(ISSN 0043-6534) 1 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

The State Historical Society of Wisconsin • Vol. 64, No. 2 • Winter, 1980-1981

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\ THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN RICHARD A. ERNEY, Director Officers JOHN C. GEILFUSS, President WILSON B. THIEDE, Treasurer MRS. R. L. HARTZELL, First Vice-President RICHARD A. ERNEY, Secretary ROBERT H. IRRMANN, Second Vice-President

THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN is both a state agency and a private membership organization. Founded in 1846—two years before statehood—and chartered in 1853, it is the oldest American historical society to receive continuous public funding. By statute, it is charged with collecting, advancing, and dissemi­ nating knowledge of Wisconsin and of the trans-Mississippi West. The Society serves as the archive of the State of Wisconsin; it collects all manner of books, periodicals, maps, manuscripts, relics, newspapers, and aural and graphic ma­ terials as they relate to North America; it maintains a museum, library, and re­ search facility in Madison as well as a statewide system of historic sites, school services, area research centers, and affiliated local societies; it administers a broad program of historic preservation; and it publishes a wide variety of his­ torical materials, both scholarly and popular.

MEMBERSHIP in the Society is open to the public. Annual membership is |15, or $12.50 for persons over 65 or members of affiliated societies. Family membership is $20, or $15 for persons over 65 or members of affiliated societies. Contribu­ ting membership is $50; supporting, $100; sustaining, $200-500; patron, $500 or more.

THE SOCIETY is governed by a Board of Curators which includes, ex officio, the Governor, the Secretary of State, the State Treasurer, the President of the Uni­ versity of Wisconsin, and the President of the Society's Auxiliary. The other thirty-six members of the Board of Curators are elected by the membership. A complete listing of the Curators appears inside the back cover.

The Society is headquartered at 816 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, at the juncture of State and Park streets on the University of Wisconsin campus. A partial listing of phone numbers (Area Code 608) follows: General administration 262-3266 Library circulation desk 262-3421 General information 262-3271 Maps 262-9558 Affiliated local societies 262-2316 Membership 262-9613 Archives reading room 262-3338 Microforms reading room 262-9621 Contribution of library materials and Museum exhibits and services 262-2704 artifacts 262-0629 Museum tours 262-9567 Editorial offices 262-9603 Newspapers reference 262-9584 Film collections 262-0585 Picture and sound collections 262-9581 Genealogical and general reference Publications orders 262-9613 inquiries 262-9590 Public information office 262-9606 Government publications and reference 262-2781 Sales desk 262-3271 Historic preservation 262-1339 School services 262-9567 Historic sites _ 262-3271 Speakers bureau 262-2704

ON THE COVER: Wrinkled, unshaven, and obviously happy to be wearing a U.S. Army uniform, former governor Philip La Folletle was photographed in New Guinea at Christmas time, 1943. [WHi (X3) 36892] Volume 64, Number 2 / Winter, 1980-1981 ^WEHISTq^ WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF \ 1946 J > OF WIS<-^ HISTORY (ISSN 0043-6534)

Published quarterly by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 816 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706. Distributed to members as part of their dues. (Annual member­ ship, |15, or $12.50 for those over 65 or members of affiliated societies; family membership, With MacArthur in the Pacific: J20, or $15 for those over 65 or A Memoir by Philip F. La Follette 83 members of affiliated societies; contributing, $50; Edited by Edward M. Coffman and Paul H. Hass supporting, $100; sustaining, $200-500; patron, $500 or more.) Single The 1912 Suffrage Referendum: numbers from Volume 57 forward are $2. Microfilmed An Exercise in Political Action 107 copies available through Marilyn Grant University Microfilms, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106; reprints of Wisconsin's Flag: Volumes 1 through 20 and most issues of Volumes 21 through Amplification and Communications 119 56 are available from Kraus John O. Holzhueter Reprint Company, Route 100, Millwood, New York 10546. Communications should be Doctor Swan's Restorative Waters 124 addressed to the editor. The Society does not assume Larry A. Reed responsibility for statements made by contributors. Second- class postage paid at Reading America 127 Madison, Wisconsin, and at additional mailing offices. Mary Lou M. Schultz POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Wisconsin Magazine of History, 816 State Street, Book Reviews 130 Madison, Wisconsin 53706. Copyright © 1981 by the State Book Review Index 149 Historical Society of Wisconsin. Wisconsin History Checklist 150 The Wisconsin Magazine of History is indexed annually by Accessions 153 the editors; cumulative indexes are assembled decennially. In Contributors 160 addition, articles are abstracted and indexed in America: History and Life, Historical Abstracts, Index to Literature on the American Indian, and Editor the Combined Retrospective PAUL H. HASS Index to Journals in History, 1838-1974. Associate Editors WILLIAM C. MARTEN JOHN O. HOLZHUETER MARILYN GRANT ^'^jl -•t'"-^ -,•(((.

/ ^•^• i ' ^ ^f '4'^" "^sM. WHi (X3) 34732 GI's such as these, shown wading ashore at one of scores of landing sites in the spring of 1945, made possible General Douglas MacArlhur's return to the Philippines. (Note that the "Buffalo" landing craft wears a painted shark's mouth and the nickname "So. Milwaukee.")

82 With MacArthur in the Pacific: A Memoir by Philip F. La Follette

Edited by Edward M. Coffman and Paul H. Hass

INTRODUCTION

Phil La Follette's significance in history is tique the World War II section of his memoir that he was a dynamic political leader who —some ninety legal-sized pages of typescript. pioneered reform programs during his three I recall two principal impressions of that terms as governor of Wisconsin (1931-1933, reading. One was that there was very little of 1935-1939). After brilliant success as a young Phil La Follette in it, for he was much more man, his political career collapsed following concerned with his observations of MacArthur his attempt in 1938 to launch a national third and the Pacific War. My second impression party and his association with the pre-World was that his assessment of MacArthur was per­ War II isolationist movement and the abortive ceptive. (Since then I have wondered about MacArthur presidential bid of 1948. He then La Follette's lack of comment on wartime poli­ turned to business and, in 1955, he became tics. It may be that he was less involved in president of an electronics firm in New York. this than some believe. At any rate he evi­ Four years later, he returned to Madison to dently did not consider it of enough impor­ practice law and to write his autobiography. tance or relevance to include.) After mornings in his downtown law office, Over the following three years, I saw Gov­ he would go to his carrel in the State Histori­ ernor La Follette many times. In the after­ cal Society and spend the afternoons. In that noons, when both of us were in the carrels, tiny room, furnished only with a chair, desk, we would take breaks together. He would puff and bookshelf, he pored over the letters and away on a small cigar with a plastic holder, assorted documents of his past. Political ex­ cross his arms over his chest, and range the periences were naturally the major ingredient spectrum of his career, history, and current of his memoirs, but he also devoted consider­ events. There were also pleasant gatherings able attention to his years in the Army during with him and Mrs. La Follette at their Pinck- World War II. In particular Douglas Mac- ney Street apartment and on their farm near Arthur fascinated him. Sauk City. A man of great charm, he was a This interest led to my acquaintance with witty raconteur. He liked people, but he nev­ Governor La Follette. I had come to the Uni­ er seemed to be sentimental or nostalgic about versity of Wisconsin in the fall of 1961 to them. When he talked about himself, he ap­ teach American military history. On occasion, peared detached and objective. About his going to or from my carrel in the Society, I career, he was philosophical. "I have no re­ saw this slight, nattily dressed, white-haired grets," he once said. He strove to be realistic gentleman in the corridor but I did not meet and, incidentally, he admired that quality in him until January, 1962. He had heard that the novels of C. P. Snow. I was a military historian and had interviewed In May, 1964, in my course: Survey of Amer­ General MacArthur recently, so he introduced ican History Since the Civil War, he gave a himself and we talked about our mutual in­ lecture about a trip he took to Europe after his terests. A few days later, he asked me to cri­ defeat in 1932. Although it was a large class. Copyright @ 1981 by The State Historical Society of Wisconsin All rights of reproduction in any form reserved 83 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981 he did not use a microphone. The students autobiography. Upon La Follette's death in were responsive. Afterwards, when one con­ 1965, Donald Young of Holt, Rinehart and gratulated him on the good speech, he told Winston was invited by Isen La Follette to those clustered about him a story of the time edit and condense her husband's long manu­ his brother Bob got an ovation after his speech script into a manageable book. Consequently, at the 1928 Republican convention. Someone Adventures in Politics: The Memoirs of Philip said to H. L. Mencken: "What a good speech La Follette (1970) contains less than three that was!" Mencken replied: "That's his busi­ pages about World War II in the Pacific. The ness." Governor La Follette smiled and then final draft of what was to have been a full- added: "That's my business." (Later, Mrs. dress military memoir resides (together with La Follette said that he felt bad because the earlier drafts and supporting photographs) in hour had exhausted him, and he could re­ the Archives Division of the State Historical member when delivering five such speeches Society of Wisconsin, where it is cataloged as in one day had not.) During the next year, Wis. Mss. QS, Philip La Follette, Public Pa­ since I was on leave, I saw him only a few pers: Speeches and Publications, Box 125, times and thus was shocked when I heard of Folder 1. his death in August, 1965. For the purposes of this documentary article, In the first conversation I had with the we have freely condensed and reorganized La Governor, he remarked: "All that has been Follette's final draft, omitting much discursive written about General MacArthur has been background material about the war, adding a on the two extremes. Most of it is nauseat­ phrase or two to clarify a point or smooth a ing." In particular, he disliked two staff of­ transition, and above all focusing on firsthand ficers, Charles A. Willoughby and Courtney observations of men and events. Throughout, Whitney, whose books, he pointed out, had our aim was to make accessible, to a wider been written "with him looking over their audience, a fascinating but frequently over­ shoulders." Indeed, MacArthur ostracized any­ looked chapter in the life of Phil La Follette. one who hinted at criticism. Governor La THE EDITORS Follette himself was in that category since a review he had written of a book about the war crimes trial of General Tomoyuki Yama- shita had incurred the General's displeasure. There was another difference between Gov­ ernor La Follette and the others who were closely associated with MacArthur during the war. They were military men, while he was ROM October, 1942, until June, a prominent political figure who had moved F 1945, I served under Douglas among powerful and great men throughout MacArthur. In those thirty months I came to his life. To be sure, he had a penchant for know him better than most. Perhaps my own such people; but, at the same time, he was long background in public affairs helped me analytical about their charisma. Thus he to assess him with something of the objectivi­ brought to his acquaintance with the General ty by which he himself evaluated individuals, a worldly experience far beyond that of others situations, and problems crossing his line of who were close to him. It is this that makes his observations significant. Essentially, his vision. Was he conceited? Arrogant? Vain? account adds little to what is known about Perhaps I had best let the reader judge for MacArthur in this period, but a student who himself. might dismiss such praise of soldiers has to Although MacArthur's family ties were in consider the views of an unusually well-quali­ Milwaukee, I had never seen him until a day fied non-military observer who saw the Gen­ in November, 1942, at the rather primitive eral's flaws but still greatly admired him. Government House overlooking Port Mores­ E.M.C. by, New Guinea, where he had established his advance headquarters. How I happened EDITORIAL NOTE to land there is a small story in itself. Although I came from a family which had Philip F. La Follette wrote this memoir of distinguished itself in public life and was his wartime service during the late 1950's, myself not without experience in that field, intending to make it a major section of his my military career in both world wars was as 84 COFFMAN: MACARTHUR

devoid of political influence as that of the variety of the common cold—that turned my humblest GI in the Armed Forces. course into thirty-four months of real war ex­ I had gone to an ROTC camp at Fort Sheri­ perience and service under Douglas MacAr­ dan, Illinois, in June, 1918, aged twenty-one. thur. In September of that year I was commissioned A few days after Pearl Harbor I volunteered, a second lieutenant of infantry, and like the and on March 28, 1942, I was back in a uni­ others from that camp was assigned to the form as a captain of military police. Quite a Student Army Training Corps (SATC), in my comedown for a fellow who was forty-four case, at the University of Oklahoma at Nor­ years old and who had been for six years com­ man. The SATC was concocted by the uni­ mander-in-chief of the Wisconsin National versities and colleges as a sort of "cyclone cel­ Guard. What was more, I was labeled "over lar" with the dual purpose of providing refuges age in grade"—Army lingo for not having ade­ for "valuable" students and as a means of en­ quate rank for one's age—and not even in my abling those institutions to keep going but old infantry branch, which I had requested, wrapped up in uniforms. but in military police! It was not easy to In July, 1918, we were granted a long week­ swallow, but somehow I got it down and was end of leave from Fort Sheridan. My father, sent to Fort Myer to go back to MiHtary desperately hard up as he was financially, in­ School. sisted that I come to Washington. My older I got a bad cold. I went to the post hospital brother Bob was desperately sick with a strep­ where an old friend from Wisconsin was the tococcal infection (that damned bug which has medical chief. He had me to dinner one night, always had an affinity for our family). where I met the then youngest brigadier gen­ The reason for this visit to Washington was eral in the Army—again from Wisconsin. not to see the family—though that was always a Through his friendly offices I was assigned to welcome idea in our clan. It was my father's the staff of the commander of the newly creat­ idea to get me into the Marine Corps, as a ed South Pacific Area, thus ending my tour as "safety spot" for me. (That idea now seems a poHceman. That cold landed me in Port fantastic; but the bitter, hysterical hatred my Moresby in November, 1942, without a single father had engendered by his opposition to political wire of any kind ever being pulled- World War I made him apprehensive that if just human beings behind the high fences of left to myself in the Army, I would be singled the Military doing nice or bad things for each out and deliberately sent to my certain death.) other, which they do everywhere I have ever In any event he took me to see Josephus been—in business, in law, in teaching, in the Daniels, the Secretary of the Navy, and al­ Army. though in disagreement about the war, they I took my cold to the Fort Myer Hospital. were still close friends, and Daniels' war-fever There I found the commanding officer to be never beclouded his judgment as to my father's Colonel Martin F. "Duke" DuFrenne. He was deep loyalty to his country. born in Middleton, Wisconsin, then a small So I went down the Potomac River to the village seven miles from Madison, and an old Marine base at Quantico for the physical exam, friend. He asked me to dinner a few nights where so often before, and since, I was im­ later. There I met some of the military pressed with the simple fact that a lot of naked "brass," among them Brigadier General Lau­ men are so alike but that their genital equip­ rence Kuter, who was raised in Milwaukee. ment varies as much as their faces. I passed During the evening General Kuter said to the the exam and was certified as eligible for the group: "This fellow Phil is too good to waste Marine Corps. But strange as it may seem, it in the mihtary police. We'll have to do some­ looked to me like favoritism and "political thing about this." pull" to take that route, so back to Fort Sheri­ I thought this was just idle talk. But a few dan I went, to be commissioned as second weeks later I was transferred out of the mili­ lieutenant of infantry and to be honorably tary police and on my way to the Pacific. discharged on December 26, 1918. The moral is: Use any possible influence you So how did I get to Port Moresby in Oc­ can to get yourself not in funk holes but into tober, 1942? It was a cold—the plain, garden spots where your talents can do their best.

85 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981

During my three and a half years in the SoWesPac (Commander-in-Chief, Southwest Army, my brother was the senior United States Pacific Area). Senator from Wisconsin and one of the most influential figures in American public life. But he would not even ask the War Depart­ ment for his brother's address because it woidd NTIL that morning Douglas be using "influence" to secure information on uMacArthu r was little more than a military movement. (Some military secret: a name I had read about in the newspapers. an Army captain en route from San Francisco By then I had been immersed long enough to the Pacific!) in military life so the enormous gap between So, from that common cold, to the Fort major and a four-star general was even more Myer Hospital—with the help of two Wis- impressive than the name MacArthur. consinites in the Regular Army—I went from He began by calling me "Phil," and he San Francisco to New Caledonia and then to didn't even return my overly stiff salute. He Auckland, New Zealand. Another old Wiscon­ sat me down for a cordial, friendly chat about sin friend, Lloyd Lehrbas, heard I was in New Wisconsin, my father, my mother, and Bob. Zealand, and since he was at General Douglas (It was a bit embarrassing to find he really MacArthur's Headquarters, he passed the word knew more about me than I did about him.) to him. And with that ease known only to He had come to know Frederic C. Howe in the very rich in peacetime, the wheels were the Philippines. Fred was one of Tom John­ started in motion, and I was soon on my way son's—the mayor of Cleveland's—boys (New­ to Australia. Upon arrival at Melbourne, I ton D. Baker, et al.) and a working economist was handed a radiogram which read: and journalist who had been an intimate friend of our family for years. Fred had ap­ CAPTAIN PHILIP FOX LA FOLLETTE, parently given MacArthur an exaggerated 0442362 . . . SCHEDULED TO ARRIVE . . . view of my brain cells—which, incidentally, NOVEMBER 4. INSTRUCT HIM TO REPORT could never have made much of an impression TO ME FOR INTERVIEW. on MacArthur. (Or perhaps it did, because MACARTHUR my relations with him were certainly peculiar "Report to me" involved a flight from Mel­ for the next thirty months!) bourne to Brisbane, a stop there to pick up After this friendly, unhurried visit, he said: field equipment, then a flight to Cairns in "The Thirty-Second Division—as you know, a B-25 bomber, my first taste of flight in the made up of National Guard units from Wis­ weather common to the tropics. We hit one consin and Michigan—is about to take off for air pocket with a drop of a couple thousand our first offensive against the Japs. I am going feet—no seat belt—and a whang on my head to attach you to them for as long as your like being hit by a crowbar. Overnight at commander in the South Pacific will leave Cairns with American and Australian top air you here. Get your gear and return here." fighters: good Scotch whiskey and the free I got my gear—bedding roll, tin hat, forty- and heartwarming companionship of genial five pistol, and all the rest of the brand new men. "store clothes" that the Army quartermasters I landed at Port Moresby at dusk and found in the States had dreamed up for war in a place to sleep and eat. Bright and early the Europe—and which, like millions of others, next morning I wended my way up a steep hill I would rapidly junk. (You see, the Army to a one-story house surrounded on four sides never planned for war in the Pacific—that by a wide veranda. It commanded a sweep­ would be the Navy's war when it came.) ing view of the harbor and the Coral Sea, I stowed my gear in MacArthur's car. In sweeping off to the horizon. A cloudless sky, we got—Juniors always get in first if the right brilliant sunshine, a well-filled stomach, and side of the vehicle is where you get in, so the a freshly promoted major (even my promotion Senior—even in New Guinea—can sit on the was S.O.P.—"Standard Operating Procedure"— right. acquired when you went overseas and were A drive down to the flat ground near the "over age in grade") reporting to the CIC, beach. The sun was high and I was getting 86 •i.*

WHi (X3) 36893 General MacArthur emerging from, a conference with one of his commanders. General Walter Krueger, New Guinea, 1943. my first taste of the sweltering heat of the nearest replica of Caesar that has come our tropics. Here in neat rows were strung out way. the tents of the headquarters and the ad­ He began: "Harding, you will be on your vance units of the 32nd Division. The com­ way in a matter of hours. You will make his­ manding general was Edwin F. Harding, and tory. You lead our first offensive against the his chief of staff, Colonel John W. Mott, were Japanese. Here and now I begin a campaign th-e first to present themselves as MacArthur's of movement—where speed, and tactical sur­ car drove up. prise, and superior strategy will demonstrate Mott was flicked aside with a nod as Mac- again how generalship can win with lightning Arthur entered Harding's tent. I hung back, strategic strokes against potentially overwhelm­ intending to wait outside while the generals ing forces. did their talking—but MacArthur directed me "The Japanese have superiority on land, with a wave of his hand to a seat in Harding's sea, and in the air through all of Asia. With tent. less than one infantry division and a handful Just the three of us in Harding's tent. Mac- of airplanes we are starting on the road to Arthur did not change! He suddenly was a Tokyo. We shall redeem the disgrace of Pearl different man from that friendly fellow who Harbor. We shall drive the Japanese to their had just walked in there. I mean exactly that. knees, and we shall do it by master strategy. He did not change. He was somebody else. We shall turn the jungle into a weapon to He was a Caesar—yes, more a Caesar than fight for us. We shall hit them where they Napoleon. I had never met anyone like him ain't, and by taking key points for our ever- in the flesh before. I had read about people advancing air fields we shall interdict their like him: Frederick the Great—Cromwell—Na­ forces, cut their lines of supply, and leave them poleon—Washington—Hill—Grant—Sherman— to rot in the jungles behind us. and Caesar. And, yes, I was right—he was "When I commanded the 42nd Division in Caesar more than anybody else. After the World War I, I saw both sides fling millions years have rolled on, that first impression was of men to their slaughter in the stupidity of the right one. Douglas MacArthur was the trench warfare. I made up my mind then that

87 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981 when I commanded in the next war, as I guns at the mighty base of Singapore could knew I would, that I would use my brains in­ fire in only one direction: out to sea. Hence stead of the blood and guts of my men. So, on the Japanese marched unhindered down the with you and your gallant men. God be with Malay Peninsula through the jungle and took you!" them from the rear! It was pitiful.) The first He stood up and walked out of the tent bitter lesson that the ultimately successful and to the door of the waiting car. Harding trial lawyer must learn is the elemental rule and I, standing just outside, saluted. Sud­ in all human endeavor: Never underestimate denly he turned, and, looking at me, said, your opponent, be that opponent in warfare, "Phil, Harding will take you to your death sport, or in whatever or wherever man com­ or to glory! God bless you!" He entered his petes. Nor overestimate yourself! car and drove off. So, until almost the last few minutes of the Thus my introduction to Douglas Mac- eleventh hour, had the conquering military Arthur. Actually, Harding led me neither to brass of World War I failed to grasp the sig­ death nor to glory. But it was the beginning nificance of air power—and so had we been of two and a half years of a new kind of ex­ lulled into sleepy complacence about the Jap­ perience. anese. In retrospect, the disaster of Pearl Harbor still seems incomprehensible. Histor­ ians will wrangle for years over who and what was specifically at fault. But the basic answer ACARTHUR was an intruder is simply: We grossly—inexcusably—underesti• M in the Pacific War. His presence mated our opponent and overestimated our­ in the Pacific War was not, repeat, not accord­ selves. ing to plan. But his military genius was of a Nothing I know of better illustrates the su­ caliber that could and would not be ignored. preme overconfidence than a remark FDR But if the Reader imderstands the simple fact made before the war one night in the Oval that his kind was not in the plans that so many Room in the White House. Bob and I had a Navy admirals and captains had worked out family dinner there, and after talking some on paper, had "solved" in maneuvers on the practical politics for most of the evening seas, and which had actually built the U.S. among the three of us, the conversation at the fleet to fight Japan, then you will better under­ end got around to the world situation and stand what seemed like squabbles between the the dangers of impending war. I asked the naval high command and Douglas MacArthur. President if he was not pressuring the Japan­ There just was no American Army plan for ese dangerously hard. He replied: "Oh, don't a Pacific War—none whatever.' Army think­ worry about the Japs, Phil. We can lick them ing in the two decades before Pearl Harbor with one hand tied behind our backs." was of war in Europe. (We Americans were of The simple, basic fact was that we were course not the only people caught flat-footed contemptuous of the Japanese. We knew in in the first year of Japanese triumphal march December, 1941, they were going to attack. across Asia in 1942. Even the British coastal We had not only asked for it—we were eager for it. But our conceit just would not allow ^ This was not precisely the case. In the Philippines, for example, the Army had long had War Plan us to think they would actually attack our sit­ Orange, which called for a strategic withdrawal to ting-duck fleet at Pearl Harbor in identically the Bataan Peninsula on Luzon where the American- the same way Admiral Togo had caught and Filipino forces were to resist until reinforcements ar­ sunk the Russian fleet nearly thirty-eight years rived from elsewhere. In the initial stages of the war, before. MacArthur ignored the plan and attempted to fight it out with the Japanese at their beachheads—a nearly But they did. Our fleet was sunk. While the disastrous error. See D. Clayton James, The Years of tight screen of censorship shrouded our bat­ MacArthur: Volume II, 1941-1945 (New York, 1975), tleships sunk in the mud of Pearl Harbor, the 24-27. James's thorough, scholarly study is undoubted­ despised Japanese swarmed in triumph over ly the best book to date about MacArthur; it was relied upon heavily by William R. Manchester for his Ameri­ Asia. Before we could catch our breath the can Caesar: Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964 (Boston, Japanese were masters of the Pacific, and only 1978). Australia and New Zealand were left to the COFFMAN: MACARTHUR

THE PACIFIC

Midway*

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Kwajalein

TarawBc • :••• ^ Admiralty Is. "" ^^ .-Bismarck Archipelago

Morseby «*'. Guadalcanal ''

t> •o

^

500 1000

Statute Miles

NEW ZEALAND

89 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981

WHi (X3) 36894 MacArthur near his headquarters at Lake Sentani, New Guinea, c. 1944.

white man—quaking in his boots, defenseless countries were in the Middle East fighting against the attacks that had already begun at with the British against Rommel. The only Darwin, on the northern tip of Australia, effective military forces awaiting MacArthur when MacArthur arrived in Melbourne. were two U.S. National Guard divisions: the MacArthur had left Bataan on March 16, 32nd (Michigan and Wisconsin) and the 41st 1942, under direct order of the President. It (a western outfit from Idaho, Montana, Ore­ was a terrific personal gamble. He could defy gon, Washington, and Wyoming). that order and go down fighting. Remember, Time would prove the rank and file of he knew history. If he died fighting on Cor- those two divisions to be as fine fighting men regidor, there was not the slightest doubt he as anywhere on earth. Of the 32nd—especially would be in every history book thereafter as of its Wisconsin component—I can write with long as books were written. To leave Bataan more certainty, because I had known it while with his wife and small son made his triumphal I had been governor of Wisconsin. Bitter, return ("I shall return!") a personal require­ painful, costly experiences lay ahead—especial­ ment that alone could redeem his Honor (and, ly for the 32nd. While both divisions had believe you me, that last word was spelled been called into federal service more than a with a capital letter in his lexicon). year before Pearl Harbor, their officer per­ He arrived in Melbourne a hero. He was sonnel had not been adequately culled. their savior—the symbol that the Allies in MacArthur waited in Melbourne. The com­ general, but America in most particular, were paratively small but highly vociferous audience going to defend these two last outposts of the of all Australia and New Zealand waited for West. But what barren outposts Australia this fighting soldier to "get going." Day after and New Zealand were from a military view. day, week after week went by and nothing but The only effective military forces of both those ever-mounting silence. Why?

90 COFFMAN: MACARTHUR

N carving out the geographical lines Owen Stanley Mountains towards Port Mores- I.o f MacArthur's South West Pacific, by. the Naval gentlemen in Washington had giv­ The stage was now set for the American en him all the real estate in that vast area. But "come-back"—for the start of the long road the Japanese had begun probing attacks—into to Tokyo. In Navy eyes there was only one New Guinea and down the island chain from way: the slow, costly capture of the islands New Britain (at Rabaul) toward the only sup­ that stretch across the Pacific. That meant ply line between French New Caledonia and frontal attacks against strongly entrenched po­ New Zealand and Australia. sitions, to be defended to the last Japanese. Defense against that menace must be had This was to be a near duplication of the hor­ at once. Naturally, the Navy must do that job. rible trench warfare of World War I. And But thoughtlessly the line-drawers had given this is would have been, were it not for this that area to MacArthur. Hastily the line was man MacArthur who had arrived in Mel­ changed. It was moved westward and a new bourne in March of 1942. command was created: SoPac—the "South You will remember we left him there wait­ Pacific," with an Air Force general in Army ing for orders from Washington. The orders command, under an admiral. finally came through to "hold" Australia. Upon this rearrangement of the Pacific into From a military standpoint, and perhaps even three commands—Central Pacific (Navy, with more in MacArthur's personal view, to "hold" Admiral Chester W. Nimitz), South Pacific Australia was impossible. Unless he could (Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, shortly re­ "return" and liberate the Philippines, his mili­ placed by Admiral William F. Halsey), and tary career—his place in history—would be South West Pacific (MacArthur)—the Navy forever shrouded in the disgrace of his person­ sent the 1st Marine Division (General al escape from Corregidor. Alexander A. Vandegrift) to take and hold Thus two driving wills were pitted in a Guadalcanal and thus halt the Japanese at­ struggle which would not end until MacAr­ tempt to cut the last line of supply between thur's historic meeting with FDR in Hawaii the United States and Australia-New Zealand. in July, 1944. It was to be the Navy, with Simultaneous with their move toward that its determination to redeem its disgrace at precious supply line, the Japanese had landed Pearl Harbor, against MacArthur and his vow on the east coast of New Guinea and begun to "return" to the Philippines. their long trek across the nearly impassable Both were activated by the laudable deter-

t^ ^p ^_^~.._^ Noemfoor Sansapo? v, \ '^^^^ft!?''

