pro-worker legislation, and more harshly criticize the trusts in the wake of the Grand Bargain, tarnished the incumbent. Just as Senator La Follette correctly recognized at the Progressive National Convention, moderating and whitewashing the once-stirring progressive mantra validated Socialist arguments concerning Roosevelt's perceived capitulation to the Republican Party. La Follette himself refused to speak personally on Roosevelt's behalf as the campaign rolled on through Wisconsin, delivering a serious blow to espoused Progressive unity and demonstrating internal disfavor by the party's left wing. The whole ordeal did wonders for Hearst's prospects, and he drove the above critiques home over and over again.

Contrasted with the Columbian machine tearing itself apart, the Democrats were more united than ever before. The party, in a single breath, conveyed the need to correct the errors of the Roosevelt Administration with one that better responded to the needs of everyday Americans. In all 48 states, local Democratic leaders and public officeholders campaigned on behalf of Governor Hearst. Populist Southerners like Jeff Davis and Tom Watson ensured Democratic dominance in the South, downplaying the nominee's antipathy to matters of race and highlighted his commitment to reform working conditions for agrarian laborers and tenant farmers. Former President Bryan underscored analogous pleas in the Great Plains, recommending that voters choose the Democratic ticket (He focused more broadly on labor issues than propping up Governor Hearst - yet re-affirmed his staunch opposition to President Roosevelt).

Champ Clark turned out to be a solid accompaniment to Hearst on the campaign trail. Clark strategically headed much of the organizational operation while Hearst professed to engorged audiences his concern for the underdog. At a scheduled stop in Pittsburgh on the morning of October 4th, the governor uplifted the vice presidential nominee and pivoted to reflect Roosevelt's attacks.

The laborers and immigrants of this country have become involved - really involved. I believe more than ever that our movement will succeed. The present promising conditions in the Democratic Party have been brought about by the fact that the Democratic Party under the leadership of Champ Clark has had the courage to be progressive and the intelligence to be sound in its Democracy. Congressman Clark is an honest and loyal force for the common man, and I will be thrilled to serve alongside him in Washington. He and I will fight on your behalf. On that, you have my word. [...] The president may not agree to the integrity of my campaign and of my person, but, to that I say, if being a competent journalist and a patriotic American can make a man persona non grata, I think I can endure the situation without a loss of sleep.

         William R. Hearst, "Address to Pittsburgh Steelworkers," October 4th, 1908

Hearst, in allying himself to journalism while Roosevelt did the opposite, polished his own image whilst simultaneously dragging down the president. The governor coined presidential hostility to the press as fundamentally toxic to the republic. He insinuated that Roosevelt felt more at home among the ranks of Senators Spooner and Aldrich than he did with average, working class reporters. The Journal's own reporting on the drawbacks of the Progressives' media narratives helped spread this message nationwide, resulting in definitive blow-back to the incumbent. This phenomenon, in addition Hearst's consistent defense of labor interests, strengthened the idea of Democracy as a beacon of governmental reform and transparency (a far cry from the party's perception four years prior). In this tactic, he began substantially peeling away former Roosevelt voters.
    

Literary Digest Poll
November 1908

Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.		40% Pop., 227 Electoral Votes, 20 States
William R. Hearst		32% Pop., 200 Electoral Votes, 21 States
Philander C. Knox		24% Pop., 062 Electoral Votes, 07 States
William D. Haywood		03% Pop., 000 Electoral Votes, 00 States
Other		01% Pop., 000 Electoral Votes, 00 States

Late-autumn polling exemplified the ever-tightening race, even though Roosevelt remained on top. Utilizing his media empire to the fullest extent, Hearst released one final expose on the administration one week before the election. In it, he described the economic conditions of New York, seeking to counter the prevailing narrative that Roosevelt single-handedly resolved the city budget predicament. The piece quoted from factory owners directly, demonstrating that austerity adversely affected the conditions for businesses as well as workers. "Two years in advance of the renowned recovery," the story read, "a quarter of the banks remain closed. Factories that once boomed with activity stood vacant. [..] Efforts by Mayor Shepard and Governor Hearst have generated economic growth as industry pushes on. It is undeniable that the federal government is no longer concerned with the state of New York nor its residents. The Roosevelt Administration continues to assert that the crisis ended in 1906 and will comment no further. Mr. Roy McMillan of McMillan Shipping says the treatment of New Yorkers by the president is despicable. 'The cowboy sailed into New York harbor, dropped some pennies in the coffers, smiled for the cameras, and moved on. No man worth his salt should stand for that.'"

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Senator Knox in Philadelphia, November 1st, 1908 - Source: Wiki Commons

On November 3rd, 1908, Election Day officially kicked off. President Theodore Roosevelt and First Lady Edith Roosevelt returned to their home at Sagamore Hill, exhausted from the tireless campaigning and anxious for the returns. He exhibited plucky confidence from afar and to the general public, but his private letters revealed a growing sense of doubt. To Kermit Roosevelt, his second son, the president wrote, "If things go wrong on election night, remember, Kermit, that we are very, very fortunate to have had four years in the White House, and that I have had a chance to accomplish work such as comes to very, very few men in any generation; and that I have no business to feel downcast merely because when so much has been given me, I have not had even more."

Of the three incumbent Progressive governors, Edward Hoch (P-KS), Jesse McDonald (P-CO), and Coe Crawford (P-SD),  none found success in corralling Republicans to sign off on vote tweaking measures a la 1904. Illinois Governor Yates had been replaced by Charles S. Deneen (R-IL): A rather conservative partisan apathetic to the presidential race. Deneen, despite pressure from some in-state officeholders, declined to repeat Yates' slick ballot maneuvering. Knox would be listed as the Republican, and, below that, Roosevelt as a Progressive. The Roosevelt Campaign was discouraged by that news, but felt assured that the their incumbency advantage would overrule ballot placement issues and overcome the headache of straight-ticket Republican voters.

The Hearst Campaign spent its final days along the campaign trail in Portland, Oregon and Sacramento, California, completing its coast-to-coast journey in the latter. Roosevelt's Golden State operation emitted radio silence in the closing weeks of the election, seemingly backpedaling in order to pull all available resources into the Midwest. The president himself did not set foot in any state along the West Coast. This, perhaps, allowed his chief rival an opportunity. As such, Hearst focused vehemently on reinvigorating disaffected progressive voters and former Bryan supporters to his side, enticing them with promises of a low tariff, intensified railroad regulation, and the disassembling of the trusts. Champ Clark helped drive these wedge issued in further, imploring all to vote Democratic down-ballot to rid Congress of its "Republican blight."

At last, on the evening of that fated day, statewide officials began tallying up the votes. Two curiosities made themselves evident before even 1% of the vote had been counted. First, Knox appeared to improve significantly on Depew's numbers on the Eastern seaboard, with the early count having him ahead in Pennsylvania. The Republican hadn't campaigned whatsoever beyond the Mississippi River, ceding the West to his competitors to contend with. In his determination, Knox could win by focusing entirely on the traditionally GOP-tilted states in the Midwest and Northeast (a strategy reminiscent of Benjamin Harrison in 1888) instead of embarking on a diluted, 48-state romp. Right off the bat, Knox's superior performance as compared to his Republican predecessor again exemplified the natural leverage granted to an office-seeker when engaging in whistle-stop style campaigning. The old front-porch method, from thence on, was dead.

A second feature of the early returns was the confirmation that Roosevelt held a distinct advantage in raw vote totals. As tallies were reported over the wire, the incumbent led in most districts and in plenty of towns and cities. This validated their hunch that the people still preferred Roosevelt over the field, and verified the opinion polling that mimicked this theory. The Literary Digest poll found the president with an estimated Popular Vote lead of 8 points over Hearst, an insurmountable win by any measure. Once the counting progressed and the complete picture came into focus, however, a handful of worrying signs began to show.

Senator Knox skillfully captured nearly all of New England (Maine went to Roosevelt). This was a stark change from the previous election, when Roosevelt narrowly defeated Chauncey Depew for Massachusetts. Boston, in a notable fashion, turned on the president and the rock-bound Republican population of the metropolitan area "returned home" to Knox. It seemed without the stench of failure (one familiar to Mr. Depew), the GOP proved to reassert control in its regional base. The Bay State, with all of its Electoral Votes, went to Knox by a margin of about 7%. Aside from the bastion of the Republican Eastern Establishment, only Utah fell to the Pennsylvanian. The well-funded Knox Campaign was ultimately unsuccessful in its mission, but it did indeed surpass 1904 figures in virtually every state. All in all, Knox finished in third place with 44 Electoral Votes to his name.

Unlike in Boston, the population of Trenton and Jersey City stuck with the president and propelled him to triumph in the Garden State. Hearst, by a slim margin, lost its coveted 12 Electoral Votes to the Progressive ticket. Senator Franklin Murphy (P-NJ) campaigned fiercely for Roosevelt in his home state, and the president's victory in New Jersey in 1908 is historically attributed to him. Pennsylvania also returned to the incumbent's arms. Following a long, hard-fought contest between all three major candidates, Roosevelt edged the opposition out. He finished with 36% to Knox's 34% and Hearst's 30%.  The Pennsylvanian countryside had been evenly divided, but an effort by the Roosevelt team in Philadelphia paid off as municipal workers leaned in Roosevelt's direction. Hearst invested a great deal of time and money into that community, so losing there was a major disappointment and sharply dimmed his presidential prospects.

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Governor Hearst (Left) Meets with Brooklyn Democratic Boss Patrick H. McCarren, October 1908 - Source: Wiki Commons

Back in 1904, Democratic candidate Richard Olney defeated Theodore Roosevelt in New York. In the election of 1908, Roosevelt suffered a similar abysmal loss. In no other region had the two leaders paid such close attention nor dedicate gargantuan sums and manpower. Hearst, however, proved that his ties to the Empire State remained a bit more potent. Even though Roosevelt had once served as their governor, New Yorkers, by and large, gave no particular favor to the Rough Rider over any other politician. Furthermore, Hearst's incessant printed criticism of the president's treatment of post-Panic New York City all but guaranteed that its residents turned out to cast their vote against the incumbent.

Governor Hearst, in his time serving as the gubernatorial executive of New York, also fostered an amiable relationship with the state Democratic machine. Through his anti-establishment rhetoric and investigation into John A. Dix, one may not have assumed that the state party respected the incumbent governor whatsoever, yet the new leadership rather fancied Hearst. Norman E. Mack was selected as Chairman of the New York Democratic Party in 1907. Like Hearst, Mack was an independently wealthy publisher and a populist, and the two effectively ushered in a new period for the state Democrats (dominated, of course, by Hearst). In utilizing ties to the vastly influential state machine, as well as questionable assistance from Tammany Boss Charles Francis Murphy, Hearst defeated Roosevelt by a 20,000-vote margin and, thereby, claimed the Empire State for the Democratic Party (the second consecutive time).

Despite his Western origins, Hearst was commonly cited as a Yankee New Yorker (especially upon his ascension to the Albany Executive Mansion). Some Progressives hoped that this would allow them an opportunity to shred a layer off of the Solid South. The Roosevelt Campaign particularly eyed West Virginia and Missouri as plausible targets. The former, of course, went to President Beveridge in 1900, and Missouri's margin of victory for the Democratic Party had shrunk in each successive election. As with New York and Massachusetts, the president came up short. There was simply no changing the tide of staunch Democracy in the Old South. Just as Richard Olney managed to accomplish, Bill Hearst won the entire South, including Maryland and Delaware.

Hearst struck hard to sway the populations of the Midwestern states, carrying a month-long tour of the region in early October. He spoke out in favor of worker-centric policies in the Ohio Valley and northward to Lake Superior. He, in fact, did quite well in terms of winning large portions of cities like Chicago and Indianapolis to his argument, but the extent to which Progressivism and the Republican roots of these regions dug deep into the populous could not be circumvented. In three-way votes, Roosevelt just narrowly won out. Like wind in his sails, middle-class voters fueled the president's good tidings in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Margins had tightened in Illinois, for instance, but his regional performance overall improved from four years ago. A clean sweep of the Industrial Midwest typically designated the direction of the election, yet the oft-ignored Western United States muddled that picture.

Four years ago, former President Bryan released an article praising the Progressive platform and its numerous proposals to improve the lives of workers and address the corrupting forces of corporations and unlawful trusts. That won over swathes of mugwump voters who otherwise were die-hard Democrats. In the election presently discussed, Bryan did not such thing. The Nebraskan actively campaigned against Roosevelt in 1908, describing the incumbent as insufficient for the issues of the day. He blasted the administration from all corners and held nothing back. To an unbeknownst soul at a Bryan rally, it was as if the orator himself was running against Roosevelt. It should not have been a surprise, then, that the Bryan voters who once switched affiliation to cast favor for the Progressive now returned to the fold. Knox, as a non-entity in the West, meant that most voters were either pro-Roosevelt or pro-Hearst. President Roosevelt (in losing Massachusetts) required all of the remaining states, in addition to two faithless electors, to reach the necessary threshold of 245 votes in the Electoral College. In the words of Thomas O'Conner, "That was a tough bet for any man, even one as nationally adored as Theodore Roosevelt."

