Wisconsin Magazine of History

TIte Anti-McCarthy Camf^aign in Wisconsin, 1951—1952 MICHAEL O'BRIEN Wisconsin Labor and the Campaign of 1952 DAVID M. OSHINSKY Foreign Aid Under Wrap: The Point Four Program THOMAS G. PATERSON John E. Holmes; An Early Wisconsin Leader STUART M. RICH Reminiscences of Life Among tIte Chif^pxva: Part Four BENJAMIN G. ARMSTRONG

Published by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin / Vol. 56, No. 2 / Winter, 1972-1973 THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN

JAMES MORTON SMITH, Director

Officers E. DAVID CRONON, President GEORGE BANTA, JR., Honorary Vice-President JOHN C. GEILFUSS, First Vice-President E. E. HOMSTAD, Treasurer HOWARD W. MEAD, Second Vice-President JAMES MORTON SMITH, Secretary

Board of Curators Ex Officio PATRICK J. LUCEY, Governor of the State CHARLES P. SMITH, State Treasurer ROBERT C. ZIMMERMAN, Secretary of State JOHN C. WEAVER, President of the University MRS. GORDON R. WALKER, President of the Women's Auxiliary

Term Expires, 1973 THOMAS H. BARLAND MRS. RAYMOND J. KOLTES FREDERICK I. OLSON DONALD C. SLIGHTER Eau Claire Madison Wauwatosa Milwaukee E. E. HOMSTAD CHARLES R. MCCALLUM F. HARWOOD ORBISON DR. LOUIS C. SMITH Black River Falls Hubertus Appleton Lancaster MRS. EovifARD C. JONES HOWARD W. MEAD NATHAN S. HEFFERNAN ROBERT S. ZIGMAN Fort Atkinson Madison Madison Milwaukee

Term Expires, 1974 ROGER E. AXTELL PAUL E. HASSETT ROBERT B. L. MURPHY MILO K. SWANTON Janesville Madison Madison Madison HORACE M. BENSTEAD WILLIAM HUFFMAN MRS. WM. H. L. SMYTHE CEDRIC A. Vic Racine Wisconsin Rapids Milwaukee Rhinelander REED COLEMAN WARREN P. KNOWLES WILLIAM F. STARK CLARK WILKINSON Madison Madison Nashotah Baraboo

Term Expires, 1975 E. DAVID CRONON JOHN C. GEILFUSS LLOYD HORNBOSTEL FRANCIS PAUL PRUCHA, S.J. Madison Milwaukee Beloit Milwaukee SCOTT M. CUTLIP BEN GUTHRIE ROBERT H. IRRMANN J. WARD RECTOR Madison Lac du Flambeau Beloit Milwaukee ROBERT A. GEHRKE MRS. R. L. HARTZELL JOHN PIKE CLIFFORD D. SWANSON Ripon Grantsburg Madison Stevens Point

Honorary Honorary Life Members EDWARD D. CARPENTER, Cassville MRS. ESTHER NELSON, Madison RUTH H. DAVIS, Madison DOROTHY L. PARK, Madison MRS. MARGARET HAFSTAD, Rockdale MONICA STAEDTLER, Madison PRESTON E. MCNALL, Clearwater, Florida BENTON H. WILCOX, Madison WILLIAM ASHBY MCCLOY, New London, Connecticut PAUL VANDERBILT, Madison

Fellows VERNON CARSTENSEN MERLE CURTI ALICE E. SMITH

The Women's Auxiliary Officers MRS. GORDON R. WALKER, Racine, President MRS. DAVID S. FRANK, Madison, Vice-President MRS. JAMES JS. VAUGHN, Milwaukee, Secretary MRS. HUGH HIGHSMITH, Fort Atkinson, Treasurer MR?. GEORGE SWART, Fort Atkinson, Ex Officio VOLUME 56, NUMBER 2 / WINTER, 1972-1973 Wisconsin Magazine of History

WILLIAM CONVERSE HAYGOOD, Editor WILLIAM C. MARTEN, Associate Editor

The Hesseltine Award 90 The Anti-McCarthy Campaign in Wisconsin, 1951-1952 91 MICHAEL O'BRIEN

Wisconsin Labor and the Campaign of 1952 109 DAVID M. OSHINSKY

Foreign Aid Under Wraps: The Point Four Program 119 THOMAS G. PATERSON

John E. Holmes: An Early Wisconsin Leader 127 STUART M. RICH

Reminiscences of Life Among the Chippewa (Part IV) 140 BENJAMIN G. ARMSTRONG

Book Reviews 162 Book Review Index 175 Contributors 176

Published Quarterly by The State Historical Society of Wisconsin

THE WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY is published Microfilms, 313 North First Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan; quarterly by the State Historical Society of Wisconsiri, reprinted volumes available from Kraus Reprint Company, 816 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706. Distributed 16 East 46th Street, New Yoric, New Yorlc. Communica­ to members as part of their dues (Annual membership, tions should be addressed to the editor. The Society does $7.50, or $5 for those 65 or over or members of affiliated not assume responsibility for statements made by contribu­ societies; Family membership, SIO.OO, or $7 for those 65 tors. Second-class postage paid at Madison and Stevens or over or members of affiliated societies; Contributing, $25; Point, Wis. Copyright © 1973 by the State Historical Business and Professional, $50; Sustaining, $100 or more Society of Wisconsin. Paid for in part by the Maria L. annually; Patron, $500 or more annually). Single numbers, and Simeon Mills Editorial Fund and by the George B. $1.75. Microfilmed copies available through University Burrows Fund. ' I ''HE seventh annual William Best Hessel- The Hesseltine Award -*- tine Award for the best article to be pub­ lished in the Wisconsin Magazine of History during the past year has been announced by the judging panel. The winner is Jerry M. Cooper of the history faculty of the University of Missouri-St. Louis for his article, "The Wisconsin National Guard in the Milwaukee Riots of 1886," which appeared in the autumn, 1971, issue. This award, established in memory of the late president of the Society and distinguished University of Wisconsin historian, consists of a prize of $100. Members of the awarding panel are Richard N. Current, professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro; Leslie Cross, book editor of the Milwaukee Journal; Howard Mead, publisher of Wisconsin Trails; Morton Rothstein, pro­ fessor of history at the University of Wiscon­ sin-Madison; James Morton Smith, director of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin; William C. Haygood, editor of the Magazine; and Mrs. William B. Hesseltine, ex officio. Manuscripts to be considered for the award should be based on original research, fully documented, and between 4,000 and 8,000 words in length. There is no deadline for sub­ missions. Manuscripts and inquiries should Harold N. Hone be addressed to the Editor, 816 State Street, William B. Hesseltine Madison, Wisconsin 53706. Previous winners are:

Edward H. Beardsley, "An Industry Revitalized: Harry Russell, Stephen Babcock, and the Cold Curing of Cheese," 49: 122-137 (Winter, 1965-1966). Donald C. Swain, "The Passage of the National Park Service Act of 1916," 50: 4-17 (Autumn, 1966). Roger E. Wyman, "Wisconsin Ethnic Groups and the Election of 1890," 51: 269-293 (Summer, 1968). Kenneth Acrea, "The Wisconsin Reform Coalition, 1892 to 1900: La Follette's Rise to Power," 52: 132-157 (Winter, 1968). Nancy Ostreich Lurie, "Wisconsin: A Natural Laboratory for North American Indian Studies," 53: 3-20 (Autumn, 1969). Morton Sosna, "The South in the Saddle: Racial Politics During the Wilson Years," 54: 30-^9 (Autumn, 1970).

90 THE ANTI'McCARTHY CAMPAIGN

IN WISCONSIN, 1951-1952

By MICHAEL O'BRIEN

A FTER Senator Joseph McCarthy began et contributed to the growing awareness that -^*- his national crusade against communism observers had exaggerated his political power. in 1950, political speculation increasingly fo­ This knowledge apparently led some previous­ cused on his bid for re-election in 1952. Na­ ly fearful Senators to vote to censure McCarthy tional news magazines and major newspapers in 1954. Moreover, the frustrating years of dispatched reporters to Wisconsin to cover failure for Wisconsin Democrats ended in the dramatic developments. The reason for 1957 as the party experienced a period of the widespread interest in the campaign is unparalled success. According to party lead­ clear: McCarthy had aroused more intense ers the McCarthy controversy assisted this feelings of admiration and loathing than any revitalization. The Democratic organization contemporary politician. Wisconsin voters attracted some Republicans and independents had the unique opportunity to decide if this who found the Senator's actions repugnant. controversial figure would continue his sena­ McCarthy also drove young, idealistic, and torial activities. hardworking individuals into the Democratic Although every aspect of McCarthy's re­ fold because of their revulsion for him and election concerned contemporary political ob­ their attraction to the character and integrity servers, this has not been true of subsequent of Thomas Fairchild and Adlai Stevenson. scholarly research. Historians and social sci­ Lastly, McCarthy's activities presented Demo­ entists have studied three important facets crats with an issue on which all could agree. of the election: McCarthy's campaign nation­ Without him to zero in on, party leaders have ally for Republican candidates, the tension insisted. Democrats could never have pulled between the Senator and Republican presi­ all their people together and have kept them dential candidate Dwight Eisenhower and the together through the middle 1950's when papering over of their disagreement, and sta­ Democrats were coming close to winning but tistical analysis of Wisconsin election results. not quite succeeding.' As a consequence, the arduous efforts of Mc­ Anti-McCarthyites failed, nonetheless, in Carthy's dedicated opponents in the state— their immediate goal of unseating the Sena­ who, though anticommunist themselves never­ tor. During the campaign they concurred on theless disputed the fact that the Senator had their intense dislike of McCarthy and even- discovered any communists in government— remain obscure. ^ Typescript of a tape-recorded interview with Despite McCarthy's victory, his 1952 re­ Miles McMillin by Robert Griffith, July 25 and August 1, 1967. A copy of the typescript was loaned election campaign yielded long-range bene­ to the author by McMillin. Tape-recorded interview fits for his opponents, particularly for the with Carl Thompson, April 10, 1969; tape-recorded interview with Patrick Lucey, August 28, 1969; Wisconsin Democratic party. The fact that tape-recorded interview with James Doyle, Septem­ McCarthy trailed the entire Republican tick­ ber 3, 1969; Minneapolis Tribune, April 30, 1967.

91 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973

Zimmerman was the only prominent Repub­ lican to speak out against McCarthy, but he was considered too old to wage an effective campaign. Former Governor Oscar Renne­ bohm disliked McCarthy and desired a Sen­ ate seat, but he was in poor health. Because of his famous name and his earlier populari­ ty, observers scrutinized the attitude of Robert M. La Follette, Jr. However, for reasons known only to himself, he never indicated in­ terest in a political comeback. Rumor circu­ lated that Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Henry Hughes would resign his seat to chal­ lenge the Senator. With his handsome appear­ ance, vigorous campaign style, and popularity in the Fox River Valley, he held impressive credentials. Yet Hughes never entered the race and eventually worked for McCarthy's re-election. Young and increasingly popular Governor Walter Kohler, Jr., was potentially a formidable candidate, but few expected him Madison Capital Times to enter the contest. Merrill attorney Leonard McCarthy's Democratic opponent, Thomas E. Fair- Schmitt was the most likely Republican aspi­ ch ild. rant. A former Progressive and a maverick Republican, constantly at odds with the con­ tually united behind the candidacy of Demo­ servative GOP organization, the fiery Schmitt crat Thomas Fairchild. However, they en­ was conceded little chance of defeating Mc­ countered a frustrating series of disagree­ Carthy because of the trouncing he took from ments, problems, and setbacks. Anti-McCar- Kohler in the 1950 Republican gubernatorial thyites could do little to overcome the numer­ primary. ous advantages the Senator possessed during For the Democratic nomination, Madison the campaign: substantial financial backing, attorney James Doyle and state senator Gay- strong party organization, overwhelming lord Nelson were often mentioned. Both were newspaper support and publicity, and, in the dynamic leaders and well respected within the general election, the coattails of Dwight Eisen­ party, but virtually unknown throughout much hower. of the state. Because of his leadership in the anti-McCarthy movement, a labor journal A S THE 1952 Wisconsin senatorial cam- urged William T. Evjue to enter the race; -^*- paign approached, political commenta­ but the editor of the Madison Capital Times tors speculated endlessly on a variety of ques­ was too old and too controversial to be seri­ tions. Who would oppose McCarthy? Would ously considered, and declined the offer. Hen­ any Republican challenge him? Which tech­ ry Reuss, a little-known Milwaukee lawyer, niques and issues were most effective against desired the nomination, but his expected can­ him? How much popular and GOP support didacy aroused no excitement. Many Demo­ did he have? crats were enthusiastic about Thomas Fair- Anti-McCarlhyites had two chances to de­ child. With his victory in the 1948 race for feat the Senator; in the Republican primary attorney general, Fairchild had become the election in September, 1952, and in the gen­ first Democrat since 1932 to win statewide eral election two months later. Wisconsin's office and had established himself as a prov­ open primary law, which permitted Demo­ en vote-getter. His reputation did not diminish crats to vote in the Republican primary, when two years later he ran a strong but aroused speculation about potential Repub­ unsuccessful race against incumbent Senator lican challengers. Secretary of State Fred Alexander Wiley.

92 O'BRIEN: THE ANTI-MCCARTHY CAMPAIGN

By the end of 1951, some anti-McCarthy- over the emphasis to place on ousting McCar­ ites were optimistic that the Senator could be thy. On one hand, a small but troublesome defeated. The Capital Times used a variety minority of Democrats wanted to ignore Mc­ of evidence—from the addition of another Carthy as much as possible. Some were state newspaper to the anti-McCarthy camp to a legislators who felt strongly that traditional disappointing turnout for a McCarthy testi­ Democratic issues would be most effective monial dinner—to predict that his popularity for their re-election bids. In pro-McCarthy was on the wane.^ In his correspondence, areas such as the Fox River Valley, some Evjue was "confident that a big reaction is party leaders were understandably reluctant setting in against McCarthy here in Wiscon­ to base their campaign on the issue of Mc­ sin. People are now getting wise to his rec­ Carthyism.^ More powerful pressure came ord, his tactics, his demagoguery and his un­ from lower echelon party officials, indepen­ scrupulous actions."'^ He would be disap­ dent liberals, and anti-McCarthy newspapers pointed "if we don't have this bird on the to wage a "moral crusade" against the mon­ run before the next election."* strous evils of McCarthyism. These elements Conflicting pressures, campaign tactics, and appeared willing to support any candidate, personal ambitions created problems for Dem­ including a "good" Republican, to defeat the ocrats as they prepared their anti-McCarthy Senator. State Democratic leaders, CIO offi­ drive. Only a few party leaders were as con­ cials, and some labor publications warned of fident of defeating McCarthy as they pre­ the dangers of supporting a Republican. The tended in public. One was James Doyle, the Wisconsin Democrat, the official organ of the spark plug and leader of the Democratic Or­ party, attempted to discredit "visionaries" who ganizing Committee for the 1952 campaign. thought a Republican could successfully chal­ Doyle was a soft-spoken and shrewd political lenge the Senator. Some labor editors ar­ leader noted for his toughness and endless gued that a Republican challenger might fol­ diligence. After establishing a brilliant rec­ low the conservative voting record of the ord at Columbia Law School, he became a Senator. "We will gain little," observed one clerk for Supreme Court Justice James F. labor journal, "if we replace McCarthy with a Byrnes. Returning to Wisconsin in 1946, he man who will vote the same line McCarthy has began law practice and helped rejuvenate the followed, even though the man may be re­ weak Democratic party. spectable enough to get us out of the po­ Doyle's distaste for McCarthyism and his litical garbage can."^ desire for the Senator's defeat were unequivo­ The problem of tactics also had to be re­ cal. Unlike many liberals and The Capital solved. Since the beginning of McCarthy's Times, however, he opposed the view that anticommunist campaign, most of his oppo­ McCarthy's defeat should be the major goal nents assumed that the effective counterat­ of the D.O.C. Since its inception three years tack was: (1) to refute his communist-in- earlier, Doyle observed in the fall of 1951, government charges and attack his methods, the D.O.C. had made great progress, and "in and (2) to prove him personally immoral and long range terms, the paramount need is to unethical on the basis of his shady financial develop in Wisconsin a broad, enduring and dealings, income tax evasion, and other ac­ successful alternative to conservative Repub­ tivities. The Senator's critics assumed that licanism."^ Doyle was referring to the con­ Wisconsinites would act rationally and not flicting pressures on the D.O.C. leadership vote for a man whose attack on communists was a political gimmick and whose personal behavior was objectionable. This view re­ ^ The Capital Times, June 18, August 24, Decem­ ceived its most articulate and comprehen­ ber 12, 1951. sive expression by the Wisconsin Citizen's ^ William T. Evjue to Joseph Short, August 7, 1951, in President's Personal File 200, Harry S. Truman Papers, Harry S. Truman Library, Inde­ pendence, Missouri. Short was secretary to Presi­ dent Truman. ° Lucey interview. '•Ibid., September 11, 1951, Official File 300. ' The Wisconsin Democrat, May, 1951; Union La­ "* Milwaukee Journal, November 7, 1951. bor News, October, 1951.

93 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973

Committee on McCarthy's Record. Composed intellectuals, it meant "the big lie, the Un of prominent state residents with little in com­ American [sic] tactic of guilt by associa­ mon except opposition to McCarthy, this non­ tion, and the negation of fair play." On the partisan group spent a year compiling a docu­ other hand, rank-and-file Republicans in Wis­ mentary account of the Senator's career. Pub­ consin, especially those in rural areas, as­ lished before the 1952 primary. The McCarthy sociated McCarthyism with "two-fisted fight­ Record circulated widely and was serialized ing against odds" and with the battle to save in anti-McCarthy newspapers. During the the country from subversive communists in summer of 1951, leading Democrats also used the State Department. Such being the case, this approach. Partly to give exposure to po­ "to wage a campaign on the issue of mc- tential Democratic senatorial aspirants and carthyism [sic], is to strengthen the McCarthy partly to articulate an anti-McCarthy position, forces, since reiteration of this word rings a they organized a speaking campaign against Liberty Bell in the minds of the uninformed." McCarthy. "Operation Truth," as their tour By his effective use of the communist issue, was called, consisted of Democratic party the Senator had diverted attention from his leaders journeying throughout Wisconsin, giv­ voting record, which opposed public housing ing street corner speeches which exposed the and equitable taxation, and favored restric­ "truth" about the Senator's ethics and his tive labor legislation and big business. The communist charges.* columnist was especially critical of "Opera­ Even at this early date in the campaign tion Truth" which had "not convinced a sin­ some questioned the wisdom of repeatedly at­ gle person that McCarthy's anti-communist tacking McCarthy's issue of communists-in- crusade is a joke. It has been a flop because government. According to this view, shrill it has sought to fight emotionalism with ra­ denunciations of "McCarthyism" merely gave tionalism." Revell hoped that new tactics the Senator more publicity. Labor journals would be devised before the 1952 election.^" suggested that his voting record be scrutinized more carefully. Before Democratic Senator fy HE IMMEDIATE PROBLEM of the Dem- William Benton spoke in Wisconsin, James •'- ocrats was to agree on a suitable oppo­ Doyle advised him not to attack McCarthy di­ nent for McCarthy. Unlike the Republicans, rectly but by "indirection."^ who had a policy of endorsing candidates, the Aldric Revell, the insightful socialist colum­ Democratic Organizing Committee had no nist for The Capital Times, most eloquently machinery to narrow the field of primary challenged the established view. Revell had aspirants. A minority of party leaders, in­ no quarrel with attempts to publicize Mc­ cluding Doyle, urged revision of the D.O.C. Carthy's unethical conduct, but he disagreed constitution to allow endorsement, but proved with efforts to discredit his anticommunist unsuccessful. Nevertheless, most party offi­ fight. If McCarthy were to be defeated, he cials agreed that the next best approach was argued in August, 1951, the average voters to concentrate early on one candidate. This had to stop identifying McCarthyism with argument was made despite the strong open anticommunism. McCarthyism had different primary tradition in Wisconsin because it was meanings for different people. For The felt that, in view of the late primary date (Sep­ Capital Times, the Democratic party, and tember 9), a bitter internal contest might leave the winner too spent, and the party re­ sources too depleted, to conduct an effective campaign. Democrats were wary of repeat­ 'Morris Rubin (ed.). The McCarthy Record ing the disastrous primary battle of 1950. As (The Wisconsin Citizens' Committee on McCarthy's Record, Madison, 1952) ; Doyle interview; Milwau­ Daniel Hoan reflected on that campaign: kee Journal, June 3, 1951; The Capital Times, June "Most of the money [was] spent in the Pri­ 28, 1951. " A.F. of L. Milwaukee Labor Pre.'is, July 24, 1952; mary and the rank and file of each group Racine Labor, September 5, 1952; Union Labor News, and many of the leaders [were] either sore. October, 1951; James Doyle to William Benton, June 17, 1952, Box 4, in the William Benton Papers, Archives-Manuscripts Division, State Historical So­ ciety of Wisconsin. ' Revell, The Capital Times, August 23, 1951.

94 O BRIEN: THE ANTI-McCARTHY CAMPAIGN

Milwaukee Journal Three Democratic leaders at a pre-convention meeting in the Schroeder Hotel in Milwaukee: (left to right) Lester Johnson of Black River Falls, James Doyle and William Proxmire of Madison. depressed [or] at least lacking all enthusiasm a friend, "if some small group would plan after their favorite candidate lost out in the to promote him in our primary !"^^ Primary."^' State unions and wealthy Democrats from While the party pondered possible proced­ outside the state pressured the D.O.C. to agree ures for selecting a candidate, an incident oc­ to one candidate in order that funds could curred which nearly sent long-time Democrats be raised and work started on the anti-Mc­ into cardiac arrest. Apparently at the urging Carthy drive. Democrats were in a dilemma. of the Truman Administration or national On the one hand, they desperately sought to Democratic officials through their intermedi­ avoid a primary fight. Yet if a small clique ary, Averell Harriman, some D.O.C. members picked a candidate, he might prove unsuita­ agreed to ask Robert M. La Follette, Jr., ble to other party members. They finally whether, given adequate support by leading agreed that a survey be taken among D.O.C. Democrats, he would run as a Democrat members to discover which prospective can­ against McCarthy. Those liberal Democrats didate had the most support. Delays resulted who had fought La Follette for many years from the difficulty of agreeing on a survey because of the danger he posed to their or­ format.^^ After the procedure was agreed ganization as a Progressive and liberal Re­ upon and while the poll was being conducted, publican breathed a sigh of relief when La three of the four leading contenders—James Follette for "compelling personal reasons" re­ fused the offer. "What a hell of an insurrec­ tion would have taken place," Dan Hoan told '^ Francis Henson and Henry Reuss to Daniel Hoan, April 18, 1951; Daniel Hoan to Gerald Clifford and Jerome Fox, June 13, 1951, in the Hoan Papers. ^' Francis Henson to Daniel Hoan, July 2, 1951; " Daniel Hoan to Gerald Clifford and Jerome Fox, James Doyle to Francis Henson, June 23, 1951; Dan­ June 13, 1951, Box 14, File 51, Daniel Hoan Papers, iel Hoan to Francis Henson, July 6, 1951, in the Hoan Milwaukee County Historical Society, Milwaukee. Papers.