ADMIRALTY ISLANDS r-"—w£>Los Negros

91 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981 mination to achieve victory for the United had ten "leaps"—it became known as "leap­ States. But MacArthur had the advantage. frogging"—to take in the New Guinea area His fertile mind would conceive the strategy before he would be based and ready for his which opened the way for that war of move­ return to the Philippines. Chronologically, ment—of maneuver—of surprise—by which mil­ there were Cape Gloucester, the Admiralty itary genius wins victories. Getting there "fast­ Islands, Madang, HoUandia, Aitape, Wakde, est" with the "mostest" is the simple key to Biak, Noemfoor, Sansapor, and Morotai.* Mac- every "ideal" military victory in history. Arthur's basic, simple strategy was to secure, September, 1942: Draw a vast arc from step by step, air bases. Each push forward ex­ Malaya across the Pacific to Alaska. Every­ tended his air power to enable him to do three where, everything beyond it was completely things: provide air cover for the next leap dominated by the victorious Japanese. They forward, simultaneously to cut off the supply have overwhelming superiority on land, at lines of the isolated Japanese forces, and per­ sea, in the air. Their onrush has only been mit malaria-carrying mosquitoes and hunger halted at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands to do their deadly work. ("The enemy were and at the edge of Port Moresby and Milne left to wither on the vine.") Bay in New Guinea.^ On Thursday, November 19, 1942, MacAr­ thur began his attack on the tiny village of personal word here may put Buna on the eastern coast of New Guinea. A this reporter back into the pic­ One prong of his offensive—two battalions, ture. You may recall that I flew over the one American, one Australian—started on foot Owen Stanley Range with General Harding across the Owen Stanley Mountains. The and his combat team of the 32nd Division in other was transported—and was to be supplied November of '42. We landed on an air strip as well—by air. cut through the tall kunai grass at a tiny vil­ At Buna the lads from the Middle West were lage south of Buna named Mindaropa. The to learn the bitter lessons of jungle warfare. next morning a radio message came through Remember that the Army had no plans and ordering me to return to the South Pacific no equipment for fighting in the jungle. headquarters at Noumea, New Caledonia. So Those Japanese emplacements were really I went back to Port Moresby and thence to something! Twin rows, two feet or so apart, Brisbane. of palm-logs, filled between with dirt and At a fuel stop at Townsend I was run over armed with machine guns covering the single- by an Australian army truck. Fortunately, it file trails through the jungle. Each of these had to be taken by man-to-man fighting until ' In fact only Buna village had fallen; the more im­ the last Jap was killed. Months later, the price­ portant Japanese position at the Buna Government less bulldozer and malaria-fighting Atabrine Station held out, literally to the last defender, until January 2, 1943, and fighting continued along the would work their miracles. But raw, inex­ coastline west of Buna until January 22. From the perienced, often ill-led men would have to outset, MacArthur was dissatisfied with ihe slow pace take those jungle-hidden log emplacements by of the Buna offensive, and on December 2 he sacked sheer force and awkwardness before we would the commander of the U.S. 32nd Division, Major General Edwin F. Harding, assigning over-all com­ really be on our way. The wrathful will of mand of the U.S. forces there to Major General Robert MacArthur at Port Moresby drove these men L, Eichclberger. But even under the lash of Mac- on until his communique could announce, on Arthur's almost daily exhortation to "take Buna today December 14, 1942, that Buna had been taken.' at all costs," Eichelberger's sick, battle-weary troops made painfully slow progress. In all, the combined Following the Buna campaign, MacArthur U.S.-Australian force sustained some 8,500 casualties in the Buna campaign (or more than the U.S. suffered ' U.S. Marines landed on Guadalcanal on August 7, on Guadalcanal), and MacArthur thereafter sought 1942, touching off the pivotal campaign that was not to avoid what he called the "bloody, grinding type" to end until February 9, 1943. In New Guinea, the of battle. For a vivid account of the campaign, see enemy offensive against Port Moresby ended on Sep­ Lida Mayo, Bloody Buna (New York, 1974). tember 24, 1942, when the Japanese halted almost * MacArthur's campaign in New Guinea is detailed within sight of the city and began falling back towards is James, The Years of MacArthur: Volume II, Parts II defensive positions around Buna. and III. 92 WHi (X3) 36896 U.S. infantry going into action near HoUandia, New Guinea, 1944. (This and all other photographs illustrating the article are drawn from Governor La Follette's scrapbooks, which are in the Society's sound and visual archives.)

hit me amidship from the rear. I got a thor­ housekeeper for the war correspondents and ough bruising up and should have got at least theoretically their commanding officer. This a Purple Heart for the banging up—but no group varied in size from twenty-five or so to luck. In the hospital at New Caledonia (ma­ a hundred or more. And what an outfit they laria) I hinted to General Nathan Twining were! 4th: It was the principal instrument of Wisconsin that I would like to go back to —and just that—for MacArthur's ceaseless war­ the 32nd Division. Within a few days "Nat" fare with the Pentagon in general, the Navy called on me at the hospital and handed me a high command, the European and African radio order from the Adjutant General in theaters of war, and with Franklin Delano Washington assigning me to the 32nd Divi­ Roosevelt in particular. (If keeping Mac- sion. Arthur and the Southwest Pacific Theater in When I got back to MacArthur's headquar­ the public eye had the incidental effect of ters in December, the 32nd Division was in the nursing MacArthur's political potential, so midst of its trials and tribulations. An ex- much the better. He was a good enough tac­ governor of Wisconsin, I was about the last tician to know that the political threat back person anyone wanted to mix into the array home of the name MacArthur was one of his of generals around Buna at that moment. So, most effective weapons in dealing with the for lack of any other spot, I was attached to political maestro in the White House.) MacArthur's public relations office, which, FDR knew, as did MacArthur, that the lat­ let me enlighten you, bore not the remotest ter had a tremendous, undrawn, and unmea­ resemblance whatsoever to the Madison Ave­ sured support in the American mind and emo­ nue concept of that function. tions. In the last analysis there never was a MacArthur's PRO had four jobs: 1st: To showdown between FDR and MacArthur. issue the daily communique. This was Mac- Both had too much respect for the other to Arthur's own, exclusive baby. It went straight see any satisfactory results in challenging the from him alone to PRO. More on that shortly. other. And neither ever lost sight of the fact 2nd: It controlled all censorship of military that they both owed allegiances which were news in MacArthur's command. 3rd: It was higher and more important than themselves.

93 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981

MacArthur's greatest problem was how he MacArthur I have ever heard came from some could get the manpower and the weapons for members of his staff. But during the war, only the war he was waging against the Japanese, among themselves. The loyalty of those about while standing in line behind the prior claims him did not stem from affection. I am quite of the war against the Germans and the power­ sure he felt no affection for any of those who ful demands of the American Navy—so much served under or around him—or any of them closer to FDR's elbow than he so far away in for him. The loyalty MacArthur got from his the Southwest Pacific. staff was rooted in profound respect for his MacArthur's only means of getting the com­ technical, his military capacities. One felt su­ parative trickle of men and weapons he must premely confident that one was working—in have was his use of his Public Relations Of­ whatever capacity it might be—for a man who fice to catch and hold attention at home, so knew his business. Perhaps the same loyalty that his demands could not be entirely ig­ the members of a great orchestra felt for nored. His first and most effective weapon in Toscanini. this scramble was his daily communique—his Early in life Douglas MacArthur was con­ daily report on the war in his area. This could vinced he was destined to play a command­ not be ignored back home. Every day, in ing role in his generation. He was the son of every daily newspaper and on the radio, Mac- a distinguished general of the Civil War and Arthur's words were seen and heard. He had a doting and imperious mother. He was tall, to compete with the rest of the war news, but lean, athletic, with great reserves of physical he had his foot, so to speak, in the door. and nervous energy. He was endowed with a Coupled with the communique was his first-class mind, which he enriched with pro­ authority over military censorship, which digious reading and study. And all was domi­ meant that he had some control over the press nated by a will of iron. and radio news that went out daily from the He was before all else an intellectual. And war correspondents assigned to his area. This an intellectual of the highest magnitude. His was not unique. Every theater commander scholastic record was the highest ever achieved had the same. But there were differences. at West Point. And his forte was the exact MacArthur was a long way off—from the sciences where precision and exactitude leave White House, from the Pentagon, from 10 no room for the flowering vagueness of opin­ Downing Street. And, even more important, ion. he was MacArthur. His stage might be remote, His chosen field was the military, where for and the competition for the spotlight as against forty years his colleagues were never his mental the galaxy of personalities in Africa, Europe, equals. Except for those periods where his Washington, and London might be difficult; military service brought him into contact with but he stood isolated, alone, on his stage—and civilians, MacArthur never had the benefit of he was first-rate theater all by himself. daily rubbing of mental elbows with his in­ MacArthur thus might be playing "one- tellectual equals—let alone his superiors. night stands" out in the sticks—and playing His mind was a beautiful piece of almost against a lot of Broadway hits—but his very perfect machinery. The surprising thing was isolation gave him opportunities to show what that he kept it running so perfectly, stimulated he had. He proved himself the outstanding almost exclusively by prodigious reading. In military commander of World War II. books he found minds and problems that real­ ly challenged him. Rarely was he put to his mettle by other mortals. And when he was— if in his own military field—he was superb, N later years I have been asked in­ dazzling. I numerable times about MacArthur. One day back in 1922 while he was head of What sort of a person was he—really? Was West Point, a young instructor passed his this or that true or false? And, more often open door. MacArthur, looking up, saw him than not, the questions related to the many and beckoned him into his office. The desk silly, usually baseless stories about him. was covered with books. The captain asked: The most accurate, penetrating criticism of "General, what are you reading?" 94 ^^^*- -•. ^

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•xl^

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WHi (X3) 36901 The Caesar-like quality of MacArthur that La Follette speaks of is nicely caught in this publicity photo of 1944-1945.

MacArthur said: "Captain, I am studying He could never laugh at himself; never admit amphibious warfare—war waged across water. mistakes or defeats. When these occurred he "Do you realize we are headed for World not only did not admit them, but he resorted War II? And that will be amphibious war­ to tricks—sometimes sly, childlike attempts—to fare. In this coming war we shall have to fight cover them up. Germany—and in that fight France may col­ This petty but understandable desire to be lapse and we shall have to cross the English perfect—to ignore his obvious warts—warts Channel to get at our enemy. which were insignificant against his towering "Then, we shall also be fighting Japan at intellect, superb courage, and inflexible will- the same time. Again, we cannot get at Japan became important only because it convinced except over water: amphibious warfare! So, MacArthur's detractors they could prove the Captain, I am studying the only great military whole structure to be only a facade. How mis­ teachers of amphibious warfare: Caesar and taken they were! Events were to show that Hannibal." there were no embryo Napoleons, Grants, This, Reader, was nineteen years before Lees, or Shermans in the American military Pearl Harbor! Is it any wonder that a man machine. We had highly competent crafts­ with this caliber of mind .should acquire a men in George C. Marshall, Omar N. Bradley, supreme confidence that seemed to many to George S. Patton, Ernest J. King, Chester W. be arrogant? But it was no more arrogance Nimitz, and a superb military diplomat in than the confidence of a Will Mayo after the Dwight D. Eisenhower—but only one authen­ experience of a thousand surgical operations. tic military genius: Douglas MacArthur. By 1942 MacArthur knew the answers—and Whatever his faults and foibles, and there knew he knew. were plenty, you knew your chief was a maes­ There was a serious flaw in this otherwise tro of the first order when you worked for almost perfect combination of human quali­ MacArthur. The daily communique was Mac- ties. Douglas MacArthur had no humility, Arthur's alone. A daily draft culled from the and hence no saving grace of a sense of humor. previous day's intelligence reports came from 95 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981 his G-2, Major General Charles A. Willough­ outfit was moved from Australia to Finscha­ by. This draft was on MacArthur's desk when fen, New Guinea. With that as our base, on he arrived each morning around ten o'clock. Christmas Day the 1st Marines were loaded MacArthur would have been up long before aboard transports and headed across the Vi­ that, but he read and digested the newspapers tiaz Strait for Cape Gloucester. The taking —all of them, and every detail—before he left of Cape Gloucester was a military gem. Sea, his living quarters. ("I always give my staff air, and ground forces moved in and took over time to clear their desks before I go to my with perfect precision. Each arm did its job headquarters.") on the minute and to those who saw it, it will His first job was work on that communique. always remain a classic performance—Beetho­ Rarely he approved it as it came to him in ven's Ninth, with Toscanini and the NBC draft form. Sometimes there would be only Orchestra at their finest. minor changes. But usually it came from his By the end of 1943, Cape Gloucester was desk in the form of a continuing story written secure. Rabaul was behind us and cut off. to catch and hold the interest of the reader And now, too, MacArthur had some effec­ from day to day. Occasionally there crept tive reinforcements. He was ready for a big, into it those "purple passages" which irri­ risky leap forward to the Admiralty Islands at tated lesser minds who never saw the forest the top of the ladder. because of the trees. The Admiralties were tempting. If they could be taken and held, it would be an enor­ mous stride toward the Philippines. But it would be hazardous. The extreme range of Y the early fall of 1943 MacAr­ our air cover would leave our sea forces com­ B thur's forces had secured the east pletely undefended from air attack for ten coast of New Guinea from Milne Bay in the hours or so on the open sea. south to above Finschafen in the north. To MacArthur's air commander and right-hand begin "the climb up the ladder" toward the man, Lieutenant General George C. Kenney, Philippines, the east coast of the Vitiaz Strait reported the Admiralties "lightly held"—judg­ had to be secured. That had to be some place ing by the amount of laundry observed drying on the island of New Britain. in the breeze by his fliers. General Willough- Early in the war, the Japanese had taken by's intelligence reports disagreed. He was Rabaul at the eastern end of New Britain, sure the Japanese were there in strength. Mac- with its fine harbor. There the Japanese had Arthur decided to risk it. A reinforced com­ concentrated a major force of ground, sea, bat battalion from the 1st Cavalry Division and air. Conventional military thinking as­ was loaded tight as sardines on destroyers and sumed that Rabaul must be stormed and taken embarked for the island of Los Negros in the before there would be any major move to the Admiralties. north and west. But not MacArthur. Willoughby, not Kenney, was right: the For months and months Rabaul underwent Japs were there in force. For forty-eight hours daily air attack. But MacArthur never intend­ it was nip and tuck whether we could hold ed a frontal attack on that fortress. Instead on. We did, and reinforcements arrived in he picked a lightly held spot on the western time. The Admiralties were ours. "I have put tip of New Britain called Cape Gloucester. the stopper in the bottle," was the way Mac- With benefit of hindsight, MacArthur's stra­ Arthur summed up the long, bitter struggle tegy seems startlingly simple. He used his that began in the Owen Stanley Mountains sea, air, and ground forces to take and hold and stretched up the coast of New Guinea strategic spots where his forces at the point towards the Philippines. of attack were always overwhelmingly super­ The taking of HoUandia and Biak on the ior. north coast of Dutch New Guinea cleared the By the winter of 1943 the 1st Marine Divi­ last hurdles. Tanahmerah Bay and HoUandia sion, under the command of Major General were easy operations. Biak was tougher, large­ Vandegrift, were rested and under MacAr­ ly because our forces overlooked Japanese thur's operational command. This fighting hidden in caves facing a narrow beach. It was 96 COFFMAN: MACARTHUR bitter and costly for those involved, but it had and sat down for dinner, MacArthur noted no effect on the main objectives. that (aside from the President's military aide, Until now the Navy had pursued its island Major General Edwin "Pa" Watson) he was hops across the Central Pacific with costly the only Army officer present. head-on clashes at Tarawa, Kwajalein, Eniwe- Immediately following dinner, the Presi­ tok, etc. At the same time, MacArthur had at dent seated himself in front of a large map of last reached northern New Guinea. Now, at the Pacific. He pointed to the island of Min­ long last, the paths converged, and the inevita­ danao in the central Philippines and asked ble conflict between the Navy and MacArthur MacArthur, "Where do you go from here?" could no longer be postponed or avoided. MacArthur then proceeded to give his plan Which way to Tokyo? Through the Philip­ in considerable detail for retaking the Philip­ pines under MacArthur's command, or by pines and using them as the base for the final water under Navy command? assault on Japan itself. From accounts of Franklin D. Roosevelt had been nominated those who heard him, MacArthur was in per­ at San Francisco in July, 1944, for his fourth- fect form—and that is saying something. term candidacy. A meeting was called for He was interrupted by the President at one July 26 at Honolulu. General Marshall in­ point about MacArthur's "high" casualties in formed MacArthur that the purpose of the his campaign up the coast of New Guinea. conference was "the general strategic prob­ This really aroused MacArthur. He walked lems of the Pacific" and that "Admiral Leahy, over to the President and said: "I do not know etcetera" would be there. The "etcetera" was who has given you that kind of information, FDR, though MacArthur did not know it. but whoever he was, he told you lies." As he Shortly after he arrived in Honolulu on the said this, he used his outstretched fingers as afternoon of Wednesday, July 26, 1944, Mac- a ramrod to poke the President's chest for Arthur was told that the President wanted to emphasis. see him. He was received by Roosevelt with MacArthur then developed for the Presi­ warm cordiality, who greeted him with, "De­ dent his argument that the frontal assault lighted to see you, Douglas." There was against modern weapons was obsolete, and much picture taking and movie making, and that a war of movement was the only way to MacArthur's first impression was that the con­ achieve victory without appalling losses. ference was likely to be more political than (This, of course, was not new. It was a more military. He was only partially correct. It polished version of what I had heard him give was to be both. to General Harding in that tent on the shores Next day, MacArthur accompanied the of Port Moresby some twenty months before.) President on his tour of inspection. There Admiral Nimitz and the Navy had brought were countless more pictures, still and mov­ with them a plan which called for MacArthur's ing. And MacArthur felt he was participating forces taking the central Philippines—prob­ in the political campaign of 1944 rather than ably Mindanao—and from there neutralizing planning for the rest of the war. The Presi­ the Japanese air fields on Luzon, the northern dent asked him to come to dinner that eve­ island of the Philippines. MacArthur strongly ning: "Just you alone—for a good visit." opposed this plan to bypass Luzon on mili­ According to instructions, MacArthur ar­ tary grounds, but also because of the disas­ rived at the President's quarters that evening trous effect it would have on the morale of accompanied only by his military secretary— the Filipinos, not to mention its effect through­ who was parked outside on the veranda, where out Asia, and on him. he had a good "ringside seat" of what fol­ This conference lasted until midnight. It lowed.^ was followed by another the following morn­ As the President and his guests gathered ing. Throughout, Admirals William D. Leahy (the President's personal Chief of Staff) and ° MacArthur's military secretary was Brigadier Gen­ William F. ("Bull") Halsey and others were eral Bonner F. Fellers. According to La Follette, Fellers provided him with this condensed, somewhat simplified present. version of the Pearl Harbor strategy conference. Inter­ When MacArthur concluded his presenta­ view with Edward M. Coffman, February 3, 1962. tion, Admiral Leahy said that he was not cer- 97 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981 tain he agreed with MacArthur's estimates as My wife met me in Chicago and we went to the exact timing of the moves he planned, East together. I had telephoned Steve Early, but that on the essential strategy, he was in the President's press secretary, and arranged complete agreement with MacArthur. to see FDR. I walked into the White House That settled it. The ultimate military de­ right past a flock of correspondents and into cision was reached not because of MacArthur's Steve Early's office without being noticed. eloquence—though he had spoken with Why? I was in uniform! And that garb nat­ astounding brilliance. The decision made urally attracted no attention in Washington. itself. The inexorable logic of events, coupled Steve took me in the "back door" of the with MacArthur's demonstrated capacity to President's office. I had not seen FDR in five blend the use of naval, air, and ground forces years. I was not prepared for the change in into a Beethoven-like, perfectly coordinated, his appearance. It shocked me. He was an three-edged military symphony, had ensured old and shaky man. I delivered MacArthur's that the final triumphal stages of the war letter, which he opened and read. against Japan were to be under MacArthur's We visited briefly, but knowing he was command. pressed for time, I began to take my leave. He grasped my hand and held it in his. He said: "Phil, I want you to stay here with me. I need you badly." And I am sure he meant it. I BOUT this time I was shifted would have liked to have done so. But when A from PRO to Assistant to Mac- I pointed out the coming operations in the Arthur's Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Philippines and how it must appear if I did Richard K. Sutherland. I was due to leave in not go gack to the Pacific, he saw the point early September for home, on furlough. Gen­ immediately, and with an affectionate squeeze eral MacArthur handed me a sealed letter to of my hand and "God bless you, boy," I left. be delivered in person to the President.^ With So, after those few brief days at home, I my orders to proceed to Washington, New started back across the Pacific. This time I York, and Chicago; with authorization for a was headed not for Brisbane but for HoUan­ thirty-day leave in Madison in ray hands; and dia, New Guinea, which was the staging area armed with AAA air priority, the highest for MacArthur's return to the Philippines. there was, I headed for home after two long In the months since we had landed and years in the Pacific! taken HoUandia the place had been trans­ formed. When I first saw it some eight months before, it was a tiny Nepahut village. Now it was a teeming Army city of 100,000. Hospitals, streets, roads, buildings had sprung up like magic—all centered around the GHQ, known as "MacArthur's Million Dollar Palace." It certainly must have cost a lot of labor to build the roads up that hill from the valley below. But in wartime such costs are seldom consid­ ered. In any case, the buildings were the usual construction in the tropics, and the appoint­ ments were no different from those we had had at Port Moresby, or the ones the Navy had for their headquarters on the same high ground. When I reported to General Sutherland at HoUandia, Advance GHQ was housed in

"As Governor La Follette later recounted to Ed­ WHi (X3) 36897 ward M. Coffman (March 7, 1962), the letter con­ Isen La Follette and her soldier husband, pictured cerned La Follette's possible appointment as military on lea-Lie in Madison during 1944. governor of the Philippines, which never materialized. 98 COFFMAN: MACARTHUR quarters on top of a high hill overlooking There has been much written and more beautiful Lake Sentani. The main building said about why the Japanese withdrew the rem­ was rectangular in shape, about 100 or so feet nants of their fleet back through the San Ber­ in length and forty in width. It was made of nardino Straits when, by pressing on, they some sort of wall board, waist high, with open might have caused us terrific damage.^ For screening around its four sides. One big room whatever it may be worth, it has always seemed across the front had Sutherland's desk at one to me that the decisive factor was psychologi­ end, and the sitting room area for general of­ cal: like master chess players, they could see ficers at the other. The general officers' mess the inevitable end of the game long before the and kitchen were off from the sitting-room final checkmate. The fighting was to go on- area, and there was an office for Ed Bothne, bitter fighting that would cost thousands of Sutherland's crack stenographer, and myself lives. The Japanese were fanatically brave near Sutherland's desk. There was a room and and their leaders kept them fighting even when bath for MacArthur, which I believe he oc­ they knew they were licked, until it was so cupied only once. There, too, were the won­ hopeless that the world would see that their derful, relatively new cryptographic machines surrender was caused by overwhelming su­ which allowed "talks" back and forth across periority and not from desire to save their the Pacific without fear of codes being broken. skins. (I saw and heard these machines working away I missed the Leyte landing. I got there every day, but I had long since learned the while tough fighting was still going on. But best way to preserve military secrets was to I had been left at HoUandia to the unimpor­ avoid knowing anything about such matters tant and very minor task of minding that little except what was necessary to one's job—the store. I arrived in the Philippines in Decem­ rule of "need to know.") ber of 1944, following the great naval battles The strategic plans agreed upon at Hono­ and just prior to the invasion of Luzon. My lulu at the end of July, 1944, called for taking boss in PRO had a rough time in the landing Leyte, then Luzon, with sort of "mopping up" on Leyte and came down with a fever. So I operations on Mindanao. With the Philip­ went back to that job for the next perfor­ pines secured, the next great step would be mances. The war correspondents and PRO on Japan itself. But I am sure that the feel­ officers were assigned an LCI (Landing Craft ing in MacArthur's headquarters was that Infantry). These craft were comparatively once the Philippines had been taken—with long, narrow ships, much like a sleek yacht, the air and naval supremacy that that would and built to pack in doughboys. Being a require—it would most likely mean the sur­ "bird" colonel (I had been promoted in Au­ render of Japan itself. gust, 1944), I got to ride on an Army trans­ The American landing in Leyte Gulf on port—a converted smaller-sized ocean liner. October 17-20 and the taking of Tacloban, It sure was different accommodations than the provincial capital, without serious opposi­ I had on that first twenty-one-day crossing in tion, achieved tactical surprise. ("Tactical sur­ September, 1942, when, as a captain, I had prise" means that the enemy knows you are been packed into a cabin designed for two, on your way, but does not know at what point with six others. But even that had been com­ you are actually going to hit.) During October fort compared to the enlisted men, who rode and November there was severe fighting on in the hold. Leyte. The Reader may recall that our ground forces were pretty well landed on Leyte when the Japanese launched a massive air-and-naval attack to cut us off. Had the Japanese suc­ 'The Battle for Leyte Gulf (October 23-26, 1944) consisted of four separate actions involving a total of ceeded, it would have been a crippling blow. 282 ships—216 American, two Australian, and sixty- We would not have lost the war, but it would four Japanese. In the greatest naval engagement of have greatly prolonged it, and, as it looked all time, the Japanese were thwarted in their effort to me, made likely a frontal attack on japan to attack the Leyte beachhead, losing four aircraft carriers, three battleships, ten cruisers, nine destroyers, itself, with the horrible casualties that would and about 10,000 men. The U.S. lost six ships and have evolved. less than 3,000 men.

99 ..?\

i^^!**"^'*^^U " "ta

WHi (X3) 3472 5 American naval air power over the Patau Islands in the spring of 1945.

HE sight of that vast armada as planes, but they were beaten off as fast as they T it moved away from Leyte and came. then swung north towards Luzon was some­ The sight made a fellow's chest swell a bit thing none who saw it will ever forget. Up with pride—and now we of SoWesPac were no to that time it was the largest naval and air longer orphans. The accumidated might and force ever. The landings in France the pre­ productive power of America had given us vious June involved more ships and men; but that overwhelming power which spelled in­ that was a ferrying job across the English evitable victory, and not too far off, the end Channel. This was a movement over the sea of that long, twisting, difficult road that be­ of an army with all its supplies, artillery, and gan back at Guadalcanal and New Guinea. equipment. And all convoyed by large and Our landing on the Lingayen coast on Jan­ small aircraft carriers, with protecting destroy­ uary 9, 1945, could not have been unsuspected. ers, cruisers, and battleships. Ships spread out It was the only practicable spot to start toward across the sea in every direction—all moving Manila. But it was almost unopposed. Dur­ in perfect formation to their appointed desti­ ing the first night many of us were still nations. There were repeated enemy attacks, in our ships. And during the night some were which by then included kamikaze or suicide attacked by individual swimming "kamikazes" 100 COFFMAN: MACARTHUR

—single, individual Japanese soldiers armed quarters, corps commanders, and even down with bombs which, like a "Molotov cocktail," to battalion commanders—racing back and they attached under water to the hulls of some forth in his jeep without any guard whatever of the convoy. The LCI's—one of which car­ —urging his divisional commanders to speed ried the war correspondents—were lined up in faster and faster towards Manila. By the sev­ a row. During the night there was a lot of aim­ enth day, MacArthur's headquarters was sev­ less firing with rifles from those on board- enty-five miles nearer Manila than that of his most of it at floating boxes and refuse thrown Sixth Army. There were times when Mac- from the ships. Arthur's jeep would be probing the front, With the first light of dawn we saw that the ahead even of the main combat troops of the LCI next to us had been hit, and now only its 1st Cavalry and the 37th Division. bow was sticking out of the water. It might have been ours. But none on our vessel would have been caught below deck. (One of the worst frights I had during the war was in an 'HERE occurred at this time an earlier convoy. We were below deck, packed incident that illustrates a facet of in like sardines in a can, when I mistakenly MacArthur's character which explains why thought I saw a sailor locking a bulkhead so few who served him ever developed any per­ door. I got out as fast as I could and stayed sonal affection for him. For several days Mac- on deck. I did not want to drown inside a Arthur had been personally prodding the ship!) So we took no chances that night in corps commander: "Get going faster." He was the Lingayen Gulf, and slept or dozed on deck. watching the exact movements of specific battalions—not customarily the job of a five- By the second or third day, GHQ had been star general. As MacArthur grew more im­ established in a small village just inshore patient with this corps commander, his anger from the beach. Now began the race for Ma­ began to reach the boiling point. He drove nila. up in his jeep to this corps headquarters. The Lingayen Gulf is at one end of a valley and corps commander and his chief of staff Manila at the other. It is about 120 miles were absent. The ranking officer—the G-3 or from end to end and spreads out seventy-five operations officer—came out of the tent to miles or so wide between two parallel ranges. face MacArthur, who demanded to know if The good old 32nd Division landed at the a particular battalion had been ordered to northern side of the beach and again had the advance. unsung and unspectacular task of engaging a considerable force of Japanese and aiming at The G-3 (a colonel) knew that his corps Baguio—the summer capital—in the mountains commander was apprehensive about too rapid at the northerly end of Luzon. No division an advance, which might invite a flank attack in American history had as long, continuous, by the Japanese. He knew that he had been bitter fighting for its lot as the 32nd. And stalling. Therefore, in the face of MacArthur's after Buna, no division ever did more with anger—which, if unappeased, might then and less recognition than it. It certainly got the there have cost the corps commander his mili­ dirty end of the stick in the Pacific War. tary head—the colonel stepped into the breach MacArthur was convinced that the back­ and assured MacArthur that that particular bone of effective Japanese resistance had been battalion was on the move. Satisfied, Mac- broken on Leyte. But he was deeply appre­ Arthur drove off. The colonel forthwith is­ hensive that bitter-end Japanese commanders sued orders to the battalion to get on the move. of several prison camps on Luzon might When the corps commander returned, he slaughter the last man, woman, and child un­ rewarded his subordinate by firing him then less his troops could get there before the and there, and sending him to the rear with enemy understood that the jig was up for an everlasting blemish on his military record: them.* During the days that followed our landing, " In fact the Japanese had perpetrated just such a massacre of some 140 .\raerican prisoners of war on the MacArthur was like an angry bee—pushing, island of Palawan, December 14, 1944. James, The whiplashing, stinging at Sixth Army Head­ Years of MacArthur: Volume II, 642-643.