The Progressive nominee succeeded in Washington state, the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, and Kansas. He prevailed in the latter three regions by the skin of this teeth, in margins hovering around 1-2%. Elsewhere, Hearst was triumphant. The Democrat won out in Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon, and, with 40% of the vote, California. Furthermore, Governor Hearst took the three former territories: Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona (each by hearty margins). Poorer agrarian workers, trusting in the judgement of former President Bryan, ran with the Democratic nominee and bolstered his efforts in the above Great Plains and Mountain states. Cities were a bit more divided, but organized labor supplied Hearst with a substantial voter pool in budding industrial centers like Colorado Springs. These victories, once verified, granted the governor an insurmountable lead in the Electoral Vote count.

Matching that of 1896, the final results were flabbergasting. The Democratic Party had returned from the oblivion and, with the mantle held aloft by Governor William R. Hearst, apparently succeeded in re-capturing the presidency after an eight-year interim. Hearst finished with 248 Electoral Votes while Roosevelt had a lowly 197. The challenger clearly played his hand correctly and set up his organization to the fullest extent. The one major obstacle to content with, especially as a self-aligned "man of the people," was Hearst's loss in the Popular Vote. Not since 1888 had a president been elected without a clear plurality in the raw vote, and, thus far, fortunes did not favor those presidents.

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The Election of 1908: Final Results

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1908 Congressional Elections      

Senate
Democratic: 49 (+9)
Republican: 33 (-10)
Progressive: 14 (+7)

House
Democratic: 182 (+17)
Republican: 115 (-38)
Progressive: 92 (+22)
Socialist: 3 (+1)
Independent: 1 (0)

  House of Representatives Leadership

Speaker William Sulzer (D-NY)
Minority Leader Thomas S. Butler (R-PA)
Minority Leader Wesley L. Jones (P-CA)
Minority Leader John C. Chase (S-NY)

Citizens of the United States cast their preference for Congress in tandem with the presidential race. With the admittance of Oklahoma, Arizona, and New Mexico as official states, residents in these former territories were able to cast their votes for congressional representation for the first time. Six seats were added to the U.S. Senate, and all came to be represented by Democratic officeholders.

Several prominent incumbents retired at the end of the 60th Congress, including Senators Thomas Platt, John Spooner, Levi Ankeny (R-WA), and Alfred B. Kittredge (R-SD). Their targeting in Phillips' Treason all but assured defeat, so these incumbents thought it best to leap out of Washington before they faced a mandated eviction. For those who dared to stay, Republican politicians representing non-New England states encountered long odds equaling that of 1906. Senator "Boss" Boies Penrose (R-PA) was defeated by the Columbian Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot, and moderate Jonathan P. Dolliver (R-IA) fell to Progressive Governor Albert Cummins. Furthermore, Republican nominees in New York, Wisconsin, Washington, and South Dakota all failed to replicate the respectable successes of their predecessors. All in all, only four non-New Englander Republican senators won re-election in 1908.

Republican incumbents were, overall, facing disadvantageous odds. Progressives and Democrats proved formidable foes, and in state after state, they knocked out the opposing GOP. This trend, first taking shape in 1906, continued unperturbed. In the House of Representatives, the former Republican majority lost 23 seats, plummeting their total delegation to a dreadful 115 (Their worst showing in eighteen years). Meanwhile, Democrats ballooned to 182. Easily acquiring the necessary 12 Progressive votes to assume majority status, Congressman William Sulzer was selected as the new House Speaker, Henry De Lamar Clayton, Jr. (D-AL) was chosen as Majority Leader, and Edwin Y. Webb (D-NC) became the new Majority Whip.

In California, sitting Republican Senator George Perkins once more opted to run for re-election. Perkins, a shipping industrialist now-competing for his fourth consecutive term in office, remained a favorite of the state Republican Party. He was re-nominated with no notable challengers. As for the general election, Perkins faced unlikely odds. He did manage to captivate a hearty 56% of the electorate in 1902 (the first direct senatorial election in California), but voters' affiliation with the GOP waned considerably since then. It all came down to a three-way race between Perkins, Democratic Customs Court Judge Marion De Vries and former Governor George Pardee. The latter candidate, a pioneer Progressive and close associate of President Roosevelt, ran on an anti-trust campaign aimed at the railroad industry. With De Vries and Perkins representing business interests, Pardee won many cross-over votes from Democrats who voted Hearst on the top-line. In the final tally, Pardee took 46% of the vote to De Vries' 30% and Perkins' 24%.

Southern populists, legitimized during the Bryan presidency and bolstered by their part in overthrowing Speaker Cannon in 1905, truly grew into their own at the tail-end of Roosvelt's presidency. They skillfully latched onto Governor Hearst's campaign, proving crucial regional allies to the presidential nominee. Populist Democrats never quite reached mainstream political appeal in the 1890s, unable to circumvent the hegemony of powerful, planter-appeasing conservatives. Hearst had reopened the door Bryan left shut, however, and his connections assisted in the rise of a new class of reformist Southern Democrats that came about in the 61st Congress.

Fellow publisher Josephus Daniels headed this novel Southern strategy, coordinating various disparate campaigns into a unified effort against "stale politics and careerist politicians." Professing adherence to progressive change for rural, working-class whites and a fight for anti-plutocratic measures (in addition to unadulterated white supremacy stoked up to a fever pitch), Daniels' work and his messaging became a staple among Democratic insurgents. Static incumbents typically unconcerned with re-election efforts found profound difficulty in retaining support from the electorate, and if primary elections had existed in the South, historians generally accede that business-oriented senatorial mainstays like Joseph F. Johnston (D-AL) would have suffered defeats to insurgent candidates. Though that it not to say that the incumbents were completely impervious.

Senator Alexander S. Clay (D-GA), a dyed-in-the-wool social and economic conservative, had sat in Congress as the Class 3 representative of his state since 1897. His re-nomination in 1902 went unopposed and he went on to defeat a long-shot Republican candidate with about 92% of the vote. Favorable tidings would not come so easily to Clay in this cycle. Former Populist Representative Thomas E. Watson explored his electoral prospects in challenging Senator Clay for his seat. Watson gained national recognition after being awarded the 1896 Populist vice presidential nomination, and since moved sharply toward white supremacy. He championed Bryan's re-election, and in 1908 the election of Governor Hearst. Eventually, prodded by Daniels and DNC Chair Johnson, Watson agreed to run for Senate.

Fascinatingly enough, even though Watson's economic ideology was to the left of his opponent, he campaigned as a strict social conservative. The Populist denounced Clay as a tool of corporate interests, but also hurled accusations of pro-Catholic and pro-integration sentiment from the incumbent (likely fabricated). Clay attempted to defend himself as an avid ally to his white constituency, but the Georgia Democratic Party chose not to risk re-nominating a potential race equalist. As thus, Watson won the inter-party war and strode to the winner's circle on Election Day. He was unopposed in the general election.

Similar environments led to two additional conservative Democrats losing election prospects to insurgent populists. Mississippi Senator Hernando D. Money, an amenable conservative and two-term incumbent, announced an intent to retire from political life prior to the state nominating festivities. At once, former Governor James K. Vardaman declared his interest in running for Senate. Vardaman, who referred to President Roosevelt on the campaign trail as a "little, mean, coon-flavored miscegenationalist," captivated the Mississippi Democrats and easily took the nomination and the election. Likewise, Representative Coleman Blease, running on a platform of economic populism and racial fear-mongering, took advantage of the refusal of incumbent Senator Frank Gary (D-SC) to run for a full term (He had won a special election to fill the vacancy of Asbury Latimer in February). In his own words, Blease "knew how to play on race, religious, and class prejudices to obtain votes." He did just that and won that election handily.

Senators Elected in 1908 (Class 3)

Joseph F. Johnston (D-AL): Democratic Hold, Unopposed
James P. Clarke (D-AR): Democratic Hold, 93%
**Henry F. Ashurst (D-AZ): Democratic Gain, 60%
**Marcus A. Smith (D-AZ): Democratic Gain, 61%
George C. Pardee (P-CA): Progressive Gain, 46%
John C. Bell (D-CO): Democratic Hold, 51%
Frank B. Brandegee (R-CT): Republican Hold, 75%
Duncan U. Fletcher (D-FL): Democratic Hold, Unopposed
Thomas E. Watson (D-GA): Democratic Hold, Unopposed
Henry Heitfeld (D-ID): Democratic Hold, 45%
William Lorimer (R-IL): Republican Hold, 48%
Charles W. Fairbanks (R-IN): Republican Hold, 46%
Albert B. Cummins (P-IA): Progressive Gain, 53%
Joseph L. Bristow (P-KS): Progressive Gain, 60%
James B. McCreary (D-KY): Democratic Hold, 54%
Samuel D. McEnery (D-LA): Democratic Hold, Unopposed
John W. Smith (D-MD): Democratic Gain, 52%
*James K. Vardaman (D-MS): Democratic Hold, Unopposed
William J. Stone (D-MO): Democratic Hold, 66%
Francis G. Newlands (D-NV): Democratic Hold, 54%
Jacob Gallinger (R-NH): Republican Hold, 56%
**Felix Martinez (D-NM): Democratic Gain, 53%
**Andrieus A. Jones (D-NM): Democratic Gain, 59%
William F. Sheehan (D-NY): Democratic Gain, 40%
Lee Overman (D-NC): Democratic Hold, 70%
John Burke (D-ND): Democratic Gain, 39%
Theodore E. Burton (R-OH): Republican Hold, 37%
**Robert L. Owen (D-OK): Democratic Gain, 67%
**Thomas Gore (D-OK): Democratic Gain, 61%
George E. Chamberlain (D-OR): Democratic Gain, 50%
Gifford Pinchot (P-PA): Progressive Gain, 39%
Coleman L. Blease (D-SC): Democratic Hold, Unopposed
Philo Hall (P-SD): Progressive Gain, 56%
Reed Smoot (R-UT): Republican Hold, 63%
William P. Dilingham (R-VT): Republican Hold, 69%
*Carroll S. Page (R-VT): Republican Hold, 66%
William W. McCredie (P-WA): Progressive Gain, 48%
Isaac Stephenson (P-WI): Progressive Gain, 59%

*Special Election
** New State

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William R. Hearst, 29th President of the United States - Source: Wiki Commons

Part 5: Meet the Modern Cleon

Chapter XV: Savior or Satan: Yellow Reform in the Age of Hearst

Once all presidential election results were finalized, the anti-Hearst forces were incensed. Governor William R. Hearst was confirmed to have surpassed the necessary threshold in the Electoral College whilst losing the Popular Vote to President Theodore Roosevelt. Cynical observers of American political history insist that the separation of the Electoral Vote with the true will of the electorate is a rare phenomenon that only occurs due to flagrant political corruption. All previous beneficiaries of such elections, Presidents John Q. Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Benjamin Harrison, were stained with the ink of malfeasance (and each only served a single term in office).

Governor Hearst and his presidential campaign operatives brushed off the uproar. His late-game strategy targeted state populations most receptive to the message of a renewed Democracy and anti-Roosevelt sentiment, and that limited range meant reducing the amount of resources going into states like Pennsylvania and Illinois. New York, for example, had been a natural fountain of bounty for the Democratic challenger, and his defenders professed that the Empire State win was a result of Hearst's successful governorship and gradual disillusionment and division amongst the opposition. Still, Hearst only won that state by about 20,000 votes, and his connections to Tammany Hall raised eyebrows. Accusations of vote-buying and fraudulent reporting from Manhattan, Bronx, and Brooklyn-based polling places rose about shortly following the state's quick decision to grant Hearst all 39 Electoral Votes. It did not sit well with the Progressives, nor the Republicans, but an absence of proof meant they had to accept the election as valid.

President Roosevelt never stressed electoral fraud, nor did he indicate an interest in seriously contesting the results in New York or Massachusetts. For the departing Columbian leader, Hearst won in a legitimate manner and it would seem childish to contend with that fact. In a letter the president authored to Vice President Taft, he wrote "I am comforted in the knowledge that we have retained plural support these past four years. I believe I shall enjoy retirement." Although he fell a bit short of beating the Democrats to a frazzle, the National Progressives remained on the up-and-up in all segments of the country - winning more raw votes in the total congressional vote count than either the Democratic or Republican parties. Progressives certainly had a viable political future, yet it was hardly easy in 1909 to picture a cohesive pathway to the presidency without Roosevelt at the helm.