95 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973

Doyle, Gaylord Nelson, and Henry Reuss— state legislators and county and district Demo­ began negotiating among themselves to deter­ cratic chairmen. He traveled to New York, mine which was the strongest candidate. Nel­ Washington, and other cities to raise funds son and Doyle, who were close friends and from wealthy liberals and national union of­ had no desire to compete with each other, ficials.*" agreed that Nelson was the stronger of the Reuss's candidacy and campaign disap­ two. Doyle thereupon took himself out of pointed many anti-McCarthyites. His unex­ consideration, and Democrats selected him to pected decision surprised and angered some head the D.O.C.^* As the federal attorney for Democratic leaders for the effect it had on western Wisconsin, Thomas Fairchild was in attempts to reach agreement on a single strong no position to be active in politics and did candidate. Others were still disenchanted with not participate in the negotiating process. him for pulling out of the race for lieutenant Thus the field narrowed to Nelson and Reuss. governor in 1948 after he had committed By November, 1951, it appeared that either himself to running. Moreover, Reuss was vir­ the D.O.C. survey or the informal negotiations tually unknown outside Milwaukee. In Jan­ would unite the party behind one candidate. uary, 1952, a University of Wisconsin jour­ Then the whole process collapsed. Reuss and nalism class, surveying the coming state elec­ his supporters claimed that the agreed pro­ tions, asked a hundred Madisonians to iden­ cedure would both break the tradition of an tify Governor Kohler, McCarthy, and Reuss. open primary and prove unproductive. They The results showed that 89 per cent could saw no real indication that the factions would identify the governor, and 87 per cent knew be able to decide upon one candidate or that Senator McCarthy, but only 7 per cent could the decision would be binding. Some of identify Reuss.-"^ His campaign never caught Reuss's Milwaukee partisans also charged a fire. One observer noted privately that conspiracy by what they called the Madison "Reuss's campaign seems to be getting no­ wing of the party to deprive him of the where."** nomination. Consequently, Reuss broke off Despite its inadequacies Reuss's candidacy negotiations on November 6, 1951, and on temporarily outmaneuvered those who had the eighth declared his candidacy for the agreed against a primary contest, since they Democratic senatorial nomination. Two days now faced the alternative of supporting him later, the results of the D.O.C. survey showed or precipitating the very contest they sought Nelson the winner, followed by Fairchild, to avoid. Soon after Reuss announced his Reuss, and Doyle.'° But Reuss's decision had candidacy. Nelson took himself out of con­ already negated its value. sideration. On May 19, 1952, Fairchild de­ Henry Reuss was a young, wealthy, and clared he would not become a candidate. The successful Milwaukee attorney whose Cornell young Milwaukee lawyer had apparently pre­ and Harvard Law School polish contrasted empted the Democratic field. Even before he sharply with McCarthy's crudeness. In 1948 declared his candidacy, however, attention he finished second in a field of eighteen can­ had turned to the Republican primary where didates for mayor of Milwaukee. Two years there loomed a more serious threat to Mc­ later he was defeated as the Democratic aspi­ Carthy. rant for attorney general. Reuss worked vig­ orously to build up committees of supporters and succeeded in getting the backing of some

" Wisconsin State Journal, January 28, 1952; Mil­ waukee Journal, February 10, 1952. •"* Doyle interview. "The Capital Times, November 10, 1951; tape- ^° Congressional Report, July 15, 1952. This was recorded interview with Miles McMillin, Septem­ a bi-weekly bulletin published by the National Com­ ber 2, 1969; The Daily Cardinal (University of Wis­ mittee For An Effective Congress, Washington, D.C.; consin, Madison), January 23, 1952. Milwaukee Journal, November 12, 1951; Francis ^' Miles McMillin to Thomas N. Duncan, April 10, Sorauf, "The Voluntary Committee System in Wis­ 1952, Series 1, File A, Box 8, Correspondence of the consin: An Effort to Achieve Party Responsibility" Committee on Political Education, American Federa­ (Ph.D. dissertation in political science, University tion of Labor Papers, Archives-Manuscripts Divi­ of Wisconsin, 1953), 195-196. sion, State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

96 O BRIEN: THE ANTI-MCCARTHY CAMPAIGN

p OVERNOR WALTER KOHLER, JR., was ^J an urbane man with a roundish, photo­ genic face and natural warmth and charm. There were striking contrasts between the popular forty-seven-year-old chief executive and McCarthy. Whereas the Senator was bois­ terous, impetuous, and cynical, Kohler was quiet, thoughtful, and cordial without being effusive. While McCarthy was at most a mediocre lawyer and an erratic judge, Kohler was a successful business executive. The Sena­ tor was an indifferent legislator who had re­ cently displayed isolationist leanings; the gov­ ernor was a student of legislation and an in­ ternationalist who admired General Dwight Eisenhower. The first indication that the young governor might challenge McCarthy in the Republican primary came in July, 1951, after an uproar at the Republican State Convention. The 1,800 delegates hysterically cheered, yelled, and whistled as McCarthy struck out at alleged communists and fellow travelers in the Tru­ Fred R. Stanger man Administration. When two young Re­ An informal portrait of Governor Walter Kohler publicans, Arthur Peterson of Prescott and taken in 1951. the Reverend Al Eliason of Oconto, rose to speak against a resolution praising the Sena­ tor, they were booed, heckled, and physically which would allow the Democrats to make a threatened by the predominantly pro-McCar­ better showing."^* Before the Democratic thy delegates. The convention proceeded to representatives could meet with him, Kohler pass the resolution overwhelmingly. A few changed his mind and pubHcly blasted them days later, Kohler, who was not at the con­ as "publicity seekers." He emphatically op­ vention during the turmoil, criticized the dele­ posed the "infiltration of Communists into gates for their "disgraceful" and "unruly pro­ our government" and urged a "fuU and fair cedure" in not allowing the two delegates to hearing" for McCarthy's charges.^^ Demo­ express their views.*^ Attempting to capitalize cratic officials immediately accused Kohler on this apparent breach in Republican ranks, of succumbing to pro-McCarthy forces within Democratic party leaders invited Kohler to the Republican party. GOP unity behind Mc­ declare publicly his attitude toward the Sena­ Carthy was apparently restored. Yet as one tor. Kohler shocked Republicans by inviting perceptive Republican columnist noted, "Cer­ the Democrats to discuss the matter privately.^" tainly if he'd [Kohler] been guided by state Wayne Hood, chairman of the Republican party leaders he would have backed McCarthy Voluntary Committee, warned him that lib­ completely instead of suggesting that the sen­ eral newspapers and Democrats were trying to ator's charges need a full and fair hearing."^^ create strife over McCarthy for two reasons; In early September, 1951, rumors circulated "One is to beat McCarthy, and the second is to drive wedges into the Republican Party "^ Wayne Hood to Walter Kohler, Jr., July 18, 1951, Box 2 (unprocessed), Wayne Hood Papers, Archives-Manuscripts Division, State Historical So­ ciety of Wisconsin. For an example of Republican anger at Kohler, see George Larkin to Wayne Hood, ^^ Wisconsin State Journal, July 8, 1951; Milwau­ July, 1951, in the Hood Papers. kee Sentinel, July 7, 1951; The Capital Times, July ^r/te Capital Times, July 19, 1951. 13, 1951. '^ Sanford Goltz in the Wisconsin State Journal, ^Milwaukee Journal, July 12, 1951. July 25, 1951.

97 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973 that Kohler had met secretly with state labor cided to run again for governor, because no leaders to discuss his possible senatorial can­ outstanding Democratic candidate would come didacy. Despite the rumors, the governor's forward while anti-McCarthy sentiment rested statement on September 25 took observers by with Kohler. Most D.O.C. leaders feared the surprise. Upon Kohler's return from a Euro­ alignment of anti-McCarthy energy behind pean vacation, a reporter asked him if it the Republican Kohler. They realized that were true that he would not run against Mc­ they needed support from independents, ex- Carthy. Kohler responded, "I never have said Progressives, and anti-McCarthy Republicans I will not run against McCarthy for senator."^'' if their candidate was to win. Much of this He promised a decision in three or four support would not commit itself to any Demo­ months. A few days later, in what was inter­ crat so long as there was any possibility that preted as a slap at the Senator, Kohler con­ Kohler would oppose McCarthy in the Re­ demned "irresponsible attacks" on individ­ publican primary. Funds which would nor­ uals. But Kohler was vague and cagey in an­ mally go to Democrats for important early swering all questions about McCarthy, and campaigning would be withheld so long as never directly attacked him.-^ Kohler was undecided. The long-range effect Many factors apparently led Kohler to con­ of Kohler's statements, Carl Thompson ob­ sider challenging his famous party colleague. served, could be to "confuse and divide the He had always wanted to be a Senator and anti-McCarthy forces in Wisconsin until such his wife longed for the social life in Washing­ a late date that irreparable damage will be ton. Even McCarthy supporters conceded that done their campaign."^* Kohler disliked the Senator. The governor Most opponents of the Senator regarded thought McCarthy's aim in his communist Kohler as a potentially formidable candidate. hunt was to get "votes" and "headlines" which "This newcomer Kohler," Evjue noted, "is Kohler hardly considered commendable goals. probably the only man in the state who could In reviewing McCarthy's career as a lawyer beat McCarthy."^^ His potential candidacy, and a jurist, the governor told a Time maga­ moreover, received enthusiastic support. A few zine correspondent confidentially in the fall staunch Republican weekly newspapers cast of 1951, "He [McCarthy] strikes me as a McCarthy aside and endorsed Kohler for Sena­ mediocre lawyer with an easy conscience."^^ tor, although they had never previously found Kohler deplored the methods and some of the serious fault with McCarthy. Delegates to targets—especially General George Marshall the state Democratic Convention in October, —of McCarthy's anticommunist campaign.^' 1951, admitted privately that Kohler could While Mrs. Charlotte Kohler had little en­ count on the support of organized labor and thusiasm for politics, politicians, and public many Democrats. Even outgoing D.O.C. life, she had even less enthusiasm for Joe chairman Jerome Fox, in a discussion with McCarthy. President Truman on October 24, 1951, sug­ Some in the anti-McCarthy camp were gested Democratic co-operation with a Kohler skeptical of Kohler's announcement. He could candidacy in the Republican primary as the increase McCarthy's chances of re-election, best means of defeating McCarthy. An ex­ journalist Miles McMillin feared, if he de- tensive statewide survey of farmers bv the respected Wisconsin Agriculturist and Farmer disclosed that Republicans favored Kohler ^' The Capital Times, September 15, 1951; Wis­ over McCarthy in a Republican primary race consin State Journal, September 26, 1951. by a margin of 41 per cent to 40 per cent. ^ Graham Hovey, "McCarthy Faces The Voters," The margin was two-to-one for Democratic in the New Republic, December 3, 1951, p. 16; The Wisconsin Democrat, October, 1951. ^ Tape-recorded interview with Walter Kohler, Jr., September 5, 1969; Memorandum, Robert Schwartz to Barron Beshoar, October 4, 1951, Box 4, Robert Fleming Papers, Archives-Manuscripts Division, State ^ The Capital Times, November 3, 1951; Hovey, Historical Society of Wisconsin. Beshoar served in "McCarthy Faces The Voters," 15. a management capacity for the News Service of ^ Quoted in Alfred Steinberg, "Is This the Man to Time. Beat McCarthy?," in Collier's, November 24, 1951, ^ Kohler interview. p. 26.

98 O BRIEN: THE ANTI-McCARTHY CAMPAIGN farmers. The formation of a "Kohler for cial explained; "As things stand now, they Senator Club" on the University of Wisconsin [Democrats] have little chance of beating Mc­ campus drew two hundred members in the Carthy, and almost no chance of unseating first two days. Various "Citizens Committees" Kohler. But, if Kohler opposed McCarthy, the also endorsed the governor.'"' Democrats have already won half of the bat­ Milwauke Journal reporter Robert Fleming, tle. They will have got rid of one of our two a devastating critic of McCarthy, was a friend top men."^^ of Kohler and sought to persuade him to enter Virtually the entire state, district, and coun­ the senatorial contest. He sent inquiries to ty leadership of the party vigorously opposed Senator Estes Kefauver, requesting more in­ Kohler's candidacy. No state party official formation about the Tennessee Senator's re­ talked with him about his possible bid or cently successful election victory despite the indirectly put pressure on him, but lower opposition of his state party organization. echelon party leaders did. Dodge County Kohler "was very interested" in Kefauver's GOP officials informed Kohler that all the published account of his tactics, Fleming Republican leaders in the county supported wrote. "We both saw the importance of your the Senator.'''' Some friends of the governor, decision to disregard working politicians in such as Republican assemblyman Charles building your organization." Fleming was one Peterson, advised him not to enter the race of the many Wisconsinites who were willing because McCarthy was too popular, and "it to support any strong and competent chal­ would be terrible if you [Kohler] should run lenger to McCarthy, regardless of party af­ and be beaten." To offset the support for filiation. In justifying his backing of the Kohler among rank-and-file Republicans, Republican Kohler, he told the Democratic Wayne Hood urged McCarthy to make more Kefauver, "It seems to me so important that appearances in the state.^^ we change that I'm not interested in the party Conservative Republicans had their wish label.'"'^ fulfilled. On January 30, 1952, Kohler an­ Officials of the Wisconsin Federation of nounced that he would seek re-election as gov­ Labor, who were usually at odds with Re­ ernor. Frustrated and bitter, anti-McCarthy publican officeholders, actively urged Kohler forces blasted him for placing party above to enter the primary and promised him money principle. Kohler angered them further and support. After a meeting with the gover­ when he enthusiastically supported the Senator nor in October, 1951, state chairman George and even campaigned for him during the pri­ Haberman found him "noncommittal." Ha- mary and general elections. berman promised to "get sufficient pressure McCarthy's opponents were probably cor­ exerted in order to convince him he should rect in assuming that Kohler lacked the "cour­ change his mind and get into this campaign."''^ age" to risk his career by challenging his While most anti-McCarthyites praised powerful colleague. Kohler also felt obligated Kohler and urged him to enter the race. Re­ to run at least once for re-election, particular­ publican leaders were angry that he would ly in a state where the term of office was then even consider such a move. As a GOP offi- only two years. Virtually unbeatable in a re-election bid, he probably wanted to com­ plete his legislative program. If he were to "" Hovey, "McCarthy Faces The Voters," 15; re­ print of an editorial in the Glenwood City Tribune by The Capital Times, November 16, 1951; reprint of an editorial in the Whitewater Register by the "^ Green Bay Press-Gazette, October 11, 1951. Milwaukee Journal, October 12, 1951; Marquis **Kohler interview; tape-recorded interview with Childs, Wisconsin State Journal, October 30, 1951; Wayne Hood, September 10, 1969; William James New York Times, October 25, 1951; Wisconsin Agri­ to Waker Kohler, January 9, 1952, Box 41, Walter culturist and Farmer (Racine), October 6, 1951; Kohler, Jr. Papers, Archives-Manuscripts Division, The Daily Cardinal, November 13, 14, 1951. State Historical Society of Wisconsin. ^ Robert Fleming to Senator Estes Kefauver, No­ *^ Charles Peterson to Walter Kohler, January 10, vember 26, 1951, Box 3, in the Fleming Papers. 1952, in the Kohler Papers; Wayne Hood to Jean '" George Haberman to Thomas Duncan, October Kerr, November 16, 1951, Box 2, in the Hood Papers. 25, 1951, Series 1, File A, Box 8, C.O.P.E. Corre­ Jean Kerr was McCarthy's secretary and later his spondence, in the A.F.L. Papers; Kohler interview. wife.

99 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973 enter the primary, he felt the Republican party in Wisconsin would be "split to a de­ gree which would take years—perhaps a gen­ eration—to repair."^^ McCarthy's apparent success with his anti­ communist campaign also influenced Kohler. The governor had long been troubled by the communists-in-government issue, especially by the "exposures" of Alger Hiss, John Abt, Nathan Witt, and others.^'' Yet McCarthy's methods and, particularly, his attack on George Marshall disturbed the governor. On July 12, 1951, one month after the Senator's famous blast at Marshall, Kohler denounced the pro-McCarthy delegates at the Republican State Convention for harassing the two Mc­ Carthy critics. The next day, the headlines in state newspapers reported that John P. Davis, Jr., and Oliver Edmund Clubb—both targets of McCarthy—were suspended from their State Department jobs pending the out­ come of a loyalty investigation. A few days later, Kohler criticized Democrats and urged a fair hearing for the Senator's charges.''^ Similarly, a month before the governor's de­ cision not to oppose McCarthy, the State De­ partment discharged John Stewart Service, whom the Senator had called a communist. The Service case had an "extremely" im­ portant impact on Kohler and partially ex­ plained his decision not to run.^" Citing the dismissals of Clubb, Service, and others, Kohler claimed during the primary campaign Madison Capital Times that the "factual foundation" of McCarthy's crusade had "already been demonstrated.""*" Henry S. Reuss. It made little difference for the 1952 elections that Davis, Clubb, and Service were later crats had settled on Reuss, Fairchild changed cleared of any disloyalty. Anti-McCarthyites his mind and entered the contest. Many were once again stuck with the largely un­ state liberals continued to consider him the known Henry Reuss. strongest candidate against McCarthy by vir­ tue of his proven vote-getting ability and his A FTER FAIRCHILD withdrew from the appeal to independent Republicans. At the •^^ race in May, 1952, Reuss's supporters state Democratic Convention in June he had were jubilant. However, just as most Demo- been the center of attention, receiving a spon­ taneous public ovation and private expres­ sions of confidence from many local leaders. Thus, believing himself still the strongest avail­ ^ Memorandum, Walter Kohler to Sherman Adams, able candidate, he entered the race at the April 27, 1959. A copy of the memorandum was last moment—on July 8, one day before the given to the author by Kohler. '^ Ibid.; Kohler interview. primary filing date. "^The Capital Times, July 13, 19, 1951; Milwau­ The Reuss forces were angry and bitter. kee Sentinel, July 13, 1951. Reuss functionaries Herman Jessen, Gerald ^ Kohler interview. " Wisconsin State Journal, July 8, 1952. Flynn, and Leland McParland criticized Fair-

100 O BRIEN: THE ANTI-MCCARTHY CAMPAIGN

child's candidacy as creating an irreparable against the "millionaire bosses" who ran the division among the anti-McCarthy forces uni­ Republican party. Against the wishes of most ted behind Reuss. Fairchild had double-crossed of his staff, who thought Schmitt's candidacy their candidate. As they saw it, earlier party a hopeless cause, Evjue was instrumental in talks had determined that there would be coaxing Schmitt to enter the primary contest agreement on a single candidate and avoidance and then with single-minded devotion sup­ of a primary contest.''^ It appeared that the ported him during his campaign.** Fairchild's Democrats were severely divided. James candidacy hurt Schmitt. With a tough Demo­ Doyle conceded, moreover, that Fairchild's cratic primary, he could not expect a large candidacy would make it more difficult to Democratic cross-over vote. Republican stra­ acquire funds for the general election cam­ tegists estimated that Fairchild's entry would paign.*^ While Reuss remained the only Dem­ cost Schmitt at least 50,000 votes. ocratic aspirant, his friends on the Milwaukee As the September primary approached, anti- Journal staff tried to arrange for him to ad­ McCarthy forces were severely divided. The dress the National Democratic Convention in Capital Times and a few independent groups Chicago in July. McCarthy's appearance be­ urged voters to support Schmitt. Every op­ fore the Republican Convention received much portunity, they reasoned, must be made to publicity—an asset Henry Reuss badly need­ defeat McCarthy. If Schmitt lost in the pri­ ed. Senator William Benton, Connecticut mary, McCarthy's opponents could try again Democrat and prominent McCarthy critic, had in the general election. Evjue blasted Demo­ considered the idea, but Fairchild's candidacy cratic leaders for putting "party and politi­ ruined any such prospects. As Benton noted, cal expediency above a great moral crusade." Fairchild's surprise decision "means we can't Fairchild's candidacy was purely a partisan do anything for Reuss at the convention in decision, "dictated by the fears of a few party Chicago. The Democrats [in Wisconsin] now leaders that the party might suffer some loss have a primary fight on."*^ For many oppo­ of prestige if Democrats took the opportunity nents of McCarthy, however, Fairchild's en­ to place the state's good name above loyalty try had the most immediately damaging effect to party and political expediency and to vote on the candidacy of Leonard Schmitt. for Leonard F. Schmitt."*^ On the other hand, A Catholic of German descent, Len Schmitt most labor leaders and journals advised work­ was the third important candidate to enter ers to stay in the Democratic primary and for the race and the only formidable one to chal­ the most part ignored Schmitt's candidacy. lenge McCarthy in the Republican primary. Doyle insisted that Democrats remain in their The dynamic, vigorous, but humorless former own primary. Only with the strongest Demo­ Progressive announced his candidacy in June cratic candidate, he argued, could they defeat under the assumption that anti-McCarthy ef­ the Senator in November.*^ Besides, Demo­ forts would be concentrated on his primary crats had many important local elections to battle. His most important backing came from decide. In Milwaukee County, for example, William T. Evjue and The Capital Times. seventy Democrats sought the party's nomi­ Schmitt had known Evjue since childhood nation for sheriff. and had briefly worked for his newspaper As the primary approached, most atten­ while attending the University of Wisconsin. tion focused on the Schmitt-McCarthy race. The two had similar ideological views, both The Merrill attorney followed essentially the being militant fighters for the "little fellow" same strategy used by the Senator's opponents since he began his crusade, namely, to pub­ licize his unethical conduct and refute his

•^ Richard Haney, "A History of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin Since World War Two" (Ph.D. dissertation in history, University of Wisconsin, •"McMillin interview; tape-recorded interview with 1970), 164. Leonard Schmitt, September 5, 1969. ""^ Wisconsin State Journal, August 3, 1952. "^ The Capital Times, August 7, 1952. *" Memorandum, William Benton to John Howe, "Ibid., September 6, 1952; James Doyle to Thomas July 11, 1952; Howe to Benton, July 8, 1952, Box 5, Duncan, July 29, 1952, Series 1, File A, Box 8, in the Benton Papers. C.O.P.E. Correspondence, in the A.F.L. Papers.