101 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981

"unsatisfactory" performance of duty. Al­ ported in at MacArthur's headquarters. Before though MacArthur learned of the incident the day was over, word had got to MacArthur later on, and could have corrected this grave that the Australian lady had arrived. He ex­ injustice with a scratch of his pen, he refused ploded. to lift a finger.^ He told Sutherland that "that woman" There is another story about MacArthur's would be dispatched out of Tacloban and headquarters that should be told—not because sent on her way to Australia; that if she were it involves a woman, but because it vividly not out of here in twenty-four hours, he, Mac- illustrates the human situations that try a Arthur^ would court-martial Sutherland for commander's patience. When he left Corregi­ disobedience of specific orders. (This one-way dor, MacArthur brought out the key men for conversation was proclaimed in drill-sergeant's his staff. His chief of staff was Lieutenant commands. One of MacArthur's aides com­ General Richard K. Sutherland, a Regular mented to him, "But, General, you shouted Army officer of great capacity. Like every so loud everyone could hear you a block military commander, MacArthur had to have away." To which MacArthur replied: "I a "hatchet man"—the fellow who does the intended it should be heard a block away!") dirty jobs like firing incompetent generals. I was given the order direct to see that the Again, that man was his chief of staff, Dick lady departed. I did so, and that ended my Sutherland. acquaintance with her. While MacArthur was in Melbourne, Suth­ This affair would not be mentioned but erland met an Australian woman—the daugh­ for the fact that it illustrates how a command­ ter of a very rich man—whose husband was in er, armed with what appears to be almost un­ the British Army in the Middle East. She was limited authority, often has his hands tied. given the job of receptionist in MacArthur's There come to mind many illustrations of headquarters. When MacArthur moved his this none-too-unusual situation for men in headquarters north to Brisbane, he pointedly public life. I think of President Truman and gave Sutherland instructions that he wanted his difficulties with his old-time war buddy his headquarters to be composed exclusively of and presidential aide, Harry Vaughn; of Presi­ men—in uniform. [Sutherlund ignored the dent Eisenhower and Sherman Adams; and hint, secured the woman a commission in the many more. In many ways the most trying U.S. Women's Army Corps, and kept her on and difficult decisions that a Chief has to at headquarters.] make are the balancing of conflicting inter­ In December, 1944, I received a radio mes­ ests. Not private, personal interests, but pub­ sage from General Sutherland to proceed via lic interests. MacArthur's plane to Tacloban, on Leyte— A Chief—whether of a government, an in­ and to bring the Australian WAC captain dustrial company, a university, or an army- with me. An overnight flight brought us to has a valuable subordinate. He, like most of the Tacloban airstrip, and the WAC captain us, has feet of clay. It may be woman trouble; went to the GHQ area, then only partially it may be alcohol, gambling, or what have completed and never to be occupied by Mac- you. But he is valuable to the public service— Arthur's staff. (He would be pressing on to and in the midst of a military operation he Luzon before the carpenters finished.) I re- may seem almost essential. What should the Chief do? Keep him, or fire him? That kind of decision is not usually found in history " La Follette tried to get MacArthur to redress the books, but it is the kind of thing that really hapless colonel's grievance, but the General refused to puts the wrinkles in men's faces. intervene. Later, La Follette collected affidavits from eyewitnesses and sent them to General of the Army Omar N. Bradley, who absolved the colonel and saved his career. In an interview with Edward M. Coffman HE 1st Cavalry Division (minus (February 3, 1962), Governor La Follette observed: any horses) won the race to Ma­ "Mac.-Vrthur never went down into the administrative machinery to help someone. I can understand this nila. There was some sporadic fighting on better at sixty-four than I could then at forty-five. February 3, 1945, as the advance elements He preserved his strength for the war." forced their way into the walled grounds of 102 COFFMAN: MACARTHUR

Santo Tomas University, where thousands of ern side were the big office buildings, shops, civilian Americans had been imprisoned for and stores of the business district. Immediate­ so long. But the main forces of the Japanese ly across the river were the public buildings— were dug in in the public buildings in and tiie Post Office, the Capitol, the City Hall—and around the old walled city of Manila. That the ancient Walled City, Intramuros (With­ spectacular fighting deserves some comment. in the Walls). Here the Japanese were dug in. But first Santo Tomas. They had to be dug out almost man by man. It was difficult for us to grasp what it meant From a military point of view, as MacArthur's for these 3,700 men, women, and children to communique stated, "Manila is taken. Mop­ be suddenly released after years of being ping up operations continue." (Twenty years cooped up within the confines of this old later I still ran into old soldiers who were Catholic college. And what human interest bitterly angry over those two brief phrases.) dramas had taken place behind these walls! For those engaged in them, "mopping up op­ Children were conceived and born and grew erations" were raw war. From the top floor to the age where memory begins, never know­ and roof of a steel and concrete office build­ ing any other world than that. Loves, jeal­ ing on the bank of the Pasig, we could look ousies, hatreds, deaths, switching of wives and down on the hand-to-hand fighting on the husbands—all the little triumphs, tragedies, other bank of the river—and the bombard­ sorrows, and joys that make up living had ment by American artillery which hour by gone on behind those walls. A minute micro­ hour tore those buildings to rubble.'" organism cut off from all the rest of the world for years, and then suddenly—almost without ™The savage battle for Manila (February-March, warning—the lid was lifted and within the 1944) utterly devastated the city. More than 100,000 Filipino civilians died in the fighting, some of them space of hours all these human beings began murdered by the Japanese but most simply caught in their individual readjustments back to "civili­ the artillery bombardment and house-to-house fight­ zation." ing. An excellent, well-illustrated account of the fight for Manila is in Rafael Steinberg's Time-Life book. The narrow Pasig River cuts through the Return to the Philippines (Alexandria, Virginia, 1979), heart of "downtown" Manila. On the south­ 106-149.

Manila, 1945: U.S. mortar crews and riflemen dug in on the lawn of the Philippine presidential home.

WHi (X3) 36899

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This was really the first time we in our part Palace—with the guns thudding in the hills to of the Pacific had actually seen large-scale the north and east—while Irving Berlin led open warfare. In over two years of the Pa­ those joyful people in singing "God Bless cific War—from the time we left Port Moresby, America." There were few of us who were New Guinea, in November, 1942, until we not choked up inside and with tears on our reached Leyte in October, 1944, we had vir­ cheeks that day. tually not seen a city—a real street or a single highway—that had not been built by our own combat forces. ERE I saw the statesman in Mac- We took over a big mansion for the war H Arthur. Military man though he correspondents, and before long we even had was, from head to toe, still he understood screening for the windows and doors. We better than some of our political leaders- heard some complaints from some of the more Allied as well as American—that pure military touchy correspondents during their first few might was not the answer in the twentieth days in Manila: their quarters were un­ century. screened! (Screening was desirable, it must As we look back over the hundreds of thou­ be admitted. There were not only plenty of sands of years from where our distant cellular mosquitoes, but more objectionable, swarms of ancestors emerged from the sea, when living very fat, black flies that we could see feeding matter was pretty much the same, to our pres­ on the decaying bodies of the dead around us.) ent diversified and complex human beings of I took over a four-story apartment house today, perhaps it is not too much to hope that just north of Royal Stadium, near Taft Boule­ there are glimmerings that as we recognize our vard. All the buildings around it were rub­ common heritage we may also recognize that ble. Somehow this one escaped. One apart­ we inevitably share a common fate. And that ment to a floor, tile floors, two baths to each, our fate will be good, or bad, as we make it so. and each comfortably furnished. There was This vast and deep overtone of community no running water, but a fifty-gallon oil bar­ of interest that irrevocably entwines mankind rel filled with water for each bath did the is the only call which responds in the hearts business in fine shape. and minds of man everywhere. It is the case The landlord welcomed us with open arms. with great statesmanship. And Douglas Mac- Having his building occupied by the military Arthur had it, in spite of his inevitable feet secured it against any looters. In his grati­ of clay. tude, he dug up a modest supply of excellent MacArthur's attunement to the irresistible Scotch whiskey. To cap our comfort, two very forces of his time—what we call "the wave of efficient Filipinos attached themselves to us. the future"—explains his inspiring leadership For a very small—to us, but to them magnifi­ in Australia—in the Philippines—in Japan— cent—wage, they were doing our laundry daily and with the masses of his own country. It and serving us better than in any Ritz Hotel would be difficult to think of more contrast­ anywhere. ing human characters than Lincoln and Mac- Fighting was still going on—but everywhere Arthur. Yet, with all the differences in those the end of the war was in sight. True, there men—as well as the differences among each of was the overhanging cloud of the possible the other really great leaders in our history- invasion of Japan; and bloody fighting still Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, the two went on in Europe. But MacArthur's own Roosevelts, Wilson, my father—and I hopefully confidence that the taking of the Philippines —hopefully—include John F. Kennedy—they would break the back of Japanese will to all had one thing in common: they caught fight pervaded us around him. And every­ the inspiring significance of the American where the wonderful, warm-hearted Filipinos. dream of equality of opportunity—the right Many of us noted we had not seen an un­ of all men, everywhere, to a fair chance in the smiling Filipino child. They seemed to have race of life. discovered some clue to perpetual happiness. For above all else it has been this uniquely I shall never forget the gathering of thousands American revolutionary idea, unleashing crea­ of Filipinos on the grounds of Malcanyan tive capacities in every walk of life, that has 104 COFFMAN: MACARTHUR

brought within our grasp a victory over pover­ LL that followed of MacArthur's ty, ignorance, disease, and, let us hope, the A. career—in the Philippines, in Ja­ worst form of organized cruelty of all: war. pan, in Korea, and afterward in the United By the spring of 1945 the end of the war in States—were events that I, like you, observed at Europe and in the Pacific was clearly in sight. a distance. But perhaps I had some advantage From where I saw things, nothing made this over the average observer by reason of my more certain than the daily arrival of Regular thirty-four months in the Pacific, and because Officers in Manila from Europe—and the I enjoyed firsthand accounts by old comrades States. MacArthur's GHQ, housed now in the in arms who stayed on after I left, or who patched-up City Hall in Manila, was daily joined him in Japan and Korea. bulging with more and more West Pointers I do not know whether MacArthur knew of looking for jobs—though of course it was nev­ the atomic bomb or not. I suspect he did. I er expressed in such vulgar terminology! remember one day in Manila when I was in One day I walked into the huge office in his office when he was handed a radiogram City Hall which housed G-4 (meaning sup­ from the Chairman of the House Committee ply, the storekeeper of the army—but always on Military Affairs asking, in rather forceful called by the higher-sounding word "logis­ language, for MacArthur's endorsement of uni­ tics"). In one large office there must have versal peacetime military training. been at least twenty full colonels. It looked MacArthur did not like the tone of the mes­ like a schoolroom with eager boys at the be­ sage. He pushed back his chair, stood up, and ginning of a school term. And there—way began to pace the floor. "Take this," he said. back at a little desk—was the big hulking frame And I began to take down in longhand his of that self-same colonel who had so pompous­ dictation. (This was not unusual. He would ly lorded it over his captains and majors (me often dictate to any one of his staff who might among them) back in San Francisco in August, be at hand. The first time this happened it 1942. He had not done very well. But when might make you a bit panicky as to whether he stubbed his toe, the WPPA (West Point or not you could keep up. But once you Protective Association, as some of us dubbed learned that he dictated in short bursts and this universal human trait) had come to his then with a pause, you could easily keep up rescue. with his flow of words.) The sight of this once very powerful colonel The substance of MacArthur's reply was a presiding over a very thin domain—now re­ polite but firm refusal to commit himself to duced to a very small cog in a very big ma­ postwar military policies via radiogram; that chine—brought home to me that there was no such matters were too important to be cov­ longer any legitimate reason for my staying ered at long distance and without mature con­ longer in the Pacific. I went back to my office sideration. and wrote out my request to be relieved and When he finished dictating, he went on to sent home. It came laack the next day with talk at greater length to me. He pointed out the endorsed approval: "With great regret. that one of the evil fruits of victory in war Mac A." was that the commanders on the winning side There followed a few days in which to pack were carried over in positions of power into up and say goodbye to the many friends I had the peace that followed. The victors rarely come to know so well. And all in all what a looked ahead to future conflicts with new fine lot of men they were! Danger acts like ideas; too often, they thought that the strate­ a sieve—it screens out most of the less desir­ gy and tactics that had brought them victory able—and what remains is pretty fine com­ would be the same in the future as in the past. pany. Stripped down to the raw essentials He then painted in broad strokes the evolu­ that are the best in human beings, few artifi­ tion of weapons from the stone hatchet, the cial things count. Even rank means little ex­ spear, bow and arrow, firearms (ball and cept for its only real usefulness: a symbol of powder), breechloader, rapid fire, wooden the capacity to lead. ships, to the dreadnaught, to air power—and 105 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981 finally—"perhaps to some new weapon more term enlistees must be a highly trained, rapid­ startling than any that have gone before." ly expandable core that could provide almost He recalled how the victorious Allies in over night a force of officers and non-commis­ World War I had thought they could perma­ sioned officers for an army of millions." nently hamstring defeated Germany by impos­ "Phil," said MacArthur, "that is why I re­ ing the limitation of a small army with long plied as I did to this Congressman's radio­ enlistment periods. The Allies therefore as­ gram." He went on: "It is inevitable that as sumed that Germany could never build up a the power and force of weapons increase, the mass army for another war. "So," MacArthur need for masses of men will sharply decrease said, "the Allies gave the Germans the mili­ as the need for smaller numbers of highly tary problem of how could they build an ef­ trained experts to man those new weapons fective fighting force with only a hundred mounts in almost geometrical ratio." thousand men with long enlistment periods. At this point he took out a pocket comb The Germans found the exact answer. It was and adjusted his hair (a mark of great confi­ this: the next war would be fought with high­ dence when he performed this bit of toiletry ly complicated machinery—airplanes, tanks—in in your presence) and sat down. Picking up short, with complete mechanization. Hence his papers, he went back to his work, and I to the limited army of a hundred thousand long- mine.

WHi (X3) 36900 On March 2, 1945, less than twelve hours after Corregidor was recaptured. General MacArthur returned, saying, "I see the old flagpole still stands. Have your troops hoist the colors to its peak, and let no enemy ever haul them down."

106 The 1912 Suffrage Referendum: An Exercise in Political Action

By Marilyn Grant

NLY three times in their half-cen­ Later, members wrote their reminiscences of 0 tury of struggle to obtain the the first two years, but no one reported the ballot were Wisconsin suffragists able to cap­ outcome of this debate.) In 1853, Mrs. Clarina ture the attention of the state and to penetrate Howard Nichols and Mrs. Lydia F. Fowler, the shield of indifference that separated them East Coast activists in the temperance and from the majority of citizens. In 1885, they woman's movements, touched on the suffrage shepherded through the legislature a bill au­ issue while lecturing for temperance in the thorizing women to participate in school elec­ state; and two years later, the pioneer feminist tions and successfully campaigned for its state­ Lucy Stone toured the state speaking in several wide acceptance at the general election of larger cities. 1886. Prior to the 1912 election, they imple­ Fourteen years then elapsed with only spo­ mented a campaign that attracted considerable radic mention of suffrage before a convention attention to the only suffrage referendum ever was held in Milwaukee in 1869 to organize a held in the state. And in 1919, they helped to state suffrage group. Known as the Woman orchestrate the contest between Wisconsin and Suffrage Association of the State of Wisconsin, Illinois to be the first state to ratify the Nine­ it was patterned after one discussed at a Janes- teenth Amendment. Of these, the seventeen- ville suffrage convention in 1867. Its primary month referendum battle alone made a lasting goal was to obtain school suffrage for women. contribution to the much broader theme of No further progress was made, however, until women's involvement in the political arena. 1882, when the group reformed as the Wiscon­ Woman suffrage activity in Wisconsin did sin Woman's Suffrage Association. Three not begin until 1869, although as early as 1851 years later, members voted to drop the '5 from the Athenaean Society at the University of Woman's, and the Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Wisconsin debated the question: "Resolved Association (WWSA) initiated the first of that the female sex are not inferior to the male many legislative actions. sex—that they should enjoy like facilities with With the help of sympathetic legislators, a the latter for acquiring a liberal education, school suffrage bill, which became Chapter 211 and that the right of suffrage should be ex­ of the Laws of 1885, was passed by both houses tended to them." (No records were kept until and adopted at the election of November, 1852 for the Athenaean Society, which was 1886, by 43,581 votes for the measure to 38,997 formed in October, 1850, as the first student against. Victory for the women lasted only literary and debating society on the campus. until April 4, 1887, when the ballot of WWSA President Olympia Brown was refused at a Racine municipal election. She thereupon MARILYN GRANT is associate editor of the Wisconsin Magazine of History and editor-in-chief of the Society's sued the circuit court of Racine County for annual Wisconsin Calendar. damages. Circuit Judge John B. Winslow held

Copyright @ 1981 by The State Historical Society of Wisconsin All rights of reproduction in any form reserved 107 WHi (X3) 2905 Ada James (center, in plaid dress) and cohorts in a strategy session, 1912. that the law was constitutional, and that since power. But their most debilitative problem municipal elections in Racine pertained to was spelled out in a resolution introduced at school matters, women were indeed eligible the 1893 convention of the WWSA in Racine: to vote at them. On appeal, however, the "Resolved, that the indifference of women has state supreme court overruled Winslow, con­ been a greater obstacle to the success of the curring that the law was valid, but finding cause than the selfishness of men." A visiting that the legislative intent had been for women feminist from California, who was volunteer­ to vote only for specific school officials and ing in the state before the 1912 referendum, re­ matters directly affecting schools. In a second marked that Wisconsin women "are not case concerning an Oconto County election exactly enthusiastic. They are afraid they will for superintendent of schools, the state su­ be forced to do something conspicuous and preme court gutted the law, declaring that distasteful. . . ." Another volunteer comment­ it merely set forth a principle, and that fur­ ed that the women she interviewed "all want ther legislation was required to implement to vote, but don't want to do a thing to get proper voting procedure for women. there." By 1910, when the WWSA had dwindled to fewer than seventy members and appeared to L' ROM then until late 1910, the be dying from neglect, internal dissension sur­ J- small band of Wisconsin suffra­ faced. A few younger members challenged gists labored in a virtual vacuum, barely able President Olympia Brown to provide more dy­ to maintain their state organization. Legal namic and progressive leadership or allow oth­ fees drove them into debt. They were the butt ers to assume the group's direction. Mrs. of ridicule; they were ignored by those in Brown refused to relinquish control and coun- 108 GRANT: SUFFRAGE tered accusations by presenting on January 16, 1911, to Senator David G. James of Richland Center, a proposed woman's suffrage bill to be introduced in the state senate. However, the schism within the group continued. On April 4, 1911, dissidents created the Political Equality League (PEL) and elected Ada James, Senator James's daughter, as president. Both organizations immediately began to plan their campaigns for the referendum, which the Senate approved in March and the Assembly in May. Ada James also attempted to smooth the ruffled feathers of Mrs. Brown and her staunch supporters—who had been referred to publicly as "a bunch of dodder­ ing old ladies" at one point during the or­ ganizational fracas. "I can see no reason why there can't be two or more organizations," Miss James wrote, "each working in harmony along different lines." The two groups never did work "in harmony," but they did stimu­ late each other, and they cooperated well enough to carry forth a comprehensive, state­ wide campaign. The PEL soon overshadowed the WWSA in size, but the older group, head­ ed by the indomitable Olympia Brown, re­ mained a formidable group of individuals. WHi (X3) 32702 The two presidents, James and Brown, prob­ The Reverend Olympia Brown. ably were the most influential suffragists in the state at the time, and each reflected the States. (Ordained as a Universalist minister, subtle differences within the movement. Olympia Brown had been influenced by An­ The Reverend Olympia Brown, for twenty- toinette Brown, who had been ordained in the five years president of the WWSA, was an Congregational church prior to the Civil War.) austere and capable woman who displayed In 1873, Olympia married John Henry Willis, great dedication but scant sense of humor as a printer and newspaperman, and by mutual she stumped the country in behalf of the agreement, she kept her maiden name. Five cause. Before coming to Wisconsin, she had years later, the couple moved to Racine when helped to organize several New England suf­ Olympia accepted the pastorate of the Good frage associations. During the summer of Shepherd Church and began preaching at 1867, she had spoken more than 200 times Mukwonago, Neenah, and Columbus. Her while crisscrossing Kansas during a referen­ husband became part owner and business man­ dum campaign there. ager of the Times Publishing Company in Ra­ Born in 1835 on a Michigan farm, Olympia cine. Brown had been indoctrinated at a very early A diminutive woman of great intellect, and age by her mother to believe in the rights of apparently tireless, she successfully combined women. After attending local schools, she careers of pastor, wife, mother to two chil­ entered Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary in dren, and social reformer. She believed that South Hadley, Massachusetts, for one year suffrage was an innate right of all citizens, and before transferring to Antioch College in Ohio. that the goals of the WWSA would best be Eventually she enrolled in the theological reached by hard work and indirect methods. school at St. Lawrence University in Canton, She helped organize lectures and small parlor New York, and in June, 1863, she was ordained meetings for women; she distributed literature, as the second female minister in the United raised money, spoke and lobbied effectively

109 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981

before the public and the legislature. She be­ Plagued by partial deafness and other health lieved that the WWSA should maintain a low problems, and often lonely after her long af­ profile to avoid arousing the ire of its oppo­ fair with young Charles Bingham Cornwall of nents, who might then organize themselves Richland Center was ended by the opposition and directly attack the group. She worked of her parents and friends, Ada James none­ within her own stratum of women and did not theless was a charming and witty person who reach out to middle-class, lower-middle-class, wrote in her diary that love was the most im­ or working women. Her strong anti-liquor portant element of life. She was graduated stance tended to lend credence to the charge from the University of Wisconsin and taught that the woman's movement was merely an school for a short time, dabbled in painting adjunct of the temperance movement—thereby and poetry, and spent two months touring earning it the undying enmity of the powerful Europe with friends. She became increasingly brewery, liquor, and tavern interests. involved in the suffrage movement, and after Olympia Brown was an idealist and a strong her mother's death in 1905 she and her father personality within reform movements, but she assumed Laura's role in the fight for woman's was not a politician, and she lacked the inner rights. warmth of a truly empathic person. Several Ada was a keen observer of political life and years after the referendum fight, Ada James was quick to perceive the practical side of characterized Mrs. Brown in her diary as a politics, although her idealism sometimes con­ "gritty old pioneer. Nine-tenths of the women flicted with reality. Her diaries are filled with nowadays are too lazy morally, physically, and pungent comments about politics, housekeep­ mentally to keep up with her. If she was only ing, her family, birth control, religion, and, a little sweeter and sympathetic and could later, progressivism. One entry described a banish jealousy she would be great." Richland Center parks meeting that Ada, her

DA JAMES was the daughter of A Laura and David G. James, members of a Richland Center family long in­ volved in politics and social reform. Her grand­ father had come to Richland Center in the late 1840's from New Hampshire and had opened a hardware store. By 1870, his son David was managing the store and three years later mar­ ried Laura Briggs, the sister of his first wife who had died of tuberculosis. Ada was the middle of three daughters and lived all of her seventy-six years in her place of birth. The James family was established in the community and was financially comfortable. Both David and his brother Norman L. James were elected to the state senate. Laura had been a reform activist since she was in her teens, and she had long espoused the right of women to hold any job for which they were qualified at pay equal to men. Reading ma­ terial in the Jameses' home included pieces about spiritualism, birth control, sexual free­ dom, Unitarianism, and socialism. Of the three daughters, only Ada inherited the re­ forming gene, but her early years were most notable for her position as a young socialite WHi (X3) 65 in Richland Center. Ada L. James of Richland Center.

110 GRANT: SUFFRAGE father, and three friends attended. "Dad is opposing the new bridge project," Ada wrote. "I suppose because F. Smith is in favor. Our men act like children; jealous 8c quarrelsome." Her interests ranged widely, encompassing a broad political spectrum rather than being confined merely to social-reform causes. The notation in her diary on June 14, 1919, indi­ cates that she had tired of the suffrage issue and was ready to turn to other work: We are having a glorious month, lots of sunshine, lots of rain, everything grows wonderfully. We pick and can or preserve strawberries everyday, it is delightful work & with suffrage out of the way I can enjoy it deeply. The treachery of the diplomats who have drawn up the Peace Terms & the Paris Covenant; in short the world situation today makes the strawberry patch a refuge. "Increasingly as the days go on man will need to turn from his own perplexities to the solace of the nat­ ural world, in all its fullness and all its multiple beauty." . . . What will we do when nature fails us? The broader political concept which Ada James espoused was at least considered when the PEL was formed, and its members stated that they were tired of the terms suffrage and enfranchisement and chose political equality instead.

WHi (X3) 2816 Y the early summer of 1911, the Theodora Winton Youmans, newspaperwoman, poli­ B Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Asso­ tician, and president of the Wisconsin Woman's ciation and the Political Equality League had Suffrage Association, 1913-1920. opened separate headquarters in Milwaukee and had hired professional organizers—a new should work quietly to avoid goading the dis­ venture for Wisconsin although other states interested into adverse action at the polls. had used paid professionals in previous suf­ By midsummer, however, Ada James was frage campaigns. Auto tours were another de­ advocating assertive political action. One of parture from previous tactics. Curiously, when the most influential proponents of this strate­ the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association sug­ gy was Mrs. Robert M. La Follette, who had gested the idea and offered the services of two not been involved earlier with the woman's staff members, Olympia Brown was "mildly movement but who was a respected politician enthusiastic" while Ada James was extremely in her own right and had worked in many of wary and passed the suggestion on to the exec­ her husband's campaigns. Miss James suc­ utive board of the PEL, cautioning them that ceeded in attracting several successful, influen­ a young woman playing a cornet from the tial women who like Belle Case La Follette back seat of a car would not attract the right had not been active in the WWSA. They dis­ kind of crowd for a talk about suffrage. She agreed with the passivism of the WWSA, and believed that people who ignored an issue they believed that the time had come for wom­ simply would not vote; therefore, the PEL en actively to seek enfranchisement. Particu-

111 WHi (X3) 5587 Mrs. Katherine McCullough addresses a small but attentive audience at Sister Bay, Door County, during the suffrage campaign of 1912. larly, Mrs. La Follette and her daughter Fola tryside with banners flying, debating current believed that suffrage workers had to broaden issues before a gathering of union men, can­ their base of support. The women of Wiscon­ vassing door-to-door for votes, or shaking sin, they asserted, had to be roused into en­ hands at dawn at a factory gate were not com­ thusiastic supporters of the cause before the mon experiences for most American women men could be expected to vote for the referen­ in 1910. dum. As the summer progressed, the PEL and A few women had been involved in the so­ WWSA sometimes cooperated and other times cial movements of the nineteenth century and sniped at each other, while both veered down had learned how to survive in the public the campaign trail into the hustings that had arena. They had also learned techniques from been followed for years by successful male their counterparts in other countries, many of politicians. whom had taken to the streets and made mili­ The leaders of the suffrage movement need­ tant demands for equality. In an address be­ ed patience and perseverance to guide women fore the Dane County Equal Suffrage League who had never voted, never been involved in November, 1911, Richard Lloyd Jones, edi­ in political matters, and who had been con­ tor of Madison's Wisconsin State Journal, ditioned for generations to think of themselves commented that the American suffrage cause as a favored and privileged class, pampered "has been given the impetus of the world­ and protected from the evils of the world. wide movement reaching the women of all Women did not think of themselves as citi­ countries. It has been changed from a gospel zens with rights, obligations, or overt power; of tracts to a militant crusade for woman's nor did they think much about the women who share in the duties and the responsibilities... ." were denied the protection of the privileged. He continued that women were no longer en­ To win the vote, suffragist leaders had to gaged in debating a theory or a constitutional gain the confidence of these women. They right, but rather "they are battling a tradition­ also had to reach out and bring into the fold al prejudice." working women who were well aware of the By the turn of the century, at least, the wom­ fallacy of a "protected class," but who had an's movement nationally had indeed shifted little time or energy to give the suffrage cause. its philosophical emphasis from suffrage as a Speaking on street corners or in front of race debatable theory or a question of right to suf­ track grandstands, driving through the coun­ frage as a necessary social reform. By 1912, 112 WHi (X3) 27751 Another suffrage gathering—this one sprinkled with bemused or skeptical menfolk— at an unidentified Wisconsin town in 1912. six states already had granted suffrage.^ Many with a membership drive, fund raising, distrib­ others had given rise to politically sophisti­ uting literature, and preparing publicity. At cated suffrage organizations long before either all gatherings, pledge cards were handed out the Wisconsin legislature or the women of the in order to obtain additional names of poten­ state had indicated acceptance of woman's suf­ tial voters, workers, and financial contributors. frage or support for a state or federal constitu­ Regular meetings were planned, and if the tional amendment. However, from June 2, local unit survived, it became part of the 1911, when Governor Francis E. McGovern state network to reach out farther into the signed the bill calling for a referendum, dedi­ rural areas and to provide a contact for the cated Wisconsin suffragists performed a gar­ two state headquarters. gantuan task. Despite the fact that their refer­ A speakers bureau was formed as a coopera­ endum efforts were doomed, the campaign it­ tive venture of the PEL and the WWSA, and self had a lasting effect on the state. literature was mailed to every organization, school district, and group in the state that might want the services of a free speaker to "lecture or debate the subject of woman's OLLOWING the advice of Mrs. suffrage." Suffragists spoke before labor and La Follette, the PEL, followed F farm conventions; civic, religious, and social by the WWSA, began to organize at the grass groups; school meetings and student convoca­ roots, using techniques perfected during Fight­ tions. They participated in all manner of pub­ ing Bob's campaigns. As a starting point, a lic lectures and debates. At outdoor meetings prominent local woman was urged to plan a during warm weather, they provided music or mass meeting in her home town. Once she was other entertainment and their speakers committed, the PEL sent her its guide for climbed onto boxes, fences, or picnic benches county organizations and its literature about —wherever there was a crowd. Other women suffrage, and it promised to send an experi­ handed out literature and shook hands at fac­ enced speaker for her meeting. At the meet­ tory gates during shift changes and in shops ing, she in turn enlisted other women to help during lunch breaks. To turn aside the resent­ ment of working men against women entering ^They were, in order, Wyoming (1890), Colorado (1893), Idaho (1896), Utah (1896), Washington (1910), the job market at low wages, women argued and California (1911). before labor gatherings that sweat shops and 113 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981 low wages would be voted out if women had duct "riverboat rallies" at towns along the the ballot. A few nationally known speakers way, as well as providing a holiday respite for were brought into the state as keynote speak­ the hard-working women. ers at dinners and other fund-raising events, Minority groups were enlisted by means of but usually they were not as effective as per­ foreign-language speakers, broadsides, and sonal contacts for getting money. Either speak­ newspapers. Suffrage literature was printed in ers or printed posters conveyed the suffrage five languages. Yiddish, Norwegian, Polish, message between acts on local stages or while and German suffrage groups were initiated. reels were being changed at movie theaters. PEL members held a series of meetings in the A commercial film, Votes for Women, with homes of influential Germans to crack the re­ Jane Addams and other well-known women, sistance of the German-American Alliance, was shown throughout the state. Ada James which had strong ties to the beer and liquor assembled a series of stereopticon slides to il­ industries. The first state group of black wom­ lustrate the social evils that women would an suffragists was organized through St. Mark help to overcome once they got the vote. Miss African Methodist Church in Milwaukee. The James also arranged with the Woman's Jour­ longevity and the success of these various nal, the national suffrage organ, to exchange groups were limited, but, for the first time, subscriptions with editors throughout the suffragists made a concerted effort to reach state and to have the two state news sheets, the out to immigrant and minority women and PEL Press Bulletin and the WWSA Wiscon­ to change the elitist concept that the move­ sin Citizen, sent to all editors. The campaign ment needed the "best" women in every town. was carried nationwide after the Woman's The PEL organized the Men's League for Journal devoted two complete issues to the Woman Suffrage primarily as a conduit for Wisconsin battle. In a lighter campaign ef­ funds after the Wisconsin attorney general fort, boat trips around Lake Winnebago and ruled that the two suffrage associations came up the Wolf River allowed suffragists to con­ within the scope of the state's corrupt prac-

Ada James (kneeling at right of front row) and fellow suffragists, garbed as Bloomer Girls and accompanied, for reasons unknown, by a somnolent donkey.