As the incumbent departed for an excursion to Africa and the Republican Party leadership licked their wounds, the Democrats were overjoyed in a manner unseen since Bryan's 1896 victory. Defeating the undefeatable president appeared a task too heavy for any worthwhile opponent, but Hearst had apparently done it. The New York Journal and other Hearst publications granted commiserations to the competition and respectfully expressed gratitude for a hard-fought election. What they did not do moving forward, however, was refrain from political attacks directed at now-exiting President Roosevelt. All throughout the Hearst presidency, whenever economic conditions seemed unsteady or trust reorganizers implanted their consolidations on American industry, the prime target of the Journal would remain Roosevelt and his presidential shortcomings.

Taking place in the shadow of an overnight winter storm, the March 4th swearing-in ceremony for William R. Hearst was relocated indoors. The blizzard had pummeled Washington with over ten inches of snow and made travel arrangements rather precarious for the Hearst supporters yearning to be present. Despite the weather, the standard festivities held out and huge amounts of attendees barreled into the city to hear from the new president. As Arthur Whiting’s “Our Country” March quieted down, the speeches commenced.

Perhaps some onlookers expected Bryan-like optimism and a hopeful tone not unlike preceding inaugural addresses, as surely, they believed, the aggression exhibited by Hearst was a facet limited to campaigning. Those who hypothesized the above were mistaken. Now-President Hearst took little time to thank supporters or speak to the historical nature of the inauguration, and instead dove headfirst into feverish, aggressive policy talk and further criticism of his political opponents. As reporters later wrote, "...it made Roosevelt's [Inaugural] seem mundane."

I have only to repeat what I have said in my speeches. I am enlisted in this fight against the control of the government by the trusts and corrupt corporations and I will fight it to the end. But I will serve, just exactly as the people desire, and as earnestly and loyally to do my best to promote the interests of my fellow citizens.

Hitherto both parties have been largely controlled by the large corporations that speculate in public officials in order to be able to appropriate public property and to secure special privileges. These corrupt corporations have worked in favor of the Republican Party, but have controlled the machinery of the Democratic Party in order prevent the latter party from becoming a menace to the special interests. This year, the democratic masses repudiated the paid agents of the trusts and attorneys of corrupt corporations and drove them from control of the political process.

Democracy was started for the positive purpose of giving the people an opportunity to vote for American principles, for the democracy of Jefferson and the republicanism of Lincoln and for a candidate free from corporate control. The mere overthrow of one boss is invariably followed under our present system by the substitution of another boss equally evil. To accomplish the permanent destruction of all bosses it is necessary to attack and eliminate the system yunder which bosses thrive.

The working man and the slum child know they can expect my best efforts in their interests. The decent, ordinary citizens know I will do everything in my power to protect the underprivileged and the underpaid. I hope the people will believe me wholly and absolutely sincere when I say my only object in being in this campaign is to serve them. As your elected official, I will seek to remove the government from the hands of the corporations who use it for their private profit, and restore it to the hands of the people, to be conducted for the public good.

         William R. Hearst, Inaugural Address Excerpt, March 4th, 1909

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William Hearst with Arthur Brisbane (Right) - September 19th, 1908 - Source: Wiki Commons

If his inaugural address had been any indication, newly admitted President Hearst prepared to conduct all-out war against the corporate Colossus and its soulless endorsees in government. This was his plainly constructed line in the sand. Hearst, after all, was not elected on a platform of mediation and moderation, but repudiation. From all accounts, working out compromised solutions with Washington fossils did not once enter his mind. The plutocratic conspiracy, in Hearst’s conceptualized reality, had its tentacles in each major party and would block all intentions to truly curb its power.

Therefore, Hearst searched for loyal colleagues in Congress readied to fight that fight. Fortunately for the incoming leader, the Democrats possessed majority coalitions in both houses of Congress. Furthermore, a fair number of Progressives expressed a willingness to work alongside Hearst's leadership if it meant passing genuine reform (a reverse of the early-Roosevelt coalition). Promptly upon the swearing-in, Hearst and Clark called on state leaders to begin the process of fostering cordial alliances with every sect of the party. Bringing conservatives into the fold would prove troublesome, but the new administration believed that an abundance of peer pressure from fellow Democrats would, inevitably, lead to a lowering of barriers.

In order to forge these tenuous alliances, the most prominent segments of the Hearst Campaign reorganized themselves into a logistical operation. High-ranking officials within the campaign were not noteworthy politicians, but instead publishers, newspapermen, and press bureau officers. Hearst's chief campaign manager, amicable Journal editor Arthur Brisbane, orchestrated a continuation of their wine-and-dine electoral strategy that appealed to the campaign's political supporters. Close advisors and friends to the media magnate cultivated plausible allies all throughout the election. Now they hoped their proven tactic would assist in garnering congressional support. Speaker Sulzer whipped up Democratic fervor for President Hearst in the House, Secretary of the Senate Democratic Caucus Robert Owen (D-OK) engineered a united front in the Senate, and Brisbane's men wooed any loose ends. "They offered lavish gifts," biographer Travis Cary wrote of the technique, "of solid-gold pins, restaurant vouchers, and other valuable trinkets to the guests. Money was in no short supply for the Hearst empire, and if flaunting his wealth led to personal gratification, he endured the heavy investment."

He similarly hoisted together a varied Cabinet selection made up of the varied Democratic tendencies which propelled Hearst to the White House. Reaching out to the Midwestern sect of Democrats, those heavily influenced by Bryan Democracy, meant granting noteworthy positions to representatives from such states. Reformist Governor Joseph W. Folk (D-MO) was designated the new Interior Secretary and Iowan Farmer's Tribune author Edwin Meredith became the new Secretary of Agriculture. Former Nebraskan Governor Silas A. Holcomb (D-NE), a reform-minded Bryan Democrat and one-time Chief Justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court, was granted Attorney General.

Likewise, the Southern Democrats could not be ignored. Hearst needed to cement ties with and redress the old bastion of Democratic politics if he meant to enact oft professed change. Therefore, Southern Populist Milford Howard (D-AL) was provided Postmaster General and that of War Secretary fell to an additional Dixie politician. An operative in Jeff Davis' Southern Strategy component of the Hearst Campaign, John Nance Garner (D-TX), an incumbent representative and noted champion of the income tax amendment, was personally phoned by the incoming president regarding the offer. Hearst's fond relationship with the socially conservative, pro-segregation Garner did not sit well with many of his Northern supporters, but they acceded that the selection was tactically wise.

The brunt of the Cabinet was, however, made up of Hearst's allies and Northern Democrats. New Jersey-born shipbuilder and naval architect Lewis Nixon was chosen by the new president to serve as Navy Secretary. Nixon, a frequent DNC delegate and Bryan supporter, served as a skillful regional advisor to William Hearst in the latter part of the campaign. So-called "Father of the Bronx" Louis F. Haffen was Hearst's choice for Treasury Secretary. Haffen had been the sitting Borough President of that district and consulted often with Governor Hearst in adequately managing that part of New York City.

President Hearst, for the role of Secretary of State, wished to nominate either New York Country District Attorney Clarence J. Shearn, Governor Thomas L. Hisgen (D-MA), or Senator William J. Stone. The latter option previous served in that role under President Bryan, but he eventually declined to serve in the Hearst Administration (which he privately distrusted per his personal memoirs). After a lengthy discussion and insistence by the National Democratic Committee to avoid accusations of administrative nepotism, Hearst settled on former House Speaker John J. Lentz to fill that spot.

The Hearst Cabinet

Office		Name
President		William Randolph Hearst
Vice President		James B. 'Champ' Clark
Sec. of State		John J. Lentz
Sec. of Treasury		Louis F. Haffen
Sec. of War		John Nance Garner
Attorney General		Silas A. Holcomb
Postmaster General		Milford W. Howard
Sec. of the Navy		Lewis Nixon
Sec. of Interior		Joseph W. Folk
Sec. of Agriculture		Edwin T. Meredith

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There's something disturbingly Trumpian about the idea of a media magnate promising to take on special interests for the good of the common people.

Populism certainly takes on some strange forms

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Speaker of the House William 'Plain Bill' Sulzer, 1909 - Source: Wiki Commons

Hearst's platform and that of the Democratic Party in 1908 called for broad shifts in the economic climate of the United States. DNC delegates universally adopted a platform containing a slew of varying proposals to protect the interests of American citizens. It addressed the need to secure anti-monopoly legislation, opposed centralized government, and espoused favor for an income tax bill. Hearst counted on more radical alterations to existing statute, like instituting public ownership of the railroads, but he was not blind to the fact that Democrats would be hard-pressed to pass such ideas. As such, when the new session of Congress first met that March, he acquiesced to their request to pass judgement on one specific matter that united the whole of the party.

Speaker William Sulzer, following his ascension to House leader, was, for all intents and purposes, the eyes and ears of the Hearst Administration in the lower legislature. The middle-aged populist did not possess the same sense of political power once held by Czar Reed and Joseph Cannon (the powers of Speaker were considerably reduced during the 1905 House Revolt), but it would be inaccurate to assert that the House Speaker was not an incredibly influential force in Congress. More so than simply leading standard governmental proceedings, Sulzer and Majority Whip Edwin Webb worked incessantly to corral Democrats in line behind the Hearst agenda. Some did express an inclination to do so upon much cajoling, yet, overall, congressional Democrats did not leap at the opportunity to surrender their legislative authority to the upstart president. As Representative Choice B. Randell (D-TX) reportedly stated at the dawn of the 61st Congress, "If [Hearst] expects us to roll over in submission, he is in for a rude awakening. The legislature is independent, and always shall be.”

Congressional Democrats desired an alternate starting point: one that waved off Hearst's proposals. Under tremendous pressure by a population seeking fairer trade parameters and lower prices in the wake of the 1906 Panic, a majority in Congress looked to tackle tariff legislation first and foremost. During the previous session, Senator La Follette led a contingent of Senate Progressives to draft a bill calling for a bipartisan tariff commission (an idea once applauded by the late President Beveridge). It never managed to reach the floor of the Senate for debate, but the initiative showed that the appetite for tariff reform was present. With tariff rates at an all-time high moving into 1909, Democrats eagerly awaited an opportunity to reverse the trend with the assistance of a select few Progressives.

By April of 1909, the Democrats had drafted and introduced tariff legislation in the House of Representatives. Congressman Winfield S. Hammond (D-MN) authored the greater part of the bill and extensively spoke to its merits as it became the first piece of legislation put forward in the new Democratic Congress. It sharply reduced tariff rates on all products, including consumer items like wool, to figures unseen in a generation. "The focus in the debate," wrote Thomas O'Conner, "had not been protecting American industry and manufacturers as had been the norm in Republican-led tariff discussions. Democrats changed the narrative to focus in on serving consumers themselves, with allies like La Follette famously questioning the motives of the Republican opposition. How is it that a higher tariff protected Americans, the senator asked, when factory workers cannot afford the very products they produce?"

A key section in the Hammond bill was the institution of an inheritance tax. With the authorization of the 17th Amendment in early 1909, Congress was now granted the ability to sign off on legislation expanding the tax code to affect incomes and inheritances. Progressives and most Democrats argued that the lowering of the tariff necessitated an equivalent method to accumulate national capital. If duties were not levied on foreign goods entering the United States, it made sense to expand taxation on wealthy estates. House Republicans, as one may imagine, were appalled by this proposal. They refuted the argument with standard defenses of the high tariff, exclaiming that the existence of the current rates were not to blame for the economic contraction in 1906 nor any recent price hikes. Minority Leader Thomas Butler led the opposition. In this, he urged Congress amend the bill to rid the inheritance clause and replace it with a "fair and even-handed" corporate income tax.

As debate pressed on through April and into May, President Hearst began speaking a bit more off-the-cuff regarding his feelings on congressional (in)action. Having continued the press-friendly policies of President Roosevelt, Hearst routinely invited his publisher associates and reputable reporters, deemed suitable by the president’s personal press managers, into the White House. Hearst, speaking candidly, commonly relayed his thoughts to the press corps. "The delay is reprehensible and irresponsible,” he stated. ”I'd replace half of [Congress] with livestock and we'd have this finished much sooner."

The Republican filibuster began to break down in mid-May as Progressives stood their ground as part of the Democratic coalition (often accredited to a brief, one-on-one meeting between Speaker Sulzer and the affable Progressive Minority Leader Wesley Jones). Much of the Progressive delegation did not stake out a position on the tariff issue, and those who once favored a high tariff emphasized the importance of preserving an inheritance tax to achieve a small slice of economic equality. With only several adjusting amendments, the bill passed through the House on May 18th (271 to 122) and moved onto the Senate. Considering Democrats held a 49-seat majority in the upper house, the leading party would not encounter the same resistance they once did in the lower house. A handful of reports speculated that conservative Senator Bailey planned to launch a crusade against the inheritance tax, but this never came to pass as the Senate passed the bill, 61 to 35.