101 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER. 1972-1973

Madison Capital Times Len Schmitt (center) in the course of his gruelling but unsuccessful radio talkathon.

charges of communists-in-government while nearly enough to give Schmitt the victory. criticizing his methods. McCarthy's red hunt Aside from The Capital Times, a few citizens' was a "gigantic hoax," Schmitt asserted; the groups, and some segments of the state AF of Senator had done "absolutely nothing to chase L, his candidacy received little support. As Communists out of the government."*^ a whole, organized labor ignored his cam­ Schmitt began a traditional stump cam­ paign and urged its members to vote in the paign of the state, delivering street corner Democratic primary. R. Merrill Rhey, sec­ speeches from a sound truck, but this was a retary of the Kenosha Trades and Labor Coun­ failure. Crowds seemed resentful of him and, cil, argued that Republicans should "put according to Schmitt, stared at him "like dumb their own house in order."*^ animals." He needed public exposure. When While ignoring Schmitt's press releases, he heard about the amazing success of the conservative newspapers were unsparing in talkathon as a campaign device in Arkansas, their editorial criticism. They reminded their he decided to base his entire effort on that Republican readers of Schmitt's refusal to format.** The talkathon was a marathon radio support Walter Kohler in 1950, after his talk in which the candidate answered ques­ defeat in the gubernatorial primary, and of tions from all comers. In some large cities, his outspoken criticism of the Republican Schmitt remained on the air for as long as Voluntary Committee.^" twenty-five continuous hours, answering ques­ Nor could Schmitt's vigor and dedication tions about himself and McCarthy. With his compensate for his lack of finances, party physical stamina, calm manner, and keen endorsement, and statewide organization—as­ knowledge of the issues, Schmitt seemed ideal­ sets which McCarthy possessed. Financial ly suited for this technique. The publicity problems frustrated Schmitt. His plan to raise it received and the interest it aroused seemed to confirm its success. The talkathon technique, however, was not •"' The Eau Claire Leader, September 3, 1952. For examples of labor apathy toward Schmitt and support of Democrats see the Union Labor News, May to September, 1952, and the Kenosha Labor, " The Capital Times, August 7, 13, 1952. August to September, 1952. •" Schmitt interview; Milwaukee Journal, August ^ As an example see the Wisconsin State Journal, 31, 1952. August 14, 1952. 102 0 BRIEN : TFIE ANTI-MCCARTHY CAMPAIGN money from the "little people" through a the white collar vote, and some Democratic "Dollars for Decency" campaign was a com­ votes, observers believed, went to the incum­ plete failure, and Fairchild's candidacy de­ bent. Now convinced of his vote-getting pow­ stroyed his hope of acquiring funds outside er, many of the Senator's critics sought ex­ the state. Meyer Cohen, a lawyer and Demo­ planations for the debacle in the strength of cratic party leader from Green Bay, tried to isolationism in the state, McCarthy's over­ collect money for Schmitt among contacts whelming Catholic support, his concentration in New York and had expected to raise on a single issue, his underdog image, and $50,000. About the time Cohen arrived in especially the effective issue of communists- New York to close the deal, Fairchild en­ in-government. "I think," a shaken Len tered the Democratic primary. Since most of Schmitt observed, "that Wisconsin people are Cohen's contacts were labor officials and voting against Stalin."^^ Whereas the Sena­ Democrats, they immediately changed their tor's opponents were depressed, McCarthy par­ minds and he returned to Wisconsin with only tisans were jubilant and the meaning of the $5,000.=^! victory was clear to them. As one post-elec­ Despite many problems, cautious optimism tion headline read: "Joe Landslide Shows pervaded the Schmitt camp on the eve of the Faith in War On Reds.''^'"* primary. Some believed that McCarthy's fa­ To nearly everyone, McCarthy appeared natically vocal supporters might have created politically invincible. Actually, however, this the impression that his backing among Re­ was not the case, and anti-McCarthy prospects publicans was greater than it was. Notwith­ for the general election were not so gloomy standing the urging of their leaders, Schmitt's as most observers believed. Democrats tradi­ partisans felt that many rank-and-file Demo­ tionally did poorly in the primary. This was crats and working men would vote for Schmitt. particularly true in 1952 when the party Anti-McCarthy forces were stunned, there­ would triple its primary vote in the general fore, when McCarthy trounced Schmitt by a election while at the same time McCarthy's two-and-a-half to one margin (515,481 to would increase only fractionally. In the pri­ 213,701), winning all but two of Wisconsin's mary. Democrats either abstained from vot­ seventy-one counties. Fairchild narrowly de­ ing, voted in the Democratic column, or feated Reuss in the Democratic race (97,321 voted for Schmitt. McCarthy did best in those to 94,379), but the two candidates received counties with the least Democrats and did only 17 per cent of the total vote, compared worst in traditional Democratic strongholds.^* to 30 per cent in the 1950 senatorial primary. But only a few Democratic strategists per­ McCarthy received 100,000 more votes than ceived this fact. Many party workers and the combined total of all his opponents (five supporters were demoralized by the primary Republicans and two Democrats). He won tabulations, a situation which handicapped the labor strongholds of Milwaukee, Kenosha, Democratic efforts during the general elec­ and Racine. The farm vote, the labor vote, tion campaign.

rpO CRITICS OF McCarthy the meaning of -*- the 1952 primary election was clear: it "'• Schmitt interview. Additional confirmation of Cohen's visit comes from Luke P. Carroll, assistant was suicidal to fight the Senator on his com­ to the editor of the New York Herald-Tribune. On munist issue. A minority of his opponents had July 3, 1952, Cohen appeared in Carroll's office to seek "some help," meaning either publicity or money held this position all along, but after the or both. Cohen argued that Schmitt had a "real chance" of knocking off McCarthy in the primary. The vote for Robert Taft in the Wisconsin presidential primary in 1952, he said, was smaller than the anti-Taft vote and that this was the maximum Mc­ ^^ Quoted in Graham Hovey, "How McCarthy Sold Carthy vote. Cohen believed that the votes for Har­ Wisconsin," in the New Republic, September 22, old Stassen and Earl Warren in the Republican 1952, p. 10. presidential primary, plus 100,000 Democratic presi­ "'Milwaukee Sentinel, September 11, 1952. dential primary votes would cross over and vote "^ Karl Meyer, "The Politics of Loyalty from La against McCarthy and give Schmitt the victory. Luke Follette to McCarthy in Wisconsin, 1918-1952" Carroll to Robert Fleming, July 3, 1952, Box 1, in (Ph.D. dissertation in politics, Princeton University, the Fleming Papers. 1956), 191-192.

103 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973

Schmitt debacle it became the dominant view. decision of the general election in November After the primary, Aldric Revell of The Capi­ as a leadpipe cinch for McCarthy."^* tal Times again reminded anti-McCarthyites Rubin and D.O.C. leaders such as James that "it does no good to quote reams of sta­ Doyle and Patrick Lucey, Fairchild's cam­ tistics attempting to prove that McCarthy has paign manager, were notable exceptions to failed to expose Communists in Washington. the prevailing mood. They sincerely believed The people believe that he has."^° that the primary results had been misinter­ Leading D.O.C. strategists, who now as­ preted and that Fairchild still had a chance sumed leadership of the anti-McCarthy drive, to upset the Senator. According to their rea­ adopted this view. McCarthy was victorious soning, Fairchild would receive two-thirds of in the primary, they reasoned, because he the votes cast for Schmitt in the primary, one- convinced voters that there were communists- half of the 50,000 votes for minor Republican in-government and that he had tossed them candidates, and all the votes for Henry Reuss. out. The Truman Administration had been Since Democrats traditionally did better in ineffective in meeting the Senator's onslaught. presidential election years and in the general No longer should state Democrats "slug out election, Fairchild's candidacy was by no the campaign on the issue of McCarthyism."^^ means a hopeless cause. Democratic strate­ Instead, while continuing to publicize his un­ gists instructed party workers to flush out the ethical conduct, they should concentrate more stay-at-home vote in Madison and in the large on his neglect of farmers, labor, and small eastern Wisconsin cities. The Farmer's Union businessmen and point out the economic pro­ territory in the northwestern part of the state, gress of the past twenty years under national where Fairchild had led Senator Alexander Democratic control.^'^ Wiley in 1950, was another D.O.C. target. With such slim prospects of defeating Mc­ Democrats ignored the rural areas which went Carthy, it was difficult to raise money for heavily for McCarthy in the primary. The Thomas Fairchild's campaign. For the same D.O.C. underestimated the strength of Re­ reason, there was a noticeable tendency for publican presidential candidate Dwight Eisen­ liberal publications to pay less attention to hower. Patrick Lucey, for example, assumed defeating the Senator in order to concen­ that Fairchild would run better than Adlai trate on more promising contests. Morris Stevenson but that the latter would also poll Rubin, editor of The McCarthy Record and well. Being governor of the neighboring state The Progressive magazine, was bitter and of Illinois and having what sounded like a angry about the pessimism which pervaded Norwegian name (Wisconsin had a high per­ the anti-McCarthy camp immediately follow­ centage of persons of Norwegian ancestry), ing the primary. He blamed the national news he believed Stevenson would run a close race media for inaccurately reporting the signifi­ with Eisenhower.^" cance of the McCarthy victory. "I am greatly McCarthy's opponents sought to exploit the disturbed about how some of the columnists tension between McCarthy and Eisenhower, and commentators have gone off slightly cock­ but without success. The Republican presi- eyed on the McCarthy story," he wrote col­ umnist Marquis Childs, one of the culprits. "I think it is a serious mistake to regard the ^ Morris Rubin to Marquis Childs, September 16, 1952, Box 10, Marquis Childs Papers, in Archives- Manuscripts Division, State Historical Society of Wisconsin. '" Memorandum by the D.O.C, "The 1952 Wisconsin ^ Aldric Revell, in The Capital Times, September Primary"; memorandum. Finance Committee of the 15, 1952. Democratic Organizing Committee of Wisconsin, Oc­ '" Memorandum, Democratic Organizing Committee tober 15, 1952, Series 5, Box 39, in the Americans of Wisconsin, "The 1952 Wisconsin Primary with For Democratic Action Papers, Archives-Manuscripts Special Emphasis on the 5th District," September, Division, State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1952, Series 1, File A, Box 8, C.O.P.E. Correspond­ copy of memorandum, Democratic Organizing Com­ ence, in the A.F.L. Papers. mittee of Wisconsin, September 5, 1952, Series 1, °' Ibid.; John Wyngaard, Green Bay Press-Gazette, File A, Box 8, C.O.P.E. Correspondence, in the September 16, 1952. A.F.L. Papers; Lucey interview.

104 O BRIEN: THE ANTI-MCCARTHY CAMPAIGN

Society's Iconographic Collections Flanked by Thomas Fairchild and William Proxmire, Adlai Stevenson, Demo­ cratic candidate for President, rides down Madison's State Street to address an audience of 9,000 at the University fieldhouse, October 8, 1952. dential nominee was caught in a dilemma. for a particular candidate. He would not sup­ Apart from his personal distaste for the Sena­ port anything which smacked of "un-Ameri- tor, of which he left no doubt in private con­ canism" such as "the unjust damaging of versation, he had an almost obsessive hatred reputation." He could not give a "blanket en­ for McCarthy's "smearing" of the Truman dorsement" to anyone who held views of that and Roosevelt administrations. Eisenhower's kind. He promised, however, to "support" any blood boiled at the mention of McCarthy's candidate as a "member of the Republican assault on his friend George Marshall. On organization." During his dramatic cam­ the other hand, Ike had to appease the rabid paign trip to Wisconsin in early October, pro-McCarthy faction in his party in order 1952, Eisenhower conceded to the wishes of to avoid full-scale party warfare on the very Republican party leaders and refrained from eve of the election.^" criticizing McCarthy or praising General Mar- At first Eisenhower attempted to avoid the shalL"! problem by taking an ambiguous stand on the Anti-McCarthyites in Wisconsin repeatedly controversial Senator. At a news conference asked Eisenhower how he could tolerate Mc­ in Denver, Colorado, on August 22, 1952, he Carthy after the Senator had maligned Mar­ distinguished between a general, party-line shall. Part of the strategy of the Democrats endorsement for an entire Republican slate, was to "make the most of his [Eisenhower's] and a specific declaration of personal support ambiguous statement of support of McCarthy

°° Sherman Adams, Firsthand Report: The Story of "Griffith, "The General and the Senator," 23-29; the Eisenhower Administration (New York, 1961), copy of the text of Eisenhower's press conference at 137; Robert Griffith, "The General and the Senator: Denver, Colorado, August 22, 1952, Box 36, in the Republican Politics and the 1952 Camnaign in Sherman Adams Papers, Dwight D. Eisenhower Li­ Wisconsin," in the Wisconsin Magazine of History, brary, Abilene, Kansas; New York Times, August 24, 54:23-24 (Autumn, 1970). 1952.

105 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973 to show that he really repudiates him." But vert the preoccupation of various groups with Democrats found it difficult to attack Ike. McCarthy's communist hunt to issues which They had planned on running against Senator normally tied them to the Democratic party. Robert Taft. At their state convention in 1948, In Milwaukee, for example. Democratic stra­ Democrats had witnessed an uncontrollable tegy sought to capture the Polish-Catholic- and spontaneous demonstration on behalf of Labor vote which was attracted to McCarthy drafting Eisenhower for the Democratic nomi­ because of his affiliation with the Roman nation for President. Richard Haney, his­ Catholic Church and his anticommunist cam­ torian of the Wisconsin Democratic party, paign. Democrats placed advertisements in has observed that Democrats "found it hard Polish newspapers, depicting Fairchild with to denounce, as a McCarthyite, that same popular Milwaukee Democratic Congressman Eisenhower, even if the general was the Re­ Clement Zablocki and stressing the gains of publican Presidential nominee."^^ labor under the Democratic party.^* Thomas Fairchild was a former La Follette Fairchild seldom questioned the veracity Progressive who moved into the Democratic of McCarthy's charges of communists-in-gov­ party after the defeat of Senator Bob La ernment. On one occasion he alleged that the Follette in 1946. Soft-spoken and dignified, Senator had not exposed any communists, that Fairchild had aroused more genuine respect the only ones "who have been convicted have than any man who had risen to prominence in been rooted out by the FBI, the Justice De­ the reorganized Democratic party and was partment and the courts of the United States." the most formidable candidate the Democrats Usually, when he discussed the issue at all, he could put forward. But he was almost too mod­ attacked McCarthy's methods which destroyed est and retiring for politics, and his dull man­ "the rights of free speech and free thought."^^ ner of speaking was a handicap for a claim­ On the whole, Fairchild's campaign stressed ant for high office. Even his gestures on the those aspects of McCarthy's career which speaking platform were restrained. His wav­ seemed most vulnerable. Fairchild reviewed ing from an open car was jerky and cautious, the great variety of controversial activities as if he feared that bystanders really did not which made up the Senator's personal record. want him to wave at them. He inspired respect His campaign advertisements asked state citi­ but little enthusiasm. zens to vote for "honorable representation" The contrast in the styles of Fairchild and and to "Elect the man Wisconsin can be McCarthy was striking. McCarthy, the con­ proud of.""'' servative-backed incumbent, campaigned with For the first time the major thrust of the the free wheeling intransigence once asso­ anti-McCarthy movement, spearheaded by ciated with Old Bob La Follette; while Fair- Fairchild, aimed at criticizing McCarthy's child, the New Dealer, exhibited the sober conservative voting record. Fairchild repeat­ moderation and restrained dignity suitable to edly attacked his opponent's neglect of farm a starch-stiff conservative. "At times," a stu­ issues, his votes for tideland's oil (which bene­ dent of the campaign has observed, "Fairchild fitted states with offshore oil rather than Wis­ seemed like a staid minister scolding the town consin), and his opposition to social security rowdy, and McCarthy resembled a Populist and federal aid to education. He tried unsuc­ fire-eater threatening to impale the pluto­ cessfully to goad McCarthy into discussing crats on a pitchfork."^^ something other than communism. "With the election day less than a month away," Fair- T F THERE WAS a single thread of strategy child charged, "people of Wisconsin have yet •'- for the Fairchild campaign, it was to di­ to hear him [McCarthy] talk about the prob­ lems of agriculture, labor-management rela-

"^ Copy of memorandum, Democratic Organizing Committee of Wisconsin, September 4, 1952, Series 1, File A, Box 8, C.O.P.E. Correspondence, in the "Lucey interview; Doyle inter-view. A.F.L. Papers; Haney, "Democratic Party of Wis­ '" Appleton Post-Crescent, October 22, 1952; see consin Since World War Two," 178. also The Capital Times, October 24, 1952. ""Meyer, "The Politics of Loyalty," 195. ""' The Beloit Daily News, November 1, 1952.

106 O BRIEN: THE ANTI-MCCARTHY CAMPAIGN tions, social security, housing, inflation. . . ." Realizing its success. Democrats rushed tape The major theme of Fairchild's newspaper ad­ recordings of the show to radio stations vertisements urged voters to elect him "for throughout the state. Democrats considered continued prosperity." "It remains to be Morgan's television appearance the most ef­ seen," observed a pro-McCarthy columnist of fective tactic of their campaign."^ Fairchild's strategy, "whether soft-pedaling Despite his vigorous efforts, Fairchild could the Communist issue and hitting at McCarthy's not offset the major advantages enjoyed by first-term voting record can produce any real McCarthy, namely, better financial backing, effect in the few short weeks left.""'^ stronger party organization, and overwhelm­ Ironically, the most successful tactic of ing newspaper support and publicity. Al­ the Fairchild campaign did not prove to be though he raised more funds than Schmitt, the attacks on McCarthy's voting record or Fairchild could never match the financial sup­ his unethical personal conduct, but a frontal port of his opponent. A major portion of con­ assault on the validity of his communist cru­ tributions to Fairchild came from eastern sade. The Senator ignored Fairchild's cam­ states. The National Committee For An Ef­ paign until the day before the election, when fective Congress, based in Washington, D.C, he was forced to recognize the gravity of a raised from $20,000 to $30,000 for the Demo­ charge brought against him by Edward P. cratic aspirant."^ The Republican Voluntary Morgan, former administrative assistant to Committee and the McCarthy Club were more FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and a specialist effective in raising funds for McCarthy. Ad­ on communist activities. Coaxed into coming vertisements soliciting contributions for the to Wisconsin by Morris Rubin, Morgan ap­ Senator appeared in newspapers throughout peared on Milwaukee television with Fair- the nation, and a flood of out-of-state money child on November 2 and made a fervent ap­ poured into Wisconsin. peal that McCarthy be defeated. He revealed Unlike their Republican counterparts, the a personal—and until then confidential— Democrats lacked adequate organizational incident in which McCarthy used a forged strength. Although the formation of the civil service commission report on security D.O.C. in 1948 had improved their organiza­ studies in a Senate speech attacking com­ tion. Democrats had won few state and local munists-in-government. He also charged that offices. They therefore operated without the after McCarthy's Wheeling, West Virginia, county offices which provided the basic speech, during which the Senator alleged there strength of most successful state and party were 205 Communists in the State Depart­ organizations. ment, McCarthy's aides came to Morgan in In the 1952 general election an overwhelm­ desperation to ask for assistance in identifying ing majority of state newspapers endorsed the just one communist to build into another Alger entire Republican ticket, including McCarthy. Hiss case. McCarthy was obviously stung by Those papers editorially favoring the Senator the charges. On election eve he responded that supported him consistently in their news col­ Morgan had posed as an FBI agent when ac­ umns as well. McCarthy's name appeared in tually he had left the department in 1947 three-and-one-half times more news items (which Morgan had stipulated), and called than his opponent. An analysis of front page his attack a "new low in campaign degenera­ cy." The use of an FBI figure was apparently magic in combating McCarthy. Scores of per­ sons from Milwaukee and surrounding areas '^Milwaukee Journal, November 3, 4, 1952; Robert enthusiastically responded to the program. Fleming to Stephen J. Spingarn, November 15, 1952, Internal Security File, Box 37, in the Stephen Spin­ garn Papers, Truman Library; Morris Rubin to Edward P. Morgan, November 6, 1952, Political Campaign Material, Box 61, in the Spingarn Papers; Lucey interview. ""^ Ibid.; The Capital Times, September 21, 29, ^ This observation was based on copies of a large October 21, 24, 1952; Superior Evening Telegram, number of thank-you letters to contributors to the October 10, 1952; The La Crosse Tribune, Novem­ Fairchild campaign found in the Papers of the ber 3, 1952; Sanford Goltz in the Wisconsin State National Committee For An Effective Congress, Journal, October 16, 1952. Washington, D.C.

107 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973

Society's Iconographic Collections Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild listening to the election returns on the radio. attention revealed that McCarthy appeared —endorsed the cult of McCarthyism.""' The four times more often than Fairchild. In sentiments of his opponents, and an accurate front page headlines, the ratio was almost prediction of the events of the next five years, five to one.'^" were probably best expressed by James Doyle's These handicaps proved too much for Fair- statement following the election: child, as McCarthy swept to victory by a plur­ ality of 870,444 to 731,402. The Senator's To President Eisenhower: Our full and fervent support in the task of building the adversaries were proud of the "moral victory" peace. they achieved in that McCarthy trailed the To Gov. Stevenson: Our eternal admira­ state ticket. Nevertheless, he won another six- tion for the most gallant and eloquent cam­ year term in the Senate. His re-election was paign in American history. a "black day in the history of Wisconsin," To Gov. Kohler: Our congratulations on The Capital Times noted sadly, a day in which your decisive victory. the people "with full knowledge of the record To Senator McCarthy: War unto the death.'''^ And so it would be. ™ LeRoy Ferguson and Ralph Smuckler, Politics in the Press: An Analysis of Press Content in 1952 Senatorial Campaigns (The Government Research ' The Capital Times, November 5, 1952. Bureau, East Lansing, Michigan, 1954), 60-67. ""Ibid.

108 WISCONSIN LABOR AND THE CAMPAIGN OF 1952

By DAVID M. OSHINSKY

'T'HE YEAR 1952 was of particular interest The theory that organized labor deserted -*- to organized labor in Wisconsin; the man La Follette was based primarily on two fact­ who had been labeled "the buffoon assassin" ors: communist domination of the Wisconsin by one local union journal and "Slippery Joe" Industrial Union Council (CIO), and the in­ by another was finally coming home to face creasing interest of the state's noncommunist the people.' Under any circumstances Senator labor leaders in the revitalized Wisconsin Joseph McCarthy would have been one of Democratic party. The communists, it seemed, labor's prime targets. His vicious slaps at the were outraged by La Follette's vocal anti- Truman Administration, his strong congres­ Soviet posture following World War II, while sional support for Taft-Hartley, and his the newly recruited Democrats were disen­ staunchly conservative domestic voting record chanted with his decision to re-enter the state were hardly designed to win him friends with­ GOP after the Progressive party disbanded. in the union movement. Yet the coming cam­ The result was a massive desertion of labor paign evoked a special sense of urgency, for support which allegedly tipped the scales most political analysts agreed that organized against La Follette. According to the standard labor was directly responsible for McCarthy's analysis of the primary, "the Communists and startling victory over Robert M. La Follette, Democrats were out for La Follette's hide; Jr., in the 1946 Republican senatorial primary. and the blast explosion of their negativism When Morris Rubin, editor of The Progres­ blew Joe McCarthy right into the United sive, noted bitterly that Wisconsin unionists States Senate."* had "buried the knife in [Bob La Follette] Following the 1946 elections, organized one of the best friends they ever had," his labor in Wisconsin experienced major changes statement went virtually unchallenged.^ With of leadership and political direction. Of pri­ few exceptions, state labor leaders acknowl­ mary importance was the expulsion of the edged their guilt, apologized for the role they communists from the state CIO after more had played in McCarthy's election, and prom­ than a decade of "violence, the suppression of ised never to let it happen again.^ union democracy, and the misuse of union funds."^ Having finally renounced all forms

^ Wisconsin CIO News (Milwaukee), September 21, 1951; Milwaukee AFL Labor Press, July 24, 1952. ^ See, especially, Milwaukee AFL Labor Press, ^ Morris Rubin, "The First Column," in The Pro­ August 6, 1950; Madison Union Labor News, Sep­ gressive, 10:1 (August 26, 1946). Labor's respon­ tember, 1946. sibility for La Follette's defeat is also analyzed by ' Jack Anderson and Ronald May, McCarthy: The James Reston in the New York Times, August 15, Man, The Senator, The 'Ism' (New York, 1952), 85. 1946; Lawrence Eklund in the Milwaukee Journal, " Thomas Gavett, The Development of the Labor August 15, 1946; and William Evjue in The Capital Movement in Milwaukee (Madison, 1965), 196. See Times (Madison), August 15, 1946. For labor's re­ also Robert Ozanne, "The Effects of Communist buttal, see Kenosha Labor, August 15, 1946; Racine Leadership on American Trade Unions" (doctoral Labor, August 16, 1946. dissertation, University of Wisconsin, 1954), 251-277.

109 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER. 1972-1973 of "political radicalism," most CIO leaders behind a single Democratic candidate. Wis­ gravitated instinctively towards the Demo­ consin unionists were badly split on this issue. cratic party, where they joined forces with a Some wanted to rush into the Democratic group of AF of L officials who had already primary to insure the nomination of a de­ abandoned their organization's traditional cidedly prolabor candidate; others desired policy of "political nonalignment." As the strict neutrality; a few even urged the use of Kenosha Labor so well put it: "There is hope union resources in the Republican primary to in the Democratic party because of the great support the candidacy of Len Schmitt, a form­ many liberals joining its ranks. What the er Progressive who seemed to have an outside other parties have to offer hardly requires dis­ chance of defeating McCarthy for the GOP cussion in a labor paper."'' By 1952, organ­ senatorial nomination.'" ized labor controlled many local Democratic At the outset, labor's political predicament clubs, placed three representatives on the was minimized by the fact that only one major executive board of the Democratic Organizing Democratic candidate, Henry Reuss, appeared Committee, and came close to electing one of willing to enter the senatorial primary. Reuss, its own leaders to the chairmanship of that a Milwaukee lawyer well known for his pro- body.^ labor sympathies, had the strong support of union leaders and journals along the indus­ A S LABOR mobilized its forces for the 1952 trial lakeshore." He visited local and regional -^~*- elections, the general feeling was that, labor meetings, spoke at picnics, banquets, far from being invincible, Senator McCarthy and other functions, and generally made a was actually in deep political trouble. Not favorable impression among blue-collar work­ only had the number of registered Democrats ers. In May of 1952, with no other Demo­ increased tremendously during the past six cratic challenger in sight, the state AF of L years, but thousands of Republican voters and CIO gave him their official endorsement.'^ were openly expressing their disgust with the The trouble began on July 8, when, after Senator's lackluster legislative record. Aside repeatedly denying his intention to run in from the controversial nature of his anticom­ the Democratic primary, Madison's popular munist crusade, it was widely believed in Thomas Fairchild entered the race. This Wisconsin that "almost every group . . . with eleventh hour move again fragmented the the exception of the real estate lobby and the labor community. Many unionists, remember­ large businessmen had at one time or another ing Fairchild's great drawing power among been let down by McCarthy."^ Indeed, Demo­ moderate Republicans and independents in cratic Organizing Committee Chairman James the 1950 election when he had come within E. Doyle noted candidly that the senatorial 70,000 votes of unseating Senator Alexander race offered his party its only realistic hope Wiley, felt he would be the strongest candi­ for victory in November.^ date against McCarthy; others believed it was The first major decision confronting the unconscionable to desert Reuss at such a late state labor movement was whether to involve date.'^ In the end, the state AF of L and CIO itself in the senatorial primary, thereby risk­ bodies, and the vast majority of regional and ing a dissipation of precious financial re­ sources and a possible factional dispute over the selection of nominees, or to wait until ^^ The Wisconsin Democrat, November, 1951, Jan­ after the election to throw its political leverage uary, 1952, June, 1952. " Some unionists, led by Harold Newton, editor of Kenosha Labor, began a movement to draft Gay- lord Nelson, then a yoimg state senator, but soon switched to the Reuss camp. The Wisconsin Demo­ 'Kenosha Labor, March 8, 1946. crat, December, 1951. '^ The Wisconsin Democrat, October, 1951; Donald ^^ Wisconsin CIO News, July 11, August 1, 1952; P. Kommers, "Organized Labor's Political Spending The Wisconsin Democrat, June, 1952. and the Catlin Act" (master's thesis, University of " The Wisconsin Democrat, December, 1951; in­ Wisconsin, 1957), 44. terview with Loren Norman, editor, Racine Labor, ' John P. Frank, "The Team Against McCarthy," April 5, 1971; interview with George Haberman, in The New Republic, 126:17 (March 10, 1952). former president, Wisconsin State Federation of " Ibid. Labor, September 30, 1969.