WHi (X3) 2904

.•»''Wfc^ f" ^ .jm t # GRANT: SUFFRAGE

tices act and therefore could not spend more climbed onto the back seat to begin her talk. than $10,000 each for any one campaign. Some The tours created widespread publicity, and members of the Men's League joined the they provided an informal setting where suf­ speakers bureau, and the League's name was fragists could discuss the referendum with peo­ used on literature and in newspaper publicity ple who might never attend a mass meeting, to add prestige. Men also solicited endorse­ lecture, or parlor social. They also demon­ ments from veterans grotips and political par­ strated that women could compete in a here­ ties. The football coaching staff at the Uni­ tofore predominately male arena. versity of Wisconsin supported the referendum Another highly successful campaign tactic and helped with speaking and fund raising. was wooing voters at state and county fairs. (One coach offered to spend part of his sum­ Ada James estimated that about seventy-five mer on a statewide speaking tour, but quit in such fairs were held in Wisconsin each year, disgust after a few appearances where local and the suffrage message was carried to almost suffrage imits had failed to plan events for every one. Fairs brought the state's rural him.) population together, and for the first time suf­ fragists directed their message in a highly per­ sonal fashion to the farmer and his family. Suffragists set up rest tents where weary HE auto junkets proved to be one fairgoers could relax. They provided baby­ T of the most popular publicity tac­ sitting and furnished the tents with comfort­ tics. Organizers from Illinois helped with ar­ able chairs and a table covered with suffrage rangements, and, after her initial reluctance. literature. A member of the PEL or the Miss James accompanied the first party for WWSA stood by to answer questions, talk, or one week to check on local arrangements and mind a baby while the mother rested or visited to help where necessary. Mrs. Brown also exhibits. (One suffragist complained after the joined in a particularly strenuous indoor lec­ fair season that her arms ached for weeks from ture trip during the winter of 1911. toting babies and boxes of pamphlets.) Dur­ The first outdoor auto expedition started ing the 1911 state fair, a Woman's Day was from Milwaukee on August 2, 1911, and cov­ arranged with special exliibits and programs ered eight of the southern counties. This ini­ highlighting the referendum and the history tial attempt was so successful that several oth­ of the suffrage movement. er tours were planned for the fall and during During the last few weeks before the elec­ 1912. A splash of publicity preceded each tion, the PEL and the WWSA labored to tour, which invariably started from a larger blanket the state with publicity and reminders city with a grand flourish to attract more news­ to vote. Placards were placed in streetcars in paper coverage. Local suffrage clubs along nearly every Wisconsin city which had lines, each route tacked up posters several days in telling riders, "Remember that while some advance, and news features with photographs good people are against woman suffrage, all and a copy of the speech were sent to area bad people are against it." newspapers. Friends and acquaintances pro­ Letters were sent to those who had signed vided food and lodging to cut expenses. With pledge cards and to persons on the La Follette banners fluttering in the breeze, the suffragists mailing list. Four days before the election, drove around the town several times before the Wisconsin State Journal devoted an entire parking in a conspicuous spot. During the issue to articles and features advocating wom­ early afternoon, they visited the local news­ an suffrage. Both the PEL and the WWSA paper and town dignitaries; then with local purchased full-page advertisements in a pam­ suffragists they knocked on doors to give out phlet published by the state to provide voters literature and to talk about the referendum. with information about candidates and issues. By late afternoon, as workers were leaving Similar ads were placed in twenty-four Wis­ their jobs, the suffragists returned to their car consin newspapers just before election day. to begin the rally. Music, often provided by On election day, poll watchers stood near vot­ a woman playing a cornet or other instru­ ing places and handed out flyers and answered ment, attracted a crowd before the speaker questions. Altogether, it was estimated that

115 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981

tion statistics also indicated that the suffrage question had at last engaged the interest of the people. The total number of referendum DANGER! votes exceeded by more than 100,000 the votes cast for all of the three other constitutional Woman's Suffirage WouM Double amendments that also appeared on the ballot, the IrresponsiUe Vote and was only 31,082 less than the combined votes for both gubernatorial candidates. The It is a MENACE to the Home, Men'$ number of votes cast for and against the suf­ Employment and to AU Busings frage referendum was nearly 100,000 more than those for Governor Francis E. McGovern in his successful bid for re-election. Official Referendum BaUot Many factors led to the referendum defeat, including the lack of time to organize and

ff y '«* fx Dtr qacntinb mtkt • cfoH (X> or gtbct train Wisconsin women and the lack of funds •ttA in A^ (qituc (fid (he -TQI^ 'y«k o^inailft aiKh qucMion. to carry through many of the proposed pro­

«MiV in. <^ (qtHn kfen A« word 'DO* laxleruaih nich quFxian. grams. From the defeat, however, arose a new woman's leadership, new awareness by voters SUf Oupw »7 B< d» !•» •( 1911 tntuM ' and women of the issues behind the woman's movement, and the integration of suffrage into the political mainstream.

The «bove is »n «MC» reproduaion of (He s«Tjarate bftUot printexJ on pink paper which will be Kanfimi lo you in your voting place on Novem­ ber 5- Be sure and piit your crow ISCONSIN women continued (X) in the square after the word "no" M shown here, and—!be Hir« to build on the organizational •ad vote -thi* fimk ballot w foundation established in 1911 and 1912; and PROGRESS PUBUSHINC CO in 1913 the PEL and the WWSA merged into WArwTuwN.wis. one association. Their efforts, however, did WHi (X3) 2902 not captivate the public as spectacularly as Handbill circulated by a Watertown publisher in in 1911 and 1912-at least not until 1919, 1912, warning of the dangers posed by woman when Wisconsin and Illinois raced against suffrage, each other to be first to ratify the suffrage amendment to the United States Constitution. 25,000 reminders were mailed to voters, 65,000 The Illinois legislature ratified the Nine­ cards were distributed by local groups, and teenth Amendment by 9:30 A.M. on June 10, 35,000 leaflets were handed out at Catholic 1919, while the Wisconsin lawmakers did not churches on the Sunday before the election. One week before the November 5, 1912, election, the WWSA sent a memo to all local units reminding them of the tasks yet to be Suffrage Exhibit done. "[T]he fate of thousands of votes To commemorate the sixtieth anniver­ hangs on this final piece of campaign work," sary of the adoption of the Nineteenth the memo stated. "[T]he question does not Amendment to the United States Con­ hang on high discussion but on the prejudice, stitution, the State Historical Society of impulse, the irresponsible mood of perhaps Wisconsin has on display documents, per­ one-third of the voters and therefore upon the sonal papers, newspaper clippings, and spirit with which the women enter into the artifacts from the state campaign to ob­ game. ..." tain passage of the 1912 suffrage referen­ Suffragists campaigned until the last polling dum. Exhibit items, all from the Socie­ place closed on election day, but when the ty's collections, highlight the issues of the campaign and the tactics used by votes were tallied, the referendum had been proponents and opponents of the mea- defeated, 227,024 votes against and 135,545 in favor. While these figures were decisive, elec­

116 GRANT: SUFFRAGE

WHi (X3) 2903 State senator David G. James of Richland Center, pictured with victorious woman suffragists and the document by which Wisconsin ratified the Nineteenth Amend­ ment, 1919. finish the process until 10:30. Later, it was graphed that they had ratified. Mrs. discovered that the preamble of the resolution Hooper [Jessie Jack Hooper, an active embodying the amendment sent to Illinois suffragist and politician from Oshkosh] from Washington, D.C., was incorrect. Before did not give up as it is the state that gets the papers on file 1st at Washington that it could be legally ratified, a corrected version counts, so they went to see the Gov. & he of the amendment had to be voted on by Illi­ appointed dad a special messenger. 111. nois. This took another two weeks. None­ had their papers sent special delivery. We theless, Illinois dispatched its original docu­ got very much excited in getting dad off. ment back to Washington in order to record I pinned my belongings into a newspaper officially its vote as first. and gave dad my grip. . . . In Wisconsin, Governor Emanuel L. Phil- Although Ada James refers to two Demo­ ipp, at the urging of several leaders of the crats, the delay was caused primarily by John woman's suffrage group, sent former Senator P. Donnelly, a Democrat from the Third Dis­ David G. James to Washington with the ratifi­ trict in Milwaukee, who introduced an amend­ cation document to deposit it personally in the ment for an advisory popular vote at the gen­ office of the Secretary of State. James and his eral election. His amendment was defeated daughter Ada had gone to Madison for the after nearly an hour of procedural haggling. ratification ceremony; Ada had planned on The newspapers were delighted with the remaining in Madison for several days while story of James's dash to Washington and his her father liad intended to return immediately triumphant return on June 20. Additional to Richland Center. Miss James described publicity was given the matter, as Wisconsin the day in her diary. and Illinois continued to argue about which We wanted our leg. to ratify first, but 2 ratified the suffrage amendment first. (In­ Democrats played politics for over an deed the argument lingers today as one of those hour & in the meantime Illinois tele­ minor but undecided points of history.)

117 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981

Whether woman's suffrage arrived because "The Wisconsin Woman's Movement, 1846-1920." Oth­ its time had come or because of the momentum er accounts include "How Wisconsin Women Won the built up within the movement after years of Ballot," by Theodora W. Youmans, in the Wisconsin Magazine of History, 5: 3 (Fall, 1921), and "The struggle is another—and more important- American City: A Catalyst For the Women's Rights subject of debate, which touches on a number Movement," by Howard B, Furer, also in the Wisconsin of issues including the rural to urban shift Magazine of History, 52: 285 (Summer, 1969). in population, increasing numbers of work­ For the purposes of this article, the Senate and As­ ing women, and women's role in World War sembly Journals for 1919 were read, as was Volume 71 I. At any rate, by 1919 suffrage was nearly a of the Wisconsin Report. To place the Wisconsin era in a national perspective, important secondary souices moot issue in Wisconsin, for the referendum are: Winning of the Bill of Rights by American Wom­ of 1912, and the campaign for its passage, had en, by Mabel Raef Putnam; Victory, How Women Won marked the watershed in the battle by women It, 1840-1940, a collection of articles by the National to win not only the ballot but political equal­ American Woman Suffrage Association from a Cen­ ity as well. tennial Symposium; What Eight Million Women Want, by Rheta Childe Dorr; and Freedom's Ferment: Phases of American Social History to 1860, by Alice SOURCES Felt Tyler. The story of the woman's movement in Wisconsin Also invaluable are the papers of ,\da James in the before 1920 has been detailed in the 1954 University Archives Division of the State Historical Society of of Wisconsin Ph.D. dissertation of Lawrence L. Graves, Wisconsin.

WHi (X3) 22890 September 7, 1920: Wisconsin women vote for the first time in a primary election, at a Second Ward polling place in Racine.

118 Wisconsin's Flag: Amplification and Communications

By John O. Holzhueter

S if to prove the axiom that his- posed amendment in the Assembly, introduced .tory is a slow business, events November 1, 1979, by Representatives Wil­ swiftly overtook our article on Wisconsin's liam J. Rogers and David E. Clarenbach. Cap­ flag in the issue of Winter, 1979-1980, render­ italizing on the instant popularity of the ing it incomplete and out of date. The legis­ University of Wisconsin football band's paro­ lation which prompted that article was, as ex­ dy of the Budweiser beer commercial ("When pected, easily passed (ninety-seven to two by you've said Wisconsin, you've said it all!"), the Assembly on November 1, and by voice and on Wisconsin's national identification vote on April 2 by the Senate). It was signed with the brewing industry, they proposed sub­ by Governor Lee Sherman Dreyfus on May 6, stituting the parody for the word "Wisconsin." and published on May 13, 1980, as Chapter Their idea did not get far; it was defeated 286, Laws of 1979. The new law means that ninety to seven. When it came time to vote on May 1, 1981, when it takes effect, Wiscon­ on the bill itself, Rogers and Clarenbach sin will have its first significantly different joined the majority. Only Representatives flag since 1863. Midge Miller and James R. Lewis opposed it. The changes that new law mandates are In the Senate, there appears to have been no more extensive than those proposed in the opposition at all. original 1979 bill. The first version called The new law eliminates the present flag's only for adding the word "Wisconsin" above awkward proportions of twenty-six to thirty- the coat of arms, and the date of statehood, three, and calls for proportions of two to 1848, below it. But after the Assembly's com­ three—a size more readily supplied by flag mittee on state affairs learned that the exist­ manufacturers. The cloth no longer has to ing statute specified impractical and outmod­ be silk; any royal blue cloth will do. The ed features with which no flag manufacturer coat of arms as defined in Section 1.07 still complied, it revised the entire statute. (The adorns the flag's center, but it cannot be taller rather technical language of the new law was than 50 per cent of the flag's height. (In written by Donald J. Dyke, attorney for the 1979, no maker offered a statutorily correct committee, who followed the committee's coat of arms.) The yellow, knotted fringe now wishes and who consulted with H. Michael is optional, and the specifications about the Madaus of the Milwaukee Public Museum flag pole have been eliminated. The word about vexillological points.) "Wisconsin" is to appear "in white, capital, Apart from a legislative prank, the bill's condensed Gothic letters," one-eighth of the progress through the two houses was unre­ height of the flag in size, centered midway be­ markable. The prank took the form of a pro­ tween the coat of arms and the top of the

Copyright (c) 1981 by The State Historical Society of Wisconsin All rights of reproduction in any form reserved 119 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981 flag. The date "1848" is treated the same way, concluded that an engraving found by Hansen below the coat of arms. The law still specifies in the newspaper published by Alexander T. that the coat of arms and the name and date Gray, secretary of state in 1854, was in all like­ must appear on both sides of the flag. Since lihood based upon Lund's drawing. Hansen the arms and the lettering are not reversible, discovered that on February 1, 1854, very soon they will have to be reproduced twice on each after Lund's drawing was accepted by the legis­ flag, making the official flag both heavy and lature. Gray began employing an adaptation expensive. Responsibility for making sure of Wisconsin's coat of arms in the masthead of that "all official state flags . . . conform to the his paper, the Janesville Democratic Standard. requirements" rests with the state's depart­ This engraving would seem to have inspired ment of administration. Earlier flags need not others which Hansen found in the first issue be retired, however; they "may continue to of the Horicon Argus, September 7, 1854; the be used as state flags." Plover Herald, beginning August 7, 1856; the Presumably this grandfather clause em­ Appleton Crescent, from 1857 through 1859; braces even the earliest existing Wisconsin and the Fox Lake Gazette, beginning in Jan­ flags, made for use in the Civil War and now uary, 1859. In addition to newspaper engrav­ so badly deteriorated that they cannot be in­ ings, Hansen found others: an adaptation of spected. The secret of their design, however, the seal on the cover of Ballou's Magazine may soon be revealed. The legislature recent­ for October 18, 1856, and an adaptation of ly authorized §10,000 to restore several of William Wagner's 1838 territorial county seals them, with the proviso that their custodian, in an 1849 compilation of state constitutions the state's department of veterans affairs, raise by J. R. Bigelow, The American's Own Book. an additional $10,000 in matching funds. The This staggering list of early representations fund raising was undertaken by Richard Zeit- of Wisconsin icons is trifling compared to the lin, head of the Civil War museum in the later outpouring, particularly in connection capitol building where the flags are housed. with exhibits at the World's Columbian Ex­ In December, 1980, Zeitlin was near the goal. position in Chicago, 1892-1893, for which two Twelve of the 183 flags in the museum are scheduled for restoration, and more will be added if additional donations are received. THE STANDARD. JAHESTILLE, WIS. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUA'Y 1.1854. PECULATION about another A. T.. GRAY, Kditor, facet of Wisconsin's iconographic J. €. BUM NEK, Associate, history, too, has been answered more fully over the past year. The question had to do with the appearance of the banner painted by Theodore Lund in 1854 for New York's Crys­ tal Palace. Was it a faithful copy or an adap­ tation of the great seal's coat of arms, and was it the source for various reinterpretations that began to decorate some Wisconsin letter­ heads and publications in the late 1850's? Thanks to some sleuthing in state newspapers by James L. Hansen, the Society's reference librarian, the questions can be answered with some certainty. Lund's drawing is known to have existed in OFFICIAL PIPES OF THE €iT¥. the secretary of state's office in 1880, so pre­ WHi (X3) 36967 sumably it was there earlier. In that case, Wisconsin coat of arms as it appeared in the Janes­ earlier secretaries of state might have made use ville Democratic Standard beginning in February, of it. Using that line of reasoning, it can be 1854. 120 BOSTON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1856. ^^l^BmS"} Vot. XL, No. 16."WaK»« No. 276.

STATE OF WlSCOBdlK. Sta.tem in 1836. A portion of ii WM set off in 1838 to form the and long. A portioii of tfw; State i» well adapted ^.o agrie*^*)* The etnitJemBtiral piptnro on tfiin pa^^ ta from the pendl of Bil­ territory of Iowa, and in I «49 it WM Mtii further curtailed to form The staple products are wh<«t, Indian com, witt, potatow, bwtMr ling*, »n beeswax, honey, d»eM(e BTMI eteftmhoat |j!i>ii^t!tg Uie wnter is ti^e disUnee. OR lji« !cft, at Uie gan on lite eajit, to Uie MtMinsippi Kivcr on the west, with an erca hay, with some sweet potatows, tohat^o, Ihiits, wine, grtiMMifcs*!«, door of ft log-<»hiR, tba wife of a aeuler wUfe K yoong diild in her ot 53,924 iquare miles. It may be dpscrihed gcnersily m on an hops, fiar and bcmp. in IBM) there were M,177 Cwnw in Wi»- arras and a hoy artd gir! beside h«r, are g««ing at the riTcr, on «ie«ated, rolling prairie—there being no mountains, property m consin. In tiie same year there were JseS manufactoring «E»I>. which a ^irty af Indiaas are neeti rowing their canoes. A boy io called, wiUitn ihe State. Many mtnends are found in the Btate, lishmentH. In Jaiiaary, i8S5, there were 322 mit» o( complwed the «l«t»nce i» <«Uing the attention of hia faitvar to the iamo ipec- inciiiding lead, iron, »onie copper, and niBrble of various ^nls and railroad in the State, and 707 miles in the coorw of ma$tTmnigm. taclo. In the foreground are ^en a hou*o-dog, R [J^^, fowls, and vwietieB. Bcfn these ri»crH afe numerous picturettiiuo f*li8 which would of 305,391, there were 95,293 in attend«jcc on •ehool. 4«,09Q witJj md separated from Jlio Btaim of Ohio, lndi«ia. IlUnois wid aiford endlsM variety of subject* to landscape painiertf. The ch- acres of publk iaod ha»e f»cen granted for the sapport of a Sta*! SWchigftn, hat -we* oii^aiBed aa a distiac* tenitory of tfw United Biato b free from audden chasgea, though Hm winters are BOvere ttnifwsity- There are also other college* and acadcmiea. WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981

held. In fact, thanks to artistic endeavor and legislative deliberation, they change frequent­ ly. Sometimes the changes are subtle, some­ times exceedingly obvious, but every new gen­ eration—to paraphrase another axiom of his­ tory—seemingly must recreate its graphic sym­ bols just as it must rewrite the story of its past.

[Below are three of the numerous letters we received in response to the original flag article. Thanks to all those who offered ad­ vice, corrections, and emendations pertaining to Wisconsin's flag and seal.]

To John O. Holzhueter: The article which you did on Wisconsin's flag I found to be most interesting. I am plan­ Wisconsin's seal, from The American's Own Book, ning to have a desk designed and made for published in 1849. the Governor's Office, which will contain the seal of the State and anything else that's ap­ propriate. I was intrigued with the notion of Wisconsin women artists are known to have the Territorial Seal being put on that desk. created coats of arms, one in wood and one in I now see that there were several Territorial ceramics. (Their twentieth-century counter­ Seals. parts continue the adaptations, and in 1980 The other thing that intrigued me was some the Wisconsin chapter of the American Asso­ reference to the Civil War regimental flags. I ciation of University Women went so far as to am particularly interested in preserving those alter the sailor and yeoman's gender from that have exceptional significance relative to male to female!) the 92,000 Wisconsin men who served in the Civil War. I am interested in making certain that the history of this great state in which we live is not lost. Local history is an absolute passion of mine, and your magazine serves me ET another question raised in well and takes away the cutting edge of the Y;th e initial article also has been more mundane, but in a sense, more pressing answered recently: Is the great seal in the of­ matters. fice of the secretary of state the very one that Sincerely yours, Henry Mitchell engraved in 1881? The answer LEE SHERMAN DREYFUS is no. It has been replaced from time to time Governor by Schwaab, Inc., a Milwaukee engraving firm whose longtime manager says that the tech­ To John O. Holzhueter: nicians always carefully duplicated the old It was an uncommon pleasure to read your seal exactly. The manager, Daniel R. Nette- excellent article on "Wisconsin's Flag" in the sheim, has also donated to the State Historical current Magazine of History. Society three dies from which thousands of A pleasure, because it was well-written, jolly Wisconsin badges have been struck, including without buffoonery, detailed without pedan­ the die for the badger on the regimental re­ try, and in every way commendable—history as union badge (page 111, Winter issue, 1979- she should be wrote. And an uncommon 1980). A second badger and an engraving of pleasure because you know that such writing is Chief Oshkosh adorn the other two dies. so rare in serious historical journals as to make the average state journal likely to come under Despite all of this evidence to the contrary, the eventual jurisdiction of the anesthesiology the popular notion that the state's flag, coat of department of the state school of medicine. arms, and great seal are sacrosanct and un­ You showed that even the damnedest subject, changing probably will continue to be widely afflicted with pitfalls of dullness on the one 122 HOLZHUETER: WISCONSIN S FLAG side and flippancy on the other, could be made the existing state flags with flags conforming both readable and historically valuable. I with 1975 Senate Bill 580? If the Division of thank you. Administrative Services, Department of Ad­ Sincerely, ministration, had asked for recommendations WATSON PARKER from the Property Management Section, I be­ Oshkosh lieve they would have been advised that there would be no outright buy of new flags but To the Editor: simply a matter of replacement by attrition, I have been trying to determine if Jack which is in fact what Jack suggests in his ar­ Holzhueter was dexterously sinister or sinis- ticle. terly dexterous in describing the coat of arms Sincerely, of the State of Wisconsin at the top of page JOHN SHORT 108 in the winter edition of the Wisconsin Division of State Agency Services Magazine of History. In any event, left is not Madison "dexter" nor right "sinister." What Jack failed to point out was that the sailor stands at the Mr. Holzhueter replies: right of the coat of arms as it "faces" the read­ I plead guilty to being sinisterly dexterous er. Confusion is something like script direc­ by defining left and right, not dexter and sinis­ tions of "stage right" and "stage left." ter. In my attempt to keep heraldic terms to I want to rise in defense of the Department a minimum, I chose to avoid the extra sen­ of Administration, which did not misunder­ tence or footnote required by a definition—a stand the intent of 1975 Senate Bill 580. The choice ratified by a leading heraldry specialist Department of Administration was answering whom I consulted. Reader Short is, of course, a specific question in regard to the fiscal note correct, and I am glad for this opportunity to requested by the Legislative Reference Bureau supply a less sinister definition of sinister and —i.e., how much would it cost to replace all of dexter.

Feminized version of the state seal produced by the American Association of University Women (1980).

123 WHi (X3) 36949

Doctor Swan's Restorative Waters

By Larry A. Reed

HE Vita Spring Pavilion, built in topped by a cast-iron eagle. Beneath the pa­ 1880 over a bubbling mineral vilion, cold mineral water once bubbled up spring in Beaver Dam, is the last remaining into a marble basin surrounded by a circular building of Dr. George E. Swan's ambitious counter, inside of which young boys dispensed Vita Park summer resort. Gone are the ele­ drinks of the mild and soothing alkaline wa­ gant four-story Vita Park Hotel, the band pa­ ter. "I name this water Vita, or life," declared vilion, the bathhouse on the lake, the green­ Dr. Swan, "—life to the whole urinary econo­ house for fresh flowers and vegetables, the my, and better health to the entire system." laboratory for bottling the water, and the "Taking of the waters" at America's springs romantic "air castles"—platforms constructed and spas was a popular pastime in the nine­ twenty-five feet up in the larger trees and ac­ teenth century, not only for the mineral wa­ cessible by winding stairways. ter's supposed curative effects upon such ail­ Located in what is now known as Swan ments as bladder infections, rheumatism, ec­ Park, the Vita Spring Pavilion was placed in zema, dropsy, indigestion, epilepsy, and even the National Register of Historic Places in blindness, but also as an escape from business April, 1980. The fanciful frame structure is worries and noisy cities. Perhaps even more decorated with turned wooden ornaments and than for the medicinal powers of their waters, a sunburst motif in the gables, crowned by a mineral spring resorts were designed to "soothe cupola with a mansard roof, which in turn is the frett'd soul and make anew the worn and weary."

LARRY REED is local preservation coordinator with the The best known of Wisconsin's popular Society's Historic Preservation Division. mineral springs were located in Waukesha

Copyright (c) 19S1 by The State Historical Society of Wisconsin 124 All rights of reproduction in any form reserved REED: SWAN S WATERS 1

County, such as the famous Bethesda and and New Orleans, as well as the prominent White Rock springs. But Dr. Swan's Beaver men and women of Beaver Dam and vicinity. Dam spring water—discovered by him in 1879, "Come and drink of this nectar, ye listless "while looking for better pasturage for my denizens of the ("solid") Sunny South, and cow"—proved more pure, clear, and cold than ye torpid-livered automatons of the great cities he had dared to hope. Analysis showed his of North, East and West, and have your physi­ mineral water to contain a slightly more favor­ cal (and political) disabilities removed," ex­ able proportion of the essential bicarbonates horted an 1880 Dodge County historian. and less organic matter. Moreover it was 10 Fortunately, Dr. Swan had the time—and degrees cooler than the famous Bethesda the money—to devote to his resort develop­ Spring water—and it flowed out of the earth ment in Beaver Dam. Born in 1838 in New at a greater capacity. York state, he had moved with his family to Dr. Swan, enthusiastic over his first taste of Ohio, and then left home in 1855 to become the cool, pure water and impressed by its ap­ educated and independent. He received his parent effects upon his diabetic wife, quickly diploma in medicine from New York's Ho­ purchased the spring and a dozen surrounding meopathic College in 1866, and eventually acres. In the summer of 1880 he transformed settled in Beaver Dam where he took over a the pasture land into Vita Spring Park, land­ well-established medical practice in 1876. As scaped with maples, elms, basswoods, ever­ a supplement to his private practice. Dr. Swan greens, and flowers, through which meandered developed medicines for the Parke-Davis Com­ "delightful walks and drives." Three small pany. He succeeded in perfecting an effective lakes were formed, and the Vita Park build­ specific for the cure of "female weakness," ings were erected, together with tennis and which proved so popular that he devoted all croquet grounds, water fountains, and rustic his professional attention to the marketing of bridges. Dr. Swan's summer resort attracted what became known as "Swan's Pastilles." In guests from as far away as St. Louis, Louisville, 1879, the pastilles were being sold by 1,600

Dr. George E. Swan of Beaver Dam (left), pictured in his office with Frank Redke, c. 1890.