With that, the Hammond Tariff Act became law, and rates were reduced for the first time in fifteen years. The establishment of the inheritance tax was also quite historic, bringing forward a form of taxation that concentrated specifically on the very wealthy. Hearst and Sulzer were overjoyed, and Democratic-friendly publications ran stories speculating on the prosperous future of the new administration. This victory and the promise of cordial relations with Congress seemed to indicate that the Democratic Party had finally managed to escape its reputation as a turbulent, factional, and untrustworthy political organization. To the misfortune of the president, however, the road ahead would only get bumpier.

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Rogers Cartoon Depicting Hearst Struggling with the Democratic Party, June 2nd, 1909 - Source: HarpWeek

The Hearst Administration considered the passage of the Hammond Tariff a tremendous success and, as previous inferred, it was lauded by the president as a sign of things to come. With the tariff question supposedly settled, the impatient leader instructed his allies in Congress seek progress in the fields he cared most for. Judging by Hearst’s campaign and inaugural speech, matters of labor disputes and anti-trust measures were deemed significant, but he seemed far more intent on reforming the political system itself. As thus, on May 6th, shortly following its passage of the tariff, the House leadership brought forth an ambitious legislative package to the floor collectively dubbed the “Civic Liability” bills.

Hearst wrote to Congress and described in-depth his view that legislation promoting purer republicanism necessitated urgent action. His take on a Square Deal-style program held several monumental proposals that sought to totally change the trajectory of American democracy, political campaigning, and transparency. "In the fight against corporate corruption," he wrote, "it is pivotal we wrest the conduct of public affairs from the hands of selfish interests, political tricksters, and corrupt bosses. The government must serve the people and the people alone, and our duty is to guarantee this promise. I ask of Congress to pass legislation centered at expelling the black cloud of malfeasance from atop Washington."

Out of every item listed in Hearst's Civic Liability plan, perhaps the most contentious and consequential was a stipulation mandating federal oversight of all electoral donations. The idea essentially mirrored Hearst’s push as governor to prohibit corporate contributions to campaign expenses. This included a Cabinet-level board within the Department of Justice to monitor donations, guidelines for how all federal candidates must report their campaign earnings, and strict limitations for how much an individual or corporation could donate to a single candidate or organization. Its text detailed a method of enforcement, cited disclosure requirements, and did not exempt state primary elections. In short, it was meant to tackle corporate influence in the democratic process and provide for greater transparency.

The second component to Civic Liability included noteworthy proposals relating to electoral procedure on the federal and state level. One piece of the puzzle had been a resolution calling for all major parties to conduct public primaries for their political candidates for office: demanding it as a prerequisite for all elected officials to be viewed as legitimate. Hearst's sweeping legislative package also contained an outline to secure the rights of Americans to invoke a recall vote for all officeholders and, furthermore, demand referendum votes on statewide issues. None of these ideas had a modicum of support in Congress, and the latter two fell into a legal grey area concerning their Constitutionality. From the reveal of the recall plan, for instance, legal publications began questioning whether the Supreme Court would be forced to involve itself in settling the rights of voters to impose qualifications on federal officials.

Speaker Sulzer read aloud Hearst's letter to the legislature. Shouting over a mixed reception, he preceded to direct the rather uninterested House delegation to support these initiatives they otherwise opposed. The House leader echoed the president's position and urged the speedy adoption of the proposals. Needless to say, Congress was wholly unhappy with the direction President Hearst was plowing ahead with.

House Republicans were bewildered by it all. They fully anticipated labor issues to come at the forefront, and the GOP had already worked out a defense of the status quo in that regard. Few expected the president to come forward with a plan to alter huge portions of the entire electoral system and allow citizens to recall anyone at will. Prim and proper (Thomas) Butler fastened in for the ride and headed the resistance effort as he had done during the tariff debates. What frankly surprised the minority leader, who, by all accounts, counted himself out as an ineffective commander of legislative debate, was the sudden breakdown of the Sulzer Coalition and the expansion of anti-administration sentiment.

        Jay R. Morgan, The American Elephant: A Study of the Republican Party , 1980

Reaction was swift and unforgiving, and proved far more volatile than anything seen in Congress in contemporaneous memory. What began as criticism of the program as a "jumbled mess of Unconstitutional hogwash," colorfully described as such by Representative Randell, quickly devolved into broader critiques of the Hearst Administration and the president's misunderstanding of the political system. As Ways and Means Committee Chairman Oscar W. Underwood (D-AL) remarked during congressional debate, "The President of the United States does not write the law, nor can he override the Constitution. The federal government is not one of his newspapers to be ordered around." Progressive Charles H. Burke (P-SD), a member of that delegation who broke with the Democratic-Progressive coalition, flatly stated his reasoning for opposition. "He has no mandate."

Debate escalated into more of an uproar that Sulzer painstakingly put down time and time again. Detractors from the Democratic and Progressive aisles joined a unified GOP resistance and significantly damaged the chances of passing even one segment of the Civic Liability program. During discussions pertaining to the Keliher Bill, the (aforementioned) campaign funding reform measure named for co-author Representative John A. Keliher (D-MA), machine-beloved and corporate-friendly politicians held nothing back in verbally beating the supporters into submission. The idea that the federal government would monitor and discredit certain types of campaign funds especially did not sit well with conservative Southern Democrats. "The South will riot if Washington tries to tell us how to run our campaigns!" one congressman was heard shouting on the floor.

Hearst fought back, decrying hostile Democrats as "dimwitted" and "mindless servants of the trusts." He, as well as the Hearst press, keenly directed attention to Representative Underwood, deeming the conservative Alabaman a, "Plutocratic Pied Piper, attracting the very worst of Democracy." The Journal printed a series of articles throughout 1909 and 1910 critiquing the motives of those opposed to the Keliher Bill, digging into their histories and unearthing connections to state machines and corporate interests. If none were found, the editor simply fabricated an element to the story to press the point. This occurred so frequently, and singled-out so many adversaries of Hearst's program, that it drove former President Roosevelt to comment on the affair. As he penned in a correspondence with Taft, "If Hearst succeeds in this devilish yellow reform, and does so with intimidation and ruthlessness, I fear for the future of our country and our democracy."

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Internal View of the House of Representatives during the Keliher Bill Vote, August 5th, 1909 - Source: Wiki Commons

By July of 1909, the House of Representatives had debated and passed nearly two dozen amendments to the Keliher Bill. The legislature gutted key components to the legislation, removing controversial portions relating to the regulation of expenses raised for primary bouts and the opening of loopholes in the type of funding that was required to be reported to federal officials. Speaker Sulzer and the bulk of the Progressive and Democratic delegations fought against altering the bill, yet in successive slim votes, these amendments passed to whittle the measure down to its bare bones. Now expertly edited to lessen the effectiveness of enforcing campaign contribution fairness, it appeared to the president and his base that Congress had torn apart the first meaningful attempt at sweeping campaign reform in a generation.

Sulzer articulated to the president his absolute certainty that the vote remained promising, citing numerous, encouraging meetings with fellow congressmen leery, albeit open, of the concept of governmental transparency. He assuaged Hearst's fears over the amendment procedure and upheld the notion that it was the natural course of Congress to make the bill more appetizing to political moderates. Resisting an all-or-nothing approach was fundamental to dismantling cries of tyranny from the anti-Hearst Republicans, and compromising was necessary if the administration hoped to defeat growing Democratic opposition in the Senate to Hearst's agenda. In a worrying development, Senator Bailey forcefully rallied against the Keliher Bill since the introduction of the Civic Liability program. In order to have any chance at reforming the system, Sulzer implored, the president needed to concede the rigidity of his program.

As the day drew nearer when the House prepared to call for a final vote on Keliher, President Hearst learned from his senatorial allies that the steadily rising Bailey opposition now attracted 14 Democrats in total. Speculating ahead to a vote in the upper chamber, Senator Owen concluded that if every Progressive and all remaining Democrats voted approvingly on the bill, the majority would constitute a frighteningly perilous 49 votes (the slimmest possible margin for passage). In other words, if the rumors held, Bailey's reactionary movement would need to stall completely for Hearst to come out on top. That did not sit well with those House Democrats wary of alienating their corporate donors and ties to state machines, and it absolutely jeopardized the entire operation.

Representative Webb assured Hearst that they had enough support to pass the measure, and proceeding to a final vote was the correct position. According to congressional biographer Jason Sullivan, "Webb put his position and career on the line, guaranteeing an outcome that could soften senatorial opposition and present the president with a serious accomplishment to add to his legacy. The Hammond Tariff, having been only partially birthed by the administration, was more so viewed as a Democratic victory - not a Hearst victory. Lowering the tariff was a subject with which nearly every Democrat concurred. Securing a campaign promise was far more important to the leader who made his political fortune through positive press coverage."

At zero hour, following Sulzer's final consultation with Webb, the final tally commenced. Democratic spirits were high as members of the 61st House cast their votes. However, the mood abruptly darkened as the entire Alabama delegation voted against the Keliher bill. 9 Democratic Nay votes quickly became 13, then 17. Several Midwestern Democrats submitted abstentions, including Illinois Representatives James T. McDermott (D-IL), Henry T. Rainey (D-IL), and Martin Foster (D-IL). As it turned out, Webb's information was not entirely accurate. This miscalculation by the leadership, perhaps a simple tallying error or an unanticipated change-of-heart by a select few Democrats, cost the administration dearly. The Keliher Bill was defeated, 185-205-7, humiliating Edwin Webb, William Sulzer, and, more so than anyone, President Hearst.

As the president well knew, the failed vote relegated not only the rather milquetoast reform bill to the scrap heap, but too the ambitious Civic Liability program. Any hope of reconciliation was finished. Regardless of months of debate and endless amendments, the bill failed miserably. Hearst, never one to abandon a grudge, tackled the issue head-on. He released a blistering criticism of Congress upon the end of its first session on August 5th, centering his rage on disloyal Democrats and disruptive Republicans alike. Any anger that had been repressed by Sulzer and Webb exploded to the front-page of the Hearst papers. It was as if he shifted back into a campaign mode, enlightening his base with a thundering sermon.

According to American principle and practice, the public is the ruler of the State. I fear that may no longer be the case. The political machines have taken complete control over the government of the United States. Progress is impossible under these conditions. [...] Congress has rejected the people's demand to repudiate the trusts and the corrupt corporations. We asked of Congress to rebuke corrupting influence, to adhere to the doctrine of the Republic, and that deliberative body has dishonorably turned away. Therefore, as promised, I will see to it that the Justice Department arranges for the indictment, prosecution, and conviction of the bosses who stand in our way. They will be imprisoned, and our nation will be restored.

         William R. Hearst, "A Response to Congress", New York Journal, August 15th, 1909

As Hearst raised the stakes in the fight for his vision of a purer democracy and his congressional allies attempted to restart negotiations pertaining to campaign finance reform, some Democrats considered breaking from Sulzer's leadership and demanding a new speaker election be held. Others, including Progressive moderates, hoped to sew up the wounds and build toward a compromise in order to forestall a midterm backlash. In the midst of the post-session turmoil and directly subsequent to the president's printed rebuttal, a report was released by The New York Times that sent the Hearst Administration into a frenzy.

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Headquarters of Tammany Hall on East 14th Street, c. 1908 - Source: Wiki Commons

Chapter XVI: Crimes Against the People: The Manhattan Scandal

On September 2nd, 1909, an editorial was printed in that morning's issue of The New York Times containing a rather revealing exposé of the William R. Hearst Campaign. The story was published by an anonymous author, a man purportedly close to the central organizing machine of the presidential candidate. Lettered beside the editorial was an emboldened statement warning the reader that the allegations contained in the text could not be substantiated. Exploring several facets of the Hearst Campaign, the piece covered one individual's personal experience from Hearst's gubernatorial campaign, to the Democratic National Convention, and through the general election. What had caught the public's eye and generated the most controversy had been a curious section devoted to the campaign's complex New York State operation.

According to the author, the legendary and rather infamous Society in St. Tammany functioned as a mantelpiece of fraudulent activity for the benefit of the Democratic Party and then-Governor Hearst. Tammany Hall had lone-since played a role in commanding Democratic Party politics in New York and symbolizing the textbook example of a "political machine." At about the turn of the century, however, it had gone through a marked transformation of public perception. Tammany was previously known as a mighty, exploitative force under the leadership of "Grand Sachems" William M. Tweed in the 1860s and Richard Croker in the 1880s and 90s, but the political machine had undergone a significant facelift. Its Bryan-inspired leaders hoped to renovate the institution's poor reputation by implementing progressive reforms and uplifting the five boroughs. Charles Francis Murphy maintained leadership of Tammany Hall in this period, and he nourished a cozy relationship with Hearst upon the latter's ascension to the Governor's Mansion in 1906.