110 OSHINSKY: WISCONSIN LABOR AND THE CAMPAIGN OF 1952 local councils, remained loyal to their original choice, although the decision was based main­ ly on pragmatic grounds. Having already printed thousands of pamphlets and flyers supporting Reuss, and having publicly en­ dorsed him at various gatherings throughout the state, they had neither the time nor the money to work for another candidate.'* On September 9, Fairchild defeated Reuss for the nomination. The victorious candidate, a soft-spoken New Dealer, a proven liberal, and a strong critic of the Taft-Hartley Act, worked quickly to solidify his position among state union leaders. His first move was to accept the unionist conception of McCarthy. "It has been continually said of our junior senator," he noted, "that he has hidden his poor attendance record and his votes for the privileged few behind the smokescreen of his violent attacks against the Truman Admini­ stration. However, I don't think there is any Milwaukee Journal-Milwaukee Public Library smokescreen thick enough to cover his failure Cartoon by Ross Lewis in the Milwaukee Journal, in the field of labor legislation."'^ Wisconsin October 29, 1952. union officials were "doubly pleased" with Fairchild's nomination, for they not only had radio and television time to explain to the a candidate who would provide them with voters the venomous nature of the Senator's representation, but also one with the ability charges, he was drubbed by a margin of two to beat McCarthy.'" to one. "They (voters of Wisconsin) didn't On the other hand, Wisconsin's Republican vote for anyone," the exasperated loser told senatorial primary proved disastrous for GOP one reporter. "They voted against Joe liberals and moderates. Despite Len Schmitt's Stalin."'8 energetic, well-managed campaign, he was simply overwhelmed by the McCarthy forces. /^RGANIZED LABOR now had a "favor- The junior Senator had decided to use the ^^ able" candidate to contest McCarthy in primary as a testing ground for the popularity November, but the primary results were still of the communist issue; and, quite obviously, disheartening for they revealed a widespread many voters were favorably impressed. Ad­ acceptance among blue-collar workers of the vertisements for McCarthy dotted the country­ Senator's anticommunist appeal. In Milwau­ side with slogans like "Fellow Traveler. Parlor kee's heavily Polish-Catholic working-class Pink. Is There A Place For Them In Our wards, for example, 47 per cent of those voting Government? The American People Say in the primary cast their ballots for Republi­ 'NO'" and "America Loves Him For The can candidates (as opposed to the city average Enemies He Has Made. Who Are The Ene­ of 61 per cent). However, these same workers mies? Joe Stalin, The Pinks, The Reds— (or members of their families) who voted Fearless Joe McCarthy Pulls No Punches, Republican gave McCarthy 71 per cent of Names Them All."" Although Schmitt took out much expensive

"" Handouts from the McCarthy campaign are pre­ served in the Committee on Political Education of " See especially, Wisconsin CIO News, July 18, the American Federation of Labor, File B (McCarthy 1952. File), AFL-CIO Papers, Archives-Manuscripts Divi­ '^Quoted in the Union Labor News (Madison), sion, State Historical Society of Wisconsin. September, 1952. "* Quoted in "Wisconsin Testifies Against Mc­ ^'= Wisconsin CIO News, September 28, 1952. Carthy," in The Nation 175:166 (August 30, 1952).

Ill WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973 their ballots (as opposed to the city average why and . . . they said, 'He'll be an easier man of only 63 per cent). In the city's eight pre­ to beat than Schmitt.' Just how many thou­ dominantly labor wards, comprising much of sands of others did the same thing is a ques­ the Fourth Congressional District, McCarthy tion to be considered."^" However, in a more won three outright, and came close to winning candid moment, the same individual noted three others.'^ that "McCarthy has us beat, at least temporari­ ly. ... I was not surprised that he won; the Table 1 only thing that surprised me was the ma­ jority he got."^' Milwaukee Labor Wards, 1952 Senatorial Primary In reality, the substantial labor support for Mc­ Fair- McCarthy was not unexpected. Many Demo­ Ward Carthy Schmitt child Reuss cratic unionists, especially Catholics of Polish, 4 2,333 1,124 956 1,007 Italian, and Czech extraction who were clus­ 5 1,697 994 1,269 1,718 tered along the industrial lakeshore, were 8 1,834 741 1,407 1,990 registering their protests not only against the 12 1,070 553 1,378 1,917 standard McCarthy targets like the Eastern 14 1,465 691 1,813 3,033 17 2,334 1,443 946 1,976 Establishment, but also against a foreign pol­ 24 3,720 2,117 2,466 4,313 icy which had failed to stop the rise of com­ 27 2,791 1,574 813 1,819 munism in Eastern Europe, and had resigned 17,244 8,237 11,048 17,773 itself to the proposition that Soviet expansion City might only be contained, not rolled back. As Total 78,366 45,799 28,828 49,495 labor leaders analyzed the primary results, Source: Twenty-Second Biennial Report of the Board they realized that attacks upon McCarthyism of Election Commissioners of the City of Milwaukee, as a threat to vital civil liberties held little or 1953, p. 104 no appeal for these workers; in fact, it seemed Various interpretations have been forward­ as if most union members would have sup­ ed to explain McCarthy's surprising strength ported any program, no matter how abhorrent in these labor strongholds. Some Wisconsin to the American legal tradition, which sought unionists believed that many working-class to reverse their government's alleged apathy Democrats had purposely entered the Re­ towards both domestic subversion and Soviet publican primary to support the Senator be­ aggression.^^ The Wisconsin CIO News wrote cause they felt he would be an easier opponent in its post-mortem of the September primary, for a Democrat to defeat in November than "The Cavemen won a victory at the polls last a former Progressive like Schmitt, who could Tuesday and it is obvious that many CIO make deep inroads among the state's liberal members helped bring this about."^' voters. As one railroad labor leader wrote: "I know four Democrats in my neighborhood \V 7ITH the primary elections behind them, who . . . voted for McCarthy. I asked them ' ' state labor leaders charted their course

^ Roy Empey to John Reynolds, September 12, ^° The south side of Milwaukee, comprising wards 1952, in the Roy Empey Papers, Archives-Manu­ 4, 5, 8, 12, 14, 17, 24, and 27 offers a prime example scripts Division, State Historical Society of Wis­ of a working-class population of Polish-Catholic and consin. East European descent. According to the U.S. Census ^ Empey to William Evjue, September 14, 1952, of 1950, 26,300 of the 40,000 employed males in in the Empey Papers. these wards, or about 66 per cent had blue-collar ^ Samuel Stouffer, Communism, Conformity and jobs (as opposed to the state average of 45.8 per cent Civil Liberties (Garden City, New York, 1955), and the county average of 57.2 per cent). There 26-77; Seymour M. Lipset, "Three Decades of the were 12,500 factory operatives, 10,600 craftsmen or Radical Right: Coughlinites, McCarthyites, and foremen, and 3,200 common laborers. Almost all Birchers," in Daniel Bell (ed.), The Radical Right of these workers were union members. Bureau of (New York, 1964), 400-102; Martin Trow, "Right- the Census, Census of the Population, 1950, volume Wing Radicalism and Political Intolerance; A Study 2, "Characteristics of the Population," part 49, of Support for McCarthy in a New England Town" Wisconsin, 49-63; Douglas Knudson, "The Extent (doctoral dissertation, Columbia University, 1957), of Unionism in Wisconsin" (master's thesis. Uni­ 153-169; Kevin Phillips, The Emerging Republican versity of Wisconsin, 1964). For ethnic characteris­ Majority (New York, 1968), 157-159. tics, see "Characteristics of the Population," 60-63. ^ Wisconsin CIO News, September 12, 1952.

112 OSHINSKY: WISCONSIN LABOR AND THE CAMPAIGN OF 1952 of action. After much discussion they de­ that the members of our locals should not be cided, first, to avoid Schmitt's fatal mistake ordered to vote in a certain way. Politics of challenging McCarthy directly on the mat­ should be discussed in terms of bread and ter of communists in government. Instead, butter issues. The members, after education they chose to stage a vigorous counterattack and discussion, should be free to vote as they aimed at the Senator's most serious weak­ wish."27 nesses: his day-to-day performance as a legis­ By the summer of 1952, labor's campaign lator, his domestic voting record, and the na­ was in high gear.^** Each local Political Action ture and source of his political support. Sec­ Commitee formed an organizational hierarchy ond, although 1952 was the year of presi­ with a labor alderman assigned to every ward, dential, congressional, and gubernatorial elec­ and a labor assemblyman to every district. tions in Wisconsin, these leaders determined These individuals were given the responsibili­ that the McCarthy-Fairchild contest would oc­ ty of breaking down the union membership cupy their almost exclusive attention. The lists into ward and precinct units, and of as­ AF of L's Committee on Political Education, signing volunteer workers to distribute litera­ for example, began soliciting all financial con­ ture door to door. This system, which had tributions on an anti-McCarthy basis by in­ been in operation for some years in Milwau­ forming prospective donors that their money kee, Kenosha, and Racine, was extended for would be used solely to publicize the Senator's the first time to Sheboygan, Oshkosh, Beloit, domestic shortcomings.^'' and Janesville. Telephone campaigns in the At the regional CIO-PAC meetings discus­ major cities were used to contact workers and sions were held on how to generate voter en­ their families and inform them of the im­ thusiasm. It was decided that in addition to portance of voting against McCarthy. In most the standard procedures, the regular union areas arrangements were made to provide meetings, picnics, and informal gatherings transportation to the polls; and in Milwaukee should be directed to "some angle on politics," and Kenosha the Democratic party let the and that whenever possible Thomas Fairchild labor unions take over the traditional role was to be invited. Local "Fairchild Days" of poll watching. were urged, where the candidate would come State and regional labor leaders often to a city to have breakfast, lunch, or dinner banded together into "truth teams" to attend with union members.^'' It was even suggested civic and club meetings for the purpose of that the "Union-Citizen Fund For Education" leading political discussions, while union be exhausted for voter registration drives and wives held card parties and raffles, attended other forms of "nonpartisan" political action.^" usually by Mrs. Fairchild or Mrs. Doyle, to However, because state leaders were sensitive raise money for the campaign. Furthermore, about Republican charges of "delivering the special anti-McCarthy supplements were dis­ labor vote" to Democratic candidates, they tributed by the thousands. The state AF of L warned local officials against unnecessary reprinted a brochure entitled "Inside Mc­ pressure. Harold J. Thompson, secretary of Carthy," written by Capital Times correspon- the Racine Political Action Committee, cau­ tioned all PAC workers: "Please keep in mind

'" Quoted in ibid., September 5, 1952. ™ Information on the labor campaign against Mc­ Carthy was derived from interviews with state labor ^ Proceedings of the 60th Annual Convention leaders George Haberman, former president of the of the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor, 1952, Wisconsin State Federation of Labor; George Hall, p. 170. former secretary-treasurer of the Wisconsin State ® Not surprisingly, the Democratic Organizing Federation of Labor; Loren Norman, editor of Committee of Wisconsin followed a similar strategy. Racine Labor; and George Poredin, editor of "Every aspect of the 1952 Democratic campaign," Kenosha Labor. Also used were the AFL-CIO Pa­ wrote one student of Wisconsin politics, "centered pers; the Wisconsin Industrial Union Council Pa­ around the single issue of defeating McCarthy." pers; and state labor newspapers, including Racine Richard Haney, "A History of the Democratic Party Labor, Kenosha Labor, Union Labor News (Madi­ in Wisconsin Since World War II" (doctoral dis­ son), Wisconsin CIO News, (Milwaukee), and Mil­ sertation. University of Wisconsin, 1970), 179. waukee AFL Labor Press, all in the State Historical '''Racine Labor, October 3, 1952. Society of Wisconsin.

113 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973

dent Miles McMillin, which centered on the Senator's antilabor record, his fondness for big business, and especially his unethical con­ duct. Articles appeared on his fraudulent state income tax returns, his censure by the Wisconsin State Supreme Court for destroying vital case records while a circuit court judge, and his allegedly dishonest endeavors in con­ nection with various congressional lobbyists.^" Similarly, the state CIO produced a fifteen- page pamphlet, "Smear Incorporated: The Record of Joe McCarthy's One Man Mob Operation," which contained features on al­ most all the same subjects—his unethical con­ duct as a judge, his "litde favor" for the real estate lobby, his income tax scandal, and his strong endorsement by Senator Robert Taft.''" And, on the final day of the campaign, CIO- PAC bought an hour of radio time on thirty- one stations throughout the state for a "Thumping, anti-McCarthy address" by Sen­ ator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota. Time and again, the state labor journals forcefully attacked McCarthy as antilabor and pro-big business. The Milwaukee AFL Labor Press, for example, published a series of arti­ :>n(),i^i.ipiiic Collections cles entitled "Case of the People Versus Slip­ George A. Haberman, president of the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor. pery Joe McCarthy" in which this theme was exploited. The first article, on July 24, charged president of the Wisconsin State Federation that "while McCarthy was helping to hand­ of Labor, told the Nation that his organization cuff labor, he was serving as a 'water boy' "was not in favor of the re-election of a sen­ for Big Business. His dealing with the Lustron ator whose voting record was in opposition prefabricating interests became a national to labor 81.3% of the time on labor bills scandal. His preferences for and friendship and in opposition to the public interest 72.2% with Senator Taft and the Big Business crowd on social legislation," and Theodore Kurtz, is well known. Labor-hating Taft has en­ treasurer of the Wisconsin Industrial Union dorsed McCarthy for re-election."^' On Au­ Council, pointed out that "McCarthy's vote gust 7, it again leveled the charge. "The junior for restrictive labor laws and against mini­ senator's services to industrialists," it stated, mum wage shows he is no friend of the work­ "have come in the form of firm support of the ing people."^^ Taft-Hartley Act and other anti-labor legisla­ tion. Private utility interests are happy over the senator's vote to cut public power appro­ priations. He sided with the oil interests on ''Ibid., August 7, 1952. Of course, the labor press the Tidelands oil bill. ... He has served the made no secret of the fact that many of the state's privileged interests in preference to the people largest and most antiunion employers, including back in Wisconsin."'''^ Labor leaders took F. R. Bacon of Cutler-Hammer, Henry Talboys of the Nordberg Company, John Sensenbrenner of similar public stands. George Haberman, Kimberly-Clark, Walter Harnishfeger of the Har- nishfeger Industries, and William Grede, president of the National Association of Manufacturers' and head of Grede Foundries, were solidly in the Mc­ ^ AFL-CIO Papers, File B, Committee on Political Carthy camp. See, for example, Wisconsin CIO Education. News, June 6, 1952. =" Ibid. '^^ Quoted in "Wisconsin Testifies Against Mc­ "^ Milwaukee AFL Labor Press, July 24, 1952. Carthy," 166.

114 OSHINSKY: WISCONSIN LABOR AND THE CAMPAIGN OF 1952

In the campaign's final stages hysterical stantial sums of money originating within charges by both sides became an integral part state and local labor organizations which were of the battle. McCarthy impugned the loyal­ used for campaign purposes. ties of Adlai Stevenson, Archibald MacLeish, The situation is further complicated by the James Wechsler, and other prominent Ameri­ fact that the secretary of state of Wisconsin cans; the labor journals retaliated in kind. demands financial statements not from in­ The Milwaukee AFL Labor Press charged that dividual contributors, but rather from the or­ the Senator's vote against the federal educa­ ganizations to which they contribute. This tion bill was proof of his inherent dislike of system makes it difficult to locate the various children; moreover, while commenting on his political contributions of any given labor or­ votes against public housing and social se­ ganization; and, therefore, to attempt this curity, it added: "Do you hate the old folks, task for a wide range of national, state, and just as you apparently hate the youngsters, local union groups is strenuous indeed. More­ Joe?"^* Although union newspapers dealt over, unions which engage in political activi­ with McCarthy in a manner as crude as his ties do not consider themselves "political com­ own, they were trying desperately to impress mittees," and are not legally obligated to file upon the electorate the fact that its junior financial reports in Wisconsin. As one state Senator had no constructive program for the political analyst reported: "Complete and ac­ betterment of the people of Wisconsin. curate reports of campaign finances (by labor organizations) are always difficult to obtain because of the ambiguous wording of corrupt ERTAINLY a factor worthy of serious practice laws, archaic limits imposed on cam­ C consideration is the amount of money paign spending, prohibitions against certain spent by the national state, and local labor types of contributions (such as union dues organizations in the campaign against McCar­ being used for political purposes in federal thy. On the national level, fifteen major union elections), and a general reluctance on the groups contributed approximately $1,630,473 part of politicians and labor leaders to disclose during the entire election year, virtually all information concerning the financing of cam­ of which went to Democratic candidates. Of paigns."^^ this sum, somewhat less than half, $797,555, was used to finance national campaign activi­ However, two crude financial barometers ty, and the rest, $832,918, was transferred to can be used. The first is organized labor's other groups on the state level. Wisconsin public support for the Fairchild campaign, as received a substantial portion of this money, seen, for example, through its political contri­ $21,111, ranking ninth highest among the butions to the Thomas Fairchild for Senator forty-eight states.^^ This figure does not in­ Club, a large, statewide organization that was clude the contributions that were funneled the candidate's greatest source of financial from the fifteen major labor groups to or­ support. From the beginning of June until the ganizations like the Americans for Democratic election in November, this committee spent Action (which then used the money in Wis­ approximately $66,000, almost 20 per cent of consin against McCarthy), nor does it con­ which was donated by various labor organiza­ sider any of the $797,555 which may have tions.""^ Indeed, the only contributors who gave sums exceeding $1,000 were the Ameri­ been diverted back to state and local labor cans for Democratic Action, which was funded bodies by organizations like the AF of L's partially by national and state labor bodies; League for Political Education or the CIO's the AF of L's League for Political Education; Political Action Committee. Finally, this the CIO's Political Action Committee; the In- $21,000 figure does not encompass the sub­

" H. Gaylon Greenhill, Labor Money in Wisconsin '•^Milwaukee AFL Labor Press, July 24, 1952. Politics, 1964 (Princeton, New Jersey, 1966), 23. '^ This analysis of labor's financial participation '" Secretary of State of Wisconsin, Political Con­ in politics comes from a small, printed pamphlet, tributions of the 1952 Senatorial Election Campaign, "Money in Politics" (n.d.), prepared by Professor Folder 5557, November, 1952, Archives-Manuscripts Alexander Heard of the University of North Carolina. Division, State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

115 WISCONSIN MAG.4ZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973

L. Society's Iconographic Collections Adlai Stevenson (left) shakes hands with publisher William Evjue at a banquet during Stevenson's visit to Madison in October, 1952. Thomas Fairchild is in the center. ternational Ladies Garment Workers Union; pamphlets, tabloids, and flyers, to buy radio the Amalgamated Clothing Workers; and the and television advertising, and to finance a Hotel and Restaurant Workers.^* Similarly, series of statewide Labor for Fairchild com­ on the local level, the various regional coun­ mittees. Indeed, labor's deep financial in­ cils, particularly the United Automobile Work­ volvement was most clearly shown by the fact ers' councils and the CIO county Political that the state AF of L's Political Education Action Committees, contributed heavily to the Fund, which, by virtue of its monthly one numerous Fairchild for Senator Club affili­ cent tax on all Wisconsin Federation mem­ ates. Donations ranging from $100 to $1,500 bers, could not be diverted to partisan political were received from such groups in Racine, activities, was nevertheless used to print a Kenosha, Milwaukee, and Madison.'*^ barrage of anti-McCarthy material.^" Because The other barometer is the amount of state AF of L leaders decided that "the money money spent by the labor movement exclusive spent on this material was of an educational of direct contributions to the Fairchild cam­ purpose which we consider not to have been paign. In 1952, the state AF of L and CIO political," an additional $14,636 was freed allocated a total of $100,000 for political ac­ for the campaign.*' The state CIO, on the tion, with the vast majority of this sum being other hand, listed $13,757 as its campaign used to discredit McCarthy's legislative record. expenditure for 1952, but one leader, Her­ Funds were allocated to publish brochures. man Steffes, claimed that the real figure was

' Ibid. 'Ibid., Folder 5639. 'Ibid. ^Ibid.

116 OSHINSKY: WISCONSIN LABOR AND THE CAMPAIGN OF 1952 closer to $40,000.''2 In sum, while the exact Table 3 amount of labor's financial involvement re­ Milwiruke e Labor Wards, 1952 General Election mains a mystery, the various national, state, and local union groups constituted the largest Fair- Mc­ Steven­ Eisen­ Ward child Carthy son hower single monetary force in the effort to defeat Senator McCarthy for re-election in 1952. 4 5,044 3,566 4,242 4,018 5 6,119 2,536 5,551 3,112 8 6,119 2,415 5,373 3,073 /^N ELECTION DAY in November, 1952, 12 5,887 1,619 5,018 2,104 ^-^ the vast majority of Wisconsin's union 14 8,034 2,016 7,190 2,754 members voted against McCarthy; whether 17 6,668 3,174 5,321 4,317 they did so because of the political activities of 24 13,258 5,073 11,078 7,110 27 6,315 3,710 5,009 4,964 their labor organizations is another matter. The Senator won by a relatively narrow mar­ 57,464 24,910 48,782 31,642 gin, and, as was predicted by James Doyle, City Total 195,981 113,010 157,302 148,003 trailed the rest of the Republican ticket. In fact, Louis Bean, a well-known political an­ Source: Twenty-Second Biennial Report of the Board alyst, stated, "but for the Eisenhower land­ of Election Commissioners of the City of Milwaukee, 1953, pp. 370, 394. slide, McCarthy would have lost."*^ Nor was the anti-McCarthy sentiment among Table 2 blue-collar workers prevalent only along the Repubhcan Vote, 19521 General Election industrial lakeshore. In Madison, long a % stronghold of Progressive Republicanism, the Candidate Vote Total Vote results were equally impressive. Throughout the city, where The Capital Times and other Secretary of State liberal Republican and Democratic sources (Zimmerman) 1,039,000 66 Governor (Kohler) 1,009,000 65 carried out an intensive campaign aimed pri­ Lieutenant Governor marily at the Senator's lack of integrity and (Smith) 995,000 64 his poor domestic record, the voters went nar­ Treasurer (Smith) 992,000 61 rowly for Eisenhower and overwhelmingly for President (Eisenhower) 980,000 61 Fairchild.** Quite obviously, Madison's vast U.S. Senator (McCarthy) 870,000 54 Progressive following, which had been badly Source: Karl E. Meyer, "The Politics of Loyalty," fragmented by both the Portage convention 204. and the senatorial campaign of 1946, had An analysis of selected wards in urban come together once more to roundly condemn Wisconsin indicates the Senator's failure to a man whose political style was so alien to attract working-class voters. In the heavily the La Follette tradition. industrialized sections of Milwaukee's Fourth In Madison's working-class areas, where the Congressional District, for example, Fairchild Democratic party was firmly entrenched, these overwhelmed McCarthy; while he captured trends were accentuated. Here, Adlai Steven­ 63.3 per cent of the total city vote, his per­ son received 60.5 per cent of the votes (as centage zoomed to 70.5 in these blue-collar opposed to his city total of only 48.5 per areas. Fairchild's record is even more im­ cent), while Fairchild received an astounding pressive when compared with Adlai Steven­ 72.8 per cent (as opposed to his city total of son's respective percentages of 51 in the city 60.1 per cent) .*^ and 60.1 in the labor wards.