WHi (X3) 36950

125 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981

"lady agents" in all parts of the United States. cal value of mineral waters, whether bathed Also interested in civic affairs. Dr. Swan in or swallowed, was seriously questioned by served one term as mayor of Beaver Dam in American practitioners of the new scientific 1880 and was elected councilman several medicine. times. In 1899, he built an impressive and The Vita Park Hotel closed in 1893, and elegant house in the popular Queen Anne in 1902 the buildings, except for the Vita style at 230 Park Avenue in Beaver Dam. (The Spring Pavilion, were sold at auction and dis­ Swan House is also listed in the National mantled. In 1905, Dr. Swan sold the park Register of Historic Places.) His Vita Park resort flourished for only to the city of Beaver Dam, and the mineral about one decade. By the end of the nine­ spring was sealed and ceased to flow. But teenth century, the popularity of "taking the the ornate spring pavilion and the many fine waters" in America had declined: other kinds trees of Swan Park remain as a reminder of of resorts were becoming more fashionable, the past vitality of Dr. Swan's elegant Vita and, more importantly, the beneficial medi- Park. ^W^'^m^

^Uk '^-'

:->

WHi (X3) 36951 The Tredway family of St. Louis traveled all the way to Vita Park in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, in search of a cure for some unknown ailment—possibly melancholia. 126 READING AMERICA

The Promise and the Product: 200 Years of ened its reach during the twentieth century American Advertising Posters. By VICTOR through the media of national magazines, ra­ MARGOLIN, IRA BRICHTA, and VIVIAN BRICHTA. dio, and television. Now, in addition to the (Macmillan, New York, 1979, Pp. viii, 152. old standbys—cars, clothes, and cosmetics- Illustrations, bibliography, index. $17.50.) advertisers sell humanitarian principles, phil­ osophical concepts, and political ideologies. During World War I the federal govern­ In a handsomely designed book, Margolin ment plastered posters in post offices, stores, and the Brichtas have traced the fascinating and factories exhorting Americans to support history of advertising posters in America. Em­ the war by buying Liberty bonds, observing phasizing the political, technological, and so­ meatless days, and saving scrap metal and cial forces which figured so formidably in the newspapers. In 1925, Bruce Barton published industry's development, they also have tex- his best seller, The Man Nobody Knows, in tually interwoven over 300 beautifully repro­ which he declared Jesus to be the greatest ad­ duced poster illustrations. Encapsuled in the vertising man of all times. During the Great margins are the histories of famous brand Depression, the blue NRA eagle, displayed on names as Coca-Cola, Palmolive, Quaker Oats, advertisements in shop windows, on billboards, and many more. and office walls, proclaimed, "We do our Victor Margolin edited Propaganda: The part." During World War II, Uncle Sam chal­ Art of Persuasion: WW H and wrote Ameri­ lenged young men to enlist, and Rosie the can Poster Renaissance. Ira Brichta is presi­ Riveter urged women to take factory and of­ dent of an advertising agency in Chicago; his fice jobs. Today, politicians use ad men's ad­ wife Vivian is an art dealer and critic. Many vice on how to project "the right image," of the poster reproductions in the book, almost lobbyists and special interest groups hire oth­ one-third of them in color, are from the Brich­ ers to tell them how best to sway their oppo­ tas' private collection. nents and inform the public, and government In an incredible variety of ways, advertisers agencies hire advertising agencies to make un­ have created new markets to sell old products. popular or controversial programs more palat­ In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, able to the taxpayers. the "secret ingredient" in many tonics which Advertising, once used only to sell manu­ claimed to cure everything from eczema to factured products, services, and foods, broad­ neuralgia was a heavy dose of alcohol. At a

Copyright @ 1981 by The State Historical Society of Wisconsin All rights of reproduction in any form reserved 127 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981

Tf

WHi (D487) 11553 Outdoor advertising class in Sterling Hall, University of Wisconsin, c. 1930. Then, as now. Maxwell House coffee proclaimed itself "Good to the last drop."

time when stoutness was considered a sign of "Huns'" peering over the horizon, ready to blooming health, Beechams promised that invade America. During World War II the chewing their gum would help you "eat like government repeated the theme, but added a pig." Not until the 1920's, with products toothy, malevolent "Japs" to their stereotypi­ at hand to remedy the situation, could adver­ cal Germans. Nor have the authors offered tisers persuade Americans of the offensiveness much comment on the way advertisers have of body odors. used psychology in this century to make peo­ There are, however, a few problems with ple who don't use a particular product feel this book. Because the authors have treated that somehow they are ignorant, or, at best, their subject nostalgically, they have avoided inadequate. discussion of several controversial areas. One Advertising, now a $50-billion-a-year indus­ is the unflattering depictions of various groups try, has come to have an increasing impact on advertisers have presented over the years. For our lives, shaping our images of ourselves, se­ instance, during the nineteenth and early ducing us with promises of emotional if not twentieth centuries, advertisers frequently actual fulfillment, and molding our expecta­ featured black people selling white-colored products (soap, cereal, flour) or made them tions of the future. If you want to better un­ the butt of pictorial jokes. 'To whip up na­ derstand how advertising has become such tional fervor in support of World War 1, the a pervasive part of your life that even the advertising arm of the Committee of Public government makes use of it, then this book Information designed posters showing leering offers an entertaining starting point.

128 SCHULTZ: READING AMERICA

H. L. Mencken: A Choice of Days. Selected side as well, which he encountered as a young and with an introduction by EDWARD L. man. Haunting the city's courts, police sta­ GALLIGAN. (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1980. tions, and red-light districts as a reporter for Pp. xxiii, 337. $12.95.) the Baltimore Herald, Mencken's education progressed rapidly. He reported the case of the purloined corpse, shipped cross-country to For over a quarter-century, Henry Louis fill a shortage in a dissection class. He was Mencken, newspaper columnist, drama critic, present in court when Judge Gene Grannon and literary editor, wielded his pen as a sur­ passed sentence on the leader of a vice crusade geon handles a scalpel. With elegant wit he who had been caught "in levantine deviltries." slashed through layers of social hypocrisy, ex­ He even witnessed the hanging of a rogue ele­ posed the "boobocracy's" cherished ideals as phant. During the 1904 fire that leveled cen­ a tumor upon the body politic, and continually tral Baltimore, Mencken, by then an editor, scraped away the illusions surrounding the had responsibility for publishing the Herald. American "character." He vigorously defend­ Shuttling among makeshift offices in Balti­ ed free speech but pointed out that no one more, Washington, and Philadelphia, he went had the right to be a pest or to invade any­ without normal sleep, baths, or changes of one's privacy. (Out of this belief came "Menc­ clothing for more than four weeks. It took ken's Law": "Whenever A annoys or injures him several months to recover from the ordeal. B on the pretense of improving X, A is a scoundrel.") He gave us his succinct defini­ The essays taken from Heathen Days pro­ tion of Puritanism: "the haunting fear that vide a peek at Mencken's unique view of the someone, somewhere, may be happy." He also world. In "The Tone Art" Mencken related gave us his monumental contribution to Amer­ his early adventures as a music critic. Spend­ ican letters. The American Language. ing a lot of time with musicians, he came to form some rather unusual opinions of them In A Choice of Days, though, we encounter based upon the instruments they played. Thus, a muted Mencken fondly recalling his child­ he concluded, "The cellists were also pretty hood experiences, relating stories about his reliable fellows, but in the viola section one newspaper reporting days, and offering his re­ began to encounter boozers, communists and flections on human nature, history, and poli­ even spiritualists, and when one came to the tics. Edward L. Galligan, professor of English fiddlers it was reasonable to expect anything, at Western Michigan University, has written a including even a lust to maim and kill." humorous and sensitive introduction to this In "Romantic Intermezzo" he described the collection of essays selected from the autobio­ salubrious effects a seaside city, beautiful graphical Happy Days (1940), Newspaper Days weather, and unlimited cases of bourbon (1941), and Heathen Days (1943). (courtesy of the mayor) had on the delegates' Mencken described himself as "having been conduct at the 1920 Democratic Convention. born lucky," and no boy, he felt, could have It is virtually impossible to do justice to been luckier than to grow up in Baltimore in Henry Louis Mencken within the confines of a the 1880's. With his younger brother, Charlie, short review. But anyone who values wit and Harry joined the neighborhood gang, filched wisdom should not miss the opportunity of apples from the grocer's sidewalk display, and reading the works of one of this century's dismantled old crates and fences for election- .greatest writers. This abridgement of his auto­ night bonfires. When the family's pipes burst biographies is a perfect place to start. And in winter, the children had a great time pad­ those who thought they had exhausted all dling around the cellar in an old washtub. On sources of Mencken's writings, take heart! hot summer nights, Harry and Charlie lay on Professor Galligan says that Mencken depo­ the kitchen table pelting dried orange rinds at sited in libraries seven typescript volumes the wonderful variety of insects which flew in covering his life as editor, writer, and news­ through the screenless windows and clustered paper columnist. No one has seen them, since in colonies on the ceiling. (The hired girl Mencken ordered them closed until 1991. obligingly scraped off the resulting carnage Mencken fans eagerly await the date. the next morning.) Sometimes they really got lucky and a bat flew into their bedroom. Mencken recalled, "When this happened my MARY LOU M. SCHULTZ is a free-lance editor and book brother and I turned out with brooms, base­ reviewer. She holds a bachelor's degree in American ball bats and other weapons, and pursued the history from the University of Wisconsin and has done hunt to a kill." postgraduate work in American history and urban af­ The Baltimore of his childhood had another fairs at Boston University.

129 BOOK REVIEWS

Carroll College: The First Century, 1846- Congregational Church while Carroll re­ 1946. By ELLEN LANGILL. (Carroll College mained a Presbyterian stronghold. Press, Waukesha, Wisconsin, 1980. Pp. xvi, The name Carroll is also shrouded in mys­ 223. Illustrations, maps, notes, index. $7.50.) tery. Tradition has always cited the origin as Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration The typical small-college history is written of Independence. Langill points out, how­ by an emeritus professor, read by a few nos­ ever, that Carroll was Catholic, an unlikely talgic alumni, and relegated to deserved ob­ choice for the Protestant ministers who peti­ scurity. Here is an intriguing exception, a tioned for incorporation. Her research indi­ chronology of Carroll College which rises cates the real Carroll may have been an ob­ above narrow provincialism. Ellen Langill scure but wealthy Brooklyn preacher, Daniel succeeds by skillfully describing the turmoils Carroll. The Reverend Carroll was asked to of the tiny Waukesha school against the vivid become the school's first president and to en­ background of early Wisconsin. (She grace­ dow the empty treasury. Regrettably, he de- fully credits much of the planning and inves­ tigation to Professor Tom Stine, who died before completing this long-awaited project.) Notice to Members Carroll's boast as the Badger State's pio­ neer college came by the narrowest of mar­ Members of the State Historical Society gins over longtime rival Beloit. The terri­ may order books reviewed in the Wiscon­ torial legislature submitted charters for both sin Magazine of History at a 10 per cent schools to Governor Henry Dodge on January discount. In addition, the Society will 31, 1846. Dodge signed the Carroll bill im­ attempt to obtain, at the same discount, mediately, but inexplicably waited until Feb­ any historical work currently offered by ruary 2 to approve the Beloit charter. Ac­ any American publisher. Please supply cording to Langill, the precise reason for author's name, full title, publisher, and the delay is unknown, but it was probably a (if known) price. Write: Publication combination of religious fervor and partisan Orders, 816 State Street, Madison, Wis­ politics. Several prominent Waukesha Demo­ consin 53706. The Society will bill mem­ crats led by Alexander Randall lobbied for bers when the book is available, and will a Carroll priority. Another factor may have levy a charge of $1.50 for postage and been opposition to Beloit's admitted Presby­ handling on each complete order. Please terian-only bias. One of history's minor anom­ do not send payment with original order. alies is that Beloit eventually allied with the

130 WHi (X3) 36918 Carroll College in Waukesha, pictured before the turn of the century. clined both honors, yet somehow the name chapters, she avoids the temptation to crowd endured. in lists of names, dates, and athletic scores. Religion continued to dominate Carroll's But the author does enliven her narrative struggles during the nineteenth century. East­ with frequent anecdotes which aptly capture ern missionary zealots battled for control of the unique spirit of a small Midwestern col­ the embryonic educational system of the up­ lege: the bizarre pranks, the dedicated pro­ per Midwest. Carroll became a Princeton fessors, and the camaraderie among the stu­ satellite, an outpost for the rigid conserva­ dent body. For sports trivia fans: the famous tism championed by so-called Old School Pres- "C" symbol of the Chicago Bears was copied byterianism. Financial aid ebbed and flowed from a Carroll football helmet by George according to prosperity at Princeton, then Halas. And—fascinating irony for a strict abruptly ceased after the Civil War. When Presbyterian institution—its three most famous the Carroll trustees met in the summer of graduates were actors: Alfred Lunt, Dennis 1865 they faced the multiple disasters of no Morgan, and Fred MacMurray. students, no teachers, and no money. The Ellen Langill has demonstrated that a small solution, and the beginning of a debate that college's history need not be a boring recita­ lasted forty years, was to convert Carroll to tion of insignificant events. She sets Carroll a secondary school. Not until 1902 when the in a larger historical context, showing how its State of Wisconsin gave its full support to successes and failures were usually the result public high schools did Carroll reluctantly of war, depression, or internecine religious return to college status. disputes. Even a non-alumnus should enjoy Of course, a college is not all political in­ Langill's candid account of a minor educa­ fighting and financial crises. Langill duti­ tional triumph in the Wisconsin wilderness. fully reports on the administrators and edu­ cators, both able and inept, who have sus­ JEREMY C. SHEA tained Carroll. Except in the last several Madison, Wisconsin 131 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981

The Spirit of West Bend. By DOROTHY E. worth the bargain-price of the book. Every WILLIAMS. (Straus Printing Company, Madi­ West Bend area citizen should buy this book. son, Wisconsin, 1980. Pp. x, 361. Bibliogra­ So should anyone who formerly lived in West phy, illustrations. $8.95, or $12.00 postpaid Bend or whose ancestors lived there. from Tri-County Bookshelf, West Bend.) RICHARD C. HANEY The Spirit of West Bend is an encyclopedic University of Wisconsin-Whitewater cornucopia of local events written for West Bend residents and former residents. The book is primarily that sort of local history, rather than the type which studies topics of Hard Rock Epic: Western Miners and the national historical significance on a grassroots Industrial Revolution, 1860-1910. By MARK level and thereby appeals to a wider reader­ WYMAN. (University of California Press, ship. Author Dorothy Williams is a history Berkeley, 1979. Pp. x, 331. Illustrations, maps, teacher at West Bend East High School. If notes, bibliography, index. $15.95.) every high school history teacher undertook a hobby such as she has in writing this book, There was a time, Mark Wyman tells us, professional historians of the future would when Western hard-rock miners lived the good have an unending supply of source material. life. They worked above ground. They had Dorothy Williams has set a magnificent ex­ skills. Relationships with employers (if there ample. even was an employer) were "somewhat easy­ The book is based upon painstakingly de­ going." It was a way of life characterized by tailed research. Everything is there: the dual "independence and berry-picking." But in the Yankee-German heritage; the arrival of stage­ half-century after 1860, all of this changed. coaches and railroads; the beginnings of Miners moved below ground. They worked schools, churches, businesses, and clubs; and for large corporations and for owners who even the tribulations of the old city oil lamp were not on the premises. New technology— lighter. Dorothy Williams places West Bend the machine drill, the cage, dynamite, electrici­ history into context by using the Alice Smith ty—only multiplied existing dangers. When and Richard Current volumes of the History absentee capital tried to reduce wages, the of Wisconsin, and the reliable state histories hard-rock miners formed unions or practiced authored by William Raney and Robert Nes- "highgrading," the theft of high-grade ore. bit. When employers failed to provide adequate The Spirit of West Bend is more thorough compensation for accident victims, these in its discussion of the pre-World War I per­ unions made their own grants, established hos­ iod than since, with the exception of a strong pitals, and pressed for safety legislation, work­ but brief essay on World War II—local scrap men's compensation, and the eight-hour day. and bond drives, rationing, and POW labor­ It was the failure of this last campaign which ers. Dorothy Williams is diplomatically led many miners to reject politics for the more sketchy in her treatment of bitter Yankee- radical ideology and tactics of the Industrial German divisions in West Bend during World Workers of the World. War I, the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920's, and Portions of this scenario are not just con­ other twentieth-century topics of potential em­ vincing, but moving. Wyman's descriptions of barrassment and controversy. lost paydays, of the politics of the change room, Readers looking for familiar names will of miners' actual experiences with cages, with find them, including an early settler who wit­ dynamite, and with 150-degree mine tempera­ nessed Napoleon's retreat from Waterloo (and tures, are superb. Without losing a sense of never ceased telling the story), the World War where we are in the interpretive framework, II "victory garden" chairman, the first Worthy we feel what it meant to be a hard-rock miner Dictator of the Loyal Order of the Moose, the in the Comstock lode. More than twenty-five first telephone operators, the first librarian, illustrations substantially increase the book's and "famous firemen." B. C. Ziegler has his impact. own chapter. Even the members of an 1856 Yet there are portions of Wyman's interpre­ lynch mob are named. tive framework that are not completely con­ The Spirit of West Bend is profusely illus­ vincing. One of them is what seems an undue trated with fascinating photographs spanning emphasis on absentee ownership as a cause of over a century. The photo collection alone is poor employer-employee relations. The ex-

132 BOOK REVIEWS planation attributes too much to geography secretaries of state, war, and the navy, with a and distance, and not enough to the market civilian chairman to direct its functions. conditions which established the parameters George Creel, an ambitious and energetic edi­ within which all capitalists had to operate. tor with impeccable reformist credentials, Nor am I sure that technology itself—as op­ filled this position. Very shortly the Creel posed to how that technology was applied— Committee became a synonym for the CPI, an deserves the condemnation it receives here. organization which stated Wilson's goals in And though Wyman's starting point—the idea persuasive terms and simultaneously contribu­ of a golden age of mine labor—may well be ted to the nationalization of American life. valid, it is not adequately documented. The CPI was Progressivism writ large. (This is true, for example, of his interesting Creel left little to chance. Americans—re­ suggestion that common law doctrines of lia­ gardless of class, occupation, race, nationality, bility were reasonable and functional for a and political affiliation—would become pa­ simple, pre-industrial culture. Perhaps so, but triotic reformers through active involvement the evidence is missing.) and by understanding that the war represented Historians of the labor union experience an unparalleled opportunity to mend domes­ will be interested in Wyman's explanation for tic conflicts and to establish a more just in­ why the Western Federation of Miners turned ternational order. For the first time, a na­ away from the IWW to the American Federa­ tional consensus seemed possible, and every tion of Labor in the decade after 1905. Wy­ citizen would have a role. Journalists and ex­ man argues that most hard-rock miners did not perts, who had served Progressivism so well in succumb to radicalism because the key ele­ earlier years, would direct the enterprise by ments of liberalism—parties, politics, and la­ providing incontrovertible facts and logic. bor-management relations—had served them The nation, in Creel's words, would be welded well. I found this conclusion not so much un­ into "one white mass . . . with fraternity, devo­ sound on its face as inconsistent with what tion, courage, and deathless determination." Wyman had already told me about workplace Such gaudy prose aside, the CPI was an exam­ conditions and Western reform politics. ple of masterful social organization. Nonetheless, this is a very fine piece of work. From the universities. Creel recruited sub­ If occasionally flawed in argument, it is only stantial intellectual figures. Guy Stanton because the author has asked so many difficult Ford, a historian from the University of Min­ and important questions. nesota, assembled a staff of writers to prepare some ninety patriotic pamphlets which reached WILLIAM GRAEBNER 75 million readers. Stuart Pratt Sherman State University of New York, enunciated democratic values in a series of College at Fredonia essays pillorying Germany. Carl Becker pro­ claimed that the war would usher in a new age of economic democracy, a theme echoed by la­ bor historian John R. Commons. In addition, Wilson's speeches—containing a didactic read­ ing of history—reached more Americans Holding Fast the Inner Lines: Democracy, Na­ through the CPI than the utterances of any tionalism, and the Committee on Public In­ previous chief executive. (Some years later formation. By STEPHEN L. VAUGHN. (Univer­ Ford somewhat ruefully concluded that "the sity of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1980. Germans spoiled some perfectly good enter­ Pp. xiv, 397. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, prises by ending the war when they did.") index. $21.00.) The CPI also hectored schoolchildren and the non-reading public. To reach the young, On April 13, 1917, just one week after Con­ especially in rural areas, the National School gress declared war against Germany, President Service supplied teachers with pamphlets out­ Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order lining war aims. The partnership between creating the Committee on Public Informa­ government and the teacher, who was an ex­ tion. Three Progressive journalists—Walter pert, helped to promote a national program Lippman, David Lawrence, and Arthur Bul- of education aimed at reducing provincialism lard—had convinced him that a centralized in the classroom. Adults who might somehow government bureau should organize and sus­ remain untouched by these exhortations were tain wartime public opinion in an efficient, reached by the Four Minute Men, who spoke dramatic manner. The CPI consisted of the at theaters in every major city and sometimes

Ic WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981

included such notables as Douglas Fairbanks The Great War and Its Aftermath, 1914-23, and Jane Addams; by the Division of Adver­ the result of a conference sponsored by the tising, which circulated vivid pictorials prais­ Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Associa­ ing heroism and condemning sedition; and by tion in 1974, nine historians analyze the for­ the Division of Films, which included such ad­ mative years of Hoover's career and their sig­ visors as D. W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille. nificance to American life during World War These elements of popular culture helped to I and the early 1920's. Except for Robert Him- create those modernizing forces historians melberg's article "Hoover's Public Image, usually associate with the 1920's. 1919-20: The Emergence of a Public Figure Vaughn has assembled an impressive variety and a Sign of the Times," the essays all deal of manuscripts, pamphlets, pictorials, and oth­ generally with Hoover's work in the United er primary sources. The story of the Creel States Food Administration and his views on Committee's domestic activities probably will international politics in the postwar world. not need retelling. But in one sense Holding More particularly, they concentrate on Hoo­ Fast the Inner Lines represents an exculpatory ver's faith in the "associational state," his con­ exercise on behalf of wartime Progressives. viction that global war breeds revolutionary Their earnest goal—the economic and social upheaval, his belief in free trade, a recon­ regeneration of America—was an understand­ structed Germany, and internationalism as pre­ able and yet dismaying effort. For in promot­ requisites to economic recovery, and his abso­ ing unity they displayed an intractable atti­ lute certainty that economic prosperity was tude toward conflict. Despite Vaughn's strong necessary for the survival of democratic capital­ case, those in the CPI were men of little faith. ism. Finally, the authors generally agree that Hoover was the personal link between the RICHARD W. RESH liberal progressivism of the Wilson years and University of Missouri-St. Louis the Republican-dominated political atmo­ sphere of the 1920's. Witold Sworakowski offers a standard treat­ ment of the origins of the Food Administra­ tion. Robert Cuff, however, provides an ex­ Herbert Hoover: The Great War and Its cellent analysis of some of Hoover's ulterior Aftermath, 1914-23. By LAWRENCE E. GEL- motives in promoting voluntarism in govern­ FAND, ed. (University of Iowa Press, Iowa ment affairs. For Cuff, Hoover's voluntarism City, 1979. Pp. xii, 242. Note, tables, index. was more than just a way to avoid administra­ $15.00.) tive tyranny; it was also an administrative tool to avoid competitive resentments from the For nearly forty years after leaving the Department of Agriculture, conflict of inter­ White House in 1933, Herbert Hoover was est charges, congressional demands for de­ one of the most controversial and least under­ tailed prescriptions and strict accountability, stood figures in American political history—a and civil service rules. saint to most Republicans and some New Murray Rothbard provides a thoroughly ob­ Leftist historians like William Appleman Wil­ noxious critique of Hoover, debunking the liams, a pariah to most Democrats and liberal legend of the great humanitarian by arguing historians like Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Since that Hoover's food diplomacy during and after the opening of the Herbert Hoover Presiden­ the war was not humanitarianism but rather tial Library in 1963, some of the myths and was a carefully veiled plan to protect Ameri­ cliches surrounding Hoover's career have giv­ can farm prices by disposing of huge surpluses en way to balanced judgments and reasoned and to support centrist regimes in Europe critiques characteristic of the best scholarly against the onslaught of bolshevists and fas­ research in primary sources. Clearly, the old cists. Criticizing Hoover for not being purely image of Hoover as a rigid idealogue opposed humanitarian is a cheap shot, particularly to all change despite the manifest suffering since Hoover believed in the potential of of millions of working people has been re­ democratic capitalism and economic growth placed by a new picture of him as a complex, to solve most social problems. brilliant man trying desperately to deal with More balanced articles by Royal Schmidt economic and social problems without sacri­ ("Hoover's Reflections on the Versailles Trea­ ficing the traditional values of American so­ ty"), Eugene Trani ("Herbert Hoover and the ciety. Russian Revolution"), Richard H. Van Meter In Lawrence E. Gelfand's Herbert Hoover: ("Herbert Hoover and the Economic Recon- 134 BOOK REVIEWS

struction of Europe, 1918-1921"), and Carl gram. The president established the general Parrini ("Hoover and International Eco­ approach by pledging the United States to nomics") clearly describe Hoover's belief in nonintervention, economic cooperation, and the intricate connection between democracy, inter-American solidarity. Hull promoted capitalism, prosperity, and stability, and the these ends, while Welles translated the gen­ dangerous threats posed to human society by eralizations into specific policies. bolshevism, socialism, fascism, and corporate Gellman's study is the most significant ex­ tyranny. amination of Roosevelt's hemispheric policies There are some problems with the book. since the publication of Bryce Wood's The As with most collections covering a narrow Making of the Good Neighbor Policy (1961). topic, there is a good deal of duplication and While it affirms many of Wood's conclusions, redundancy, and the delay of more than five it also challenges his interpretation in some years between delivery of the papers and publi­ important areas. Gellman places much less cation of the book gives the project a dated emphasis on the Republican antecedents of quality. Such historians as James S. Olson, the Good Neighbor policy. Instead, he argues David Burner, Ellis Hawley, Joan Hoff Wil­ that the Republican presidents of the 1920's son, Benjamin Weissman, Gary Dean Best, left "a legacy of incomplete and often contra­ George Lerski, Evan Metcalf, and Martin Fau- dictory hemispheric actions" and that Roose­ sold have published major works on Herbert velt's policies marked a new departure in both Hoover since 1974, but these articles are un­ objectives and practice. able to reflect any of that research. Still, this Gellman also examines the demise of the collection of essays is a testimony to the ad­ Good Neighbor policy much more closely vances made in recent scholarship, particularly than Wood. He concludes that the failure of in our understanding of American life be­ the Democratic party to continue the policy tween the two great wars. after the war resulted primarily from a change in both the international conditions and the JAMES S. OLSON leadership that had made it possible in the Sam Houston State University first place. Prosperity and the new global com­ mitments of the United States following the war "struck a heavy blow against hemispheric exclusiveness" and pushed Latin America to a peripheral position in U.S. foreign policy. Good Neighbor Diplomacy: United States In addition, the death of Roosevelt, the ani­ Policies in Latin America, 1933-1945. By IR­ mosity between Welles and Hull followed by WIN F. GELLMAN. (Johns Hopkins University the departure of both men from the State De­ Press, Baltimore, Maryland, 1979. Pp. xi, partment, and the coming to power of officials 296. Notes, index. $18.50.) committed to a "universalist" rather than a "regionalist" approach to world order all but Irwin F. Gellman concludes in this exhaus­ guaranteed an end to the attempt to build a tively researched and thoroughly documented stronger inter-American system. study of United States-Latin American rela­ Despite his recognition of Roosevelt's tions during the New Deal: "If any period can achievements, Gellman's study is no mere apol­ be labeled the golden age of Pan-American co­ ogy for New Deal diplomacy. He is quick operation, the Roosevelt presidency deserves to admit that the Good Neighbor policy was to be so labeled." often less evenhanded than it appeared. The Gellman credits both international circum­ president accepted and publicly proclaimed stances and the leadership of the president. nonintervention, but he also seemed willing Secretary of State Cordell Hull, and Assistant to support Latin American dictators who could Secretary of State Sumner Welles with this guarantee stability and ensure American in­ achievement. The onset of the Great Depres­ vestments. Gellman also examines the incon­ sion and the emerging conflict in Europe, he sistencies in American economic policies, trac­ argues, "severely inhibited international in­ ing their source to internal rivalries and dis­ tercourse and encouraged the United States agreements within the State Department and to expand its regional initiatives." With pub­ to competition between State and other de­ lic and congressional opinion opposed to inter­ partments of government. nationalist activities in other parts of the The discussion of wartime inter-American world, Franklin Roosevelt used the opportuni­ economic relations is perhaps the least con­ ty to pursue an aggressive hemispheric pro­ vincing section of the book. It is not so much