Murphy looked to scrub clean the pressure group of any remnants of Croker's minions and revitalize Democracy in the Empire State. He seemed to accomplish just that by the early 1900s, with most local publications acknowledging Tammany's newfound respectability. Boss Murphy, albeit initially suspicious of his intentions and vocally preferring a more level-headed nominee in the 1906 gubernatorial race, did come around to support Hearst against Hughes. The new governor introduced to the Democratic boss his comrades-in-arms, including Joseph Willicombe, Clarence J. Shearn, and Lewis S. Chanler, Hearst's personal secretary, attorney, and lieutenant governor respectively. Shearn, in particular, worked closely with Murphy in finessing borough governments to acquiesce to Governor Hearst's reformist policies, and, as later noted in the Times piece, the Grand Sachem began walking back his pledge to purify the halls of East 14th Street.

The anonymous writer alleged that in the weeks leading up to the election, as Hearst campaigned vigorously in California, Charles Murphy and state party Chairman Norman Mack consciously selected "men they trusted and confided in" to monitor polling places and volunteer to count votes on Election Day. These individuals, named in the article as "Tammany Rats," signed up as either independents or members of an opposing political party in order to present a guise of customary non-partisanship. The author asserted that Brooklyn Boss Patrick McCarren and Bronx President Louis Haffen played central roles in their boroughs' operation to fulfill this task, apparently made evident with Democratic returns far outpacing historical trends. Shearn was allegedly involved, as were Chanler, Willicombe, and perhaps Hearst himself. "The conspiracy to commit city-wide voter fraud," read the article, "spread far and wide, with all of its tentacles originating from Tammany Hall and the Hearst Campaign." If true, these voting irregularities may have flipped the state of New York (won by Hearst by a mere 20,000 votes).

This tale validated the assorted claims of voter fraud initially asserted by Republicans at the time of the final electoral count. Back when the results were first announced, a slew of Republicans and Progressives came forward with accusations of vote-buying in New York City. Roosevelt, at the time, refused to contest these results, likely considering the controversy a side effect of the Popular Vote loss. Now, as new evidence came to light, those who cried foul back in November of 1908 were seemingly justified. At a time when the Republican Party was at its lowest point in a generation, the Times story validated their claims and significantly bolstered their image.

For the most part, Democrats on the national stage ignored the article. It was written by an anonymous source, with no tangible evidence to back up any of the accusations. Even Hearst's most vicious opponents in Congress had little interest in playing ball with a baseless editorial featurette. "It's unsubstantiated," stated Representative Underwood. "If further information is uncovered, my office will request a detailed analysis." President Hearst, meanwhile, laughed off the story as irrelevant filth and lambasted its author as cowardly for refusing to come forward with his or her identity. He stopped short of criticizing the newspaper itself, recognizing the danger and frank foolishness of targeting a fellow newspaper chain, but he did hint his disfavor with the story for its unsubstantiated nature.

The splash of that first article did not appear to ripple. In the hay-day of yellow journalism it was not uncommon for sensationalized or fabricated stories to pop into the public consciousness. Politicians were naturally the easiest targets. Only the most adventurous Republicans declared the anonymous editorial worthy of increased investigation, and even they were mostly disregarded by the congressional press corp. [...] When the second and third letters were published, initially thought to be from the same author, it gave more credence to the allegations. The affair did not bode well for Hearst, and it bode worse for a post-Croker Tammany organization looking to restore its image.

         Robert Espejo, Breaking News: The Role of Journalism in Washington, 2003

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Treasury Secretary Louis F. Haffen, c. 1908 - Source: Wiki Commons

House Republicans claimed outrage at the release of the third consecutive Times article, demanding Congress open an investigation into the matter without delay. Acting in unison, members of the GOP named the successive articles as legitimate and called upon Speaker Sulzer to adhere to their plea. Representative Frank D. Currier (R-NH), the typically meek and soft-spoken House Republican Conference Chairman, broke decorum to demand the very same. He verbally assaulted the Democratic leader for hindering a bipartisan vote to adequately examine the Manhattan Scandal, and for this was loudly heckled by his pro-Hearst colleagues "How are we meant to legislate, Currier was later recorded pondering, "when we have this shadow darkening the halls of Congress?"

Senator Fairbanks, effectively the chief Senate Republican ringleader in the 61st Congress, concurred with the House minority delegation and likewise called upon the Democratic Party to thoroughly inspect the affair. Republicans generally rallied behind this motif from late 1909 onward as flashes of evidence began building up. They cited the initial editorials in the early days of the kerfuffle, but soon adopted the words of former New York Mayor Seth Low who expressed his own feeling that Tammany had resorted to its old tricks. "Tammany Hall and the New York State Democratic Party are one in the same," Low argued. ”They are and always have been a criminal enterprise. I believe an investigation will reveal this to be the case, which is why they oppose it.” Progressives similarly sought to learn the truth of the controversy. As it became evident that nothing further could be done legislatively to promote their goals, an overwhelming majority of Columbians in both the House and Senate stood beside the Republicans in their demands for federal insight.

Sulzer refused to budge. Flatly refusing to proceed with such an investigation, he uncompromisingly blocked any motion related to the scandal. The bulk of House Democrats reluctantly agreed with their leader, again finding it unsuitable to investigate an unverifiable state matter. The consistent rallying cry from fierce pro-Hearst defenders in the House was to restate the president's own words: Insofar as the original author refuses to come forward, their material is not credible. Some Democrats, Underwood among them, broke from the pack and requested written testimony from Governor Chanler, exiting Mayor Ed Shepard, and leaders of the five boroughs. Unwilling to associate themselves with a political faction teetering on the brink of obscurity, these conservatives implored all parties be cooperative in order to prove their innocence.

Simultaneously, as anti-Hearst forces converged in Congress during its second session, a new element was introduced. John J. Baker, a former staffer to the municipal administration of Mayor Shepard, personally attested to his knowledge of fraudulent activities in a statement he signed and submitted to Harper's Weekly. He reinforced much of the original letter's allegations and confirmed the use DNC intimidation tactics to favor Hearst's nomination. In addition to this, Baker seconded the notion that Willicombe, Shearn, and Chanler each had their "unkempt paws tied up at the mayor's office." The staffer, although he did not expand upon the original author's assertions regarding fraudulent voting practices in the presidential election, singled-out Louis Haffen as the party most likely to pursue such a method. "[Haffen] coerced state delegates into voting Hearst at the convention. For this he was gifted power over our nation's finances. [...] Who is to say he did repeat that nefarious task at Bronx precincts?"

With the congressional midterm in sight, President Hearst tried to alter the prevailing narrative.  Publicly, Hearst continued to brush off the incessant negativity laid at his campaign's feet. Privately, he issued to his media empire an order to print headlines critical of prominent Republicans and anti-Hearst Democrats. If he could succeed in demoralizing the opposition, Hearst conspired, then perhaps the ongoing scandal would wither away from the public psyche. However, to his detriment, the Californian's strategy ultimately failed in putting a cork in the controversy, and Congress proceeded unabated. By the summer of 1910, the Senate voted unanimously in favor of a resolution creating an investigatory committee: The first official act that legislative body passed in its second session.

The Hearst Administration, backed into a corner, reacted intuitively. Attorney General Silas Holcomb followed a directive from the president to launch an internal investigation into the ordeal. Explaining to the White House press, in no uncertain terms, that the resources of his department would respond appropriately, Holcomb remarked, "We will take the proper steps to study the case in question and determine whether any illegal, unethical, or improper activities were engaged in by any persons, acting either individually or in combination with others, in the presidential election and preceding events. Once the facts are made clear, the Justice Department shall recommend specific action be taken." Needless to say, this pronouncement recognized the gravity of the situation and highlighted the president's retreat on the topic.

With polling appearing bleak and sensing the tide turning against the administration, President Hearst took one final precaution to potentially brighten the outlook. On September 6th, 1910, Treasury Sectreary Haffen resigned. Since the reveal of his part as a central figure in the electoral scene leading up to the election, Haffen was unable to effectively manage the Treasury Department nor serve to benefit the Democratic agenda. The Bronxite disappointingly accepted Hearst's order to resign with few words said between the two. Is it important to note, as offered by historian R. Edward Taylor, "Haffen was removed from the Cabinet because he became a liability for Bill Hearst. It had nothing to do with Haffen's possible criminal activity nor his role in the Manhattan Scandal, but artlessly because the Treasury head was politically unpopular. Hearst very clearly believed that eliminating the most blatant fixture of corruption in his administration would shift the course of public favorability and avert political disaster. Of course, it did no such thing."

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1910 Congressional Elections      

Senate
Democratic: 43 (-6)
Republican: 34 (+1)
Progressive: 19 (+5)

House
Republican: 148 (+33)
Democratic: 136 (-46)
Progressive: 101 (+9)
Socialist: 6 (+3)
Independent: 2 (+1)

  Senate Leadership

Senate President James 'Champ' Clark (D-MO)
President pro tempore Augustus O. Bacon (D-GA)
Caucus Chairman Joseph W. Bailey (D-TX)
Conference Chairman Shelby M. Cullom (R-IL)
Conference Chairman Robert La Follette (P-WI)

  House of Representatives Leadership

Speaker Thomas S. Butler (R-PA)
Minority Leader William Sulzer (D-NY)
Minority Leader Wesley L. Jones (P-CA)
Minority Leader John C. Chase (S-NY)

A staple takeaway from the 1910 congressional and gubernatorial elections was unquestioning frustration with President Hearst. Even if a majority of the population possibly concurred with the need for governmental reform and new methods to bring about transparency and direct democracy, compounding elements presented to the public over the course of the prior two years revealed the two-face essence of a demagogue presidency. Policy was not a central component to these elections. These midterm contests represented a national referendum on President Hearst and the direction of the country.

Disunified Democrats succumbed to swiftly recovering Republicans and powerfully perceptive Progressives. The opposition skillfully took advantage of national division and managed to effortlessly trounce the party of the president. The 61st House, especially, with its noted Democratic leadership, was eyed as a chief obstacle to uncovering the truth of the Manhattan Scandal. Speaker Sulzer needed to be removed from his position to ensure an investigation could be created, and so Democrats naturally suffered across-the-board. In a dramatic flip to the 1908 results, nearly every freshman Democrat elected that year (mostly Northern and Midwestern-based) lost to challengers from the Republican Party. Sulzer squandered his tenuous majority coalition and forfeited the speakership back to Butler for the 62nd Congress, as Progressive representatives overwhelmingly voted for the more moderate Republican.

Republican senatorial incumbents fared far better than their counterparts two years earlier. For every Republican-held seat that swapped to the Progressive Party, the Republicans gained a seat challenging an incumbent Democrat, therefore concluding in a +1 end-result. A larger-than-anticipated number of Democratic senators found themselves lost in the anti-Hearst tide, including the once-popular Attorney General George Gray and Confederate Brigadier General Francis Cockrell (D-MO). Gray's successor was none other than septuagenarian Henry A. du Pont, the exiled Delawarean businessman and former arch-conservative senator. Du Pont effectively purchased his way to the GOP nomination, and the lack of a genuine Progressive challenger gave Du Pont the victory on a silver platter. In 1906, Du Pont could only manage 30% of the state vote. In 1910, through tying Gray together with a vast Tammany conspiracy by the Democratic Party to corrupt the voting process, he won 52%.

Senator Franklin P. Flint, the sitting Republican incumbent from California, opted to retire in 1911 instead of running for a second complete term. In this period, following Knox's conscious decision to back off campaigning along the West Coast, the Californian Republican Party operated as a shell of its former self. Most state offices were run by either Progressives or Democrats by 1910, leaving the panicked Senator Flint and bankrupt Governor James Gillett as the last of a generation of GOP officeholders in the Golden State. With Democrats struggling to move past the emerging presidential controversy, Progressives sailed to the open seats. John D. Works (P-CA), a former California justice and Los Angeles City Councilman, handily won the open Senate seat. For the gubernatorial race, Roosevelt-ally Hiram Johnson took the crown in a landslide.

In Nevada, Senator George S. Nixon (R-NV) was overwhelmingly favored to win re-election. As Nixon did not identify or associate himself with the Old Guard of the Republican Party, his record remained relatively spotless. He also proved his moderate nature by voting in favor of the Hammond Bill despite party-wide opposition. As such, his youthful and rather inexperienced Democratic challenger, Key Pittman, did not possess much of a chance to topple the incumbent. One facet of this race that raised some eyebrows had been the stellar candidacy of Socialist Jud Harris for Nixon's seat. Harris gained a significant audience throughout the Silver State who relished in the activist's demand for a minimum working wage and an eight-hour day. More Nevadans voted Socialist in 1910 than in any year prior, and although Harris was ultimately unsuccessful in that race, he managed to capture an unprecedented 21% of the vote (compared with Pittman's 30% and Nixon's 49%) and likely boosted fellow union activist and labor attorney George Conrad (S-NV) in narrowly overtaking Representative George A. Bartlett (D-NV) for the state's lone, at-large House seat.