^^ Kommers, "Organized Labor's Political Spending and the Catlin Act," 51. " See especially, Wisconsin Citizen's Committee •" Louis H. Bean, Influences in the 1954 Mid-Term on McCarthy's Record, The McCarthy Record (Madi­ Elections: War, Jobs, Parity, McCarthy (Washing­ son, 1952). ton, D.C, 1954), 17. It is interesting to note that '^ Further evidence of McCarthy's poor showing Secretary of State Fred Zimmerman, who led the in labor areas is demonstrated by the fact that he Republican candidates in Wisconsin, ran on an finished behind all other Republican candidates in anti-McCarthy platform. every labor ward in Milwaukee and Madison.

117 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973

Table 4 Table 5 Madison Labor Wards, 1952 General Election Janesville Labor Wards, 1952 General Election Fair- Mc­ Steven­ Eisen­ Fair- Mc­ Steven­ Eisen­ Ward child Carthy son hower Ward child Carthy son hower 9 921 254 829 322 7 468 406 423 444 16-2 1,690 623 1,335 888 8 353 349 330 365 17 1,081 375 920 488 9 320 305 316 315 18-1 1,039 580 814 747 10 291 238 272 251 18-2 1,223 496 1,034 633 11 416 250 385 248 18-3 1,487 652 1,254 839 12 294 227 267 245 7,441 2,980 6,186 3,917 2,142 1,776 1,993 1,868 City City Total 5,489 6,897 4,708 7,569 Total 27,385 16,792 20,635 22,213 Source: Janesville Daily Gazette , Novemtle r 5, 1952. Source: Capital Times (Madison), November 5, 1952. After considering the labor vote in Mil­ In its analysis of the election returns, the waukee, where the Democratic party was firm­ Janesville Daily Gazette claimed that the large Fairchild total in the city's west end or ly established, and in Madison, which had a blue-collar district "was obviously a protest long-standing Progressive tradition, it is neces­ against Senator McCarthy . . . rather than sary to focus on a working-class district in a representing Democratic party strength."*" typical Republican area. Janesville, a com­ No doubt, the working-class vote for Fairchild munity of 25,000 situated in conservative in Janesville did represent strong anti-Mc­ Rock County, and the home of one of the Carthy sentiment; but the great support for state's largest automobile assembly plants, Stevenson in these wards, especially in light provides an excellent example. In this small of the fact that his opponent was an extremely city, where the Democratic party was poorly popular political moderate, demonstrated also organized, where political action by the vari­ that the Democratic organization had arrived ous labor unions was not fully developed, and as the workingman's party in Wisconsin. where the influential Janesville Daily Gazette consistently praised McCarthyism as the anti­ dote to "years of Red influence under the "VPTITHIN the voting booths, at least, the Democratic Administration," the labor wards '' vast majority of Wisconsin's urban, bucked the prevailing political trend by giving blue-collar workers rejected the appeals of Mc­ Stevenson and Fairchild a majority of their Carthyism. Moreover, their reasons for doing votes.*^ In fact, Stevenson's total jumped from so were quite understandable, for most were a low of 38 per cent for the city as a whole to loyal Democrats who did not often support a more respectable 51.6 per cent in the work­ Republican candidates.*^ What made Mc­ ing-class areas, while Fairchild, who had re­ Carthy's showing in these areas particularly ceived only 44 per cent of the city vote, cap­ dismal, even by GOP standards, was the fact tured 55 per cent of the ballots in the labor that these workers could not easily sympathize wards. with his attacks on Roosevelt, Truman, or the New Deal Democratic Party.*' And here, in essence, was where the true political value of the labor unions came into play. By effective­ ly portraying the Senator as an anti-New Deal ''' Janesville Daily Gazette, November 1, 1952. " Ibid., November 5, 1952. conservative whose domestic shortcomings far '" See especially, Nelson Polsby, "Towards an Ex­ outweighed his possible value as an anticom­ planation of McCarthyism," in Political Studies, munist, the unions helped convince many VIII: 258-263 (1960). See also, George Gallup, "How Labor Votes," in The Annals of the American Acade­ working-class voters that McCarthyism was my of Political and Social Science, 1951, pp. 123-124; actually a dangerous assault upon their hard- Arthur Kornhauser (ed.), When Labor Votes (New earned economic security. While their efforts York, 1956), 22-75. *° Michael Rogin, The Intellectuals and McCarthy: to defeat McCarthy were unsuccessful, they The Radical Specter (Cambridge, Massachusetts, made his victory in every way unimpressive. 1967), 95.

118 FOREIGN AID UNDER WRAPS: THE POINT FOUR PROGRAM

By THOMAS G. PATERSON

T N THE Soviet-American confrontation American emphasis on Europe was an un­ •'• after World War II, foreign aid became palatable suggestion of colonialism or de­ a familiar United States diplomatic tool and pendency on traditional European powers.^ weapon. Lnravished by the war, the United Developing nations, particularly after the States emerged in the postwar period the Marshall Plan, asked for direct American as­ "giant of the economic world," as President sistance. Gradually Washington recognized Harry S. Truman aptly noted.' Before launch­ that developing nations could not be taken ing a massive co-ordinated assistance program for granted as allies of the "West" in the in 1947—the Marshall Plan—Washington had Cold War conflict with the Soviet Union. granted aid haphazardly through a variety of America could reconstruct and align Western programs and special loans. Large contribu­ Europe with its foreign policy, but might tions to the World Bank, International Mone­ forfeit the allegiance of much of the rest of tary Fund, and the United Nations Relief the world. Then, too, raw materials short­ and Rehabilitation Administration, a sizeable ages in the United States were acute in the loan to Great Britain in 1946, Export-Import postwar period and could be relieved through Bank loans to nations scattered across the expanded trade with former colonial areas. globe, and Truman Doctrine assistance to And developing countries were real and po­ Greece and Turkey were part of America's tential sites of disruptive revolutions. Ameri­ postwar economic offensive. can aid and trade, went American thinking, Most of this foreign assistance was de­ could establish global stability. "Point Four," signed to reconstruct Europe from the war's a State Department officer indicated, "is only ugly devastation. Countries in the develop­ the latest in a long line of United States ac­ ing areas of the Middle East, Latin America, tivities that seek to strengthen and generalize Asia, and Africa complained about this Euro­ peace throughout the world by counteracting pean emphasis and appealed to the United the economic conditions that predispose to States for aid to stimulate economic develop­ social and political instability and to war."^ ment. They were not convinced by the State Programs like Point Four and the Mar- Department's argument that the reconstruc­ tion of Europe would benefit them signifi­ cantly, although indirectly. Implied in the ° For pre-Point Four foreign aid activity, see my forthcoming Soviet-American Confrontation: Postwar Reconstruction; David A. Baldwin, Economic Devel­ opment and American Foreign Policy, 1943—62 NOTE: The author thanks the Harry S. Truman (Chicago, 1966) ; and William A. Brown, Jr. and Institute and the University of Connecticut for re­ Redvers Opie, American Foreign Assistance (Wash­ search and typing assistance. Professor J. Garry ington, 1953). Clifford kindly and critically read the manuscript " Samuel P. Hayes, Jr., "Point Four in United and offered useful suggestions. States Foreign Policy," in Annals of the American ^ Public Papers of the Presidents, Harry S. Tru­ Academy of Political and Social Science, CCLXVIII: man, 1947 (Washington, 1963), 168 (March 6). 32 (March, 1950).

119 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER. 1972-1973 shall Plan meant more than simply "stop com­ prosperity, that prosperity nourished demo­ munism" or "economic expansion." These cracy, and that "human oppressors" or Com­ goals were intertwined in the prevailing munists had to be defeated abroad. Truman American "peace and prosperity" idiom. That appealed for the co-operation of American is, Americans believed that world peace—the business, farmers, labor, and private capital. absence or containment of revolution and Like the Marshall Plan, Point Four would be communism—depended upon a healthy inter­ a self-help undertaking, with American assist­ national economy. The latter in turn required ance supplying the tools and "know-how." prosperous, unimpeded world trade. Truman Recipients would be required to perform the spoke in popular fashion in 1947: "In fact, labor themselves and to provide the impetus the three—peace, freedom, and world trade— for effective development.^ More than a year are inseparable."* Washington understood later, after the outbreak of the Korean War, the interdependency of the postwar world Truman was more emphatic that Point Four economy and its relationship to political or­ was part of the "struggle against communist der and big power superiority, and it frankly imperialism." Indeed, "in countries where reiterated the importance of American for­ the choice between communist totalitarianism eign trade to both international and Ameri­ and the free way of life is in the balance, this can prosperity and to the security of the program can tip the scales toward the way United States. Raw materials, realized from of freedom."'' investments and technical improvements in The Point Four program, combining tech­ developing regions, were vital to this consid­ nical assistance and private investment, grew eration. Through a program like Point Four out of pre-1949 discussions of foreign aid the Truman Administration hoped to satisfy and its role in the Soviet-American schism. the many interlocking components of the Truman remarked at his press conference a "peace and prosperity" notion: political and week after the Inaugural Address that the economic stability, expanded world trade, "origin of point four has been in my mind, American and world prosperity, raw materials and in the minds of members of the Govern­ imports, and American Cold War security.'' ment, for the past 2 or 3 years."* Technical After his stunning victory in the 1948 assistance accounted for a considerable part presidential election, Harry S. Truman ex­ of aid to Greece and Turkey in 1947. Yet. tended his foreign aid programs and reas­ attentive by necessity to European crises. serted his foreign policy goals. In his In­ neither Truman nor the Department of State augural Address of January 20, 1949, the had formulated a full-scale international plan President promised continued support of the by 1949. United Nations, the Marshall Plan, and mili­ The opportune merger of American do­ tary agreements such as the North Atlantic mestic politics with foreign policy interests Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Rio thrust technical assistance to an important Pact. With relish he moved beyond these place on the list of America's postwar diplo­ three points to announce a fourth point, a matic ventures. The catalysts for launching "bold new program" of technical assistance a new program were White House assistants to "underdeveloped areas." He declared that Clark Clifford and George Elsey and State "greater production is the key to prosperity Department assistant Ben Hardy. In late and peace," and he claimed that raw ma­ 1948 Clifford and Elsey were looking for a terials and commerce were vital to American

"Public Papers, Truman, 1949 (Washington, 1964), 112-116. See also Harry S. Truman, Memoirs (Gar­ 'Public Papers, Truman, 1947, 167 (March 6). den City, 1955-56, 2 vols.), II, 229-239. '' For an extended discussion of the "peace and ' White House Press Release, August 25, 1950, Box prosperity" idea, see Thomas G. Paterson, "The 26, Charles Murphy Files, Harry S. Truman Papers, Quest for Peace and Prosperity; International Trade, Truman Library, Independence, Missouri. Communism, and the Marshall Plan," in Barton J. "Public Papers, Truman, 1949, 118 (January 27). Bernstein (ed.), Politics and Policies of the Tru­ See also Charles Murphy Oral History Interview, man Administration (Chicago, 1970), 78-112. Transcript, June 24, 1969, Truman Library.

120 PATERSON: FOREIGN AID UNDER WRAPS

"dramatic topic" to use in the Inaugural Ad­ "bold new program" began as a catchy slo­ dress to puff up further the President's politi­ gan, not as a plan with an administrative cal stature." In December a minor official in structure, defined and precise purposes, and the State Department telephoned Elsey for lucid procedures. The White House put the an appointment. Ben Hardy said he had an State Department in the unhappy and em­ idea and a memorandum titled the "Use of barrassing position of having to create a U.S. Technological Resources as a Weapon in program quickly to capitalize on the dramatic the Struggle with International Communism." and popular effect of the address. Angry Elsey invited him to the White House, lis­ State Department officials were bewildered tened with growing excitement to Hardy's by the large gap between rhetorical expecta­ earnest appeal to include technical assistance tions and implementation. Truman admitted in the Inaugural Address, and adopted the on January 27, 1949, that Point Four was not idea "instantly." Elsey recalled later that "it yet a "program:" "I can't tell you just what was what I had been searching for."'" is going to take place, where it is going to But it was not that easy. Hardy pointed take place, or how it is going to take place. out that his superiors in the State Department I know what I want to do."'^ The first State had rejected any mention of technical assist­ Department report to the President in March, ance in the address, because no careful plan 1949, annoyed White House advisers. One had been worked out. The gutsy but worried complained that the diplomatists had "no Hardy risked the charge of disloyalty to the idea of what we are actually going to do" chief officers of the State Department by in Point Four and provided "no discussion visiting the White House. Presidential assist­ of specific problems." Then, too, the Truman ants had squabbled before with the State Administration might soon be open to the Department over the substance of speeches public charge that the Point Four program, and in this case they were not about to reject "after more than two months of labor, has a new foreign policy program which seemed bogged down in a mire of words." Presiden­ to carry domestic political advantage. One tial Assistant David Lloyd wanted a more month before the address the situation could "concrete" statement, with emphasis on areas best be described as "a speech in search of where Communist pressure seemed strongest an idea, and an idea in search of a speech."'' —the Middle East, India, and Southeast Hardy took the risk, Elsey and Clifford talked Asia.'^ to a receptive President, and Point Four, to The lethargy persisted. An official in the the State Department's immediate distaste, Council of Economic Advisers reported in became a new instrument in America's for­ mid-1949 that the Secretary of State "has eign policy arsenal. been far too busy with the problems of Ger­ many, the North Atlantic Pact, etc., to give "POINT FOUR soon became a crippled vic- Point Four much personal attention." Nor -*- tim of a bureaucratic battle between had public opinion been marshalled.'* In Pennsylvania Avenue and Foggy Bottom, November the influential Business Week events which detracted from the program's magazine noted that Point Four remained importance, and Congressional inertia. The only a "pious hope." By December assistant Lloyd was chagrined that the State Depart­ ment "is deferring it as a major effort." And

"Clark Clifford to Herbert Feis, July 16, 1953, Box 36, George Elsey Papers, Truman Library. "George Elsey to William Tate, [1952], in ibid; Ben Hardy, "Use of U.S. Technological Resources as a Weapon in the Struggle with International Com­ ^'Public Papers, Truman, 1949, 118-119 (January munism," December 15, 1948, in ibid. 27). " Memorandum by George Elsey, September 12, "David D. Lloyd to Clark Clifford, March 19, 1963, in ibid. See also Jonathan Bingham, Shirt­ 1949, Box 27, Clark Clifford Papers, Truman Library. sleeve Diplomacy: Point 4 in Action (New York, The Washington Post had written on March 14 that 1953), 10, 268; New York Times, January 28, 1949; the State Department was moving at "glacial speed." James P. Warburg, Long Road Home: The Auto­ " Walter S. Salant to Edwin Nourse, May 9, 1949, biography of a Maverick (Garden City, 1964), 254. Box 2, Walter Salant Papers, Truman Library.

121 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973 after a May, 1950, meeting between State appropriate only $26,900,000 for Point Four Department and United Nations officers, —an insignificant sum compared to the $2.25 American Ambassador to the United Nations billion for the Marshall Plan and $342,450,000 Warren Austin recorded that the former for occupied Germany at the same time, al­ "were apprehensive about the great expec­ though a smaller figure would be expected for tations for Point IV . . . ." He added, im­ technical assistance because it did not involve portantly: "Point IV ideas are under large public capital grants.^* 'wraps'."'^ So it went from early 1949 to During these long months of unenthusiastic mid-1950. activity within the executive bureaucracy and Not until June 24, 1949, did the President Congress, a public debate on the merits of ask Congress for Point Four legislation, when Point Four got under way. Truman had early he reminded the legislators that hungry peo­ worried about opposition. He advised Elsey: ple might "turn to false doctrines" unless they "Just don't play into the hands of crackpots received help. Truman recommended a first at home—no milk for Hottentots." The "na­ year appropriation of $45 million.^^ His tives" would have to help themselves.^^ Hav­ request came so late that Congress failed to ing often tapped the congressional purses for consider it before adjourning late in the year. foreign aid, the Truman Administration was After rough treatment in the Senate, with reluctant to ask for "bold new" appropria­ Republicans voting overwhelmingly against. tions. Truman popularized Point Four as a Point Four finally passed in May, 1950, as practical, inexpensive, and "common-sense" Title IV of the Foreign Economic Assistance program which would both fight communism Act. The President signed the bill on June 5, and insure American prosperity. Some skep­ less than three weeks before the outbreak of tics asked why another program was needed, major conflict in Korea, and eighteen months when existing ones could simply be extended after he first proposed the fourth point. The to handle technical assistance. Others pro­ Act authorized $35 million for technical as­ tested against further foreign aid spending sistance, and insisted that recipient nations after large appropriations for the Marshall "provide conditions under which such tech­ Plan, Export-Import Bank, and the World nical assistance and capital can effectively Bank. Vociferous opponent Senator Robert and constructively contribute to raising stan­ A. Taft of Ohio dismissed Point Four as a dards of living, creating new sources of wealth, "global W.P.A." increasing productivity and expanding pur­ Partisanship in the Senate and House was chasing power."^'' Congress caused further more conspicuous than in previous discus­ delay by waiting until September, 1950, to sions of foreign aid, perhaps because Truman articulated Point Four as his program. Also, Democratic leadership was under fire for increasing Democratic membership on the ^Business Week, November 26, 1949, p. 105; Senate Foreign Relations Committee from a Memorandum for Files by David D. Lloyd, December 3, 1949, Chronological File, David D. Lloyd Papers, 7-6 to an 8-5 ratio. Republicans were less Truman Library; Memorandum of Conversation, May than pleased, too, with Truman's appointment 15, 1950, Box 68, Warren Austin Papers, University of Vermont Library. of Dean Acheson as Secretary of State in ^"Public Papers, Truman, 1949, 329-333 (June 24). early 1949. Heatedly partisan Congressional " On May 5, 1950, the Senate by the narrow mar­ campaigns blossomed in late spring, 1950, gin of 37-36 passed Point Four legislation for $45 million (29 Democrats for and 11 against; 8 Re­ with the "Democratic" Point Four an occa­ publicans for and 25 against). House and Senate sional Republican target. The collapse of conferees agreed to $35 million on May 15, and Nationalist China undercut the administra­ the House passed the conference report on May 23 by a 247-88 vote (vote on the entire Foreign Eco­ tion's credibility and bargaining power, and nomic Assistance Act). On May 25, the Senate ap­ proved the entire act 47-27. The latter vote was es­ sentially on Point Four, the most controversial part of the conference report—made so by Senator Taft. Thirty-eight Republicans cast negative ballots, with " Congressional Quarterly Service, Evolution of only nine in favor. U.S. Statues at Large, 64, Part 1, Foreign Aid, 1945-1965 (Washington, 1966), 9. 198-207; New York Times, May 6, 16, 24, and 26, " Elsey's handwritten notes, March 14, 1949, Box 1950. 36, Elsey Papers.

122 PATERSON: FOREIGN AID UNDER WRAPS the Korean War cast further gloom in mid- in raw materials such as oil.^^ Not only did 1950. Bipartisanship had eroded. Into this these disadvantages serve to undermine the unfriendly arena entered Point Four.^" American goal of economic expansion, they As the debate languished for months while also weakened American influence in what Congress followed the State Department's came to be called the Third World. example of laxity, it became more obvious The Truman Administration hoped to al­ that overseas American private investment leviate these impediments through "investment would assume a major role in the operation guarantees." Recipients of Point Four tech­ of Point Four. Truman had not highlighted nical assistance were required to create healthy that role in the Inaugural Address, placing private investment conditions, but Washing­ more emphasis on technical assistance, but in ton knew that stable conditions would de­ his June 24, 1949, message to Congress the velop slowly. Therefore Truman asked Con­ President devoted considerable attention to gress to guarantee, through the Export-Import the encouragement of private American capi­ Bank, American investments against the risks tal investment abroad. And in his State of the cited above.^^ The administration appealed Union message in January of 1950, he spoke directly to businessmen at special Washing­ of "large amounts of capital . . . ." For ton conferences, recognizing, as an Under- American businessmen, as a Ford Motor exec­ Secretary of Commerce put it, that the "suc­ utive argued, "foreign investment—not tech­ cess of this program depends on the degree nical assistance—is really the crux of Point of confidence which the business community Four . . . ."21 has in it."^* Businessmen, as did labor and American businessmen considered the post­ civic groups, endorsed Point Four, but there war investment environment abroad unin­ was vigorous disagreement on the merits of viting. Nationalization threatened American investment guarantees.^'^ The influential Na­ property, from Western Europe, where the tional Foreign Trade Council, representing French protested against Coca-Cola bottling large international corporations, complained plants ("cocacolonization"), to developing na­ that investment guarantees (guaranteed by tions, where growing national and revolu­ Washington) shifted the responsibility for tionary sentiment frightened investors. American businessmen shied away from some areas, too, because of Communist propaganda, ^ For investment problems, see Business Week, foreign taxation, social legislation which detri­ November 26, 1949, p. 107 and April 1, 1950, p. mentally affected profits, favoritism to na­ 101; Journal of Commerce, February 11, 1946; International Development Advisory Board, Pacific tionals, inadequate dollars exchange proce­ Coast Conference on Private Investment in Interna­ dures, and increased governmental interfer­ tional Development (Washington, 1952), 9; Michael A. Heilperin, "Private Means of Implementing Point ence. American private capital, then, tend­ Four," in Annuls, CCLXVIII:60 (March, 1950) ; ed to bypass high hazard regions in favor of Jeanette P. Nichols, "Hazards of American Private Western Europe or quick-profit areas rich Investment in Underdeveloped Countries," in Orbis, IV: 174-191 (Summer, 1960). "^^ Public Papers, Truman, 1949, 332-333 (June 24). ^ C. V. Whitney to David D. Lloyd, June 24, 1949, Clifford Papers. For meetings with businessmen " For opposition and criticisms, see Brown and and governmental concern for business support, Opie, American Foreign Assistance, 393; H. Brad­ see David D. Lloyd to Clark Clifford, January 24, ford Westerfield, Foreign Policy and Party Politics: 1949, Box 1, Lloyd Papers; Lloyd to Charles Mur­ Pearl Harbor to Korea (New Haven, 1955), 54, 326- phy, March 7, 1949, Chronological File, ibid.; C. J. 330; Congressional Record, XCVI:7496, 7512, 8448, Mara to General Vaughn, February 2, 1949, OF 294, 13851, 81st Cong., 2nd sess. (1950). For the de­ Truman Papers; Truman, Memoirs, 11:233-234; fense, see, for example, issues of the Department Charles Sawyer (Secretary of Commerce), Concerns of State Bulletin; Truman to Senator Brian Mc­ of a Conservative Democrat (Carbondale, Illinois, Mahon, February 1, 1950, OF 195-A, Truman Papers; 1968), 193. Arthur Gardner, "Point Four and the Arab World: ^° For support, consult House, Committee on For­ An American View," in Middle East Journal, IV:300 eign Affairs, Act for International Development (July, 1950). (Hearings), 81st Cong., 1st and 2nd sess. (January, ^^ Public Papers, Truman, 1949, 329-333 (June 1950) ; Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Act 24) ; ibid., 1965 (Washington, 1950), 5 (January 4) ; for International Development (Hearings), 81st Cong., N. A. Bogdau in National Foreign Trade Council, 2nd sess. (March, April, 1950) ; "Current Digest of Report of 36th National Convention (November 1, Business Opinion—Point IV," May 26, 1949, Office 1949), 148. of Secretary, GC 105628, Box 1148, Department of