135 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981

Crow Indians near Suring, Oconto County, c. 1910. that the author rejects the revisionist position manuscript collections, and the Nelson Rocke­ that the Good Neighbor policy was designed feller oral history project at Columbia Uni­ to weaken Latin American nationalism and versity, but he generally ignores materials from promote U.S. business interests, but that he other nations that might have provided broad­ fails to deal directly with the basic issues er insight into the meaning and significance raised by such studies as David Green's The of the Good Neighbor policy. Containment of Latin America (1971). Gell­ Despite these defects, Gellman has produced man seems content to quote representatives of an important and valuable study, one which Republican business interests who were criti­ must be read by all serious students of Ameri­ cal of the Good Neighbor policy as detrimen­ can diplomacy and United States-Latin Ameri­ tal to private enterprise, instead of analyzing can relations. the attitudes of Roosevelt, Hull, Welles, and other key determiners of policy on such ques­ HAROLD JOSEPHSON tions as the relationship of the United States The University of North Carolina to Latin American economic nationalism. He at Charlotte accepts too readily the idea that the adminis­ tration was less interested in winning long- term trading concessions than in assuring "eco­ nomic tranquility for the present to relieve Phoenix: The Decline and Rebirth of the In­ any pressure that would disturb the political dian People. By WILLIAM E. COFFER. (Van order during the wartime emergency." Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1979. Pp. iii- Another weakness of this study is that it 281. Maps, illustrations, footnotes, bibliogra­ lacks a Latin American perspective. Gellman phy, appendix, index. $14.95.) richly mines United States sources, including State Department records, numerous private This is a well-written, readable, and concise 136 BOOK REVIEWS presentation of American Indian-white rela­ American Indians will persist. American In­ tions. Because it is objective and factual rather dians have survived 500 years of white oppres­ than emotional and pleading Phoenix is believ­ sion and there is no reason they will not exist able, unlike many other romanticized books forever, regardless of government policy. It recently in print. Its focus is a chronological is unfortunate that Coffer does not discuss presentation of U.S. government Indian poli­ change among American Indians and its mean­ cy and the people and events that shaped it. ing and significance to Indian survival and This overview is such an effective and repre­ persistence. The Indian today is not the In­ sentative assessment of Indian-white relations dian of yesterday, but he is still definitely an that omissions typical of this type of survey Indian. An understanding of American In­ research do not detract from its quality. dian adaptation to changing conditions is an essential element in explaining the ability of Phoenix is a book for everyone concerned Indians to persist. It is the ability of Indians about human beings and their right to lead to persist through history that has made pos­ a dignified life over which they have control. sible the Indian rebirth referred to by Coffer. Readers will understand the fallacies of past government policies intended to eliminate American Indians and the need for Indians to TONY LAZEWSKI continually exercise pressure on the U.S. gov­ Middleton, Wisconsin ernment to prevent the adoption of new anti- Indian policies. White support for American Indians is shown to be especially important in political The Urban Crucible: Social Change, Political affairs, because it can back Indian self-deter­ Consciousness and the Origins of the Ameri­ mination and prevent adoption of anti-Indian can Revolution. By GARY B. NASH. (Har­ policy and especially the election of politicians vard University Press, Cambridge, Massachu­ supporting anti-Indian policy. Previous fail­ setts 1979. Pp. xix, 548. Illustrations, tables, ures by whites to actively support Indians maps, notes, index. $18.50.) have resulted in U.S. presidents and leaders implementing Indian policies that were crimes The social history of early America written against human rights. Our most revered and in recent decades has been predominantly honored leaders would have been incarcerated rural in character. As historians strove to il­ if the Indian policies they implemented had luminate the life experiences of ordinary men been applied to whites. Unfortunately, the and women, they sought their subject in those threat to Indians by elected officials and op­ rural communities where the majority of early pressive policies is not restricted to history. Americans lived and which, not accidentally, Coffer documents the presence of elected of­ provided manageable bases for laborious meth­ ficials who favor anti-Indian policies, which ods of reconstruction. The colonial cities, long emphasizes the continuing need for white sup­ the proud focus of historical interest, found port for American Indians. themselves suddenly equalled or even eclipsed The concepts of rebirth and persistence in fame by Dedham and Andover, Sudbury among American Indians are omitted or re­ and Kent. This imposing book by Gary Nash ceive superficial mention and represent the sets out to redress the balance by focusing the major weakness of this book. The author im­ concern for the lives of ordinary people on the plies that recent Indian pride, self-assertion, inhabitants of Boston, New York, and Phila­ and self-determination indicate a rebirth delphia, the largest cities in colonial America. among Indians. These certainly are important Nash traces two related themes through the elements in any rebirth, but with his evidence. history of the cities during the colonial period. Coffer is not convincing that there has been an The first theme is the social and economic Indian rebirth rather than a response to a well-being of urbanites, especially those of the changing and more favorable U.S. govern­ middling and lower classes. During the seven­ ment Indian policy. If the strength gained teenth century the three towns shared a pat­ from a rebirth is lacking, Indians may not be tern of clear social stratification, mitigated by able to repel changes in government policy limited inequality of property holding and that can snuff out the pride and self-determi­ relative social fluidity. Conditions of life were nation Indians have so recently embraced. relatively favorable for those at the bottom of Although there is some uncertainty regard­ society, while those at the top enjoyed only ing Indian rebirth, there is no question that limited opportunities for amassing fortunes 137 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981 large enough to raise their scale of living out versies surrounding David Lloyd and George of the ordinary range. Keith injected egalitarian appeals into Phila­ As the eighteenth century progressed, how­ delphia politics. By mid-century, sophisticated ever, economic conditions that affected the and popular political methods were in use in classes differently transformed the social sys­ all three towns, and appeals to interest were tem. The endemic colonial wars stimulated numerous. By the eve of the Revolution ur­ cycles of prosperity and recession. For the ban politics contained four basic groups. Con­ merchantile elite, wartime supply contracts, servative and liberal whigs shared a common privateering profits, and (in New York and faith in economic liberalism but differed over Pliiladelphia) growing overseas demand for tolerance of popular political mobilization. the products of the hinterland during peace­ Lower-class radicals sought the restoration of time brought sharp increases in both abso­ a traditional moral economy, sometimes in lute and relative wealth. For the lower orders, alliance with the liberal whigs, sometimes in cycles of war were less favorable, as wartime concert with the fourth group: social reform­ brought suffering to the families of those who ers of professional background who saw in the enlisted and illusory opportunities to those Revolution a potential for moral reform and who went privateering, and as peacetime classical republicanism. brought rapid fall-offs in demand for con­ The Urban Crucible is impressive in the struction work, shipbuilding, and supply ser­ range of detail it covers, in its ability to bring vices, combined with crushing taxes to pay off ordinary townspeople to life, and especially war debts and wage rates that lagged behind in the subtlety with which it illuminates com­ price rises in inflationary times. Ordinary plicated conceptual problems. Nash's intro­ townsmen fared worst in Boston, where hard ductory essay on the concept of class ought to times were the rule after 1730, but even in be required reading for historians who con­ the other cities the number of poor increased, front that bedevilled issue. His ability to dif­ and by the eve of the Revolution the prospects ferentiate among economic, social, and politi­ for a modest sufficiency among artisans les­ cal liberalism and conservatism elucidates the sened. complex mentalities of the actors in his story, The effect of economic strain is clearly felt and he has a sharp eye for the nuances of in Nash's second theme, the growth of self- political organization and ideology in the era interested political consciousness. The evo- before legitimate political partisanship. kuion of economics and politics was parallel If the book has a flaw, it is the assumption and complementary. In seventeenth-century that urban people were the driving force be­ towns, political relations within urban society hind social change in the colonial period. Be­ were deferential, with the merchantile and fore we can be comfortable with that view we professional elite providing leadership in the must know far more about how "popular" theoretical interest of the common good and appeals effected the rural majority and about with lower orders largely acquiescent in po­ the extent to which popular leaders drew on litical as well as economic dependency. rural as well as urban support. But that is too As social differences widened at the end of much to ask of an already splendid book, and the century, however, members of the labor­ historians will be much in Nash's debt as they ing classes began to grasp the possibility and ponder the integration of urban and rural desirability of class-oriented political action. forces of change. The potential for popular action emerged when the elite failed notably to protect the EDWARD M. COOK, JR. common good during the crisis of the end of The University of Chicago the seventeenth century. Popular action be­ came increasingly manifest in both rhetoric and reality as members of the elite moved to coordinate their control of politics with their personal interests in the international A People's History of the United States. By economy. The efforts of Boston's merchants HOWARD ZINN. (Harper and Row, New York, to incorporate the town as a city and to estab­ 1980. Pp. 614. Bibliography, index. $20.00.) lish regulated markets stimulated laboring class support for Elisha Cooke's "Popular Par­ What is "people's history"? Twenty years ty" and his celebrated caucus, while the after­ ago we might have said it was the story of math of Leisler's Rebellion stimulated politi­ everyday things, of "daily-ness" or, pejorative­ cal mobilization in New York and the contro­ ly, of "pots and pans." Since then social his- BOOK REVIEWS tory has undergone a revolution. Believing sinister Samuel Adams and others confused that the role of "the people" in historical pro­ them.) Ditto Jackson, Lincoln, Franklin D. cess could be learned, "new social historians" Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, et al. have developed new methods of research and However, my selfless devotion to plowing provided exciting glimpses into the lives of through all this fury and lamentation reveals those millions whose documentation is often that "the oppressors" also include all males less than three entries in a church register. and all whites. For example, Irish immigrants, What does Professor Howard Zinn's A Peo­ hapless victims in whose suffering we bask ple's History of the United States have to do deliciously in one chapter, are in the next with this kind of scholarship? Not much. The granted temporary membership in "the elite" book is presented as a kind of synthesis of re­ for purposes of abusing Negroes. Even the cent research. The author quotes profusely Indians, generally quite noble here because from a number of excellent monographs, so always on the losing end, can take part as that a skimmer of bibliographies might mis­ dupes; for example those who tomahawked take it for a learned book. But where the Anne Hutchinson, it being concealed from quoted studies are generally cautious, hard- them that she had recently fought a battle on headed, and scholarly—monographs devoted to behalf of women's liberation, a struggle which particular slices of history—^ People's His­ would have been of much interest to them, tory is a sprawling, sentimental, self-indulgent they having a far more enlightened attitude cri de mon grand coeur. It is not synthesis toward females than the whites. (And the merely to tack one scholar's insights onto an­ Russians invented baseball, too.) other's, as is done here (with the findings Lest this seem a parody of the quality of often distorted). Nor is it "history from the Professor Zinn's "historical analysis," consider bottom up" when the vantage point is in this passage: "In the year 1877, the signals clouds of narcissism, tears drenching the ter­ were given for the rest of the century: the rain of five hundred years. black would be put back; the strikes of white To Professor Zinn, "the people" are victims. workers would not be tolerated; the industrial His book is an unrelenting 200,000-word nar­ and political elites of North and South would rative of misery, abuse, exploitation, and ma­ take hold of the country and organize the nipulation of the many by . . . well, not exactly greatest march of economic growth in human the few. A People's History kicks off with the history. They would do it with the aid of and slaughter of Arawaks and winds up with the at the expense of black labor, white labor, tortures visited upon affluent young people in Chinese labor, European immigrant labor, fe­ the 1960's by a less brutal but even more in­ male labor, rewarding them differently by sidious oppressor. In between is suffering by race, sex, national origin, and social class, in indentured servants, slaves, tenant farmers, such a way as to create separate levels of op­ landowning farmers, Continental soldiers, pression—a skillful terracing to stabilize the frontierspeople, all women, Mexicans, Billy pyramid of wealth." Yank and Johnny Reb, factory hands. Irish­ The publisher promised that A People's men, immigrants generally, Hawaiians, Cu­ History would be "an eye-opener for students bans, Filipinos and Filipinas, radicals, Viet­ at every level." This section certainly cleared namese, Cambodians, and many, many more. up a lifelong lot of confusion for me. In truth. Professor Zinn's victims add up to Readers will recall Professor Zinn as one of a great many people. (He seems to have the maximum gurus of "The Movement" of missed homosexuals but herbalists are men­ the 1960's, a cultural phenomenon which mis­ tioned once or twice.) took soft-headedness for sensitivity, patroniza- Who are the oppressors who have dedicated tion for revolutionary solidarity, feelings for themselves to inflicting misery, "the elite" as good sense, and complexity for a tool of the distinguished from "the people"? Some are establishment. This book is a mtiseum piece named. The Order was founded by Christo­ from that period, like LSD on a sugar cube. pher Columbus, a gold-hungry rapist in Eden. For the equanimous general reader, it will be a ("This book discovers Columbus in a way that nostalgic excursion. For the academic, it will will astonish its readers," asserts the jacket be like reading a 600-page term paper by a blurb.) The leaders of the American Revolu­ precocious student (a second-semester sopho­ tion were members, making suckers of the more, perhaps) who has discovered that Abra­ thousands who did the fighting (There is an ham Lincoln was not John Brown and is hav­ evasive hint that "the people" were uninter­ ing emotional difficulty handling the revela­ ested in the independence movement but that tion. Like most of my colleagues, I feel a

139 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981 special responsibility toward such students. is an ambitious book. Professor White wrote They are often bright. They seem to be inter­ it to resolve the "ambiguities and supposed ested. One indulges their excesses; "takes an complexities which surround Franklin Roose­ interest"; draws up reading lists; hopes that velt's personality and to discover the rock upon industrious study and a few predictable hor­ which the edifice of his political life was built." monal upheavals will turn the trick. The effort has been made before, but never But this is not an adolescent's term paper. quite like this. White employs the quantita­ It is presented as the major work of a serious tive approach to study the president's relations historian, and it is filled not only with distor­ with the press during his thirteen-year tenure. tions of sound scholarship but with evidence White argues that FDR's suspicion of the of ignorance one would not let pass in a uni­ press derived from a simplistic political vi­ versity sophomore. To cite but one example, sion by which the president saw American the author writes of the War of 1812 as "not politics as an ongoing struggle between elite (as usually depicted in American textbooks) groups, or Hamiltonians, and the plain peo­ just a war against England for survival, but ple, or Jeffersonians. The press, made up of a war for the expansion of the new nation, into reporters, columnist-editors, and publishers, Florida, into Canada, into Indian territory." were Hamiltonian more often than not in I cannot recall reading an account of the War FDR's view. But, contrary to White, there of 1812 which fits that description and, not was much more to Roosevelt's political phil­ trusting to intuition despite the inspiration of osophy than this. A People's History, peeked into the seventeen President Roosevelt articulated his politi­ current college textbooks on my shelves with­ cal philosophy in 1925, White tells us, in a out finding a single one. The fact is, exclud­ revealing book review of Claude Bowers' Jef­ ing the twaddle, few of Professor Zinn's reve­ ferson and Hamilton: The Struggle for De­ lations of exploitation, abuse, chicanery, mis­ mocracy in America. Certainly Roosevelt in­ ery, and injustice are neglected in conventional terpreted the American political process as histories of the United States. The difference a struggle between elites and the plain peo­ is that in the textbooks they are presented in ple. He also acknowledged the central role of a context which, admittedly, complicates the the press in shaping public opinion in that knowledge we take away from them. process. By way of contrast, the effect of reading 600 Employing a quantitative methodology de­ pages full of nothing but injustice, etc., is to signed to measure press bias. White has exam­ find it and "the people" it depicts hopelessly ined editorials and news stories relating to uninteresting. A People's History mocks the FDR and his New Deal in several major met­ new social historians who have shown that for­ ropolitan dailies and concluded that the presi­ gotten, ordinary people, from illiterate In­ dent exaggerated their antagonism toward him dians and slaves through inarticulate indus­ and his programs. He did so, argues White, trial workers and submerged women, have had for partisan purposes. White makes a con­ coherent worldviews and cultural, social, and vincing case against Roosevelt's oft-cited re­ political vitality. Professor Zinn's "people," mark to Ambassador Bowers that 85 per cent while useful in allowing us to feel self-righ­ of the "fat-cat newspapers . . . have been utter­ teous, are dull, tedious creatures, like turtles ly opposed to everything the Administration crushed while crossing a highway. He has is seeking. . . ." succeeded in making human suffering banal, The question one must then ask is why exploitation trivial, and resistance to oppres­ Roosevelt viewed the press as hostile, as almost sion a colossal bore. subversive. The answer lies in the welter of events which surrounded the launching and JOSEPH R. CONLIN implementation of the New Deal. The story California State University—Chico has been documented elsewhere; that there was serious resistance to Rooseveltian pro­ grams is granted. Opposition was forthcom­ ing from several segments of political society, FDR and the Press. By GRAHAM J. WHITE. including the courts, manufacturing and in­ (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1979. dustrial interests, and major metropolitan Pp. xiii, 186. Illustrations, tables, notes, bibli­ newspapers. If Roosevelt exaggerated the ography, index. S13.95.) hostility of the press he probably did so in the spirit of the innovator fighting conventional FDR and the Press, a precisely defined study, ideas and outdated value systems. Then too. 140 BOOK REVIEWS

Iron Frontier: The Discovery and Early De­ velopment of Minnesota's Three Ranges. By DAVID A. WALKER. (Minnesota Historical So­ ciety Press, St. Paul, 1979. Pp. xi, 315. Illus­ trations, maps, notes, bibliography, index. $16.00.)

The industrial growth of Minnesota's Iron Range may have started with wavering com­ pass needles attracted by metallic ores under­ foot, but the region's formative period is properly studied through the entrepreneurs who opened its riches to the world. This is the approach of David A. Walker in this study of the economic development of the Vermilion, Mesabi, and Cuyuna ranges in northern Minnesota, which saw their first mine opened in 1884 and which made Min­ nesota the nation's leading producer of iron ore by 1901. Walker traces these activities to 1911, with brief attention to earlier Indian, French, and British involvement in the region and a closing reference to the recent taconite boom. As the title notes, this was a frontier—a fron­ tier that followed the pattern known in other spots on the globe where men rushed to ob­ tain the primary windfalls left by a benevo­ WHi (X3) 35297 lent nature. The first, rough, pioneer types "His Whipping Boy": cartoon by Harold M. Tal- could not develop the riches themselves, and burt in the 'Washington Daily News, June 30, 1943. so eastern capital and European technology were called in, and the railroad's role became crucial. Soon experienced miners and man­ rhetorical excess is part and parcel of heated agers were needed as well, and, luckily, north­ political exchange. ern Michigan and Europe were ready to pro­ Professor White has rendered a valuable vide them. contribution in providing the reader with a John D. Rockefeller and other "robber clearer picture of the struggle between Roose­ barons" appear frequently in these pages: velt and the press; yet I doubt the reader will there is Andrew Carnegie, brought to the Iron lay this book down persuaded that the presi­ Range through the investment-raising of Hen­ dent's political philosophy was based simply ry Oliver; there is James J. Hill, reluctant (as on a Harailtonian-Jeffersonian vision of the were others) to commit himself at first; and process. In very general terms Roosevelt prob­ Elbert H. Gary, and J. P. Morgan. ably viewed that history as a story of the righ­ Rockefeller comes off in these pages as an teous many against the conniving few; but extremely careful investor, always trying to Professor White's book leaves me wondering avoid unprofitable schemes, but one who did if there were not more sources of Roosevelt's not reveal the evil nature that was part of political philosophy, for example his patri­ the "robber baron" image. The author notes cian upbringing, his Groton-Harvard training, that the legend of Rockefeller's alleged con­ his shared sense of deprivation with the down­ spiracy to seize the holdings of the Merritt trodden brought on by his paralysis, and his family—the major early developers of the Me­ keen appreciation of the continuing reorder­ sabi—is still heard across the Range. But ing of traditional republican ideals occasioned Walker's careful tracing of this complex story by industrialization and its social conse­ leads him to conclude that the conspiracy quences. ' charge was a rationalization by the Merritts, who lost their holdings when they sold to J. PAUL O'KEEFE Rockefeller in a desperate bid to pay off their University of Wisconsin numerous creditors. Walker asserts: "Family 141 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981 spokesmen to the contrary, in the final analy­ the period 1882-1968 (539 in Mississippi); sis the Merritts were not conquered by a con­ the actual occurrences are vastly higher. spiracy of eastern capital or a money trust. Motivated by this blood-dimmed specter and Instead they suffered defeat and financial loss spurred by such black activists as W. E. B. because of inexperience, poor advice, and in­ DuBois, reformers and philanthropists or­ ability to deal in the treacherous industrial ganized the NAACP in 1909 and commenced world of the 1890s." a dedicated campaign for federal anti-lynch This is entrepreneurial history at its best, legislation. The NAACP pursued this as a pri­ carefully based on letters, company records, mary goal through increasingly closed and re­ government reports, and newspaper accounts. pressive southern society and the northern ur­ Walker, a historian at the University of North­ ban anti-black riots in the 1910's, bleak na­ ern Iowa, shows considerable understanding tional indifference to social concerns in the of the technological and legislative changes 1920's, economic collapse and the bright re­ that made the Minnesota ores economically formist hopes of the 1930's, and finally desirable, and he aids the reader by including through World War II and into the era of numerous photographs and maps. The miners McCarthyism. and other occupants of the diverse mining At every critical juncture, no matter how communities are largely ignored ("It is not discouraging or promising the national ethos, a social history of that region," Walker ad­ the effort was defeated—especially in the Sen­ vises) but one hopes the author will turn his ate—by the seemingly invincible coalition of enthusiasm and skills to that project next. southern Democrats and Republican and oth­ er conservatives, and by the timidity of per­ MARK WYMAN sons of good will at all levels. In the course Illinois State University of this travail, the NAACP sensitized many to human rights concerns but became itself considerably more cautious than the promise of its springtime. In addition to tracing the intricate political threads of the prolonged campaign, and to some extent the complex The NAACP Crusade Against Lynching, 1909- underlying social factors, Zangrando provides 1950. By ROBERT L. ZANGRANDO. (Temple interesting insights into DuBois, longtime University Press, Philadelphia, 1980. Pp. ix, NAACP executive Walter White, William 309. Tables, notes, bibliography, index. Borah of Idaho, Eleanor and Franklin Roose­ $19.50.) velt, Adam Powell of New York, and a throng of others who figure prominently in this pano­ Professor Zangrando's work is a quite clear, rama of left-right-center and the various shad­ detailed, and valuable discussion of forty years ings of principle and pragmatism—in the con­ of labor by the national NAACP and certain text of blood on southern soil and northern collateral contacts on the trail of critical but streets. ultimately elusive federal anti-lynching legis­ The effects of such federal anti-lynching lation. His work is enhanced by a rich assem­ legislation would have been, with whatever bly of sixty-three pages of notes. deliberate speed, profoundly positive on the There is brief mention of the frontier ori­ South and the nation. Many lives would have gins of American lynching as a summary ap­ been saved. Early and substantial attention proach to "criminal justice" but virtually noth­ would have been focused on massive police/ ing on its use against Native Americans, Chi- judicial/voting inequities—especially in Dixie. canos, and Orientals—or against the American One can only wonder if the NAACP's prag­ labor movement (e.g., lynching of IWW or­ matic decisions to forego joint action with ganizers in the Far West). Zangrando's focus more activist-inclined groups seeking the same lies almost excltisively with lynching as a end (efforts which Zangrando considers only means of white racial control of blacks—under- briefly)—the liberal-left Southern Conference girded by economic/political/psychological for Human Welfare, some sections of the CIO, motivations—especially as it developed during various Marxist-oriented civil rights thrusts- and after the passage of Jim Crow laws in the might well have proven more effective than its South at the turn of the century and, as many emergent top-level approach emphasizing re­ blacks fled Dixie terror, in some northern spectability. Instead, as Zangrando sadly notes, urban areas. By conservative account—record­ "when it came to the protection of black ed data—3,446 blacks were lynched during rights, most liberals. North and South, scored

142 BOOK REVIEWS higher on professions of concern than they Later he explains that many physicians enthu­ did on actual performance." siastically came to adopt the foxglove therapy, Then, too, by functioning primarily at the but by the mid-nineteenth century they al­ top, the NAACP did not itself become involved most totally ignored it. One of the author's with long-term grass-roots organizing action. most useful contributions is a chart that graph­ And until that came—principally from CORE, ically illustrates the transmission of knowledge SCLC, and SNCC-NAACP lobbying on any about digitalis through the British and Ameri­ civil rights issue was essentially nonproductive can medical communities between 1785 and from the standpoint of tangible gains for 1815. American blacks. Mass action created the at­ Estes, a professor of pharmacology and ex­ mosphere in which some meaningful victories, perimental therapeutics, skillfully inserts twen­ including relatively effective federal civil tieth-century medical science into his narra­ rights statutes, ultimately emerged. tive. Only rarely does he chide eighteenth- and nineteenth-century physicians for their JOHN R. SALTER, JR. lack of knowledge. And his explanation of Navajo Community College our present-day understanding of congestive Tsaile, Arizona heart failure and of the therapeutic action of digitalis allows the reader to appreciate how earlier researchers misconstrued some of their observations. Though at times the writing is Hall Jackson and the Purple Foxglove: Medi­ uneven and the chronology, especially in the cal Practice and Research in Revolutionary first two chapters, confusing, the book presents America, 1760-1820. By J. WORTH ESTES. a good picture of clinical medicine in New (University Press of New England, Hanover, England from 1760 to 1820. Unfortunately, New Hampshire, 1979. Pp. xvii, 291. Tables, its title. Hall Jackson and the Purple Fox­ figures, illustrations, notes, index. $15.00.) glove, may discourage potential readers be­ cause it suggests a book of much narrower In 1785 Dr. William Withering of Birming­ scope. ham, England, published a ten-year study that demonstrated the efficacy of foxglove (digi­ RiMA D. APPLE talis) in alleviating the symptoms of dropsy University of Wisconsin-Madison (congestive heart failure). Within a year, Dr. Hall Jackson of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, wrote him commending this work and request­ ing some foxglove seeds. J. Worth Estes em­ ploys this introduction and the subsequent The Churches and the Indian Schools, 1888- dissemination of foxglove in the United States 1912. By FRANCIS PAUL PRUCHA. (University as the framework for his discussion of medical of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1979. Pp. xii, 278. research and practice in the period. Illustrations, appendices, notes, bibliography, Though Jackson was a "minor figure," he index. $16.50.) was a leading New England physician who was involved intimately or tangentially with many A logical outgrowth of the author's research major eighteenth-century medical endeavors. on the Americanization efforts of groups en­ He established several smallpox innoculation gaged in Indian "reforms," this study serves hospitals, and for a time he ministered to the as an admirable companion to his 1976 book, sick and wounded of the Continental Army American Indian Policy in Crisis: Christian during the Revolutionary War. Estes describes Reformers and the Indian, 1865-1900. The Jackson's particular activities and goes beyond newer book is an analysis of the religious forces the individual to discuss general health con­ which helped shape government Indian educa­ ditions in the army and civilian populations. tion policy. Indians had a minimal role in One of the most informative chapters, "Ports­ policy formulation in these years. Although mouth: 'As Healthy a Place as Any in Ameri­ there were instances where those who sought ca'," outlines the health and health care of to influence policy manipulated Indians, this that city's residents and compares the local work does not purport to tell the tribal side of situation to other American and European the story. In any case, government archives cities. In order to understand the importance and reform group correspondence collections of Withering's work, Estes, in his best chapter, are not likely repositories for Indian perspec­ describes the history of the concepts of dropsy. tives on education.

143 WHi (X3) 36912 Centennial celebration of the Catholic mission established by Father Frederick Baraga at La Pointe, Madeline Island, in 1835.

A coarse thread of anti-Catholicism charac­ Indian policy, slighted Catholics from its in­ terized much of the Protestant-dominated In­ ception, the BCIM had to fight for access to dian reform movement. While the public tribes within Protestant agencies. rhetoric of a number of government and re­ In the absence of a federal school system for form group officials might have smoothed the Indians, the government contracted with mis­ texture of this coarseness, private correspon­ sion schools to provide education for a per dence reveals an abundance of nativist, con­ pupil fee. By 1888 the eighteen Catholic board­ spiratorial thinking among such notables as ing schools were receiving nearly $400,000 in Indian Rights Association president Herbert federal funds. This money, supplemented by Welsh and others. Moreover, the fact that the philanthropies of Katherine Drexel, IRA leaders welcomed help from those "who helped bring Catholics to preeminence as di­ joined the fight out of anti-Catholic animus rect Protestant efforts to control Indian schools . . . makes it impossible to accept at face value subsided. Catholic successes prompted such their repeated disclaimers of any anti-Catholic exclusively Protestant reform groups as the or sectarian motivation." Women's National Indian Association, the The core of Prucha's book traces the work Lake Mohonk Conference of Friends of the of the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions, Indian, and especially the Indian Rights As­ which coordinated and lobbied for Catholic sociation to launch a counteroffensive de­ educational activities. In its zealous struggle signed to assure an assimilationist Indian edu­ for Catholic inclusion in Indian reform and cation markedly Protestant in tone. At one protection of mission schools, the BCIM, juncture in these years, both Commissioner of founded in 1879, often exacerbated tensions Indian Affairs Thomas J. Morgan and his by "confirming" Protestant suspicions about Superintendent of Indian Schools, Daniel Dor­ Catholic designs on American institutions. chester, were Protestant ministers. For example, since the Board of Indian Com­ While not reticent about pointing out in­ missioners, a watchdog, quasi-public group stances of bigotry on the part of Morgan, Dor­ created to bring honesty and enlightenment to chester, and others, Prucha is evenhanded. He 144 BOOK REVIEWS is not uncritical of the sometimes immoderate portedly spoke on their behalf, and presented style of Catholic partisans in their efforts petitions and testimonial letters, but as Prucha either to prevent confirmation of such ap­ says of one such IRA petition, it provided "a pointees or to thwart their policies. He con­ cover for its anti-Catholic crusade, no one was vincingly maintains that it was unnecessary fooled into thinking that the Indians acted for Protestants to strive to preserve their independently." The decision in Quick Bear schools per se, since any supposedly nonde- v. Leupp resulted in court vindication of the nominational government system would be BCIM position by sanctioning use of tribal permeated by Protestant values. funds by Indians to educate their children In the late 1880's Welsh, Lyman Abbott, as they saw fit. and other Protestant spokesmen agitated to The book's final three chapters trace the end church-state cooperation in Indian educa­ Catholics' successful drive to gain equal ac­ tion by curtailing government funds for mis­ cess to students in government schools in the sion schools. Their opponents claimed secular face of determined resistance on the part of education would fall short of civilizing In­ men like Captain Richard H. Pratt of the dians completely and, in any case, the govern­ Carlisle Indian boarding school. Achieving ment was inadequately prepared to step in if the right to serve Catholic students, the BCIM religious schools closed. An uneasy modus also labored to de-Protestantize the common Vivendi resulted whereby subsidies continued, religious services held in government schools. though gradually reduced, as the government Finally, 1911-1912 witnessed an acrimonious readied itself for takeover. dispute over the wearing of religious garb by With government aid due to end in 1900, instructors. That this matter drew out some the BCIM sought an alternative formula to bitterly anti-Catholic propaganda should not underwrite schools for Catholic Indian chil­ obscure the point that administrators ulti­ dren. The church began new fund raising mately compromised on the issue by tolerating and Catholic forces struggled to get permis­ religious garb while in the future hiring only sion to use tribal funds (as opposed to direct employees who wore secular dress. congressional appropriations) to support re­ According to Prucha, Protestant opposition ligious schools. They also wished to have a to the growth of Catholic influence in Indian voice in assigning Indian pupils to specific education, which had reached its zenith in the institutions. Catholics stressed freedom of edu­ 1890's, had been defused as an influential cational choice for Indian parents. In describ­ force by 1912. Most responsible policymakers, ing this controversy, the author might have he tells us, now rejected extremist arguments. less willingly accepted contemporary Catholic A model of thorough research in primary definitions of what constituted a Catholic In­ materials, this monograph certainly broadens dian. our understanding of the history of Indian The presidency of Theodore Roosevelt education. brought new hope to the Catholic campaign. Archbishop Patrick J. Ryan and Charles J. MARTIN ZANGER Bonaparte, a Baltimore attorney and promi­ University of Wisconsin-La Crosse nent Catholic layman, received appointments to the BIG, while Father Henry George Ganns devoted his considerable energies and ecu­ menical diplomatic skills to the cause. Women and the American Labor Movement: Prucha carefully details the lobbying and From Colonial Times to the Eve of World legal battles over access to tribal funds. Pro­ War I. By PHILIP S. FONER. (The Free Press, testant reformers not only saw distribution of New York, 1979. Pp. xi, 621. Illustrations, these monies to individual Indians as a denial notes, bibliography, index. $15.95.) of funds to Catholic educators, but as a paral­ lel of individual land allotment in their over­ This book fills part of the void in Philip all "civilization" program which depended S. Foner's earlier four-volume work, Tiie His­ upon detribalizing Indians. tory of the Labor Movement in the United Another subsidy argument revolved around States. Foner shows that "far from being pas­ whether or not to allow rations due Indians sive, many women were militant and aggres­ under treaties and other agreements to be paid sive in their attempts to improve their work­ to students enrolled in denominational ing conditions. . . . The double obstacle of schools. In this fight, Indians themselves were employer-public hostility and the indifference again generally lost sight of. Rival groups pur­ of most male-dominated unions" provides the