During what would have been an otherwise uneventful election, Senator Andrew L. Harris (R-OH) thrust the political landscape of his state into an uproar with an announcement that he would retire at the end of his term. Harris was thought to be a no-brainer for re-election, encompassing a moderate streak in the GOP with enough support from progressives to guarantee an additional term. Now, with the race open for all entrants, the parties scrambled to draft serious contenders suited for the job. The Ohio Republican Party, privately thrilled with Harris' stepping down, promoted conservative, McKinley-endorsed Assemblyman Harry M. Daugherty. Democrats chose Governor Judson Harmon's (D-OH) second-in-command, anti-corruption advocate Atlee Pomerene. Lastly, the Progressives designated President Roosevelt's Interior Secretary, James R. Garfield. This three-way race proved incredibly vitriolic, and it ended in an exceptionally slim win for the Progressive nominee. State officials recounted the votes twice, yet the result held. Garfield won by 1,013 votes over Daugherty.

Regarding gubernatorial elections, the two contests most frequently cited by historians as politically significant were those in Ohio and New Jersey. In the former state, sitting Governor Harmon fought to retain his seat in power against stark odds courtesy of the national environment. Harmon was no progressive, and in fact actively rallied against Garfield's senatorial run as a "vanity mission" aimed at crumbling Wall Street for personal benefit. It would be foolish to assume that the state Democrats did not stand by the incumbent governor for lack of timely political instincts, however. Governor Harmon locked up the Democratic nomination (thereby eliminating the prospect of a unified Progressive-Democratic ticket), and went on to lose to the dignified, well-spoken former Lieutenant Governor Warren G. Harding (R-OH). Simultaneously, in one of the only net gains for the Democratic Party in 1910, social conservative Princeton University President Thomas Woodrow Wilson defeated the opposing candidates to secure the uninterrupted state-wide control of New Jersey by the Democratic Party. Wilson and Harding were each thought of as potential candidates for national office, and, along with Hiram Johnson in California, this freshmen class would play an essential role in future events.

Senators Elected in 1910 (Class 1)

*John H. Bankhead (D-AL): Democratic Hold, 90%
Henry F. Ashurst (D-AZ): Democratic Hold, 55%
John D. Works (P-CA): Progressive Gain, 57%
George P. McLean (R-CT): Republican Hold, 66%
Henry A. du Pont (R-DE): Republican Gain, 52%
James Taliaferro (D-FL): Democratic Hold, 83%
James A. Hemenway (R-IN): Republican Hold, 51%
*John R. Thornton (D-LA): Democratic Hold, Unopposed
Eugene Hale (R-ME): Republican Hold, 74%
Charles J. Bonaparte (P-MD): Progressive Hold, 46%
Henry Cabot Lodge (R-MA): Republican Hold, 73%
Roy O. Woodruff (P-MI): Progressive Gain, 44%
Moses E. Clapp (R-MN): Republican Hold, 49%
James K. Vardaman (D-MS): Democratic Hold, Unopposed
*LeRoy Percy (D-MS): Democratic Hold, Unopposed
John C. McKinley (R-MO): Republican Gain, 50%
Charles N. Pray (R-MT): Republican Gain, 48%
Chester H. Aldrich (P-NE): Progressive Gain, 49%
George S. Nixon (R-NV): Republican Hold, 49%
Mahlon R. Pitney (P-NJ): Progressive Gain, 48%
Thomas B. Caltron (R-NM): Republican Gain, 50%
George B. McClellan, Jr. (D-NY): Democratic Hold, 46%
Porter J. McCumber (R-ND): Republican Hold, 46%
James R. Garfield (P-OH): Progressive Gain, 43%
Philander C. Knox (R-PA): Republican Hold, 59%
Henry F. Lippitt (R-RI): Republican Hold, 64%
Luke Lea (D-TN): Democratic Hold, 52%
Charles Allen Culberson (D-TX): Democratic Hold, 80%
George Sutherland (R-UT): Republican Hold, 70%
Carroll S. Page (R-VT): Republican Hold, 68%
John W. Daniel (D-VA): Democratic Hold, Unopposed
Miles Poindexter (P-WA): Progressive Gain, 53%
Nathan B. Scott (R-WV): Republican Gain, 53%
*Dave Elkins (R-WV): Republican Hold, 50%
Robert M. La Follette (P-WI): Progressive Hold, 59%
Clarence D. Clark (R-WY): Republican Hold, 55%

*Special Election

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A Consumer Dreams of Trusts Being Imprisoned, March 8th, 1910 - Source: Wiki Commons

The results of the 1910 elections quite clearly demonstrated a desire from the American voting public to place a check on the Hearst Administration and more thoroughly explore the finer details of the Manhattan Scandal. Given the go-ahead in a spree of sweeping victories, the more stridently anti-Hearst Congress prepared to delve head-first into the investigatory stage and tackle the affair on all fronts. Thomas Butler, now returned to his role as Speaker of the House, released a statement regarding his legislative priorities in the next session. As he wrote, "We will take immediate action in uncovering the precise chain of events which transpired, and the identity of all parties involved."

Congress met on April 4th, 1911. True to his word, Speaker Butler called for a resolution that constructed a supporting House committee in conjunction with the ongoing counterpart in the Senate. This basically allowed for an expanded team of investigators whilst granting the Senate additional time to call for hearings. That resolution passed on a partisan basis, with only one-third of House Democrats voting in the affirmative. Every Progressive, Republican, and Socialist representative voted for passage. Some Democrats implored the legislature to wait for the results of the Justice Department's evaluation, yet faithlessness in the administration's ability to provide an impartial view killed that plea in its crib.

Meanwhile, the Senate reconvened and its special committee returned to a normal schedule. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Augustus Bacon of Georgia led the investigation, coupled with the ranking minority member, Senator Clarence D. Clark (R-WY). Bacon and Clark had yet to learn of any specific instances of wrongdoing in the final months of the last congressional session, but they held firm that a continued, lengthy inquiry would inevitably result in new evidence. The committee privately called forth witnesses related to the allegations on a regular basis. These testimonies were recorded and the names of those interviewed were eventually made public, but that did not occur during the investigatory procedure itself. Still, it was rather obvious who would be called to testify: Louis Haffen, Patrick McCarren, and Charles Murphy.

During this time, the nation reached an eerie turning point where Hearst made very few public appearances and cancelled the bulk of his regular engagements with the press. The president no longer maintained his larger-than-life populist persona out of a creeping fear of ineffectiveness and uselessness. He reportedly met with his Cabinet only once in the period between the midterm elections in November of 1910 and the first public announcements from the U.S. Senate committee over one year later. Furthermore, he scantly penned any personal diary entries, aside from the infrequent note of irritation with Congress and his feeling of betrayal by the Democratic Party.

His policy objectives dried up and turned to dust, Hearst totally withdrew from the presidency altogether. He allowed (Secretaries) Lentz and Garner to settle state matters without personal consultation, and A.G. Holcomb was treated as a traitor in his midst. In this time, the Justice Department notably failed to address a novel crop of trusts forming under its nose. Through the utilization of loopholes in contemporaneous statute, these companies evaded prosecution and came to supplant their more blatantly monopolistic predecessors. Those like Eastern American Steel Corp. and Dallas Steel Corp. avoided federal searchlights by joining in a legal partnership without outright consolidating. Both of the above were managed by men working for J.P. Morgan.

         John S. Gardner, The Exiled President, 1996

Insofar as congressional progress unrelated to the investigations was concerned, the single measure which managed to pass through both legislative houses was a benign expansion to the 1904 trade deal with the German Empire. Nothing passed to fight the ghoulish threat of trust-owning robber barons, to improve the conditions of industrial workers in American cities, nor to reform voting interstate trade practices whatsoever. Each of these issues played second fiddle to the overarching narrative of a scandal at Tammany Hall. "Borrowing Marx's term, noted Ackerman, "the spectacle shrouded a genuine push for reform at the federal level. Historians now include Hearst's presidency in the Progressive Era of the United States, but it was far more regressive in practice than many of the Gilded Age administrations."

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Attorney General Silas Holcomb (Gubernatorial Portrait Pictured) Faced Accusations of Mismanagement in his Term - Source: FindAGrave

Advancing full steam ahead, the Senate Judiciary Committee pressed on with its investigatory mission. Supplemented with their partner council in the House, the officials in charge of the truth-finding objective remained resolute. All eyes were centered on this story: a controversy some journalists christened the most captivating political scandal in modern American history.

Much of the country waited on pins and needles at the precipice of a theoretical revelation. Some voters in New York fretted over the future of electoral security in their home districts while others simply hoped the findings would shed light on the corruptible nature of Tammany Hall. "Shut it down, one Times opinion piece on the topic read, referring to Tammany Hall. "Us Republicans in New York pray for federal observation to definitively remove fraud as a potential threat to the integrity of our elections." Another proclaimed, "The Tammany-Hearst machine has soiled Democracy for a generation. The president ought to resign and leave governing to men of respectability." Such editorials found an eager audience as Americans (chiefly those in the middle and upper classes) looked to find the latest political gossip. Ironically enough, it seemed the yellow journalism that Hearst perfected and utilized to grasp the presidency would play a role in his downfall.

At last, the senatorial committee released a notice declaring its work accomplished. Senator Bacon unveiled the team's findings on December 3rd, 1911, in a widely circulated address. He explained that the Senate's investigatory procedure was confined to very narrow parameters based on the testimonial evidence supplied by several witnesses. They did not explore any "superfluous" allegations concerning activities unrelated to the "electoral scheme" in New York City on Election Day and in the preceding weeks. Per their findings, Bacon announced that a handful of individuals were found to have engaged in a broad voter intimidation effort aimed at reducing votes for the non-Democratic candidates. The committee was unable to link this criminal exercise to Charles Murphy, nor to a coordinated effort orchestrated by Tammany Hall.

The final report named and indicted four precinct workers for falsifying their identities to state election authorities and for criminal conduct involving tampering with voter registries. It recommended New York State explore the matter further and requested the state judicial system issue a summons for the four perpetrators. These men were not found guilty of violating federal law. The only other persons named as possible guilty parties were Hearst's attorney, Clarence J. Shearn, for failing to disclose certain documents during testimony and former Treasury Secretary Haffen for a potential perjury charge on an unrelated matter. Other than that, according to the committee summary, none of the individuals previously cited as likely suspects in a presumed vast criminal conspiracy were cited.

It was also revealed through the report that the author of the original Times piece was none other than Joseph Willicombe, Hearst's former secretary. That alone provided to the Judiciary Committee adequate grounds to proceed with its investigation throughout most of 1911. However, Willicombe's claims concerning his former boss' political dealings with Tammany to commit criminal atrocities could not be backed up with hard evidence. To be clear, the scope of the investigation did not allow for federal authorities to ransack East 14th Street nor could the investigators demand documentation from Charles Murphy that may or may not have existed. The Senate record seemed to have considered the mystery solved and the conspiracy theory debunked, and it left no indication that further investigation was necessary.

Even with these results seemingly placing Hearst in the clear, the president's reputation was not suddenly and inexplicably restored. His opponents remained just as fierce as ever, criticizing Hearst for failing to lead when the nation was embroiled in the controversy, and furthermore pondering why he fought against opening an investigation if his campaign had nothing to hide. Hearst lost many allies in the sparring over how best to handle the federal response to the scandal, and he fumbled away the Democratic House majority in the process. Even with the perception of vindication, Hearst was just as unpopular and politically paralyzed as ever. All that had changed was Hearst himself, who no longer spent his nights pacing around the White House in a state of agony. The president, curiously enough, did not give any sort of rebuttal to the release of the Manhattan Report, instead spending that night locked inside the White House with an unscheduled meeting of the Cabinet.

A somewhat relieved President Hearst called an emergency meeting of his Cabinet on the evening of December 3rd. In the words of John Gardner, "Tracing back the actions of the administration in the ensuing weeks, we have a decent idea of what took place in that meeting. We know that Holcomb dissolved the Justice Department's investigation the following morning, and through a 'clerical mishap' all files on the case were shredded or burned. That was indisputably a presidential order. We can also determine that lines of communication between Governor Chanler and President Hearst reopened as a result of a conscious decision reached by the Cabinet, and the same could be said of correspondence with Hearst and Boss Murphy."

The Senate's inability to prove Willicombe's accusations amounted to a serious blow to the legislative anti-Hearst coalition. Speaker Butler, sensing a misstep, began moving toward dismantling the House investigatory team. He greatly feared the political repercussions of insisting Hearst and Tammany's guilt, and planned to turn the congressional conversation back to policy. Yet, when the time arrived to make the call, Butler silently backed off from doing so. For this, he faced discernible resistance among some of his lukewarm supporters in the Progressive camp, but Butler no longer felt satisfied that the game had ended. Attorney General Holcomb's brash move to end the Justice Department's examination period did not sit well with the House Speaker, and news that judicial authorities in New York had begun a separate investigation lessened his fears. The House committee thereby lingered, though the full epilogue to that story would go unresolved for several years.