123 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973 protecting investments from recipient nations, 1957 American investments in the Far East where it should be lodged, to the United and Middle East totalled two billion dollars; States. Many investors preferred bilateral pro­ but $1.5 billion of that figure was invested tective treaties, which the Truman Adminis­ in petroleum. Hungry India in the 1950- tration was then signing, to guarantees.^'' 1957 period saw American investments in­ When the Act for International Development crease from $38 miOion to only $113 mil­ passed in 1950 the provision for guarantees lion. The most critical sector of the heavily was absent, although it would be added in populated and poor countries in the Far and 1951. Middle East—agriculture—accounted for pri­ Point Four, with or without investment vate American investments of only $36,000,000 guarantees and protective treaties, did not in 1957, or an increase of a mere one million stimulate much American business interest dollars since 1950.^* in high-risk, low-profit areas. "What capital wanted most, apparently," Fortune maga­ T F THE private investment part of Point zine concluded, "was a healthy investment cli­ -*• Four was inconsequential, so ultimately mate, not an insurance policy against contract­ was the technical assistance program. Skep­ ing malaria." Investment hazards persisted. tics early noted that Point Four was neither In 1954, the head of a presidential commis­ very bold nor very new. Individual Ameri­ sion studying American economic foreign cans, the federal government, and interna­ policy found that only Turkey, Greece, and tional agencies had engaged in technical mis­ Panama had altered their laws enough to sions and private capital investments abroad attract American capital.^'^ Between 1950 long before, and Point Four was conceived and 1957, American private investment abroad as another segment of America's Cold War increased impressively from $11.8 billion to thrust against Russia.^^ Appropriations for $25.2 billion. Yet this significant growth technical assistance grew, as Congress pro­ took place largely in traditional nations al­ vided $147,900,000 in 1952 and $155,600,000 ready securely within the American sphere in 1953 for the Technical Cooperation Ad­ of influence. Five billion dollars, or nearly ministration (TCA) which managed Point half of this increase, flowed to neighboring Four. But in mid-1953, when the TCA was Canada, and $2.4 billion went to Europe. submerged in the military-minded Mutual Latin America realized an increase of $3.5 Security Agency, Point Four lost its identity billion. But developing nations in Asia, Afri­ and specific appropriations. Indeed, the ca, and the Middle East saw little investment. Point Four program soon became a link in The Middle East and Africa received new America's defense system with the special American investments amounting to only function of increasing the shipment of stra­ 3,000,000 between 1950 and 1957. By tegic raw materials to the United States dur­ ing the Korean War.^" The Truman Adminis-

Commerce Records, National Archives; H. J. Heinz ^ Department of Commerce, U.S. Business Invest­ in "Special Report on American Opinion," by De­ ments in Foreign Countries (Washington, 1960), 1, partment of State, May 9, 1949, in ibid.. Box 1147; 90-91. U.S. Associates, International Chamber of Com­ ^Warburg, Long Road Home, 254; Thorsten V. merce, "Report of Committte on Business Partici­ Kalijarvi, "Point Four in the Contemporary Setting," pation in Foreign Economic Development," April Annals, CCLXVIILl (March, 1950) ; Merle Curti 4, 1949, Box 139, Winthrop Aldrich Papers, Baker and Kendall Birr, Prelude to Point Four: American Library, Harvard University; Congressional Record, Technical Missions Overseas, 1838-1938 (Madison, XCVI:A2424 81st Cong., 2nd sess. 1954) ; Eric Johnston, "Partnership Capitalism," ^ National Foreign Trade Council, Report of in Atlantic Monthly, CLXXX:27 (July, 1947); Rob­ 36th National Convention (November, 1949), xviii- ert E. Asher, et al.. The United Nations and Eco­ xix, 160-161; Baldwin, Economic Development, 104; nomic and Social Co-operation (Washington, 1957), Steel, CXXV:62 (July 11, 1949) ; New York State 174-178. Chamber of Commerce, Monthly Bulletin, XLI:218- ^ U.S. International Development Advisory Board, 219 (December, 1949) ; Brown and Opie, American Partners in Progress (Washington, 1951), 4^10; Foreign Assistance, 391. Walter R. Sharp, "The Institutional Framework for "" Fortune, XLI:26 (May, 1950); Clarence B. Technical Assistance: A Comparative Review of Randall, A Foreign Economic Policy for the United UN and US Experience," in International Organiza­ States (Chicago, 1954), 34. tion, VII:346 (1953).

124 PATERSON: FOREIGN AID UNDER WRAPS tration increasingly played down the altru­ ment. Then, too, foreign nationals—one thou­ istic, uplifting, and bold aspects of Point sand in 1953—travelled to the United States Four to argue that the program was an inex­ for study.^^ Yet the appropriations, the in­ pensive bargain for the American taxpayer. dividual efforts, and the fanfare for Point As one pamphlet stressed in early 1953, the Four never matched the magnitude of the cost of Point Four for that fiscal year would problem. Point Four came to mean a great be "less than the price of one battleship."^^ deal in measureable raw materials imports Disappointed supporters of Point Four to the United States, but comparatively little chastised Truman for creating a program with to the destitute abroad. the "head of a lion and the body of a Foreign critics growled their complaints mouse."^^ Supreme Court Justice William 0. too. The Indian delegate to the United Na­ Douglas complained that technical assistance tions General Assembly protested that tech­ actually shored up "corrupt and reactionary nical assistance was designed to ship raw ma­ regimes" and "feudal systems" which sub­ terials to industrialized nations. By 1953 verted necessary social and economic re- Syria had refused direct American technical forms.^^ Washington, of course, was not alone help, and Egypt's dynamic Gamal Abdel Nas- responsible for the existence of reactionary sar labelled Point Four a form of colonial governments unwilling to initiate reforms. penetration. The problem, critics noted, was And the United States seemed to be caught not only that American assistance benefitted in a dilemma. To improve food production, elites in some countries, but also that the Uni­ Washington had to help those few people who ted States sometimes promoted projects more owned the land and who at the same time re­ helpful to itself than to the developing coun­ sisted land reform. If Washington pushed tries. Washington, after all, wanted political the landed elite to reform, it invited charges and strategic benefits from Point Four. The of "imperialism." If America did not de­ recipients, on the other hand, looked for na­ mand corrective change, it was charged with tional economic gains. Airfields and high­ reactionary tendencies. What is evident is ways in Afghanistan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, that the results of American policies bul­ Thailand, and Vietnam satisfied American warked existing regimes and slighted social military purposes and American business, justice.^* but served the economic development of those Point Four technicians circled the globe. nations minimally. This American behavior, Numbering 1,500 in 1953, they visited thirty- coupled with private American business' pri­ five countries and performed a variety of mary interest in profit maximization rather tasks which partially ameliorated human suf­ than general social and economic improve­ fering in isolated districts. Digging compost ment (investments in oil rather than food pits in India, administering smallpox vac­ production, for example), blemished Point cine in Liberia, instructing teachers in the Four's record.^^ Peruvian Andes, and combatting malaria in Venezuela, American technical experts made contributions through their personal commit- ^ For examples of Point Four projects, see De­ partment of State publications: Technical Coopera­ tion: The Dramatic Story of Helping Others to Help Themselves (Washington, 1959) ; Working with People: Examples of U.S. Technical Cooperation '^ Department of State, Point 4: What It is . . . (Washington, 1960) ; Americans On a New Frontier: How It Works (Washington, 1953), 9. U.S. Technicians Lend a Hand Abroad (Washington, ^ Vera M. Dean, Main Trends in Postwar Foreign 1960) ; Point Four Pioneers: Reports from a New Policy (New Delhi, 1950), 27. See also James Reston Frontier (Washington, 1951). in New York Times, May 26, 1950. ^ For criticisms and shortcomings see Sharp, "In­ ^ Quoted in Guenther Stein, The World the Dol­ stitutional Framework," 347; New York Times, April lar Built (London, 1952), 252. 14, 1954 (Nassar) ; George Hakim, "Point Four ** See John M. Hunter and William H. Knowles, and the Middle East: A Middle East View," in "Ten Problems of Point Four," in Inter-American Middle East Journal, IV: 183-195 (April, 1950) ; Economic Affairs, VII:64-81 (Summer, 1953) ; Fred Tarun C. Bose, "The Point Four Programme: A Warner Neal, "Moral Responsibility and World Critical Study, in International Studies, VII: 66-97 Leadership," in Western Political Quarterly, IX:854 (July, 1965) ; "Middle East Economics Making (December, 1956) ; Stein, World the Dollar Built. Slow Progress," in United Nations Bulletin, XIV:

125 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973

Critical of Point Four as a self-interested nomic Development (SUNFED), the United American program, developing nations turned States stressed already existing American bi­ increasingly to the United Nations Organiza­ lateral aid programs and the high cost of its tion. As in the cases of the Truman Doctrine military preparedness. The point was con­ and the Marshall Plan, in the Point Four spicuous: without American endorsement, program, Washington chose to control funds and hence American funds, SUNFED could directly and largely sidestepped that interna­ never be initiated. tional association. Washington did grant The Soviet Union, which before 1953 had $12.5 million to United Nations technical as­ largely voted against technical assistance pro­ sistance projects from June, 1950, to Decem­ grams through the United Nations, now ber, 1951, and about $15 million each year switched in opposition to the American posi­ thereafter in the 1950's.^''' Although Presi­ tion. Russia also launched its own aid proj­ dent Truman said that Point Four would co­ ects. Americans began to speak of a Soviet operate with the United Nations "whenever "economic offensive," and Washington in practicable," it was in fact Truman's fear that 1957 finally agreed to help establish the "Spe­ the State Department would place too much cial Projects Fund," limited and less expen­ emphasis on the role of that international body sive than SUNFED. In 1960, the World Bank in technical assistance.^* The Truman Admin­ set up a special subsidiary to handle relations istration rejected a major program under the with developing countries. With this new auspices of the United Nations.^' agency's funds exhausted by 1968, President The United States also blocked attempts Robert S. McNamara of the World Bank des­ within the United Nations in the 1950's to perately sought to revive interest in lifting form an agency which would extend loans to living standards in developing nations.*" developing nations on lenient terms. The Originally neglected by the State Depart­ pressure for a new international organization ment, lost in the turmoil of more dramatic came from Burma, Cuba, and Yugoslavia in Cold War issues, hampered by Republican 1951. They resented the World Bank's prac­ critics and by limited Congressional appro­ tice of seldom granting funds to developing priations, spurned by American businessmen, countries. In its argument against the pro­ and ultimately channeled into a military route. posed Special United Nations Fund for Eco- Point Four began grandly but whimpered through most of its life. America improved its imports of strategic raw materials, but failed in its goal of aligning the Third World with its foreign policy or erasing the condi­ 298-299 (April 15, 1953); Basil Davidson, "Cash­ tions conducive to deprivation and revolu­ ing in on Old Imperialisms," in Nation, CLXXV: 209-210 (September 13, 1952) ; Rexford G. Tugwell, tion. Point Four served neither peace nor A Chronicle of Jeopardy, 1945-1955 (Chicago, 1955), prosperity. 154^159; Jahangir Amuzegar, "Point Four: Per­ formance and Prospect," in Political Science Quar­ terly, LXXIII: 530-546 (December, 1958) ; Simon G. Hanson, "The Press Looks at Point IV," in Inter-American Economic Affairs, VI:51-69 (Au­ •"• Baldwin, Economic Development, 88-96; Alvin tumn, 1952) ; William Vogt, "Point Four Propagan­ Z. Rubinstein, "Soviet and American Policies in da and Reality," in American Perspective, IV: 122- International Economic Organizations," in Interna­ 129 (Spring, 1950). tional Organization, XVIII :29-52 (Winter, 1964); ^ Brown and Opie, American Foreign Assistance, Department of State, Technical Cooperation: Dra­ 401-402; Department of State Bulletin, XXXIV :396 matic Story, 58; Department of State, The Sino- (March 5, 1956), Soviet Economic Offensive in the Less Developed '^Public Papers, Truman, 1949, 115 (January 20) ; Countries (Washington, 1958) ; Department of State David D. Lloyd to George Elsey, November 29, 1949, Bulletin, XXXIV:365 (March 5, 1956) ; Robert L. Chronological File, Lloyd Papers. Allen, Soviet Economic Warfare (Washington, 1960) ; ^ The United States did encourage the United Joseph S. Berliner, Soviet Economic Aid (New York, Nations Expanded Program of Technical Assistance 1958) ; Leo Tansky, U.S. and U.S.S.R. Aid to De­ in 1949, and participated in such agencies as the veloping Countries (New York, 1967) ; Donald S. International Civil Aviation Organization, World Carlisle, "Soviet Policy in the United Nations and Health Organization, and the United Nations Edu­ the Problem of Economic Development, 1946-1956" cational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, all (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, of which had very small technical assistance pro­ 1962) ; "McNamara's Bridge," in New Republic, grams. CLX:9-10 (January 11, 1969).

126 JOHN E HOLMES: AN EARLY WISCONSIN LEADER

By STUART M. RICH

T^O THOSE who romanticize American his- mother died. Orphaned at the age of eight, -*- tory, the early and middle decades of young John returned to East Glastonberry the nineteenth century constitute the golden to live with his strict and rather unsympa­ era of the rugged individualist. The proto­ thetic grandfather, Appleton Holmes. Four type was probably reared on a farm or in a years later John left home, in part because small village or town in New England or one of a conflict with his grandfather over his of the Middle Atlantic states. He usually left love for reading books in preference to the home while still in his teens or early twenties farm chores which elder Holmes regarded as to search for opportunity and fortune along more practical and useful. At the age of the advancing frontier. Generally possessing twelve John moved to Hamilton, New York, a combination of natural ability, boundless and worked at learning a trade, the exact energy, acumen in things practical, and the nature of which is not known. Holmes studied determination to overcome all obstacles, he during his spare time and acquired enough was pragmatic in his approach to life and education to teach in a common school in would not hesitate to try something new if he the area.^ felt it would offer greater rewards. Sometime around 1830 John Holmes en­ The career of John Edwin Holmes generally tered Hamilton Academy as a ministerial stu­ fits this pattern and reflects the spirit, or at dent^ On June 5, 1833, Holmes received his least the image, of that period. From a Con­ letters of ordination as a minister in the Uni­ necticut and New York farm background, versalist Church, and for the next three years John Holmes went on to become, successively, he preached in Chautauqua County, New York a schoolteacher, Universalist minister, lawyer, (mainly in and around Westfield), and in politician, Wisconsin's first lieutenant gover­ nearby parts of Pennsylvania. Little is known nor, businessman, railroad president, civic of the details of Holmes's ministry, either in leader, and finally quartermaster officer of a volunteer Wisconsin infantry regiment during the Civil War. ^ There are no records available as to the exact location in the state of New York where the family Holmes was born on December 28, 1809, settled during this period. The two principal sources at East Glastonberry, Connecticut, a small of information pertaining to John Holmes's early life are John R. Berryman, History of the Bench and Bar community near Hartford. He was the fifth of Wisconsin (Chicago, 1898), II: 503-504, and some of eight children and one of six sons born genealogical notes written by John Ross Holmes of to Solomon and Amy McKee Holmes. When Omaha, Nebraska, in January, 1962, and now in the possession of John Robert Holmes, Omaha. John was in his fourth year his father died 'Portrait and Biographical Album of Johnson and and his mother, together with her children, Pawnee Counties [Nebraska] (Chicago, 1889), 153- 155. Information about John E. Holmes is included moved to New York state. Here Holmes re­ in a biographical sketch of his son, Charles A. mained until the spring of 1818, when his Holmes.

127 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973

at Milan. While preaching in that pleasant, small farming community near Lake Erie, Holmes married Ruth Althea Hawley, who had earher moved to Ohio from New York state with her parents, two brothers, and a sister. The marriage took place on August 30, 1837, five weeks before Ruth Hawley's twenty-first birthday. Earlier that year. Holmes had decided to leave the ministry and pursue a legal career. He had returned his letter of fellowship in the Universalist Church and moved to Roscoe, Illinois, a small town south of Beloit, Wisconsin, to study law. Holmes had relatives in Roscoe and there may have been a good opportunity for him to read law and meet his expenses at the same time. Following the wedding John Holmes and his bride settled in Roscoe, and for the next two years the former preacher diligently applied himself to his legal studies and pre­ pared for the bar examination.* After Holmes's admission to the bar in 1839, the young couple moved to Lockport, Illinois Societ) i in)iio.,i..j .1.^ Colktuons (near Joliet), and John began his legal prac­ John E. Holmes. tice. Lockport was a thriving community at the time and a center of much commercial New York or in other states where he served activity associated with the building of the pulpits. While in Chautauqua County, he Illinois and Michigan Canal between Chicago corresponded with a feUow minister, L. R. and Peru-LaSalle. This project, which had Smith, who also preached in western New commenced in earnest the previous year, was York, concerning the work of a mutual friend headquartered at Lockport and, in 1839, was and colleague, the Reverend Nathaniel Stacy. generating a payroll of $75,000 a month and Subsequently, in the spring of 1836, John total expenditures of nearly a million-and-a- Holmes assumed a pastorate at Ann Arbor, half dollars in that section of northern Illi­ Michigan, where Reverend Stacy was then nois.^ There were also Hawleys located at living. The two men worked for some months Lockport, and it was a considerable com­ in a common ministry—apparently the estab­ fort to Ruth Hawley Holmes to have some of lishment of a Universalist fellowship among her relatives close by. She, in fact, felt quite recent settlers from New York. Holmes did not remain in Michigan long. He departed for Milan, Ohio, and a new church in the * John Ross Holmes's genealogical records; Berry­ autumn, leaving Stacy "tugging at the wheel man, History of the Bench and Bar of Wisconsin, all alone."3 11:503-504. The career of John Holmes, as well as his ^ James William Putnam, The Illinois and Michi­ gan Canal: A Study in Economic History (Chicago, personal life, took an entirely new direction 1918), 36, 50, 61; W. W. Stevens, Past and Present of Will County, Illinois (Chicago, 1907), 61-63, 95; John Clayton, The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale, 1970), 332; Re­ port of the Canal Commissioners Of Illinois to Gov­ ' Berryman, History of the Bench and Bar of Wis­ ernor John R. Tanner, December 1, 1900 (Spring­ consin, II: 503-504; John Ross Holmes's genealogical field, 1901), 160-161; John H. Krenkel, Illinois In­ records; L. R. Smith to John E. Holmes, December ternal Improvements, 1818-1848 (Cedar Rapids, 17, 1834, in the John Edwin Holmes Papers in the 1958), 112-113; Chicago Tribune, February 24. 1964, possession of John Robert Holmes, Omaha, Nebraska; September 18, 1970 (clipped articles on the Illinois Nathaniel Stacy to J. E. Holmes, January 31, 1837, and Michigan Canal, without titles, on file at the in the John Ross Holmes genealogical records. Chicago Historical Society).

128 RICH: JOHN E. HOLMES homesick and urged her husband to give up among the farmers and small tradesmen of his legal practice in Lockport and move back the new community. From 1844 to 1846 he to Milan. John Holmes, however, was deter­ served as Jefferson County clerk, at a salary mined to succeed in Illinois and never serious­ of five dollars per year, and in 1846 was ly considered leaving, despite one or two elected to the Jefferson village council and possible opportunities in Ohio.* Upon mov­ served as a member of that body for the ing to Lockport, Holmes had exchanged his next two years. In the fall of 1846, Holmes, ministerial library with a gentleman who had a Democrat associated with the Locofoco wing been practicing law and wished to preach. of the party in Wisconsin, was elected to a John Holmes's ministerial activities did not two-year term in the territorial council as the end, however, for the Universalists at Joliet representative from Jefferson and Dodge prevailed upon him to preach there for one counties.^ Although Holmes was not a dele­ year—presumably on a part-time basis. gate to the 1846 Constitutional Convention, Holmes had been well thought of during his he supported the cause of statehood in the pastoral career in New York and Michigan, territorial council and endorsed the position and continued to be active as a Universalist taken by the Locofoco Democratic delegates lay leader throughout his life. In June, 1860, who dominated the convention.^" he was elected vice-president of the Wiscon­ The Locofocos, who largely represented the sin Universalist State Convention. It was Jacksonian wing of the Democratic party, op­ while living at Lockport that the first of the posed state-chartered banks (if indeed not all Holmes's four sons, Charles Allen, was born banks) ; paper currency; the incurring of debt on June 6, 1840.^ in support of such public works as toll roads, In 1841 the Holmeses moved to Savanna, canals, and railroads; and corporate monopo­ Illinois, on the Mississippi River, and John lies. In view of the spotty past of these institu­ opened a law office. It was also here that tions, this was not an altogether unreasonable the couple's second son, Edwin Forrest, was position. On the other hand, the Locofocos born on February 17, 1843. But Savanna strongly supported such reforms as the election did not meet Holmes's expectations or aspira­ of judges, the right of married women to own tions, and in 1843 the family moved once property, the exemption of homesteads from more, this time settling permanently in Jef­ seizure for debts, the granting to Negroes ferson, Wisconsin.^ the right to vote and to hold office, and the right of aliens to vote if they filed a declara- EFFERSON was a small village of approxi­ J mately two hundred persons, located along the gently meandering Rock River. The area was devoted to the raising of wheat, hogs, " C. W. Butterfield, History of Jefferson County, and other agricultural products. John Holmes Wisconsin (Chicago, 1879), 368-369, 376, 471; Berry­ soon won a position of respect and trust man, History of the Bench and Bar of Wisconsin, 11:503-504; Milo M. Quaife (ed.), The Conven­ tion of 1846 {Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, voL XXVII, Madison, 1919), 706; Milwaukee Sentinel, October 1, 1846; Journal " Ruth A. Holmes to Noah M. Hawley, October 29, of the Council, First Annual Session of the Fifth 1839, in the John Edwin Holmes Papers; John Ross Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Wisconsin Holmes's genealogical records; Noah Hawley to (Madison, 1847), 3. Ruth A. Holmes, December 8, 1839, in the John ^° Among the several accounts dealing with the Edwin Holmes Papers. Constitutional Convention of 1846 as well as the 'John Ross Holmes's genealogical records; Nathan­ activities of the Locofoco Democrats in Wisconsin iel Stacy to J. E. Holmes, January 31, 1837, in the are the Collections of the State Historical Society of John Edwin Holmes Papers; Weekly Jeffersonian, Wisconsin edited by Milo M. Quaife (see especially June 21, 1860; "Family Record of John Edwin and vol. XXVI, The Movement for Statehood, 1845-1846; Ruth Althea Holmes," in the John Edwin Holmes vol. XXVII, The Convention of 1846; and vol. XXVIII, Papers. The Struggle over Ratification) ; Frederick L. * John Ross Holmes's genealogical records; "Fam­ Holmes, First Constitutional Convention in Wiscon­ ily Record of John Edwin and Ruth Althea Holmes"; sin, 1846 (Madison, 1906) ; Ray A. Brown, "The Berryman, History of the Bench and Bar of Wiscon­ Making of the Wisconsin Constitution," in the sin, 11:503-504; see also United States Biographical Wisconsin Law Review (July, 1949), 648-694; and Dictionary-Wisconsin Volume (Chicago, 1877), 218- "When the 'Locofocos' Took Wisconsin," in the 219. Milwaukee Journal, December 20, 1948.