145 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981 major theme of the book, amply supporting between 1900 and 1917, the period when the thesis presented by Alice Kessler-Harris, sources are most abundant. Recognizing the "Where Are the Organized Women Workers?" vital role of women is essential to under­ {Feminist Studies, 3: 92-110, Fall, 1975). Fo­ standing the development of the garment ner's underlying assumption is that all or­ unions. The militancy of striking garment ganizations of workers are class-oriented and workers, the emergence of women leaders, the militant. He provides a great many examples lack of women in top union ranks, and the role of the participation of women in such organi­ of the reformers in the Women's Trade Union zations. Like the thesis, much of the material League have been told elsewhere; but Foner has appeared elsewhere. Philip Foner's major brings this exciting material together and pro­ contribution has been to summarize a massive vides the sources for anyone wanting more de­ amount of data and provide an extensive set tail on a particular event or person. No doubt of notes and a complete bibliography. remains concerning the importance of women Foner has chronologically organized his ma­ in the International Ladies Garment Workers terial beginning with colonial America and Union, a union with few women leaders in an ending on the eve of World War I. A second industry with 80 per cent female workers. volume will carry the story forward to the Women invoked most of the great strikes in present. Early in the book Foner points out the Progressive Era. Foner tends to overem­ that women have always worked. During the phasize the workers' triumph in these strikes. Jacksonian period attitudes about working- For example, the impression that the newly class and middle-class women separated, and formed Amalgamated Garment Workers of the emphasis of the role of middle-class wom­ America won their Chicago strike of 1915 is en focused in the home v/hile lower-class false. women were going into the factories. Foner The book's double theme, which stresses believes that working women involved in trade sexist attitudes of male-dominated unions as associations and the battle for the ten-hour well as oppression by industry, does not spare day received greater respect from working- either socialists or the Industrial Workers of class men than from their middle-class counter­ the World, which espoused doctrines of equal parts in the reform movements. Sarah Bagley pay and equality for women. Chapters on the and the Lowell Female Labor Reform Asso­ Wobblies, the free-speech fights, the Lawrence ciation were warmly received by men in the and other textile mill strikes indicate that mills. socialists and radicals shared with their more A chapter on black women before the Civil conservative male labor leaders similar atti­ War is the only one which takes advantage of tudes toward women. Although the IWW the new social history. The author's examples recognized that women were in industrial life of runaways fit the theme of resistance, but to stay and rejected the idea that women could they emphasize the actions of relatively few not be organized, they agreed with Samuel women. Foner goes beyond the analysis of Gompers that if men were paid an adequate organizations to concentrate on the type of wage, women could stay where they belonged, work performed by most women—domestic in the home. Only young, single women would service. The inability of slaves to organize always enter industry. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (and, after emancipation, their rejection by fought stereotypes within the IWW. The organizations) necessitated this approach. Un­ union adapted techniques to deal with dif­ fortunately, we would never know from read­ ferent immigrant groups, and Flynn wanted ing this book that in the nineteenth century recognition for the special needs of women. most working women, white and black, were Her requests were denied. Flynn, like Rose employed as domestics. Schneiderman and other women leaders, had Chapters summarize women's involvement to choose between marriage and career. in Civil War factory production, the National Foner's informative survey will interest any­ Labor Union, Workingwomen's Associations, one looking for the basic background of wom­ the Knights of Labor, and the American Fed­ en's involvement in trade union activities, but eration of Labor. Foner chronicles many or­ its lengthy details will preclude its displace­ ganizations which came into existence and dis­ ment of Barbara Mayer Wertheimer, We Were appeared. A comparison of this same phe­ There: The Story of Working Women in nomenon among male organizations during America, in the classroom. The comprehen­ the second half of the nineteenth century sive notes and bibliography make this a good would be worthwhile. place for the researcher to begin. Women and Half of the book deals with the few years the American Labor Movement is a welcome 146 WHi (X3) 15456 Women machinists in the Nash Motors plant, Kenosha, c. 1917. addition both to Foner's series and to the book about specific women or women in gen­ task of overcoming male chauvinism among eral, about limited times or sweeping surveys, labor historians. The important contribution about particular occupations or whole classes. of women to the labor movement could have Susan Estabrook Kennedy has added an im­ been strengthened if this survey of women pressive survey of the history of white working- workers had been entitled Volume 5 (and 6) class women from colonial times to the 1970's. of the series. The next stage should be incor­ Professor Kennedy acknowledges the diffi­ poration of the history of women and men into culty of her investigation because working- the same books. As this book proves, the in­ class women "have not had an immediately clusion of women will enrich any type of story apparent or consistent ideology or sense of so­ on the labor movement. cial, political, economic, or cultural cohesive- ness." In fact, the most consistent element N. SUE WEILER has been the denial by this "hidden minority" University of Illinois, Chicago Circle that it even existed: most have either claimed to be or expected to become middle class. Being "working class" was something to be denied or escaped. Kennedy skims pre-industrial America be­ If All We Did Was to Weep at Home: A His­ cause it did not produce a distinct working- tory of White Working-Class Women in class woman. She rejects the recently popu­ America. By SUSAN ESTABROOK KENNEDY. lar notion that colonial society was more open (University of Indiana Press, Bloomington, to women than the nineteenth century, but 1979. Pp. XX, 331. Notes, bibliography, index. she stresses that industrialization significantly $17.50.) separated women by class. Even then, work­ ing-class women did not develop class aware­ One ought not complain anymore about a ness because they accepted the general notion lack of attention to women's history. The of individuality and middle-class values as presses have practically burst with book after readily as anyone. A major conclusion is that 147 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981 the goal of becoming middle class hindered upon page of numbers and percentages. E-vi- working-class women from improving their dently section three was the most difficult to situation as a working class. So the story compose, suggesting that it is too soon to write has been one of surviving and trying to escape. the history of working-class women in the She outlines the conditions of work and life 1960's and 1970's. None of this should deter which were especially terrible for women. one from reading this book as it is based upon Sporadic efforts at unified self-help nearly a mountain of fine research and is generally always failed. Kennedy recounts the full irony well written and absorbing. This is a book of the intervention of the middle-class pro­ to be recommended. gressives. She presents an evenhanded, bal­ anced treatment of those progressives who J. STANLEY LEMONS found themselves torn between promoting Rhode Island College self-help or protectionism for working-class women. She notes that the ERA held nothing for working-class women until very recently. The Threat of Peace: James F. Byrnes and An enduring burden of working women has the Council of Foreign Ministers, 1945-1946. been the view that they really did not need to By PATRICIA DAWSON WARD. (Kent State Uni­ work (and could be paid less as a conse­ versity Press, Kent, Ohio, 1979. Pp. x, 227. quence) and that they ought not to work at Notes, bibliography, index. $12.50.) all if married. This conception derived in part from the character of America's first female Congressman, Senator, Supreme Court Jus­ factory workers. The Yankee farm girls were tice, "Assistant President," Secretary of State, generally middle class, intended to work tem­ and later Governor James F. Byrnes was a ver­ porarily, and often worked by choice. "In a satile and controversial politician-turned di­ very real sense, America's first large group of plomat. This study of his diplomacy while working-class women were only casual visi­ United States representative at the almost tors to that status." From the immigrant continuous meetings of the Big Five's foreign women who replaced the Yankee farm girls ministers held between September, 1945, and to the present, the reality has been that women December, 1946, seeks to demonstrate how his had to work to survive. Still, the view that personal qualities influenced the course of women worked for "pin money" has never these neglected but important series of early died. postwar negotiations among the victorious The nineteenth-century middle-class ideal of major powers. the non-working wife and mother was power­ Ward describes what she calls Byrnes's "be­ fully strong among working-class women. This nevolently arrogant" initial approach to inter­ ideal has persisted among them after middle- national problems based on his assumption class feminists rejected it. Kennedy suggested that American military (especially atomic) that in recent years working-class women have and economic power would fulfill unrealistic begun to view themselves as they really are American expectations of a "diplomatic mil- and not as middle-class women in the making. lenium." Failing in his first attempt at the Women's liberation has been a major force inconclusive opening session in London, producing this effect because working-class Byrnes reverted to a Yalta-like compromise women have felt greatly threatened by it. approach at Moscow in December, only to find Some adopted some of the movement's eco­ himself at odds with Truman and in trouble nomic prescriptions, but these were issues that politically at home. In what is her most origi­ many working-class women had sought for nal and important contribution. Ward de­ decades (equal pay for equal work, health tails how for the remainder of 1946 Byrnes care, and day care for children of working continued realistic quid pro quo bargaining mothers). However, they rejected the ideolo­ with the Russians in private while publicly gy and felt threatened by women's liberation playing to the folks back home as the uncom­ views of the home, motherhood, and the old promising defender of American principles middle-class ideal. and interests. The result of this schizophrenic The book has three divisions, the last one diplomacy, says Ward, was a set of realistic of which is a brief consideration of recent de­ peace treaties with Italy, Rumania, Bulgaria, velopments, trends, and speculation. The first Hungary and Finland, but at the price of hav­ two sections are beautifully done; the third ing given impetus to the start of the Cold War. is, sadly, mostly sociology. One must plow It is in her conclusions that Ward falters. through lists of things and names, and page She is expert and careful in describing Byrnes's 148 BOOK REVIEWS behavior as an international politician. In at Yalta, Byrnes was as least as prepared as this exposition she renders a service by pro­ many secretaries of state one could name. viding a corrective to Byrnes's self-serving and That much of his preparation was misleading much-relied-upon 1947 memoir, Speaking or irrelevant is another matter. Frankly, and his even less candid 1958 auto­ Ward at once gives Byrnes too much credit biography. All In One Lifetime. She raises for determining American foreign policy and issues and attempts to answer questions not too much blame for abetting the onset of the addressed in George Curry's 1965 contribu­ Cold War, which she dates from the announce­ tion to the American Secretaries of State series. ment of the Truman Doctrine in March, 1947. But in explaining why Byrnes acted the way Even from her own evidence it is clear that he did and what influence his behavior had on Truman stripped Byrnes of his considerable the origins of the Cold War, Ward falls vic­ independence in early 1946, not only for pro­ tim to her narrow focus. By limiting herself cedural reasons but as a result of a substantive in time and sources, she arrives at some super­ policy shift toward getting tough with the Rus­ ficial judgments about the man and his mind. sians. Byrnes did not start the American Cold For example, Byrnes was not the diplomatic War bandwagon rolling with his subsequent ignoramus she claims; at least not for the hard-line rhetoric; rather, he adopted a public reasons she cites. Taking him at his word hard line in order to catch up with and hitch after Yalta had become political anathema, a ride on that accelerating bandwagon. Byrnes she dismisses his formative experience at Roo­ did not determine American public and politi­ sevelt's last summit conference as insignifi­ cal attitudes so much as reflect them. What cant. She all but ignores the even more cru­ changed the collective American mind about cial experience with Truman, Churchill, and the Russians was not Jimmie Byrnes; it was Stalin at Potsdam in July. She apparently is the Russians, or at least the American percep­ unaware of Byrnes's unofficial role as Tru­ tion of what the Russians were doing in East­ man's expert on Yalta and general foreign af­ ern Europe, Iran, and China, the exposure of fairs adviser, as well as the intensive private the Canadian atomic spy ring even closer to briefings provided him by State Department home, and the assumption that the United division chiefs during the period between Roo­ States held military superiority. All these sevelt's death in April and July when he could provocations, some imagined, some very real, gracefully replace the lame duck Edward Stet- occurred before America's and Byrnes's re­ tinius. As a result of his interest and indirect sponse—not the other way around. involvement in international relations, dating back to Woodrow Wilson's presidency and ROBERT L. MESSER his apprenticeship that began under Roosevelt Unix)ersity of Illinois at Chicago Circle

BOOK REVIEWS Coffer, Phoenix: The Decline and Rebirth of the Nash, The Urban Crucible: Social Change, Political Indian People, reviewed by Tony Lazewski 136 Consciousness and the Origins of the American Estes, Hall Jackson and tiie Purple Foxglove: Revolution, reviewed by Edward M. Cook, Jr 137 Medical Practice and Research in Revolutionary Prucha, The Churches and the Indian Schools, America, 1760-1820, reviewed by Rima D. Apple 143 1888-1912, reviewed by Martin Zanger 143 Foner, Women and the American Labor Move­ Vaughn, Holding Fast the Inner Lines: Democracy, ment: From Colonial Times to the Eve of World Nationalism, and the Committee on Public In­ War I, reviewed by N. Sue Weiler 145 formation, reviewed by Richard W. Resh 133 Galligan, editor, H. L. Mencken: A Choice of Walker, Iron Frontier: The Discovery and Early Days, reviewed by Mary Lou M. Schultz 129 Development of Minnesota's Three Ranges, re­ Gelfand, editor, Herbert Hoover: The Great War viewed by Mark Wyman 141 and Its Aftermath, 1914-23, reviewed by James Ward, The Threat of Peace: James F. Byrnes and S. Olson 134 the Council of Foreign Ministers, 1915-1946, Gellman, Good Neighbor Diplomacy: United reviewed by Robert L. Messer 148 States Policies in Latin America, 1933-1945, re­ White, FDR and the Press, reviewed by J. Paul viewed by Harold Josephson 135 O'Keefe 140 Kennedy, If All We Did Was to Weep at Home: Williams, The Spirit of West Bend, reviewed by A History of White Working-Class Women in Richard C. Haney 132 America, reviewed by J. Stanley Lemons 147 Wyman, Hard Rock Epic: Western Miners and the Industrial Revolution, 1860-1910, reviewed by Langill, Carroll College: The First Century, 1846- William Graebner 132 1946, reviewed by Jeremy C. Shea 130 Zangrando, The NAACP Crusade Against Lynch­ Margolin, Brichta, and Brichta, The Promise and ing, 1909-1950, reviewed by John R. Salter, Jr. .. 142 the Product: 200 Years of American Advertising Zinn, A People's History of the United States, re­ Posters, reviewed by Mary Lou M. Schultz 127 viewed by Joseph R. Conlin 138

149 Cable Cullings: Cable, Wisconsin, Centen­ Wisconsin History nial, 1880-1980. (Cable?, Wisconsin, 1980. Pp. 212. Illus. $12.50. Available from Ca­ Checklist ble Centennial Committee, Box 278, Cable, Recently published and currently avail­ Wisconsin 54821.) able Wisconsiana added to the Society's Libra­ ry are listed below. The compilers, Gerald R. Eggleston, Acquisitions Librarian, and Su­ Campbell, Ballard. The Good Roads Move­ san Dorst, Order Librarian, are interested in ment in Wisconsin, 1890-1911. (Madison, obtaining information about (or copies of) Wisconsin, cl980. Wisconsin Stories. Pp. items that are not widely advertised, such as 23. Illus. $1.75. Available from Publica­ publications of local historical societies, family tions Orders, State Historical Society of histories and genealogies, privately printed Wisconsin, 816 State Street, Madison, Wis­ works, and histories of churches, institutions, or organizations. Authors and publishers wish­ consin 53706.) Reprint of an article that ing to reach a wider audience and also to appeared in the Summer, 1966, issue of the perform a valuable bibliographic service are Wisconsin Magazine of History. urged to inform the compilers of their pub­ lications, including the following information: Feige, Carol Bernice. Henry and Hannah author, title, location and name of publisher, (Guest) Kitchen of England and Their De­ price, pagination, and address of supplier. Write Susan Dorst, Acquisitions Section. scendants in America, 1835-30 June 1979. (Brodhead, Wisconsin, 1979. Pp. 61. $8.00. Available from Maurice Kitchen, 2105 West 4th, Route 2, Box 420, Brodhead, Wiscon­ sin 53520.) Albrecht, Marcus. A Chronicle of Christ's Congregation in Burr Oak: A Sketch of the History of Burr Oak Evangelical Lutheran Fennimore—Then and Noiv, 1830 to 1980. Church, R. 1, Mindoro, Wisconsin, 1855- (Fennimore, Wisconsin, 1980. Pp. 287. Illus. 1980. (Mindoro?, Wisconsin, 1980. Pp. 43. $15.00. Available from Dwight Parker Ptib- Illus. No price listed. Available from au­ lic Library, Fennimore, Wisconsin 53809.) thor. Burr Oak Evangelical Lutheran Church, Route 1, Mindoro, Wisconsin Fenton, Carrie Manley. A Costly Dream at 54644.) Crescent Lake and Lake Lundgren. (Wood- burn?, Oregon, 1979. Pp. 157. Illus. No price listed. Available from author, 910 Bailey, Mrs. Sturges. Index to Names in His­ Young Street, Woodburn, Oregon 97071.) tory of Lincoln, Oneida, and Vilas Counties, Founding and operation of two summer Bi­ Wisconsin, III. by Jones, McVean, et al, ble camps in northeastern Wisconsin in the H. C. Cooper, Jr. and Company, Minneapo- 1930's. lis-Winona, Minnesota, 1924. (Madison, Wisconsin State Genealogical Society, 1980. Pp. 55. $8.00 plus $ .32 tax. Available Cjogebic Iron Tribune, 1890-91. (Hurley?, from WSGS Bookstore, c/o Mrs. J. R. Mil­ Wisconsin, 1980? Pp. 21. Illus. $2.00. ler, 465 Charles Lane, Madison, Wisconsin Available from Mrs. Nell Kopacz, Presi­ 53711.) dent, Iron County Historical Society, Hur­ ley, Wisconsin 54534.) Reprint of the De­ cember 27, 1890, issue of a newspaper pub­ Bethel, Helen, and Tarr, Sharon. Washburn lished in Hurley. County, Wisconsin in World War I. (Spooner, Wisconsin, 1980. Pp. 72. Illus. Hein, Harlan W., Jr. William Henry Upham. $5.50. Available from Washburn County (Marshfield?, Wisconsin, cl978. Pp. 159. Historical Society, Box 359, Shell Lake, Illus. $10.00. Available from North Wood Wisconsin 5487 L) County Historical Society, 212 West 3rd Street, Marshfield, Wisconsin 54449.) Bloomer, Ed. A Fa?nily History of My Chil­ Marshfield businessman who served as gov­ dren and of Their Ancestors and of the De- ernor of Wisconsin from 1895-1897. .•icendants of These Ancestors. (Kenosha, Wisconsin, 1980? Pp. 156. Illus. $11.00. Henning, Manetta Alvina Nelson. The Her- Available from author, 8349 Cooper Road, schleb Family History from 1849-1979. (Co­ Kenosha, Wisconsin 53142.) lumbus?, Wisconsin, 1980. Pp. 567, xv. II- 150 WISCONSIN HISTORY CHECKLIST

lus. $20.00. Available from Mrs. Joe Hen­ Luck, Diamond Jubilee, 1905-1980. (Balsam ning, Rural Route 1, Box 229, Columbus, Lake, Wisconsin, Polk County Ledger, 1980. Wisconsin 53925.) Pp. 148. Illus. $5.25. Available from Vil­ lage Hall, Luck, Wisconsin 54853.) Heritage of Iron and Timber, 1880-1980. (Florence, Wisconsin, 1980. Pp. 96. Illus. McArthur, Shirley du Fresne. North Point No price listed. Available from Florence South: an Architectural and Historical In­ County Centennial Committee, Box 50, ventory. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Land Florence, Wisconsin 54121.) History of Ethics, Inc. and Water Tower Landmark Florence County. Trust, Inc., cl978. Pp. 112. Illus. $5.00. Available from Land Ethics, Inc., 813 South Jost, Larry T. The Round and Five-or-More Third Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53204.) Equal Sided Barns of Wisconsin. (Frank­ North Point is a fifteen-block area north of lin?, Wisconsin, cl980. Pp. xi, 107. $4.00. Milwaukee's principal business district. Available from author, 8735 West Haw­ thorne Court, Franklin, Wisconsin 53132.) Miller, Willis H. Hudson Tales Retold. Juchniewich, Dan. The American Hamilton (Hudson, Wisconsin, 1980. Pp. 128. Illus. Industries of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, 1880- $3.95 plus I .60 postage and handling. 1980, Featuring the Life of its Founder J. E. Available from Star-Observer Publishing Hamilton. (Manitowoc, Wisconsin, Mani­ Co., 112 Walnut Street, Hudson, Wisconsin towoc County Historical Society, 1980. Oc­ 54016.) cupational Monograph 42, 1980 Series, Pp. 12. Illus. No price listed. Available from Monona Landmarks Commission (Wis.). City Newsletter, 115 North 18th Street, Manito­ of Monona: Its Landmarks and Heritage. woc, Wisconsin 54220.) (Monona, Wisconsin, 1980. Pp. 80. Illus. $2.00. Available from author, c/o City Hall, Krueger, Lillian. Motherhood on the Wiscon­ 5211 Schluter Road, Monona, Wisconsin sin Frontier. (Madison, Wisconsin, cl980. 53716.) Wisconsin Stories. Pp. [26]. Illus. $1.75. Available from Publications Orders, State Mueller, Erhart. Also in Sumpter. (Stevens Historical Society of Wisconsin, 816 State Point, Wisconsin, 1980. Pp. x, 341. Illus. Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706.) Reprint $9.25 plus $1.00 postage and handling. of an article that appeared in the December, Available from author. Route 1, Bluffview 1945, issue of the Wisconsin Magazine of Courts Ell, North Freedom, Wisconsin History. 53591.) History of Sumpter families and organizations. Lannon History: Village of Lannon, Golden Jubilee, 1930-1980. (Lannon?, Wisconsin, 1980. Pp. 44. Illus. $3.53. Available from Osborne, Dorothy W. Racine's Carriage Lannon Golden Jubilee Committee, Box Houses and Barns. (Racine, Wisconsin, 321, Lannon, Wisconsin 53046.) Preservation Racine, Inc., 1980. Pp. 20. Illus. $1.25 plus $ .40 postage and han­ dling. Available from author, 1700 College Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum. The Avenue, Racine, Wisconsin 53403.) Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum Proud­ ly Presents Wisconsin's New Deal Art: Jan­ uary 19, 1980 through February 24, 1980. Pierce County's Heritage. Volume Seven. (Wausau, Wisconsin, cl980. Pp. 32. Illus. (River Falls, Wisconsin, Pierce County His­ $1.50. Available from author, Franklin at torical Association, 1980. Pp. 157. Illus. Twelfth, Wausau, Wisconsin 54401.) Cata­ $9.50. Available from Mrs. Ursula Peter­ logue of a traveling exhibit. The cover title son, 936 West Maple Street, River Falls, is Wisconsin's New Deal Art. Wisconsin 54022.)

Livingston, Wisconsin, 1880-1980. (Livings­ Pioneer Days, 1980, Village of Whittlesey. ton, Wisconsin, 1980. Pp. 52. Illus. No (Medford?, Wisconsin, 1980. Pp. 83. Illus. price listed. Available from Darlene James, $8.00. Available from State Bank of Med­ Livingston, Wisconsin 53554.) ford, Box 90, Medford, Wisconsin 54451.) 151 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981

Portrait of Muskego Farmers, 1836 to 1980. seum. (Bowler, Wisconsin, Muh-he-con- (Muskego, Wisconsin, Muskego Historical neew Press, 1980. Pp. 50. Illus. $2.00 plus Society, 1980. Pp. 98. Illus. $3.09. Avail­ $ .50 postage and handling. Available from able from Agnes Posbrig, W195-S10538 Ra­ Muh-he-con-neew, Inc., c/o Stockbridge- cine Avenue, Muskego, Wisconsin 53150.) Munsee Historical Library Museum, Box 300, Bowler, Wisconsin 54416.) Rhody, Carl H. The Saga of Spirit Valley: the Story of my Father. (Ogema, Wisconsin, Tarr, Sharon. Spooner, Wisconsin: The First Rhody Publishing Co., cl980. Pp. 196. Il­ 100 Years, volumes 1-2. (Spooner, Wiscon­ lus. No prtce listed. Available from author, sin, 1979, 1980. Pp. 40, 44. Illus. Vol. 1, Rural Route 1, Ogema, Wisconsin 54459.) $3.00; vol. 2, $4.00. Available from Wash­ The author writes about homesteaders, par­ burn County Historical Society, Box 359, ticularly his grandparents, in Price County Shell Lake, Wisconsin 54871.) between 1891 and 1911. They Came to Learn, They Came to Teach, Rosholt, Malcolm. Pioneers of the Pinery. They Came to Stay, edited by Marian J. (Rosholt, Wisconsin, Rosholt House, cl979. Swoboda and Audrey J. Roberts. (Madi­ Pp. 272. Illus. $9.95. Available from au­ son, Wisconsin, cl980. University Women, thor, 406 River Drive, Rosholt, Wisconsin a Series of Essays, v. 1, Pp. 130. Illus. $3.50. 54473.) Reprint of the author's articles on Available from Office of Women, 1802 Van Portage County historical figures which have Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Drive, Madison, appeared in the Stevens Point Daily Journal. Wisconsin 53706.) A feminine perspective on women in higher education. Rosholt, Malcolm. The Wisconsin Logging Book, 1839-1939. (Rosholt, Wisconsin, Rosholt House, cl980. Pp. 300. Illus. Thurner, Virginia K. Alexandre Marcoux and $22.50. Available from author, 406 River Rose Morin. French Canadian Pioneers Drive, Rosholt, Wisconsin 54473.) (1847 and 1857) in Wood County, Wiscon­ sin. (Chicago, Illinois, 1980. Pp. 58. Illus. $6.50. Available from author, 1700 East St. Joseph Church Centennial, 1880-1980, Rice 56th Street, Apt. 1809, Chicago, Illinois Lake, Wis. (Rice Lake, Wisconsin, 1980. Pp. 60637.) X, 38, [40]. Illus. No price Hsted. Avail­ able from St. Joseph's Catholic Church, 111 West Marshall Street, Rice Lake, Wiscon­ Thurner, Virginia K. Origin and Develop­ sin 54868.) ment to 1860 of French Settlement in Wood County, Wisconsin. (Chicago, Illinois, 1980. St. Peter Lutheran Church Centennial, 1880- Pp. 47. $3.50. Available from author, 1700 1980, Dorchester, Wis. (Dorchester, Wiscon­ East 56th Street, Apt. 1809, Chicago, Illi­ sin, cl980. Pp. 76. Illus. No price listed. nois 60637.) Available from St. Peter Lutheran Church, Beaulah Fischer, Rural Route 1, Box 191A, Yeoman, Florence. The John and Mary Kra­ Dorchester, Wisconsin 54425.) mer Genealogy. (Dakota?, Illinois, 1979. 528, [6] leaves. $12.00. Available from Stockbridge-Munsee Historical Library. Mu­ author, Route 1, Dakota, Illinois 61018.) seum Committee. Catalog of Materials: Family members are primarily from south­ Stockbridge-Munsee Historical Library Mu­ ern Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