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The Grand Hall at Cooper Union, November 22nd, 1909 - Source: Labor Arts

Chapter XVII: Experiments in Solidarity: New Strategies for a New America

During his successful bout for the presidential title, William R. Hearst keenly employed labor agitation as a tool to secure electoral victory, but, as noted, he was unable to pass any meaningful legislation to qualm the woes of working people in the United States. That is not to say, however, that workers were content to remain in squalor while men in Washington waited idly by. It was truly quite the opposite, with industrial workers proving more than capable of enforcing their own demands down the gullet of an unsuspecting owner class. Unskilled laborers, sometimes known or referred to as a the "machine proletariat," became the unlikely vanguard for a new chapter in the American labor movement.

In the summer of 1909, a railcar manufacturing business based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, mandated to its workforce a novel method of distributing wages. To their 6,000-strong cache of employees, owners of the McKees Rocks Pressed Steel Car Company introduced a primitive system of scientific management designed to increase worker output by lowering its base wage according to the least productive plant worker. This allowed for the company to establish artificially raised rates and bonus incentives for the most efficient workers. In such a system, particularly in conjunction with an industry rife with managerial corruption and a hushed network of kickbacks, the owners could retain a psychological advantage over its workforce.

Finding the above methodology inhumane and their lousy pay wholly unacceptable, some hundred workers walked out from their factories. They were soon joined by the remaining McKees plant laborers, and thereafter workers in neighboring plants. IWW organizers Bill Haywood and Wiliam Trautmann swiftly arrived to assist in the developing work stoppage and worked to convince the strikers to join in their cause for industrial unionism. The AFL's continued refusal to adjust its traditional doctrine of forbidding unskilled workers to join in their ranks allowed for complete displacement by the IWW in this instance, and dozens more. Once violent skirmishes began to break out between the scores of mounted members of the Pennsylvanian constabulary and the thousands of strikers of whom were chiefly first and second generation immigrants, one AFL delegate famously blamed the fighting on, "ignorant, foreign labor."

The strike held throughout the month of July and lasted all through August. Not until September, when thirteen in all had died from the bloody affair, did the Pressed Steel Car Company call for a settlement. Company owners bent to the will of the strikers, shockingly redacting the reward system and granting an increase in wages. The entire ordeal, thereby dubbed the McKees Rocks Strike, proved the power of organizing unskilled workers as well as the ignorance of the old AFL policies. The IWW, which dunked itself into the Pittsburgh brouhaha with a spirit of inclusivity and solidarity (exemplified through its deployment of bilingual speakers and publications), won their first significant victory since the enlistment of the United Mine Workers in 1907. Mirrored strikes at steel factories in McKeesport and South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, also led to wins for the laborers as the IWW sowed class-wide unity among all stripes of workingmen.

Additional hot spots for the growing American Labor Movement emerged in New York City and Philadelphia, when the young female workforce of the novel shirtwaist-manufacturing industry rallied against brutal working conditions. They were expected to work 12-hour days with no time off and with zero union representation. Their pay was a meager $4-6 per week, with deductions for needles, thread, and the electricity used by their sewing machines. Employees of the Leiserson Shirtwiast Company walked out from their jobs in September of 1909, joined shortly thereafter by the all-women workforce of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. Both groups aspired for coordination with a strong industrial union to ally themselves with. They turned to a local chapter of the recently established Workingwomen's Craft and Industrial Union League: An IWW-affiliate organization built to advance the interests of women within the union movement. As an unapologetic ally of skilled and unskilled women workers, it contrasted itself with its more conservative, AFL "business unionist" counterpart: The Women's Trade Organization.

The WTO was underfunded (it relied heavily on upper-class philanthropist donations) and underappreciated  by AFL President Samuel Gompers, while the WCIUL, by comparison, was prominently endorsed by IWW leaders as a tool to be used to contest with the open-shop system, ameliorate the conditions for working women, and secure women's suffrage. Led by activists including famed settlement house organizer Mary Kenney O'Sullivan, Polish-born social feminist Rose Schneiderman, and rent strike leader Pauline Newman, the small and inexperienced union organized a picket line. Allies to the cause gleefully joined extended picket lines in New York as word of the strike spread, including members of the WTO. Police officers commonly harassed the striking women, oftentimes culminating in violent beatings and arrests. City officials refused to comment.

An absolute turning-point for the Triangle Workers' Strike came about on a brisk day in late November, when these inspired women paraded to New York's Cooper Union to call for a general strike. They arrived in such astounding numbers that the crowds spilled out into the street. Representatives of the local unions, including workers-rights advocate Frances Perkins, spoke their peace to the sea of agitated workingwomen. Then, a young Jewish immigrant and WCIUL-affiliated garment laborer named Clara Lemlich rose. In her familial Yiddish, she told of her experience on the picket line, the beatings, arrests, and sexist shouts from the officers.

She said to them, "I am a working girl, one of those who are on strike against intolerable conditions. I am tired of listening to speakers who talk in general terms. What we are here for is to decide whether we shall or shall not strike. I offer a resolution that a general strike be declared - now." The audience roared in approval and were galvanized to demand the general strike be called. Two thousand women swore to honor the strike. Their righteous course set, tens of thousands of shirtwaist makers answered the call. The strike would spread to Pennsylvania, and it would receive prompt assistance from dozens of labor organizations, women's groups, and the local and national Socialist parties. [...] This became known as the Uprising of the 20,000.

         Benjamin McIntyre, The Workers' Struggle: The Birth of a Columbian International, 2018

Left with no other option but to concede, the company owners acquiesced to the demands of the strikers. After three and a half months of brutal picketing in the freezing city streets, the women won. The WCIUL negotiated contracts for over two-thirds of the total 337 shirtwaist companies in NYC and Philadelphia, with the WTO only holding representation among five. As recalled by Helen Marot of the WCIUL, "The unyielding and uncompromising temper of the strikers showed that women make the best strikers." The WCIUL became one of the most powerful union organizations in New York City, with newcomers like Clara Lemlich rising to the forefront. Humbled company owners like Triangle's "Shirtwaist Kings" Max Blanck and Isaac Harris begrudgingly agreed to recognize the women's union, and, within the year, followed-up with slightly reduced hours, heightened pay, and more sanitary conditions and safety precautions in the shops.

Due to the victories of the shirtwaist workers, as well as a second strike involving 50,000 cloakmakers in 1910, the newly elected Progressive Mayor of New York City, John Purroy Mitchel, implemented building safety standards as a mandate for all industrial operations located in the metropolitan area. Two years following the Shirtwaist Strike, when a fire had broken out in the Triangle-occupied Asch Building, these safety standards were celebrated as a chief reason for the efficient and orderly evacuation of the burning building. Not one worker was harmed from the building fire, and to this the IWW, the WCIUL, and a receptive progressive city government was granted kudos.

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The Chicago Daily Socialist's Depiction of Milwaukee Mayor Emil Seidel, April 1910 - Source: Wiki Commons

American Socialists were left disappointed in the wake of Bill Haywood's somewhat lacking performance in the 1908 presidential election. After an exceptional boost in raw vote totals between Debs' 1900 and 1904 campaigns, the meager 0.39% improvement delivered by the Western labor organizer did not deliver to the party's expectations. Some pointed to the rise of reformist factions in competing political parties as a chief cause of this development. Hearst's populist brand of Democracy had been cited by the socialist press as one which severely undercut Haywood's messaging.

There had been a slim contingent of Socialist Party members who halfheartedly supported Hearst upon his inauguration, hoping beyond hope that the media magnate's promises to enact labor reform could serve to benefit the immediate needs of the working class. Should he have been true to his word and concentrated on, for instance, workplace protections instead of engaging in all-out war with the party bosses, it is certainly plausible that radical union activists would have been split over the issue of engaging in the Democratic Party. However, Hearst's quick abandonment of labor as president cost the leader what little support he had by the American Left, and all incumbent Socialist congressmen in the House of Representative would go on to join in the demand for an investigation into the Manhattan Scandal. Hearst's move to disrupt the status quo failed miserably, and with this setback to the Democratic Party came a notable burst of energy for the SP.

Congress-wise, the party had yet to lose a single elected representative, and continuously gained seats to the point that their delegation reached six members in the 62nd Congress. All throughout the nation, card-carrying members of the SP began winning hotly contested races for city council and town council positions. Even in the unlikeliest of regions like the American Southwest, an interest in Socialism and a recognition of class antagonisms began to stir. Due to a combination of plump landowners possessing an imbalanced hold on the agrarian economic system as compared with tenant farmers, and active agitation and organization by the United Mine Workers rallying coal miners to their cause, the Socialist Party of Oklahoma captured a greater share of the vote in 1910 than in almost any other state. Clearly, within the ever-expanding "blue-collar belt" in the American heartland, industrial unionism had birthed a degree of class consciousness that had not existed prior.

From small towns to tightly packed urban centers, an awareness pertaining to class relations and a distinct lack of workplace democracy resulted in a sporadic spree of electoral successes for the left-wing political party. Socialists succeeded in sweeping in a new class of elected officials in 1911 on the municipal level. They won hearty minorities on city councils throughout the Industrial Midwest, including in Findlay, Ohio, where the SP managed to defeat an incumbent Democratic mayor. Likewise, Socialist mayors won elected office in the diverse, metropolitan venues of Reading, Pennsylvania, and Schenectady, New York. In each of these cities, victory only came about as a natural result of intensified working-class support. The Machinist Union in Schenectady and the Federated Trades Council in Reading strongly endorsed the leftmost candidates in 1911, practically guaranteeing support by the union workers.

Just as in the above examples, the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, elected a member of the Socialist Party to the mayorship. In 1910, German-American trade unionist Emil Seidel easily defeated opponents in the other three major parties to be elected the first Socialist mayor of a major American city. Seidel, upon taking office, administered a staunch, pro-labor administration, organizing a public works department and expunging casinos and brothels from the city. He also oversaw the exponential growth of the Milwaukee branch of the SP, which quadrupled in membership from 1911 to 1913. It is also crucial to note that the city chapter of the Socialist Labor Party, in an unprecedented vote, chose to endorse Seidel in his 1912 re-election campaign. This had been the first time that the SLP and the SP united on a single candidate, and in doing so acted against the sparring of the national organizations.

Especially in the aftermath of the McKees Rocks and Shirtwaist strikes, the Socialist rank-and-file understood the necessity of forging solidarity and formulating unity-in-action to combat the oppression of the owner class. That being said, the SP leadership remained feverishly divided as a big-tent political group. The Left and Right wings sharply disagreed on the matter of labor policy as well as whether to cooperate with other political associations. Haywood's lackluster showing demonstrated to the conservative faction fruitlessness of appealing to disruptive unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. This sect instead demanded the party focus its mission solely on the election of representatives to municipal and state offices. Victor Berger, who in 1910 succeeded in capturing Wisconsin's 5th congressional district, readied to face a strong, pro-IWW faction in the upcoming Socialist convention. He would, of course, be facing off against an empowered, increasingly antagonistic Eugene Debs.

The large increase in the socialist vote in the late national and state elections is quite naturally hailed with elation and rejoicing by party members, but I feel prompted to remark, in the light of some personal observations during the campaign, that it is not entirely a matter for jubilation. [...] The danger I see ahead is that the Socialist party at this stage, and under existing conditions, is apt to attract elements which it cannot assimilate, and that it may be either weighted down, or torn asunder with internal strife, or that it may become permeated and corrupted with the spirit of bourgeois reform to an extent that will practically destroy its virility and efficiency as a revolutionary organization.

Of far greater importance than increasing the vote of the Socialist party is the economic organization of the working class. To the extent, and only to the extent, that the workers are organized and disciplined in their respective industries can the socialist movement advance and the Socialist party hold what is registered by the ballot. [...] We have just so much socialism that is stable and dependable, because securely grounded in economics, in discipline, and all else that expresses class-conscious solidarity, and this must be augmented steadily through economic and political organization, but no amount of mere votes can accomplish this in even the slightest degree. Voting for socialism is not socialism any more than a menu is a meal.

        Eugene Debs, "Danger Ahead", International Socialist Review, January 1911

Debs' concern that the party had relied too heavily on electoral goals lied together with his commitment for industrial unionism. Since cementing ties with Bill Haywood and the IWW, the radical leader led the charge to ingrain the relationship betwixt the IWW and the SP. He knew that doing so jeopardized any shred of hope of reforming the far more influential AFL, but Debs became determined on furthering this line as the party convention drew closer. Only through an industrial unionist policy could any left-wing organization sufficiently build solidarity for all workers regardless of language, color, or skill. The IWW was well on their way to doing just that, while the AFL blindly marched in the wrong direction. Achieving simple victories on the municipal and (occasional) congressional scale without tying in a concise labor policy was akin to fighting a war with one's arms tied behind one's back. For Debs, rebutting the conservatively oriented direction of the party was essential in building a socialist future.