129 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973 tion of intent to become citizens. Strong op­ property. At the same time, he was opposed position by a combination of conservative to the granting of unrestricted rights to own­ Democrats (the "Old Hunkers") and Whigs, ers of private property or to allowing these plus the fact that a majority of rank and rights to take precedence over the general file Wisconsin voters were probably not ready community well-being. On one occasion he to accept the somewhat radical tenets advo­ voted against granting a charter to a pro­ cated by the Locofocos, succeeded in scuttling posed railroad venture—perhaps because he the 1846 constitutional proposal—which had questioned the soundness of the particular incorporated most of the Locofoco program project involved; on another occasion he into its specific provisions. favored regulating taverns and groceries, as As a member of the territorial council, grop shops were generally called at that time. John E. Holmes seems to have played a con­ Yet Holmes generally supported private own­ ciliatory role in the deliberations over the ers, especially those engaged in providing 1846 constitution. He served as chairman of transportation, banking, and insurance ser­ a constitutional committee, composed of Dem­ vices. For example, he voted against a meas­ ocratic members of the territorial legislature, ure to prohibit Byron Kilbourn's Merchants which reported a number of resolutions back Mutual Insurance Company of Milwaukee to the main body of Democratic legislators from engaging in banking or circulating its on January 30, 1847. These resolutions voiced stock or debt as money. In another case in­ opposition to all "moneyed monopolies" and volving property rights. Holmes took the po­ privileges of every description as well as to sition that there was a territorial obligation to reimburse the holders of the Milwaukee all unequal taxation and to the incurring of and Rock River Canal Company's bonds, since any debt for internal improvements. It up­ the territory had guaranteed the bonds and held and supported the principle that it is since they were the collateral which the canal the duty of the government to provide every company used to secure loans.^^ child with the means of acquiring a good moral and intellectual education as well as Holmes supported the development of im­ to work to preserve and promote union and proved public works, both privately and gov- harmony among the various states. The com­ ernmentally owned. He sponsored measures mittee also took the position that the adoption providing for dams in his district, supported or rejection of a state constitution was not railroad and turnpike charters when the ven­ a party question but an issue which tran­ tures were soundly conceived, and favored scended partisan politics.*^ selling some territorial land (which had orig­ The council was in session, roughly, dur­ inally been set aside for canal purposes) to ing the months of January and February, and encourage private economic development. Be­ a special session held during the latter part sides serving on several standing committees of October of 1847. Holmes continued his (militia, incorporations, judiciary, engrossed law practice in Jefferson, and on June 20, bills, and as chairman of territorial expendi­ 1847, he became the father of a third son, tures). Holmes was appointed chairman of Savillion Fuller. An analysis of Holmes's vot­ a joint select committee to study Governor ing record as a member of the territorial coun­ Henry Dodge's recommendations regarding cil reveals a somewhat independent pattern, the establishment of a state government. Of yet one which remained well within the over­ the same general political persuasion as Gov­ all Locofoco framework. He favored the abo­ ernor Dodge, Holmes strongly endorsed and lition of slavery in the South as well as pro­ supported the governor's ideas concerning hibiting its extension into the new territories statehood and constitutional matters. Antici­ and states. Holmes manifested the tradition­ pating the difficulties which the 1846 con- al spirit of Jeffersonian liberalism in his basic support of private property rights and in his opposition to the taxation of personal ^ Journal of the Council, First, Second, and Spe­ cial Annual Sessions of the Fifth Legislative Assem­ bly of the Territory of Wisconsin (Madison, 1847, " Quaife, The Struggle Over Ratification, 320-321. 1848).

130 RICH: JOHN E. HOLMES stitutional proposal might encounter. Holmes Wisconsin was brought into line with the took the initiative early in 1847 in recom­ Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution of mending a new constitutional convention in the United States.'^ the event that the Constitution of 1846 should John Holmes appears to have played a be voted down—which it was, in April of major role, along with Nelson Dewey, in 1847, by a vote of 20,233 to 14,119.1^ securing the passage of the Wisconsin Con­ It was in the area of human relations, stitution of 1848. This may have been an however, that Holmes's liberalism stood out important factor in the selection of Holmes, most prominently. In a bill incorporating a by the Locofoco Democrats, as their candi­ private academy. Holmes insisted that race date for the lieutenant governorship at the should never be a test of qualification for party's political convention held in April of the admission of any pupil. He strongly op­ 1848. Nelson Dewey won the nomination for posed the practice, then current, of attach­ governor over Judge Joel A. Barber of Lan­ ing private divorce bills as riders to measures caster on the fourth ballot, and Holmes was dealing with political matters, firmly believ­ nominated on the third ballot to serve as ing that divorce petitions should always be Dewey's running mate.'* considered individually on their own merits. Wisconsin's first general political election In the area of penal reform. Holmes, while following ratification of the state constitu­ opposed to abolishing the death penalty, was tion was held on May 8, 1848. Nelson Dewey also against hard labor for short-term and and John E. Holmes defeated their Whig op­ transient prisoners confined in county jails.^* ponents, John H. Tweedy and John H. Roun- tree, 19,537 (with an additional 46 write-in r\^ MARCH 14, 1848, the Wisconsin elec- votes for "J. E. Holmes") to 14,355." ^-^ torate ratified a new constitutional pro­ As lieutenant governor, John Holmes pre­ posal by a vote of 16,417 to 6,174, and on sided over the state senate, serving as presi­ May 20 of that year Congress formally ad­ dent of that body. He only voted to break mitted Wisconsin to the Union as the thir­ ties, usually on relatively trivial questions, tieth state. The 1848 constitution, drafted at with the result that his voting record provides the second constitutional convention which no real clue as to where he stood on the met earlier that winter in Madison, was a issues confronting Wisconsin during its first more temperate document than its ill-fated two years of statehood. In his opening ad­ predecessor. The sticky state bank charter dress to the senate on June 8, 1848, Holmes question was skirted by submitting it to the stressed the rapid growth in the population voters in the form of a separate referendum, of Wisconsin from its establishment as a ter­ and the earlier women's property and home­ ritory in 1836 to the 1848 level of about stead exemption provisions were omitted en­ 220,000. He traced the development of Wis­ tirely. The incurring of state debt, which had consin agriculture and mineral resources and also been provided for in the proposed 1846 noted the rise of a number of new cities and constitution, was limited to an insignificant towns during this period. Holmes praised sum, but the legislature could enact meas­ the wealth of Wisconsin's people, including ures permitting broader borrowing powers the "vigorous, enterprising, and industrious" if a majority of voters ratified such proposals. immigrants from Europe. As the new state The 1848 constitution granted suffrage to grew. Holmes said, railroads and other pub- white males over twenty-one and to aliens who signified an intention to become citi­ zens. The question of Negro voting and prop­ " "When the 'Locofocos' Took Wisconsin"; Wil­ erty ownership was thus avoided in 1848, and liam F. Raney, Wisconsin: A Story of Progress it was not until 1882 that Negro suffrage in (New York, 1940),^ 131. " Milwaukee Daily Sentinel and Gazette, April 13, 15, 1848; Wisconsin Argus, April 11, 1848. " Journal of the Senate of the State of Wisconsin, 1848 (Madison, 1848). The 1874 Wisconsin Blue " Ibid.; see also Holmes, First Constitutional Con­ Book shows 19,875 votes for the Democratic ticket vention, 233-249. headed by Dewey and 14,621 votes for Tweedy and ^^ Journal of the Council, Second Session (1848). the Whigs.

131 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973 lie works would need to be built to carry the tested the election, but on February 24, 1853, surpluses of her farms and manufactures the assembly voted 52 to 17 that Holmes was to major market centers. In this address entitled to hold this seat from the towns of Holmes briefly summarized the importance Jefferson and Koshkonong in Jefferson of the new state government in the develop­ County.^' ment of the state, referring to it as "an or­ During the 1853 term of the legislature, ganization by means of a revolution of moral which lasted from January 12 to July 13, power, quiet and efficient in its character— the forty-three-year-old Holmes boarded at unstained by blood and untainted by crime the Madison Hotel. Chosen chairman of the —a harmonious union of a free people for self- ways and means committee and a member government." He charged the senate to enact of the committee on charitable and religious laws to meet the needs of the people, but em­ societies by his Democratic colleagues in the phasized that his own duties as lieutenant assembly, he served with distinction.^^ governor "are but ministerial in character" Holmes's support in 1853 of free soil, and that in discharging them he intended exemption of homesteads from forced sale, to rely "more upon your indulgence than and liberal private property rights for state- upon my own fitness and capacity."'* chartered corporations followed his earlier Holmes' term of office spanned the 1848 Locofoco beliefs and were consistent with the and 1849 sessions of the legislature but only position of the majority of the Democratic involved a chronological interval of about legislators. A temperate man himself. Holmes eleven months. The 1848 session ran, inter­ avoided the volatile issue of temperance legis­ mittently, from June 5 until August 21, while lation which ebbed and flowed in Wisconsin the 1849 session commenced on January 10 politics during the first seven or eight years and ended on April 2.'^ of statehood. Ironically, the former minister Following his term of office John Holmes voted against opening each day's delibera­ settled down to his somewhat neglected law tions of the assembly with a reading of the practice in Jefferson. That summer, Ruth Lord's Prayer. In evaluating his record as Holmes bore the last of her four children— an assemblyman, the Milwaukee Sentinel, another boy, Warren Hawley, born August many years later, described Holmes as "a 5, 1849. Anticipating renomination as lieu­ lawyer of marked ability and a valuable tenant governor. Holmes attended the state member of that body."^^ Democratic party convention in September Following his assembly term John Holmes of 1849. The "Old Hunker" wing of the increasingly devoted his time to other activi­ party, however, succeeded in replacing with ties. An enthusiastic agriculturist, he raised new candidates three of the five top elected a fine specimen of winter wheat which was state officers who were holdovers from the expected to yield over thirty bushels per acre. 1848-1849 period, and John Holmes was one He had been a charter member of the State of those dropped.^" Historical Society of Wisconsin when it was Despite this rebuff by the more conserva­ reorganized in January, 1849, and had tive elements within the Democratic party. served as a vice-president (one of twenty-five Holmes remained a loyal Democrat for the chosen from as many counties) from 1849 next several years. In the fall of 1852, he through 1855. He was also involved in the won his party's nomination for the assembly Masonic Order and was able to devote more seat from Jefferson County and was elected time to the concerns of that organization fol- in November by a margin of one vote. Benja­ min F. Adams, Holmes's Whig opponent, con­

^ Milwaukee Sentinel, October 14, November 5, 6, 12, December 3, 1852; Journal of the Wisconsin Assembly, 1853 (Madison, 1853), 46, 298, 303, 308- ''^ Senate Journal, 1848, pp. 15-17. 309. "/6fU, 1849, pp. 673-675, 663. ^Journal of the Wisconsin Assembly, 1853, pp. ^John Ross Holmes's genealogical records; Mil­ 35-36, 852. waukee Sentinel, September 7, 1849; Raney, Wis­ '"Ibid., 33, 127, 150; Raney, Wisconsin, 143- consin, 150. 147; Milwaukee Sentinel, December 27, 1877.

132 RICH: JOHN E. HOLMES

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Society's Icunogrdpliic Collections Madison in 1851, from a drawing by J. B. Hengler. At left center is the Madison Hotel where Holmes and other legislators boarded. lowing his retirement from politics.^* Most Elkhorn, Whitewater, Jefferson, and Colum­ important by far, however, were John bus, to Portage. For farmers and business­ Holmes's business affairs. Frequently trou­ men in the vicinity of Jefferson, the pro­ bled by family and personal illnesses, and at posed railroad would offer convenient and times finding himself short of funds during almost direct access to Chicago's grain ele­ his active political period, he became increas­ vators, warehouses, and water and rail con­ ingly interested in the railroad possibilities nections to the east and south. A close rail which were developing in Jefferson County tie with Chicago would open up a vast and and the surrounding area during the 1850's.^^ rapidly expanding grain market to southern Wisconsin farmers. It also promised a com­ T N THE SPRING of 1853 Holmes became petitive alternative to the dominance of Mil­ -*- involved in a railway venture known as waukee and other Wisconsin lake port inter­ the Wisconsin Central Railroad. This com­ ests.^^ pany was chartered by the state legislature The original Wisconsin Central Railroad in March of that year to operate between (which had no connection with the later cor­ Genoa (now Genoa City) and Portage. The poration of the same name) was largely the projected route extended northwest from brainchild of an Elkhorn businessman and Genoa, through Geneva (now Lake Geneva), land developer, LeGrand Rockwell. As his plans gradually took form during the latter part of 1852 and into 1853, Rockwell suc- ^ Milwaukee Sentinel, August 1, 1853; Milo Quaife (ed.). Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Lxxxiii, xxxv, xiv; Jeffersonian, July 21, 1853. On July 16, 1853, Holmes was installed as SD ™ The history of the original Wisconsin Central of Jefferson County Lodge No. 9 of the Free and Railroad and the economic role which its promoters Accepted Masons. Later he served as Worshipful hoped it would play in the development of the region Master of the Masonic Lodge in Jefferson. it served is dealt with at length by the author in a °^ Various letters written by J. E. Holmes and his manuscript entitled "The Railroad That Never wife, Ruth Holmes, to her parents and other close Ran: The Original Wisconsin Central and Its relatives between 1848 and 1853, in John Edwin Successors—A Case Study in Nineteenth Century Holmes Papers. Railroad Promotion."

133 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973 ceeded in arousing the interest and support of under increasing criticism because of a grow­ a number of business and community leaders ing suspicion of waste and corruption on the along the projected route. At a meeting part of Governor William A. Barstow and held in Whitewater on May 17, 1853, Holmes his political associates. The failure of the was elected president of the board of com­ party's leaders, both in Wisconsin and na­ missioners of the railroad. The purpose of tionally, to condemn the Kansas-Nebraska this meeting (and of the board itself) was to bill caused much disenchantment among many open the Wisconsin Central's books of sub­ of the old Locofocos and Free Sellers who scription for the sale of capital stock. The fo- had remained within the fold of the Demo­ lowing month John Holmes was elected a cratic party or who had rejoined it in the director of the railroad at the company's first early 1850's.^'' Holmes was always a part board of directors meeting, held in Elkhorn of this liberal group, both politically and on June 30.^^ ideologically, and undoubtedly shared in this Another project of John Holmes's during disillusionment. this period was the development of a ceme­ If John Holmes's political career had come tery association. In July of 1853 the trustees to a standstill after 1853, his business activi­ of the Greenwood Cemetery Association ap­ ties exhibited the opposite tendency. In De­ pointed Holmes chairman. Early the follow­ cember of 1853 Holmes was re-elected to the ing year the association announced that it Wisconsin Central Railroad's board of di­ would start selling "burying lots in a week rectors and, the following spring, he and his or ten days" and that a plat of the ground law partner, Daniel Weymouth, promoted the and dimensions of each lot could be found sale of Wisconsin Central stock in the Jef­ "at the offices of Mssrs. Holmes and Wey- ferson area. Later that year. Holmes and mouth."28 Weymouth were both energetically promoting Despite his increasing business involve­ the Rock River Valley Union Railroad, a line ments. Holmes still had the political bug. While then under construction between Fond du he did not run for another term in the assem­ Lac and Minnesota Junction in Dodge County bly, perhaps because he felt that his railroad and projected to be built northward from activities might create a conflict of interest, he Janesville to Minnesota Junction by way of did attend the Democratic state convention Fort Atkinson, Jefferson, and Watertown. in Madison on September 7, 1853, where he Through the efforts of Holmes and others, received four delegate votes for nomination the Rock River Valley Union was attempt­ to the office of county judge for Jefferson ing to induce the citizens of Jefferson to County. However, the incumbent Judge Wil­ authorize the issuance of municipal bonds, liam T. Butler, won the nomination and the to be exchanged for a similar amount of the subsequent election. In October of 1854 railroad's stock—a common and successful Holmes served as chairman of the county com­ device for financing railway construction in mittee of the Jefferson County Democratic those days.^" party, which nominated candidates for coun­ For several months during the spring and ty offices and the assembly. That Holmes summer of 1854, Holmes, whose association did not run for any political office in 1854 with Weymouth had dissolved, was without can again be explained, in part, by his in­ a law partner. Late in August, Orlando C. volvement in railroad and other business mat­ Merriman, a young lawyer who had only re­ ters, but it is also likely that he had begun cently moved to Wisconsin from New York to have some doubts concerning the Demo­ state, joined Holmes, "specializing now in cratic party's position on national issues as circuit and Supreme Court practice, exami­ well as its state leadership. By this time the nation of titles, and payment of taxes." The Democratic party in Wisconsin was coming

'"Ibid., September 8, November 10, 1853, October '"Jeffersonian, May 26, July 7, 1853. 26, 1854; Raney, Wisconsin, 144-151. ''Ibid., July 21, 1853, January 12, 1854. Daniel ^Jeffersonian, December 29, 1853, April 6, Octo­ F. Weymouth was Holmes's law partner at that time. ber 19, 1854.

134 RICH: JOHN E. HOLMES firm of Holmes and Merriman enjoyed a During this period the short portion of the flourishing practice over the next four years, road between Genoa and Geneva was com­ especially in general law and estate work. pleted and train service was established be­ John Holmes's business affairs became in­ tween the Lake Geneva terminus and Elgin, creasingly more complex during the next Illinois, via the connecting Fox River Valley several years. In the summer of 1855 he Railroad. North of Geneva, the road was joined several other prominent Jefferson citi­ graded through Elkhorn to a point close to zens, including Charles Stoppenbach, to estab­ Whitewater, and during the spring of 1857 lish the Jefferson County Mutual Insurance some additional grading was partially com­ Company. Early the following year Holmes pleted between Whitewater and the Rock issued a lengthy report regarding the fi­ River about a mile and a half below Jeffer­ nances and prospects of the Wisconsin Cen­ son. That summer, however, the impact of tral Railroad and urged the citizens of Jef­ the financial Panic of 1857 crashed down ferson to vote in favor of a town-aid bond upon the Wisconsin Central, drying up sources issue in the amount of $40,000. In his re­ of capital and bringing construction to a port he appealed to his fellow Jeffersonians standstill. For all practical purposes the road in strong and emotional language. "Let every never recovered from this disaster. The com­ friend of the road be at the polls and show pany's management struggled valiantly dur­ that he understands his own interest and in­ ing the latter part of 1857 and throughout tends to protect it," he wrote, adding that an 1858 to secure funds and get construction overwhelming "yes" vote on the bond issue started again. The efforts of the Wisconsin would convincingly repudiate "the officious Central's president, Rufus Cheney of White­ interference of outside meddlers." Jefferson water, to resuscitate the road proved futile, voters approved the bond issue, 211 to 37. however, and Cheney resigned late in the The following year residents of Jefferson summer of 1858.^^ Township voted to aid the Wisconsin Central Railroad with $25,000 worth of town bonds. T N SEPTEMBER John Holmes assumed the Holmes's support of the Wisconsin Central •*- presidency of the nearly prostrate Wis­ town-aid bond issue drew the ire of a Fort consin Central and succeeded in infusing Atkinson citizen who took the Jefferson lawyer some new vigor and additional capital into to task for allegedly saying that the railroad the sickly enterprise. Construction activity being constructed northward from Janesville was resumed during the latter part of 1858 "would not be built to Jefferson." Holmes and the grade between Whitewater and the denied this vigorously, stating that he had Rock River below Jefferson was nearly com­ said the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac pleted before winter set in. At the Decem­ Railroad (the successor to the Rock River ber, 1858, stockholders meeting Holmes was Valley Union) would not be built through re-elected president for a full one-year term Jefferson that year (1856)—a statement and was also re-elected to the railroad's board which was as prophetically accurate as it was of directors. Little happened the following realistic. Holmes also went on to point out year due, in part, to the bankruptcy of the that he was publicly on record as opposed connecting Fox River Valley Railroad and to moving the county seat to Watertown, for the continuing unavailability of capital. The he believed that two railroads would make successful completion, in 1859, of the rail­ Jefferson as large in population and in com­ road between Janesville, Jefferson, Water- mercial importance as Watertown.^' town, Fond du Lac, and Oshkosh by the newly In 1856 and 1857, Holmes was re-elected organized and solidly backed Chicago and to the Wisconsin Central's board of directors. North Western Railway may well have had a dampening effect on the Wisconsin Cen-

^Ihid., August 23, 1855; John Henry Ott, Jeffer­ son County, Wisconsin and Its People (Chicago, ""Milwaukee Sentinel, January 4, 1856; Weekly 1917), 268-269; Weekly Jeffersonian, February 21, Jeffersonian, April 9, 1857; Rich, "The Railroad 28, 1856. that Never Ran," passim.

135 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973

tral's prospects. Not only did the North large sacrifices, much too large for my Western tap much of the territory which the means, and as times have turned must lose Wisconsin Central had hoped to serve, but it quite an amount. How much it is impos­ also provided through-freight and passenger sible to tell, probably as much by break­ service directly into Chicago over the main ing up my business as by what I have paid out. But what is done can't be helped, so line of the closely affiliated (and soon com­ we must let it go. I should be satisfied if pletely absorbed) Galena and Chicago Union we have the road. But there is great danger Railroad. now that it will fail. I may have to go to On February 29, 1860, the Wisconsin Cen­ New York again within a week, though I tral held its last stockholders meeting, and hope not. again Holmes was picked to serve as presi­ I do not know from one day what may dent. Operation of the Genoa-to-Geneva por­ be my business for the next. I had thought tion of the railroad was turned over to Ben­ of proposing to Ruth to go to Ohio with my children if a place could be found for jamin W. Raymond, the former president of them to live near you until I can get the defunct Fox River Valley Railroad and through with this Rail road matter. But I an influential director of the Galena and could see no way to bring it about and the Chicago Union. The latter company owned prospect now is that I should soon get out the rails used by the Wisconsin Central on of that business from necessity. Most prob­ the Geneva-Genoa section, and its directors ably we had better remain as we are through planned to re-establish service eventually into the winter. Ruth is so much alone that I Elgin and Chicago from the Lake Geneva know it must be a great trial to her to get along with our boys.^* area. Holmes's task of completing the line north of Geneva proved hopeless. Without capital or the means of securing it, no fur­ 'yHROUGHOUT 1855 and much of 1856 ther construction could be undertaken. Some -*- Holmes seems to have been totally unin- of the grade was ready for track laying, but volved in politics. He finally broke his si­ the purchase of rails required far more money lence in the summer of 1856 by publicly re­ than Holmes or his associates were able to pudiating the slavery stand of the Democrats lay their hands on. In 1861, the trustees rep­ and announcing his support of the Republi­ resenting a group of bondholders brought can party and its presidential candidate, John foreclosure proceedings against the company, C. Fremont. A year later Holmes was elected which had been unable to pay any interest as a delegate to the Republican state con­ on its bonds for over four years. The Wis­ vention from the Jefferson district, but he consin Central Railroad was adjudged bank­ never ran for any state or national office as rupt and its assets were sold to meet the a Republican. During the year 1857, Holmes claims of the creditors on September 10, served as president and chairman of the board 1863.33 of trustees of the village of Jefferson, a rou­ tine and essentially nonpartisan political job.^" The personal sacrifice and financial losses In March of 1858, Merriman and Holmes suffered by John Holmes through his associa­ dissolved their partnership and in June of tion with the Wisconsin Central Railroad is the following year John Holmes found a new clearly indicated in a letter which he wrote law partner. Nelson B. Bruett. The fact that to his father-indaw in November of 1858. In Orlando Merriman had become quite active this letter. Holmes refers to making two in Democratic party circles while Holmes had lenthy business trips to New York City on broken completely with the Democrats by behalf of the railroad—presumably to try this time may have prompted the termina- to raise capital. The following passages in­ dicate Holmes's financial commitment and expected loss and his feelings of hopelessness concerning the future of the railroad: ^ Rich, "The Railroad that Never Ran," passim. '"J. E. Holmes to Warren Hawley, November 14, We have made a great struggle to get 1858, in the John Edwin Holmes Papers. ^ Milwaukee Sentinel, August 2, 1856, August 27, a Rail Road to this place. I hated to say 1857; Weekly Jeffersonian, July 30, September 10, or even think we must fail. I have made 1857.