152 zation of professional librarians who opposed Accessions U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam; pre­ sented by Margaret Stephenson, Madison. Services for microfilming, Xeroxing, and photostating all but certain restricted items in Letter, September 10, 1821, to Mrs. Anna its manuscript collections are provided by the Little, Morristown, Vermont, from her hus­ Society. For details write Dr. Josephine L. band, Dr. James Little, instructing her on Harper, Manuscripts Curator. how to move their household to join him in Ohio and expressing joy that their three-year separation would soon end; presented by Rob­ Manuscripts ert Dudley, Madison. Letter, October 7, 1966, from Timothy J. Small collections. Papers, 1932-1936, of Labor Lynch to two members of the Historical So­ Publications, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylva­ ciety staff briefly describing his experiences nia, a printing business, including the char­ in Jackson, Mississippi, in the summer of 1964, ter, bylaws, minutes of board of directors and and giving other biographical information; stock holders meetings, and other papers; pre­ presented by Mr. Lynch, Seattle, Washington. sented by the Amalgamated Clothing and Tex­ Report, 1921, prepared by J. E. McCulloch tile Workers Union. under the auspices of The Southern Coopera­ Papers, 1964, of Ellen Lake, a New York tive League for Education and Social Service, native who worked with the Gulfport, Mis­ describing the 1921 race riot in Tulsa, Oklaho­ sissippi, voter registration program, includ­ ma, and its aftermath; presented by William ing copies of her letters to relatives, printed Peace, Atlanta, Georgia. SNCC and COFO memoranda and instruc­ Papers, 1972-1975, of attorney Priscilla Ruth tion sheets, two letters to Miss Lake's mother MacDougall concerning a married woman's from Kay Prickett describing her work in a right to use her own surname, including a tape Freedom School, and other items; presented recorded interview, articles by Ms. MacDou­ by Mrs. Leonard Lake, Harrison, New York. gall, newsclippings about her and the name Papers, 1965, of Mary Lane, a civil rights issue, briefs and other legal papers, and pam­ worker in Greenwood, Mississippi, consisting phlets from the Center for a Woman's Own of a few letters, miscellaneous items on the Name; presented by Ms. MacDougall, Madi­ Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, son. (Restricted) notes from a staff meeting, and a tape-recorded Transcript of an interview conducted July interview with Lane, 1967; presented by Ms. 4, 1973, by Charles C. Patton with E. E. Mac- Lane. Gilvra (1893 ), Butte, Montana, concern­ Two letters, 1975 and no date, by research ing Ringling Brothers circus history he had director Gertrude Dixon of the League heard in his childhood in Baraboo, Wiscon­ Against Nuclear Dangers, a Stevens Point- sin, his own involvement with the Ringling based organization opposed to the use of nu­ shows, his move to Zortman, Montana, in 1916, clear power, referring to radioactivity in Wis­ and his later work as a miner, rancher, and consin dairy products; original source un­ public relations man; presented by Charles C. known. Patton, Springfield, Illinois. (Permission to Papers, 1965, of Robert S. Lehman, a Uni­ publish information in the transcript must be tarian minister from Los Alamos, New Mexico, obtained from Mr. MacGilvra.) and his wife Helen concerning their work as Miscellaneous items pertaining to Carrie volunteer civil rights workers in Jackson, Can­ Richard Mclntyre (1848-1921), including ton, and Edwards, Mississippi, and in New Civil War reminiscences of her husband, Orleans, Louisiana, consisting of newsclip- George H. Mclntyre, Co. C, 32nd Wisconsin pings and a pamphlet containing two sermons Infantry; an 1883 diary she kept while a seam­ on civil rights by Lehman; presented by Mr. stress in Wausau, Chicago, and Tennessee; a Lehman, Minneapolis, Minnesota. 1910 diary she kept while a farm wife near Xerox copies of two letters, 1932, from Aldo Portage; several letters, 1919-1921, to her son Leopold to Harold Pugh, Racine, concerning while she lived at the Wisconsin Veterans' Leopold's proposal to agricultural colleges to Home; a brief genealogy; and a notebook of establish game management instructional pro­ and biographical information on her son, agri­ grams; presented by Walter E. Scott, Madison. cultural journalist Elwood Richards Mcln­ Press releases and mimeographed items, tyre; presented by Margaret Mattox, Madison. 1970-1973, of the Library Committee Against Transcript of hearing, June 2, 1938, before the War in Southeast Asia, a Madison organi­ the Columbia County Commissioner in the 153 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981 case of Philip D. McQuillan vs. Eulberg Brew­ ers in Mississippi, including copies of letters ing Company and the City Bank of Portage, to his financial sponsors in Wisconsin, a rec­ trustee, concerning a dispute over McQuillan's ord of expenses, and a report of his work in salary as company secretary-treasurer; present­ Issaquena County on Agricultural Stabiliza­ ed by Bill Smiley, Portage. tion and Conservation Service elections; pre­ Certificate, 1862, appointing Miss Maria sented by Mr. Maxwell, Mayersville, Missis­ McVicker "Companion du Brave" of the 2nd sippi. Battalion, 2nd Regiment, Wisconsin Volun­ Near print materials, 1974-1975, concern­ teer Cavalry, signed by Major H. Eugene East­ ing the Menominee Restoration Committee, man; presented by the GAR Memorial Hall, an interim tribal government charged with Department of Veterans Affairs, Madison. implementing provisions of the Menominee Partial genealogy of Rear Admiral Alfred Restoration Act which returned federal aid Thayer Mahan (1840-1941), USN, compiled and reservation status to the Menominee tribe in June, 1977, by Robert Seager II, with in­ in Wisconsin; presented by the Committee, formation on the Mahan, Evans, and Lewis Keshena. families; presented by Mr. Seager, Baltimore, Two pocket diaries, 1864-1865, kept by Maryland. Private Charles Merrill, Company I, 29th Regi­ Materials, 1922-1925, concerning "The ment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, while Family Dishwasher" invented by Rufus L. stationed in the New Orleans area, with some Maltba and Herman W. McKenzie, Black entries dating after his return to his home Earth, including correspondence with their in Hermann, Dodge County; presented by patent attorney, the patent itself, an agree­ Richard W. Dexter, Madison. ment establishing the Lakeside Manufactur­ "Report from Mississippi," 1964, apparently ing Company to produce the machine, two compiled by Charles Miller and describing his letters of endorsement, and newspaper clip­ experiences as a Council of Federated Organi­ pings and advertising brochures; presented by zations worker in Moss Point, Mississippi, Mrs. Mary Slocum, Galveston, Texas, and doing convassing and political organization Joseph W. Maltba, Middleton. for the Freedom Democratic Party; presented Transcriptions of family letters and a jour­ by Mr. Miller, Flushing, Michigan. nal kept by Lieutenant Henry J. Marsh Fragmentary records, 1965-1967, of the (1832-1862), Company B, 8th Regiment, Illi­ Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, Car­ nois Volunteer Infantry, plus Xerox copies of roll County, Mississippi, including bylaws. the originals of some of the documents. In­ Xeroxed correspondence, incident and arrest cluded is information on Marsh's family in reports, and near-print concerning voter regis­ Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, their move there in tration and school desegregation; presented by 1854 from London, Ontario, and Marsh's pre­ the MFDP via Jan Maedke, Vaiden, Missis­ war travels in Wisconsin, along the southern sippi. Mississippi River, and in an abortive start Papers, 1964-1967, of James Moore, chair­ for Pike's Peak; presented by Ruth Marsh man of the Leflore County (Mississippi) Free­ Hamel, Newport Beach, California. dom Democratic Party executive committee, Letters, 1875-1879, of Symanthia Gillespie including copies of correspondence, minutes, (1849-1900), a black resident of Milwaukee, notes, drafted statements on county govern­ including two letters to her from a friend in ment and on a boycott of Greenwood mer­ Chicago, three from her to her future hus­ chants, and a tape recording in which Moore band, Richard Marshall, and a fragment of discusses the boycott and other topics; present­ one written after their marriage by her hus­ ed by Mr. Moore. band to a friend; accompanied by typed tran­ Letters, 1843-1854, from Tredwell Moore scriptions; presented by Margaretta D. Leo­ (—1876) to his family in Wooster, Ohio, nard, Chicago, Illinois. written while a student at West Point and an Letters, 1966-1967, written to Shirley Ann Army officer in California, including men­ Martin, apparently director of the Child De­ tion of California Indians, economic condi­ velopment Center at Strike City, near Leland, tions, women, Army relations with old Cali­ Mississippi, in response to her requests for fornia residents and with Mexico, and his aid for the Center and the Strike City resi­ own ventures in mining and farming, plus dents; presented by Ms. Martin. scattered other family letters and documents, Papers, 1964-1965, of Bruce Maxwell, a 1825-1876; presented by Mary (Mrs. George) Texas native who spent sixteen months or­ Swan, Beaver Dam. ganizing rural black farm workers and labor­ Letters, 1861-1865, from Private Albert 154 ACCESSIONS

Morse, Company F, 7th Wisconsin Infantry, to ture of Odermann distributing leaflets; pre­ his mother Martha and brothers Ed and Cas- sented by Mr. Odermann, Valley City, North sius in Grant County, plus one letter from Dakota, Cassius while in Company H, 1st Heavy Ar­ A partial typescript of "Selig Perlman's In­ tillery, and one letter from a cousin, Philo terpretation of Capitalism and Socialism," B. Wright, Company C, 2nd Infantry; pre­ 1968, by Anna Low Riesch Owen, consisting sented by Edward Morse, Jr., and Edward of notes taken by a student in Professor Perl- Morse, Sr., Lancaster. man's "Capitalism and Socialism" economics Xeroxed correspondence, 1962, between course, edited and expanded for publication, Wilma Haywood Veleker and Theodore with a foreword by Merle Curti; source un­ Mueller (1889-1968), Milwaukee, containing known. Mueller's recollections of "Big Bill" Haywood Pages from the family Bible of Joseph and of the Industrial Workers of the World, plus Clara Partridge recording family marriages a 1968 eulogy to Mueller; loaned for copying and births, 1842-1912, in several Midwest by Frank Zeidler, Milwaukee. states; presented by Mrs. Lyllas Dorman, Do- Records, 1966-1968, of the National Con­ wagiac, Michigan. ference for New Politics, a coalition of liberal "Underdogs Vs. Upperdogs," an autobiogra­ Democrats and civil rights and anti-war acti­ phy by James Peck (c. 1914—), printed in vists, mainly consisting of announcements, 1969, plus additional chapters added about resolutions, rules, speeches (by James Forman, 1974, providing information on Peck's youth, Donna Allen, and William F. Pepper), and his development as a pacifist and imprison­ press releases for the conference "New Poli­ ment during World War II, and his participa­ tics—'68 and Beyond," August 31-September tion in demonstrations for civil rights, peace, 4, 1967, called by NCNP for discussion of Indian rights, and other causes; presented by election strategies for 1968, also including a Mr. Peck, New York, New York. file of miscellaneous mailings, 1966-1968; pre­ Letters and clippings, 1873-1968, concerning sented by Michael T. Klare, New York, New James Gates Percival (1795-1856), eccentric York. poet, linguist, and state geologist of Wiscon­ Papers, 1964-1965, of Viki and Martin Nico- sin, collected by Sylvia Chandler, Hazel laus, COFO and SNCC workers in Jackson, Green; presented by Miss Chandler's estate via Mississippi, including letters to friends, a William K. Bodell, Hazel Green. bibliography from the Jackson Freedom Li­ Genealogical information on Mathias Jo­ brary, and art work and compositions by Free­ seph Durben (1824-1887) and Anna Catherine dom School students; presented by Mr. and Thelen (1827-1865) and their descendants, Mrs. John Coatsworth, Madison, and by Mr. primarily residents of Wisconsin, Iowa, and and Mrs. Nicolaus, Somerville, Massachusetts. South Dakota; compiled by Verena Durben Reminiscences written in 1966 by Frances Pitzen; presented by Bernadette Durben Bitt- Niederer of her youth in Rockdale, Dane ner, Reedsburg. County, Wisconsin, 1900-1916, plus Xeroxed Speech, 1968, by State Senator Holger B. photographs of the area; presented by George Rasmusen supporting Family Planning Bill and Margaret Hafstad, Cambridge. S-30 removing restrictions on the sale of con­ Letters, 1865, from Private Albert Obenber- traceptives, including information on his com­ ger, Company E, 48th Regiment, Wisconsin mittee's deliberations on the bill and a list of Volunteer Infantry, written to his parents bill supporters; presented by Mr. Rasmusen, from Kansas where his unit was assigned to Spooner. guard against Indian actions. Present are A brief autobiography written about 1912 Xerox copies of the original letters written by George Raymer (1842-1921), Madison, in German script plus an English translation with information on his childhood and school­ prepared by David Rosen; presented by Jo­ ing in Green County and on his Civil War seph Obenberger, Fox Point. service, plus three letters, 1899-1905, to Ray­ Papers, 1965-1966, of Alvin Odermann, a mer from James D. Butler; presented by Calio, North Dakota, student who did fund George Raymer Edmondson, Tallahassee, raising to help support civil rights workers Florida. Henry and Susan Lorenzi, Mileston, Missis­ Civil War related papers, 1860-1885, of Dr. sippi, including correspondence and reports Henry Clay Robbins (1836 ), assistant sur­ from the Lorenzis, newsletters they produced, geon, 101st Regiment, Illinois Infantry, in­ and a newspaper article describing the rise of cluding an autobiography primarily concern­ the "New Left" in North Dakota with a pic­ ing experiences while on Sherman's march; 155 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981 service documents; a poem by Robbins; two Letter, 1845, from J. P. Sauther, a new letters to H. V. Johnson which Robbins found resident of Summit, Wisconsin Territory, en­ on the battlefield, one from August Belmont thusiastically describing for friends in Mas­ and one from Alexander Stephens, Vice-Presi­ sachusetts his impressions of the inhabitants, dent of the Confederacy; and four 1884-1885 scenery, vegetation, and other aspects of Wis­ letters from General W. T. Sherman discussing consin; presented by James B. Cunningham, the Stephens letter and the value of its de­ Northwoods, Missouri. scription of the Confederacy in 1864; present­ Papers, 1964-1965, of Linda M. Seese, an ed by Edmond Robbins Sutherland, Appleton, Ohio native who was Freedom School coordi­ and Mrs. Elizabeth Sutherland Belts, Borrego nator in Indianola, Mississippi, including her Springs, California. letters to friends and financial sponsors, and Papers, 1963-1964, of Romelle Roeske, a publicity materials on Indianola events, with Peace Corps volunteer in the farming village information on her education work for the of San Martin, the Philippines, including a Freedom Democratic Party's Congressional copy of her diary, a letter written home while Challenge, on the Indianola Freedom School traveling in the Ear East prior to her return, fire, and other events; presented by Ms. Seese, a "newsletter" written by returned volunteers, Stow, Ohio. and news articles she wrote on her experiences; Miscellany concerning Eugene S. Shepard, presented by Ms. Roeske, Reedsburg. Rhinelander, Wisconsin, builder of the mythi­ Account by Sylvia J. Mauth of a 1978 visit cal hodag and noted storyteller, including to Hohe, Germany, home of the Friedrich clippings, a poem by Shepard about Paul Rennebohm family before their move to Amer­ Bunyan, a 1917 letter from Shepard to a ica; accompanied by photos and a map; pre­ friend, and an account of a 1920 encounter sented by Mrs. Mauth, Idaho Falls, Idaho. with Shepard by Howard Stark, presented by Diary, 1908, kept by Mabel Rosenhauer the Jackson County Historical Society and by (1890-1974), Elkhorn, detailing her school William F. Stark, Na.shotah. and social activities, such as attending dances Pages from a family Bible giving genealogi­ and basketball games, working on plays and cal information on the descendants of Ferdi­ the county fair, and much visiting with friends, nand Carl Siegert (1849-1909), a German im­ plus a small catechism book which belonged migrant to Wisconsin; presented by Paul Gies- to her Aunt Lydia; presented by Jean M. ler, Middleton. Tomassene, Portland, Oregon. Papers, 1965, of Jane Silver, a college stu­ College term paper entitled "Case Study of dent who worked with the Mississippi Free­ the Naples-Mondovi Farmers Union Local dom Democratic Party voter registration pro­ 41," written by Idella Rutschow in 1971, with gram in Jackson, including a manuscript information on the local's economic, educa­ article describing her jailing in June after tional, and legislative activities and its in­ participating in a demonstration, comments volvement in community affairs; loaned for on the manuscript by others, a published ver­ copying by Rangnar and Margaret Seger- sion of the article, and newsclippings on the strom, Mondovi. demonstration; presented by Ms, Silver, New Papers, 1963-1966, of Mendy Samstein, a London, Connecticut. college professor who was a theoretician for Article edited by Jean Smith and published the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Com­ by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Com­ mittee, including notes, drafts, and statements mittee in 1966 as a teaching aid for the be­ on the 1964 Freedom Summer, events in ginning rural reader, concerning Strike City, Natchez and McComb, Mississippi, in 1964, Leland, Mississippi, with information on the and SNCC's Atlanta Project (also called the events leading to the strike by black farm Vine City Project); presented by Mr. Sam­ laborers, the year they lived in tents, and the stein, Brooklyn, New York. building of homes for the strikers; based on "The Making of a Rebel in America, An interviews with Strike City residents; pre­ Unfinished Autobiography by George James sented by Dr. Florence Halpern, Mound Saul," recounting his youth in Nebraska and Bayou, Mississippi. Colorado, his military training during World An article entitled "The Hortonville Teach­ War I, and his work for first the Communist er Strike: Collective Bargaining and Collec­ Party, then the Trotskyist Communist League tive Understanding," written in 1974 by How­ of America in the West, Gastonia, North ard Snyder, a University of Wisconsin grad­ Carolina, and Detroit automobile plants; pre­ uate student supporter of the strikers, con­ sented by William Saul, Madison. tending that the teachers' personal experience 156 ACCESSIONS

with repression changed them from middle- his family, copied from a family Bible, plus class people to radicals and that all profes­ Xerox copies of an 1894 letter to Thom from sional public employees should recognize that William McKinley and an 1894 letter from they are also workers; presented by Mr. Sny­ T. B. Reed, Congressman from Maine, and der, Madison. newsclippings, 1895, concerning his sudden Handwritten notes prepared by Doretha death; presented by Mrs. Robert Lovejoy, Reese of Liberty, Mississippi, for a 1966 anni­ Janesville, and by Mrs. Shirley Phillips, Su­ versary tribute to E. W. Steptoe, concerning perior, Arizona. his efforts beginning in 1953 to register and Certificate of declaration of intention to vote and to organize an NAACP chapter in become a citizen issued in Dane County Cir­ Amite County, Mississippi; presented by Mr. cuit Court to Frederick Thulium on October Steptoe, Liberty, Mississippi. 4, 1856. (This declaration is missing from Transcriptions of letters, 1862-1863, from the records in the custody of the clerk of Sergeant J. Dwight Stevens (1832?-1864), courts.) Presented by Mrs. Robert Denby, Company D, 20th Regiment, Wisconsin Vol­ Arena. unteer Infantry, to his family; copies of his A letter, 1965, written by Ottar Tinglum discharge and service record; and a transcrip­ to his children describing the first whites-only tion of a Declaration issued by the 2nd Caval­ demonstration for civil rights in Selma, Ala­ ry and the 20th Infantry against northern bama, a march in which he and his wife par­ "traitors" who protested the imposition of ticipated, plus a newsclipping on the march martial law; presented by Mrs. Dwight N. and a statement of purpose; presented by John Stevens, Jr., Seattle, Washington. G. Tinglum, Middleton. A report, 1964, by Charles Stewart of his Chronological listing of burials, 1861-1898, summer working on voter registration in in Trinity Church cemetery, Spring Grove, Clarksdale, Mississippi, with emphasis on the Houston County, Minnesota; source unknown. obstacles placed in the paths of blacks trying Two 1849 letters from Annie Henderson to register to vote; presented by Mr. Stewart, (later Annie Tubbs) reporting her lake travels Stanford, California. from Ohio to Wisconsin and her new job as Typewritten account in German by Lilly a schoolteacher near Elkhorn; and two 1863 (Mrs. Josef) Strauss (1903—), a German Jew­ letters to Annie from her sister Jennette de­ ish woman, of her experiences in a German scribing her life in Norfolk, Virginia, with her concentration camp in Riga, the disbanding husband. Adjutant Chipman A. Holly, 19th of the camp at the advance of the Russians Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, part of the and her transfer from work camp to work Union forces occupying the city; presented by camp, and her liberation in Kiel in 1945; ap­ Marion Lawson, New York, New York. parently written in 1946 while on her way to Civil War letters, 1863-1865, written home the United States; presented by Mrs. Lehmann to Neosho by Private Peter Stillman Cottrell Goldner, Milwaukee. Tubbs (1841-1919), Co. I, 29th Regiment, An autobiography, 1907, and another bio­ Wisconsin Infantry, including comments on graphical sketch of James Reeve Stuart (1834- officers' cotton speculation, soldiers' health 1915), a widely acclaimed painter of portraits, and drinking, the troops' reception by blacks still lifes, and other scenes in Wisconsin be­ in Louisiana, and other topics; presented by tween 1873 and 1915, with information on Mrs. Frank Tubbs, Seymour. his genealogy, his youth on a South Carolina Genealogical information compiled by plantation, his Civil War service, economic Dorothy Burr Harper Tucker on the descen­ conditions after the war, and his career as dants of Salmon Burr (1788-1853), several of an artist; presented by Mrs. Toby Ladwig, whom lived in southwestern Wisconsin, with Whitefish Bay. information on the family names Burr, Bar­ Miscellaneous incoming correspondence to nard, Nichols, and Bell; presented by Mrs. the GI anti-Vietnam War newspaper Task Tucker, Manitowoc. Force, published in San Francisco, including Four letters, 1862-1863, from Private Abel information from GIs on anti-war sentiment L. Tyler (1843-1863), Co. M, 3rd Regiment, among soldiers and the military's response Wisconsin Cavalry, stationed in Fort Scott, to it; presented by Fred Halstead, Los Angeles, Kansas, to his sister Elizabeth in Grant Coun­ California. ty, accompanied by genealogical notes on the Genealogical information on H. C. Thom Tyler family; presented with the John P. (1856-1895), chairman of the Republican Hunter Papers. State Central Committee in Wisconsin, and "Job Finder" newsletters and other near- 157 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1980-1981 print material, 1969-1970, produced by the cial affairs and by doing sewing and quilting Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and for others; presented by Pat Hilts, Marshall. American Friends Service Committee and Letters, 1862, between Sergeant Edwin F. aimed nationally at conscientious objectors Winchester (1840?-1862), Company H, 16th needing to find acceptable alternative employ­ Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and ment; presented with the records of the Draft his father, S. B. Winchester, Wautoma, and a Coimseling and Information Center, Madison. letter from the father to the governor of Wis­ Brief papers, 1964-1966, of Mary Varela, consin seeking aid in going to Mississippi to a SNCC civil rights worker active in adult nurse his woimded son; presented by Harold education programs, including a statement of A. May, Hinsdale, Illinois. the goals and problems of the Selma (Ala­ Three documents concerning the May, 1963, bama) Literacy Project and a report on adult visit to Birmingham, Alabama, of Richard W. education activities funded by the Aaron E. Winograd with a group of rabbis, under the Norman Fund, both written by Varela, and a auspices of the Rabbinical Assembly of Ameri­ speech concerning civil rights which she gave ca, to investigate and participate in civil rights to a group of Brazilian students in 1966; pre­ activities, including a letter from the presi­ sented by Ms. Varela, Tougaloo, Mississippi. dent of the Temple Beth-El in Birmingham Articles of organization, statistical reports, describing the situation prior to the visit, a and financial reports, 1945-1946, of the Vet­ response from the president of the assembly, erans' Information Headquarters, Madison, and a statement by Rabbi Winograd on his Wisconsin, an initial point of inquiry for experiences and impressions; presented by World War II veterans for information on Rabbi Winograd, Madison. services and benefits available to them, and a Correspondence, 1864-1865, 1867, 1910, be­ liaison between veterans organizations and tween two brothers, Corporal Loring B. E. service agencies; presented by Marion Crown- Winslow, Co. I, 6th Regiment, Wisconsin hart, Madison. Volunteer Infantry, in Virginia, and Private Papers, 1964-1965, of Lise Vogel, a summer Edwin M. Winslow, Co. C, 47th Regiment, civil rights volunteer who taught in the Free­ Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, in Tennessee, dom School in Shaw, Mississippi, including and members of their family in Hillsboro; pre­ notes from the Oxford, Ohio, orientation, cor­ sented by the Rock County Historical Society. respondence, printed material and press re­ Records, 1920-1935, of the Wisconsin Build­ leases on the school and the local Mississippi ing and Loan League documenting its active Freedom Labor Union organization, and oth­ legislative lobbying program and efforts to er papers on Shaw; presented by Ms. Vogel, promote home ownership, construction, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. rehabilitation, including scattered convention "A Report and Analysis of Community Or­ proceedings, 1920-1929, and minutes of ganizing in Gulfport, Mississippi," written in monthly board of directors meetings, 1930- July 1965 by Council of Federated Organiza­ 1935; loaned for copying by the Wisconsin tions staff members Sam Walker and John Savings and Loan League via William Brouse, Else; presented by Mr. Walker, North Gulf­ Milwaukee. port, ^lississippi. A constitution and a petition, both un­ Copies of family correspondence and obit­ dated, of the Wisconsin Loyalty Legion, an uaries, 1852-1932, copies of photographs, and organization formed during World War I to a genealogy of the family of William Wallace attest publicly to Wisconsin citizens' loyalty (1816-1901), Dodge County; presented by J. to the United States; separated from the Gom­ Wallace DeVos, Appleton. pers A.F.L. Records. Typed copy of a letter, June 18, 1862, from Records of the Wisconsin Music Teachers Private John H. Williams, Company F, 17th Association, including minutes, 1954-1959, Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, to a friend in 1964-1972, report of the first annual meeting, Madison, describing his army experiences and 1910, lists of past officers and of convention telling how to construct breastworks; presented sites, miscellany, and letters and other ma­ by the La Crosse County Historical Society; terials from a 1973-1974 election dispute with­ original letter owned by Mrs. R. Buchanan, in the organization; part loaned for copying Minneapolis, Minnesota. by the Association via Wesley Teply, Manito­ Secretary-treasurer's books, 1909-1919, from woc, and part presented by Hugo D. Marple, the Willing Workers Society of the Presby­ Stevens Point. terian Church in Cambria, organized to raise Copies of cemetery inscriptions compiled ca. money for the church through sponsoring so­ 1975 by members of the Wisconsin State Old 158 ACCESSIONS \ Cemetery Society, including lists for thirteen then an engineer with the La Crosse & South­ cemeteries in Manitowoc County, two in She­ western Railway Company, including passes, boygan County, and one in Calumet County; union traveling cards, train orders, trip re­ presented by the Society via Dick Cote, Mani­ ports, an engineer's study book, and other towoc. items; presented by Charles W. Hull, Green Mimeo transcriptions of weekly radio talks, Bay. 1944-1945, concerning news related to taxa­ "The Civil Rights Movement and Its Im­ tion, sponsored by the Wisconsin Taxpayers pact upon My Family," a term paper written Alliance; transferred from the State Archives, in 1976 by Oliver Young, a black student at Department of Taxation records. the University of Wisconsin, describing the ex­ Correspondence, minutes, notes, and legis­ periences of his family in Greenwood, Missis­ lative drafts and analyses, 1971, pertaining to sippi, in the 1960's, and changes in the 1970's; the involvement of Wisconsin's Environmen­ presented by Mr. Young. tal Decade in the introduction of S.B. 525, Diaries, 1847-1848, 1861-1864, kept by Mi­ which evolved into the Metallic Mining Rec­ chael Zimmer (1824 ), Burlington, while a lamation Act (1973); presented by Wisconsin's soldier in Company A, 3rd Artillery Regiment Environmental Decade via Peter Anderson. during the Mexican War and in Company E, Two items concerning the ancestry of the 9th Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Woldenberg family of Madison: a 1924 gold­ during the Civil War, plus a Xeroxed copy of en anniversary booklet of Jacob and Anna one 1862 letter; all in German; presented by Woldenberg and a 1939 printed study of the Mrs. Edna Zimmer, Burlington. genealogy of Luzer Fisher and his wife Feiga Papers, July-late fall, 1964, of Howard Zinn Woldenberg; both contain details on Polish as a board member of the Student Nonviolent wedding customs, frequent moves brought on Coordinating Committee, concerning Missis­ by business conditions or hostility to Jews, and sippi Freedom Schools, including correspon­ immigration to the United States; presented dence, a report by Staughton Lynd, a final re­ by Mr. and Mrs. Haskell M. Woldenberg, port, school newsletters, and other papers; Waunakee. presented by Mr. Zinn, Newton, Massachu­ Records of the Woman's Christian Tem­ setts. perance Union, Stoughton, including a min­ Papers, 1964-1966, of civil rights worker ute book, 1965-1971; a secretary-treasurer's Matthew Zwerling concerning his work in book, 1950-1970, listing members' names, dues Clarksdale and Marks, Mississippi, in the payments, and receipts and disbursements; summer of 1964, primarily on voter educa­ and miscellaneous loose papers; presented by tion and registration, including his letters to Ethel K. Cornwell, Madison. his family, letters of his parents who raised Railroad memorabilia, 1894-1912, 1949, of funds for the project, newsclippings, and a Frank E. Wood (1874 ) a fireman on the published article; presented by Matthew Chicago, Burlington, & Northern Railroad Zwerling, New York, New York.

159 Contributor

Magazines may send their written requests for copies of the index to Publication Orders, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 816 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706.

Two New Research Guides The State Historical Society of Wisconsin has just published a pair of research tools that will be of interest to scholars and researchers in history, the labor movement, and the social sciences generally. The first of these is Byron Anderson's A Bibliography of Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations on Milwaukee Topics (132 pages, $5.00, paperbound), which EDWARD M. COFFMAN, native Kentuckian and lists more than 300 studies dealing with a wide a professor in the history department of the variety of topics, ranging alphabetically from University of Wisconsin, has taught on the the arts, biography, and business to urban Madison campus since 1961. Prior to that, growth, welfare, and women. The titles are he taught for two years at Memphis State arranged topically, with up to three cross- University and served as a Research Associate references; the whole is indexed by author's with the George C. Marshall Research Foun­ names. Anderson's compilation should prove dation. He has also served as a visiting pro­ a boon to librarians, city planners, and envi­ fessor of American history at Kansas State ronmentalists as well as historians. University and at the United States Military The second publication is American Feder­ Academy at West Point. He is the author ation of Labor Records: The Samuel Gompers of two books: The Hilt of the Sword: The Era. Guide to a Joint Microfilm Publication Career of Peyton C. March (University of (68 pages, $5.00, illustrations, paperbound), Wisconsin Press, 1966) and The War to End the culmination of several years' collaboration All Wars: The American Military Experience between the Samuel Gompers Papers of the in World War I (Oxford University Press, University of Maryland and Pace University, 1968). He is currently at work on a social together with the State Historical Society of history of the American peacetime army dur­ Wisconsin. This handsomely illustrated guide ing the years 1784-1940. describes American Federation of Labor rec­ ords held by both the Gompers Papers project and the State Historical Society; the records Index to Volume 63 Available themselves are available on 201 reels of micro­ film through the Microfilming Corporation of Each volume of the Wisconsin Magazine of America. History is indexed by the editors and a limited number of indexes are printed. The index Both research guides may be ordered from to volume 63 (1979-1980) is now available. the Society at 816 State Street, Madison, Wis­ Individuals and institutions who bind their consin 53706.

160 THE BOARD OF CURATORS

LEE SHERMAN DREYFUS, Governor of the State ROBERT M. O'NEIL, President of the University

MRS. A. PAUL JENSEN, President of VEL PHILUPS, Secretary of State the Auxiliary

ROBERT B. L. MURPHY, President, CHARLES P. SMITH, State Treasurer Wisconsin History Foundation

GEORGE MILLER, Chairman, Wisconsin Council for Local History

JOHN ANDERSON, Hayward WILLIAM C. KIDD, Racine THOMAS H. BARLAND, Eau Claire MRS. HERBERT V. KOHLER, JR., Kohler E. DAVID CRONON, Madison HOWARD W. MEAD, Madison MRS. L. PRENTICE EAGER, JR., Evansville NEWELL G. MEYER, Milwaukee JOHN C. GEILFUSS, Milwaukee JOHN M. MURRY, Milwaukee MRS. HUGH F. GWIN, Hudson FREDERICK I. OLSON, Wauwatosa JOHN T. HARRINGTON, Milwaukee JOHN R. PIKE, Madison MRS. R. L. HARTZELL, Grantsburg JOHN A. SCHONEMAN, Wausau PAUL E. HASSETT, Madison DR. LOUIS C. SMITH, Cassville MRS. WILUAM E. HAYES, De Pare MRS. WILLIAM H. L. SMYTHE, Milwaukee MRS. R. GOERES HAYSSEN, Racine WILUAM F. STARK, Nashotali NATHAN S. HEFFERNAN, Madison CLIFFORD D. SWANSON, Stevens Point MRS. JEAN M. HELUESEN, La Crosse MiLO K. SwANTON, Madison MRS. FANNIE HICKUN, Madison WILSON B. THIEDE, Madison WILLIAM HUFFMAN, Wisconsin Rapids CHARLES TWINING, Ashland MRS. PETER D. HUMLEKER, JR., Fond du Lac EDWARD J. VIRNIG, New Berlin ROBERT H. IRRMANN, Beloit CLARK WILKINSON, Baraboo MRS. EDWARD C. JONES, Fort Atkinson

The Women's Auxiliary MRS. A. PAUL JENSEN, Madison, President MRS. GEORGE STROTHER, Madison, Treasurer MRS. JOHN ERSKINE, Racine, Vice-President MRS. WADE MOSBY, Milwaukee, Ex Officio MRS. WILLIAM B. JONES, Fort Atkinson, Secretary

Fellows VERNON CARSTENSEN MERLE CURTI AucE E. SMITH THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY SHALL promote a wider appreciation of the American heritage with particular emphasis on the collection, advancement and dissemination of knowledge of the history of Wisconsin and of the West. —Wisconsin Statutes, Chapter 44

WHi (X3) 18424 This pictorial document of the crusade for woman suffrage—place and date un­ known—appeared on a postcard sent from Oshkosh to suffragist Ada James in Richland Center in August, 1917.

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