[Pyro]

Lawrence Textile Workers in a Picket Line, March 1912- Source: Wiki Commons

After a brief slowdown of labor activity in the winter of 1911, 1912 started off with a thunderous bang. Trouble had been brewing for some time in the industrialized city of Lawrence, Massachusetts, where tens of thousands of men, women, and children worked grueling shifts in unregulated textile mills. The American Woolen Company, a corporation that employed about half of all city residents, ignored the pleas of its workers for some semblance of workplace safety or a regular wage scale. Well-meaning reformist Massachusetts lawmakers passed a law mandating shortened working hours for women and children, and it went into full effect on January 1st. The mills, in response, slashed its workers' wages.

Sparked initially by a walkout of a small group of Polish textile workers, a work stoppage escalated with crowds of dozens swiftly turning into hundreds. Some damaged manufacturing machines on their way out of the factories while others persuaded friends and neighbors to join with them. This event accelerated into an industry-wide strike of over 20,000 who picketed and protested detestable working conditions and intolerable pay. Many of the Lawrence workers in the woolen and cotton mills were already somewhat organized by the IWW by 1912, familiar with their recent victories, accessibility for non-English speakers, representation of second-wave European immigrants. Mimicking their effective strategy from the McKees Rocks Strike, multilingual IWW speakers rallied together workers of all stripes in a united condemnation of the owners' brutality.

Italian-American New Yorker Joseph James "Smiling Joe" Ettor arrived to Lawrence that January. Ettor, a 27-year old IWW organizer capable of speaking five languages, rallied the outraged strikers and encouraged expanding the strike to every mill. As an unskilled worker himself, Ettor could empathize with the plight of the textile workers and speak to their frustrations with the bosses and fear of being unheard. Alongside fellow union agitators Arturo Giovannitti, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, and Bill Haywood, Ettor emphasized the philosophy of the IWW and its primary aim to restructure American life based on industrial unionism. The IWW strike fund, a crucial component to any earnest work stoppage, was vigorously supported by the Massachusetts Socialist Party in a key act of cross-organizational solidarity.

Mill owners possessed two elemental allies in the Lawrence Strike. First, the United Textile Workers of America, a powerful union affiliate of the AFL, decidedly refused to intervene. UTW managers upheld Gompers' line in regard to excluding immigrants and unskilled workers from their ranks. Gompers himself dismissively and insultingly described the strike as a "passing event," and allowed for the UTW to attempt to break the strike on behalf of the workers themselves (although this tactic ultimately failed). Secondly, at the start of the strike, the American Woolen Company retained near-total support by the city government and the middle-class population of Lawrence and nearby towns. Owners frequently accused the IWW of fermenting anarchy, and too attributed labor unrest to the immigrant workforce. They alleged that the Central and Eastern European migrants brought with them to the United States Old World-style class discrepancies. Those opposed to the strike embraced this sense of Nativism, and to this they often professed immigration restriction as a viable solution.

By the hundreds and thousands, strikers picketed the factories and peacefully marched from mill to mill. State militia and police forces responded with fire hoses, blasting young women and children to the cold pavement. IWW leaders actively pushed the strikers to remain peaceful rather than unleashing a broken retaliation. The strikers listened, and did indeed follow this guideline. Eugene Debs gave full-throttled support to the strikers, as did Socialist House Minority Leader John Chase. The Socialist Party's candidate for the upcoming Massachusetts gubernatorial election, organizer Roland D. Sawyer, also expressed solidarity with textile-manufacturing workers. Together, members of the SP and the IWW helped orchestrate massive parades in the city, complete with sprawling banners demanding what soon became the affixed slogan of the strike: "We Want Bread and Roses Too."

Towing the picket line, a wise tactic purposefully developed to evade loitering charges, the striking workers marched, they chanted, and they sang. In the words of Ray Baker in "The American Magazine", "Always there was singing. Lawrence is the first string I ever saw which sang. And not only at the meetings did they sing, but in the soup houses and in the streets." Marchers sang the French Marseillaise and L'Internationale, belting out choruses with the rhythmic voice of solidarity.

Parents fearful of successive, appealing police beatings and winter starvation somberly began transporting their children off to relatives' homes in New York and Philadelphia. Socialist Party members similarly offered shelter, lending their assistance in totality to the now-nationally renowned Lawrence mill workers. The conscious choice to highlight the plight of the Lawrence Strike Children gained the strikers widespread sympathy and did far more to benefit the their cause than anarchist-proposed 'direct action' could ever bring. Historians estimate consultations between Debs and Haywood during this period led to the latter forever disavowing outright sabotage and similar alienating methods in place of bilateral movement with the Socialists.

         Benjamin McIntyre, The Workers' Struggle: The Birth of a Columbian International, 2018

After a tumultuous eight-week work stoppage, the 'Bread and Roses Strike' finally came to an end on March 12th. The American Woolen Company resentfully acceded to the demands of the strikers, including an adjustment of the wage system and a recognition of the union. The IWW initially intended on spurning the signing of a contract, believing doing so legitimized the superiority of the owners, but at the urging of Debs and the Socialist Party, they went ahead with negotiating a permanent union organization. It appeared after growing tension by sections of each major socialist tendency, the two seemingly disparate forces of the IWW and the Socialist Party discovered a path to cooperation.

More so than any prior strike, the events of Lawrence, Massachusetts appeared to embody what was possible with the synchronization of a union organization with a political organization. "One most gratifying feature of this struggle," one article in the April edition of the International Socialist Review read, "is that in the presence of a common enemy, we Socialists forgot our factional fights. While the Industrial Workers of the World were in direct charge of the struggle at Lawrence, the Socialist party contributed the greater part of the funds needed to keep the workers from being starved into submission. [...] The battle that has been won is only a beginning. Its importance lies in the fact that winning tactics have been discovered and have received the virtual endorsement of the Socialist Party of America. The two-headed dragon of socialist agitation is no longer an untried theory, nor is that of industrial unionism. Henceforth its progress will be swift and sure."

[Pyro]

The Socialist Party National Convention, May 12th, 1912 - Source: EHistory/ISR

Bill Haywood, Joe Ettor, and Arturo Giovannitti jubilantly returned from the Lawrence struggle determined to enact further progress on the political level. Haywood had recently been elected to the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party, and for this he faced endless scrutiny from the party's conservative wing. Traditional socialists, hoping to expand electoral victories by retaining an honorable image, intensely disliked Haywood and his ilk for muddling SP respectability with flashes of revolutionary rhetoric. Even though the process to elect him to the board was democratic in nature, the IWW founder was treated by some in the party as if he conspired to gain that position. In reality, Haywood's ideas were certainly more in line with the direction of the labor movement and its trend toward industrial unionism.

The Lawrence Strike sufficiently validated the effectiveness of industrial unionism as well as how proper cooperation betwixt the IWW and the SP could satisfy the goals of each organization. This seemingly proved Haywood and Debs correct, as opposed to Berger who remained firmly on the side of reforming the AFL. Uniting American industries into one big union did not necessarily bring about socialism in and of itself, but in the course of fermenting class consciousness and building solidarity throughout the entire working class, anti-capitalist sentiment was bound to arise. That, perhaps, would lead workers to prefer the politics of a socialist society versus the status quo. Accomplishing such a task required a political organization capable of coordinating with the unions and pushing systematic change. Therefore, enthusiasm emanating from the success of Lawrence funneled directly into the Socialist National Convention.

The SNC took place in May of 1912 at an Indianapolis venue, bringing together quarreling factions to sort out their differences and set the future direction of the party. This was its largest convention yet, encompassing several hundred delegates and thousands of supporters. Conservatives and radicals encompassed the two halves of the party, each about equally represented by its fair share of delegates. Berger stood statically with the sect most virulently opposed to associating with the IWW and its predominantly immigrant union workers. He, in fact, endorsed restricting immigration, considering the influx of European migrants a threat to the native-born American working class. Haywood and the radicals positioning themselves opposite to the conservatives on the national committee gave the impression that a bitter fight was on the horizon, one that could potentially shred the big tent of the Socialist Party to ribbons. Even as the party reached 200,000 members and held office in 42 states, not all was well.

Party Chairman Morris Hillquit, now a dyed-in-the-wool conservative stiffly opposed to the strike-oriented tactics liberally employed by the IWW, struck an unexpectedly mild, compromising tone during his opening remarks. He stated, "We need not close our eyes to the fact that we come here from different parts of the country, with different and sometimes conflicting views on various questions of policy and tactics. It is well it should be so. No live popular movement can exist without like differences between adherents of that movement. Let us carry on our deliberations with all the differences, legitimate differences of opinion that we have and should have, in the realization that, after all, we are here for one joint common cause, the emancipation of the working class, and let us act accordingly." Regardless of his wish that the party concentrate on disavowing violence (the type some publications accused the IWW of perpetuating), Hillquit notably did not lead with that perspective.

Soon enough, Congressman Berger took command and spoke out in favor of association with the AFL. The party labor plank was always destined to be a point of contention by the delegates, as it no longer seemed appropriate to leave the subject vague as in conventions past. Berger believed that the growth of the AFL as a pragmatic and non-controversial vehicle for unionization stayed the best bet to achieve nationwide unionization. Determining the matter of pivotal importance, he demanded the platform settle on this issue once and for all. Judging by the profuse applause to his statement in favor of the pro-AFL motion, as well as similar acclamation for Ohio delegate Max Hayes for the same, it looked as if Berger would prevail. Yet, when Haywood spoke on behalf of the IWW, coining victories by "garment workers in New York, steel workers in Pittsburgh, and textile workers in Lawrence," as both economic and political progress (citing a specific enfranchisement effort by the IWW), the audience gave a twenty-minute standing ovation accompanied by deafening cheers. 178-132, above the ravenous objections of the conservatives, Berger's motion failed, and the party formally adopted ties with the Industrial Workers of the World.

Their startling downfall was playing out in slow motion. Never before did Berger directly challenge an opponent and lose. True, the Milwaukee Socialists were a big movement within the Socialist Party of the early twentieth century, but the powerful and tightly organized radical faction dominated the self-important congressman. He tried to strike back, expressing support for an anti-IWW amendment laced with hauteur and fear. It was Hillquit's writing, allegedly, though the man himself smelt the sulfur in the air and rightly distanced from it.

Carl Thompson, a Berger protege, voiced approval for expelling Socialist members who advocated some ethereal notion of violence. He plead to the moral high ground, using "IWW" and "Anarchism" interchangeably. (Germer) seconded the motion, referring to Haywood and the IWW's tactics as "idiotic." They were anxious to disassociate themselves from perceived lawlessness to better attract the American Federation of Labor and middle-class voters. It failed, of course, by resounding margins. Haywood had already disavowed the sort of techniques he was accused of promoting, and neither he nor the IWW engaged in violent agitation. Lawrence made the difference. If Debs hadn't been in Massachusetts to witness the strike himself, he might not have convinced Haywood to stay the course.

        Harry Braverman, 6th President of the New York Assembly, The Early Socialists: A Prelude to the Revolution, 1969

The call to build permanent ties with the AFL failed, the demand to expel suspected anarchists failed, and a last-ditch recall vote to remove Haywood from the Executive Committee would fail as well. The IWW and their legions were in the Socialist Party to stay, and in spite of the dramatic theatrics performed by the conservatives, the party was not accused of harboring lawbreakers or criminals. Berger's limited view of Socialist Party conduct did not win over any new SNC delegates, and, by all accounts, it was outright alien to the party rank-and-file. Milwaukee's own labor unions supported coordination with the IWW, and they did not appreciate Berger reneging on his promise to abide by their views.

Despite the odds, the Socialist Party in 1912 presented an indivisible image. Not all was resolved, not every dispute was removed from play, but the party consciously allied itself with the direction of the American Labor Movement. Eugene Debs, albeit not a material presence at the convention, was named by a four-fifths of the delegates to once more don the nomination crown. No other individual could better exemplify a sense of party unity and of 'being above the fray' than the two-time candidate and enormously popular public speaker and working class champion. Minnesota Congressman Thomas Van Lear (S-MN), a Spanish-American War veteran and Minneapolis machinist, was selected as vice president. As a side note, this ticket is notable for winning the endorsement of the Socialist Labor Party of America by a hair-thin margin at their separate nominating convention, something that had not yet occurred on the national level.

FIFTH SOCIALIST NATIONAL CONVENTION*

THE BALLOT: PRES		1st Call		Unanimous		310 DELEGATES
Eugene V. Debs ☑		276		310
Emil Seidel		29
Charles E. Russell		5
OTHERS/BLANK		0

FIFTH SOCIALIST NATIONAL CONVENTION

THE BALLOT: VICE PRES		1st Call		Unanimous		310 DELEGATES
Thomas Van Lear ☑		189		310
Joseph Ettor		90
August Gillhaus		23
Emil Seidel		8
OTHERS/BLANK		0

*The fourth official convention was a National Congress held in Chicago in 1910. 1912's event is described in the stenographic report of convention proceedings as the Fifth National Convention of the Socialist Party.