136 RICH: JOHN E. HOLMES tion of the partnership. Nelson Bruett was an active Republican.^^ The essence of Holmes's political philoso­ phy on the eve of the Civil War is most clearly revealed by an exchange of letters and "guest editorials" with Gerrit T. Thorn, a fellow lawyer and chairman of the Jefferson County Democratic party, who had also once been associated with the Weekly Jeffersonian. These letters and editorials appeared, alter­ nately, in several successive issues of The Republican (another Jefferson newspaper) and the Weekly Jeffersonian during August and early September of 1860. Holmes charged that Stephen A. Douglas, by supporting the Democratic party's platform, fully endorsed the Dred Scott decision with respect to the property rights of slave owners and the ex­ Colonel William L. Utley, from the Alfred Payne oil tension of slavery into the new territories and portrait in the Society's collection. states. Holmes accused Douglas of selling out to the South by repudiating the Missouri tember 2, 1862. John Holmes agreed to serve Compromise and equivocating on the whole as regimental quartermaster and was com­ embarrassing issue of Dred Scott and the missioned, with the rank of captain, on August right of territories and states to pass their 6, 1862. Holmes had "considerable misgiv­ owm laws regarding slave ownership. Later ings as to whether his health and strength in the exchange Holmes explained he was no would enable him to discharge his duties," longer a Democrat because, in his view, it but decided to go with the regiment and share had become "a party with which I have had its fortunes.33 no affinity since it became so entirely sec- Concerning Holmes's health, several of his tionalized."^'' earlier letters to members of his wife's family Holmes's involvement in the Union's cause indicated a susceptibility to the various in­ following the outbreak of the war between fectious diseases then prevalent. Another let­ the states began in 1861 with a series of re­ ter, written by his son Edwin to the two cruiting rallies conducted in different church­ youngest Holmes boys. Villa and Warren, es and before groups assembled at court­ referred to a leg injury in the spring of 1861 houses in Jefferson and surrounding counties. which had left their father lame for a long In his efforts to secure volunteers for the while. In the light of what followed, these Union Army, Holmes joined forces with physical weaknesses which afflicted the fifty- Colonel William L. Utley of Racine, who had two-year-old Wisconsin lawyer appear quite been appointed to organize an infantry regi­ significant. ment made up of recruits from Rock, Racine, The regiment, after undergoing a hurried, Kenosha, Walworth, Jefferson, and Green inadequate training at Camp Utley, received counties. Designated as the Twenty-second its orders during the second week of Septem­ Infantry, the regiment was formed at Camp ber, 1862, and shipped out by railroad for Utley in Racine and was officially mustered Cincinnati on the sixteenth. Following a into the service of the United States on Sep- tedious thirty-five-hour train trip, the regi-

^Ott, Jefferson County, 11:276; Edwin Bentlee '^ Weekly Jeffersonian, March 11, 1858, June 16, Quiner, The Military History of Wisconsin: A Rec­ 1859, April 4, 1861. ord of the Civil and Military Patriotism of the State ^^ See especially The Republican, August 15, 29, in the War for the Union (Chicago, 1866), 697-706; 1860, and the Weekly Jeffersonian, August 23, Sep­ Wisconsin Daily Patriot, May 14, 1863; see also tember 6, 1860, for the full exchange. John Ross Holmes's genealogical records.

137 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973 ment arrived at Cincinnati on the eighteenth. south of Franklin. At Thompson's Station The 814 officers and men of the Twenty- over 12,000 Confederate soldiers under the second were quartered in a large hall called command of General Nathan Bedford For­ the "Volksgarten" in the downtown area, rest enveloped them. A confused engage­ but five days later were moved across the Ohio ment followed in which Colonel Coburn's River to Covington, Kentucky. For the bal­ brigade was badly mauled, his forces scat­ ance of the year, the Twenty-second engaged tered, and most of the remainder of his com­ in various maneuvers aimed at securing rail­ mand captured. Over 200 men of the Twenty- road lines and foiling enemy troop movements second and their commanding officer. Colonel in Kentucky. By November the regiment was Utley, were taken prisoner. About 150 men deep in the bluegrass country around Nicho- under Lieutenant Colonel Edward Bloodgood, lasville and Danville, south of Lexington, but the regiment's second-in-command, succeeded had not made contact with any Confederate in avoiding capture and made it back to the soldiers, although they did encounter num­ camp. A few days later, on March 8, Lieu­ erous rebel sympathizers who lived in the tenant Colonel Bloodgood and the remainder area. While the Twenty-second was active of the regiment, which now numbered about in Kentucky, Colonel Utley and his men re­ 500 men, returned to Brentwood Station. On fused to return some runaway slaves to their March 25, while on a relief mission, the owners. In taking this stand Utley not only Twenty-second was completely surrounded by disobeyed an order of his commanding offi­ an overwhelming number of General For­ cer. General Quincy A. Gillmore, but was also rest's troops some two miles south of Brent­ acting in defiance of a Kentucky court order wood. A brief skirmish followed, but when to arrest him for stealing slaves. Nothing it became obvious that further resistance was done to implement such action, however, would only lead to complete annihilation, and the regiment moved to Louisville late in Bloodgood surrendered his whole command. January, 1863. Shortly thereafter, it shipped Thus, some three weeks after their first sight out to Nashville, Tennessee, by river steam- of the enemy, the entire Twenty-second Wis­ er.3^ consin, including its quartermaster officer. Although they had not engaged in actual Captain John E. Holmes, were prisoners of fighting, the winter in Kentucky and Ten­ the Confederates.*' nessee had been hard on the Twenty-second During his six weeks of captivity Holmes and especially on John Holmes. In Decem­ made daily entries in his pocket account book. ber, 1862, typhoid fever struck the regiment, These brief, factual notations concerned the hospitalizing 150 men and killing some. state of the weather and the terrain through Holmes, who was not a robust man when he which they were marched on their way to enlisted, may have contracted the disease, Libby Prison, the food Holmes ate and the for early in 1863 he complained of fever, prices he paid for it, the state of his own chills, and diarrhea in a letter to his fourteen- health, and the trials of the enlisted men, for year-old son Warren.*" whom Holmes felt much concern. Yet these records indicate no emotional reaction what­ N FEBRUARY 7, 1863, the Twenty-sec­ soever, as might have been expected under O ond arrived at Nashville following a the circumstances. They are completely de­ week-long trip from Louisville on the Ohio void of any feelings which Holmes may have and Cumberland rivers. Two weeks later had—of despair or of hope, of longing for the regiment took up a position at Brent­ wood Station some nine miles south of Nash­ ville, where, for a time, it was engaged in railroad guard duty. Early in March a large ""•Quiner, Military History of Wisconsin, 697-698; portion of the Twenty-second joined three see also Edwin Bentlee Quiner (comp.), "Correspond­ ence of Wisconsin Volunteers, 1861-1865" (scrap- other infantry regiments, a battery of artil­ books of newspaper clippings, 10 vols., 1866), VI: lery, and 500 cavalrymen to form a brigade 165-206, in the State Historical Society of Wisconsin which, under the command of Colonel John Library. •*" Quiner, "Correspondence," VI: 202. Cobum, made a reconnaissance of the area " Quiner, Military History of Wisconsin, 698-700.

138 RICH: JOHN E. HOLMES home or regret over his captivity, or of fear concerning the perilous condition of his health brought on by the effects of typhoid fever. Perhaps Holmes did not feel too concerned about such matters, expecting that he would soon be released as part of a general prisoner exchange. Indeed, on May 5, 1863, John Holmes and a number of other Union officers held at Libby Prison were released as part of an exchange for an equivalent number of captured Confederate officers. Holmes by this time was seriously weakened from his long battle with typhoid fever, but managed '.V o to proceed to Annapolis, Maryland, where he was hospitalized. The trip to Annapolis fur­ ther sapped what little strength remained and, AJaasMkasiMf on May 8, John E. Holmes died. A few days later, his body was shipped back to Jeffer­ Society's Iconographic Collections son where he was buried according to the Libby Prison as it appeared in the summer of 1863. rights of the Masonic Order.*^ The occurrence and circumstances of John Holmes's death were duly noted by the Wis­ ney like his father, was a company comman­ consin press and written up in a manner re­ der with the Twenty-ninth Wisconsin Infan­ flecting the patriotic spirit of the times. "The try Regiment and also held the rank of Cap­ name of John E. Holmes," said the Milwau­ tain. For Warren Holmes, who was still just kee Sentinel, "is recorded with the thousands a little boy, the loss of his father must have of brave, self-sacrificing, patriotic men who hurt very deeply. John Holmes was a man left home, friends, society, comforts, and who had been strongly attached to his family safety that they might add their strength in and to the relatively peaceful and orderly life preventing the downfall of the Republic." of a small-town lawyer. He had never wanted The Wisconsin Daily Patriot referred to him to leave his home and only did so out of a as "a man of much ability, honest, intelligent, sense of duty. and patriotic and like thousands of his com­ By mid-twentieth-century American stan­ panions in arms has fallen in the midst of dards of conformity. Holmes probably would conflict."*^ be considered unstable. A man who changed None of these words, of course, expressed his profession on several occasions, Holmes's the grief and anguish suffered by his widow, goals and political affiliations also appeared who also had two sons, Charles and Villa, in to shift from time to time. Yet his background the army and had the further care and respon­ of schoolteaching, preaching, law, business, sibility of settling the heavy debts left by military service, and politics was not by any her husband and raising the youngest boy, means unusual in the nineteenth century, al­ Warren. Her eldest son, Charles, an attor- though the mix might not have combined all six of these varied components. To a degree at least, Holmes was idealistic, but he was never a pious moralist. Rather, John Holmes was a straightforward, honest man who saw what had to be done and proceeded to do it *" United States Biographical Dictionary-Wisconsin Volume, 218-219; Wisconsin Daily Patriot, May 14, without hesitation or flamboyancy. In each 1863; Milwaukee Sentinel, May 18, 1863, December separate phase of his career he seemed to 27, 1877; Berryman, History of the Bench and Bar have been following a calling, and at several of Wisconsin, II: 503; Portrait and Biographical Album of Johnson and Pawnee Counties [Nebraska], important turning points in his life it is clear 155. that Holmes placed personal conviction ahead "Milwaukee Sentinel, December 27, 1877; Wiscon­ of expediency. sin Daily Patriot, May 14, 1863.

139 REMINISCENCES OF LIFE AMONG THE

CHIPPEWA (PART IV)

By BENJAMIN G. ARMSTRONG

Synopsis in his declining years he sought to relive his colorful youth by dictating his memoirs to a T N JUNE of 1840 a young man named Ben hired amanuensis. -*• Armstrong came by boat to Lake St. Croix Armstrong's memoirs, first published in and disembarked at a place that is now called Ashland in 1891, come to a close with this Hudson. He was twenty, wasted by consump­ installment in which the emphasis is less on tion, and in desperate search of the health he his own often stirring adventures and more had previously enjoyed as a racing jockey on the religious beliefs, mores, and language in the South. As companion he had hired a of the Chippewa. As with the preceding sec­ half-breed Chippewa, also named Ben, who, tions of the memoirs, liberties have been taken during the year the two lived alone in a with the somewhat rambling text for the sake cabin in the deep woods, taught him the In­ of narrative progression, identifiable errors dian arts of survival. At the end of this time of fact and date have been corrected, and ad­ Armstrong emerged hale and strong, half- ditional clarifying information has been sup­ Indian in his outlook, and with a fluency in plied in the footnotes. the Chippewa language that was to shape his career. W.C.H. As an interpreter he represented and de­ fended the Chippewa in the course of the hated treaties with the government. Twice T^ URING my early associations with the he headed Indian delegations to Washington '-^ Indians I discovered that at times when to lay grievances before two Presidents— the head men and chiefs were congregated Fillmore and Lincoln. He married a Chip­ and discussing some private subjects they used pewa girl and by her had five sons. He be­ a language that I could not understand, and came the adopted son of Buffalo, the greatest I inquired of others what they were saying, of the Lake Superior chiefs. He was initiated who, like myself, could not understand them, into the secret order which controlled Chip­ and all the reply I could get from such people pewa life, an honor unique for a white. And was: "That is Chief talk."

140 ARMSTRONG: LIFE AMONG THE CHIPPEWA

«^—. -^^ ^^^

Bureau of Ethnology Report, 1883-86 Interior of the Mide'wigan or Grand Medicine Lodge of the Chippewa.

From that time forward 1 interested my­ to the order and if he is able to show it aright self in the matter and persevered until Buf­ I will publicly admit that he is possessed of falo' told me there were many secrets in the the knowledge that I claim belongs only to Indian nation known only to the initiated, myself among the white race.^ and that it was connected with their religious There is much that I could say upon this belief. I continued to persevere and inter­ subject that would be interesting reading, but ceded with Buffalo until finally he told me he to say much more would be the commence­ would take my case before the council and ment of an exposition which under no circum­ it was possible that I might be ahowed to stances would I divulge. The oaths and pledges receive a part of the secrets, but said no white that I gave in gaining entrance to and eleva­ man had ever been admitted that he knew of tion in the order were made in the presence and thought my case a hopeless one. This of Almighty God and are as sacred to me as was after I had been adopted as the son of though they had been made in any temple Chief Buffalo, and through his intercession of the Most High, and there can be no order I was at last admitted to the order, and what in existence where any member could feel I have seen of the world leads me to think it the weight of his obligations more keenly resembles very much the secret orders of white men, and I claim that it is impossible for any one not a member to be able to give ^Buffalo (Kechewaishke or Bezhike), who died any sign correctly, though some may claim in 1855 at an advanced age and is buried at La Pointe, Madeline Island, was the head chief of the Lake their ability to do so. In many cases appli­ Superior Chippewa. Armstrong, who was his adopted cants are admitted, but few get through. I son, married his niece, Charlotte, by whom he had also claim to be the only white man on earth five sons. ' The traditions of Indian genesis and cosmogony that ever gained that distinction. This may and the rituals attendant on initiation into the seem the argument of a braggadocio, but I Society of the Mide' constituted the Chippewa reli­ will give any man in the world all the oppor­ gion and was at the heart of their culture. For a detailed description see W. J. Hoffman, "The Mide' tunity he may desire of showing me any knowl­ Wiwin or 'Grand Medicine Society' of the Ojibway," edge or the ceremonies and signs belonging in Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1885-86 (Washington, 1891), 143-300.

141 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973

or absolutely than I do. There are some things that were secrets in the order that I may mention. For instance, show me a wig­ wam that has been built by direction of a chief who was a member of this order or an old framework of one, and I will tell you the number of the party that inhabited it, the number of males and the number of females, the direction from which they came and the direction they had taken on their departure. This was done for the information of those who might follow or to assist the chief in hunting up his people in case he needed them in council or to repel an invasion, and his posted men who were following up the roving portion of his people could quickly tell if any were missing—and whether male or fe­ male—from a previous count. Father Baraga was probably the best posted man in the Chippewa language who ever at­ tempted to explain it and write up their cus­ toms and religious beliefs, but he fell into error. I had frequent talks with him about his works and he explained them to me as he Lambert, Shepherd of the Wilderness understood them and gave the source of the greater part of his information.^ I did not Father Frederic Baraga, missionary and linguist. tell him the source of my information and never attempted to disabuse his mind of the people, knew that the majority are more easily error. The facts are that the source from governed and ruled through a belief of the which my information was derived was the hereafter than in any other way, and anything head of the Chippewa church, while his was that was told to this majority by the chiefs obtained from the foot of it. and head men as coming from tradition af­ For me to say that the true Indian religion fecting their hereafter was eagerly sought was a secret from the majority would be after and reverently cherished. It may as weU equivalent in the minds of most people to be said that these head men had too much saying that the majority of Indians did not wisdom to venture the whole truth to the profess religion. While this statement would majority, lest they should depart from their be true in part, taken as a whole it would be teachings, for it is as true as anything can untrue. All Indians practiced the true Indian be that had the more ignorant, which is the religion, but the greater portion of them were majority of any people, been made aware of ignorant of a true understanding of the belief the fact as to what the true belief was, that they practiced. The more wise of Indian the gun and all the belongings of the de­ tribes, as well as the greatest thinkers of any ceased were not needed by him on the trail to the happy hunting grounds, they would no longer have put such things in the grave ^Father (later Bishop) Frederic Baraga (1797- and would have ceased their devotion in tak­ 1868), an Austrian, came to La Pointe, Madeline ing from a scanty supply of provisions a part Island, in 1835 after four years of missionary work to the grave of such deceased. Their desire among the Ottawa in Michigan Territory. An extra­ ordinarily energetic and gifted man, he wrote prodigi­ for the possession of the articles they buried ously in several languages, including Chippewa, on and the real want they suffered in doing with­ linguistic and religious subjects. Among his works, many of which were published in Europe, was one out them would have been too strong a temp­ on the history, character, and customs of North tation for them to resist after they once knew American Indians in which he made certain state­ that keeping and using them and eating the ments which Armstrong considered erroneous.

142 ARMSTRONG: LIFE AMONG THE CHIPPEWA food they carried there would not imperil the fyHE INDIANS, as shown by tradition, did hereafter of their dead. -*- and still do believe that the "happy hunt­ Although it is not well known nor a sub­ ing grounds" lie just beyond a mighty and ject much reflected upon by white people, beautiful river, over which they cross almost yet it is a fact that Indian tribes were never immediately after death, provided their whole well fed and their contrivances wherewith to life here had been such as to entitle them to capture game and implements in general with pass without a probation on the banks on this which to get along were always inadequate to side, and those who had lived a life beyond their needs. Their food was game, no great redemption were washed away in this mighty quantities of which could be preserved. They river, while those whose lives had not been had a way of drying meat and could thus keep perfect were held to await the final judg­ it for quite a time, but it was unwholesome ment. They also believed that the conduct and they practiced it but little. They had of the friends they had left behind had much rather take the chances of procuring it daily to do with a favorable or unfavorable decision than to eat what might prove unhealthy. The of their case at the river. Another firm be­ best fed Indians were never as well provided lief they had was that should one of their for in any respect as the poorest families of number, who was at the river awaiting judg­ white working-men. This knowledge is the ment, attempt to evade that judgment by result of many years spent among them. The crossing the river before the sentence, he would be washed away and that would be his Indians lived a hard life with but little sun­ eternal ending. This latter belief is in accord­ shine in it. ance with Indian belief from first to last, to To return to their religion. When an In­ never attempt to evade a duty, however slight dian has shown himself capable of a thor­ or great, but, like a man, stand to the right ough understanding of that part of the re­ thing and fear not. In this they believed that ligion that he has been entrusted with, and no matter how upright a man had been shows a sense sufficient to overcome his natu­ through his whole life, if after death he should ral earthly greed to enable him to keep the seek to evade the judgment, his entire future faith, he is allowed to go a notch higher in was lost. When once across the river he was the secret councils and as the head men be­ beyond all tribulations and in a land of per­ come satisfied that he is possessed of the true petual sunshine and with all friends that had belief to a degree that he would discounte­ gone before him. nance any deviation from it by others he is taken along to the top of the ladder of secrets.' Now to show the attention they paid to This is true Indian religion and the manner the graves of their dead and the constancy in which it is practiced, and Father Baraga's of their remembrance of their deceased version of it in so far as it disagrees with this friends, which, in their belief, was necessary is erroneous. Nothing is put in the grave of to a favorable consideration of their friend's the dead to assist them but is put there as case at the river, they would divide whatever a sacrifice on the part of the living and for they were possessed of and place a portion no other purpose.^ of it in the graves of the deceased and keep up offerings thereafter of food, which they laid at the graves, until such time as they felt that their sacrifices had resulted in a favorable decision of their friend's case at the river. The period of time this sacrifice •* The fact that candidates for membership in the Mide'Wiwin were required to progress through four would be kept up depended on the collective degrees of initiation led Armstrong and others to opinions of the friends that were left behind compare it with Masonic forms and rituals. as to the probable time it would take to com­ °Chrysostomus Verwyst, writing at the close of the last century, noted; "The pagans [Chippewa] pass a favorable decision, and if, in the used to bury various articles used by the deceased opinion of the friends of the dead, he would during life, also place tobacco or sugar on the grave. . . . But these customs are falling into disuse." See not promptly pass the final tribunal, the cer- his Life and Labors of the Rt. Rev. Frederic Baraga, mony would be kept up at the grave indefi­ First Bishop of Marquette, Mich. (Milwaukee, 1900), nitely with the firm belief that at last this 191.

143 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973

for its immediate transportation to the good land. Now in regard to the custom of Indians carrying game and eatables and distributing them at the graves of their dead as a token of their remembrance and as a mode they had adopted for pleading with the Great Spirit. Everbody knows that the chief subsistance of Indians in olden times, and even yet, is game, no great stock of which could be laid away for future use, which made the pro­ curement of food a daily struggle for existence, and no Indians, from all that I could ever learn, were well fed. They had feasts as well as others, but food was a scarcity, and from this fact all will admit that to part with a portion of their food was the greatest sacri­ fice they could endure, and it was for this reason and none other that this system was Bureau of Ethnology Report, 1885-86 adopted. To think for a moment that the In­ Chippewa herbalist mixing medicine and performing dians were so devoid of expedients as not to incantations to cure a sick tribe member. be able to adopt any other plan of remember­ ing their dead is bosh and nonsense. intercession would avail and result in the The Indian people were in all essentials a passage of their friend to the "happy hunt­ band of brothers and aside from family rela­ ing grounds," where their forefathers were. tions they were one and inseparable as far as It is a universal practice with the Chip­ their tribal nationality extended. As an ex­ pewas to sit with a sick person incessantly till ample, one hunter who by reason of his bet­ the breath had left the body, keeping up a ter sense and ability to devise new and im­ constantly beating on a drum to keep the bad proved methods for capturing game had suc­ spirit away and to let the spirit of the dying ceeded in bringing to camp a large moose or go in peace and in the possession of the good other animal, such as is not frequently se­ spirit. This practice has always been con­ cured by the average hunter, a feast upon demned by the missionaries and teachers as this animal would always follow, as was the being the Me-de-wa [Mide'-wiwin] religion, custom, the only reward the hunter got was the real meaning of which neither missionaries the distinction he had won by his marvelous or teachers ever understood.^ The Indian be­ prowess.'^ Everybody was invited to this feast lief is that both the good and bad spirit con­ and expected to be present, and all who had stantly hover around a sick bed and that the buried friends not gone a sufficient length sound of drum kept the bad spirit away; that of time to have secured their passage across the good spirit cannot be offended; that if the river were expected to take a small por­ they can only keep the bad spirit away until tion of this meat as an offering of sacrifice death takes place the good spirit immediately to their graves. The bond of unity was never takes charge of the soul and carries it to the lost sight of, a favor to one was a favor to all river, where it pleads with the Great Spirit and an insult upon one was an insult upon all, and in either case the act was never for­ gotten or allowed to become rusty in their " Hoffman, writing in the 1880's, points out that minds. the greatest opposition Christian missionaries faced came from the leaders of the Mide'Wiwin who, through their claims to prophecy, their practice of incantation, and their knowledge of medicinal pre­ parations, exerted an inordinate influence and en­ joyed privileged positions in Indian society. Hoff­ ' According to the 1964 Wisconsin Blue Book, page man, "The Mide'Wiwin," 151. 92, moose became extinct in the state in 1921.

144 ARMSTRONG: LIFE AMONG THE CHIPPEWA

Old, very old tradition with the Indians is that all are created equal—that the earth is given them for a temporary purpose and that they are to have the use of all they see, but are not to dig or delve into the Great Spirit's treasures that lie hidden in the earth, except for such as are absolutely necessary for their existence and comfort. They had a belief that there could not or should not be such a thing as individual or tribal ownership of lands or to search in the Great Spirit's pos­ sessions to find what He had hidden there for his own use and benefit. That to search for such hidden treasures would provoke the Great Spirit and greatly jeopardize their Armstrong T ile Among the Indian* chances of ever reaching the "happy hunting Armstrong meeting the hostile Indians at Grand grounds," and when the white men came Portage. among them to make treaties they had no idea that the whites thought for a moment that mouth of Pigeon River, to make an annuity Indians owned the lands or their hidden treas­ payment to the Chippewa Indians on the north ures, but supposed they looked upon their shore of Lake Superior. Mr. Whitesides and occupancy of the earth the same as the In­ myself embarked with him on this voyage as dians did—which was tenants at will, of the passengers, not being in any way connected Almighty. You therefore see that the theory with the business of Mr. Webb. When the that the ancient Indians worked the mines boat was anchored, about 4 p. M., in the bay of the country for profit must be abandoned.* just inside the island a messenger came from As I have made mention of the secret order the Indian village in a canoe and inquired among the Indians in early days, and that of Gen. Webb if he had brought specie for they had signs by which they were enabled the money payment, and if not they did not to hunt up the different bands and families of wish to have him land and intimated that it the tribe, 1 will say that they also had other would not be safe to do so. Mr. Webb replied, signs, one of which was a sign of recogni­ through his interpreter, that he had not tion that called for protection the same as a brought specie but had brought all the goods flag of truce, and I will mention a case where that had been promised them and paper it was used to good advantage. There is now money. The messenger said they would not a man living at Ironwood, Michigan, to whom accept greenbacks, consequently they did not this incident may be referred for its correct­ desire him to land at all and then went back ness. His name is William Whitesides, a pho­ to the shore. This led lo a long talk between tographer at that place. In the fall of the Gen. Webb and the men aboard the schooner year 1865 Indian Agent Webb' left Bayfield, as to what had better be done, and it was Wis., for Grand Portage, Minn., near the decided as the weather just then was unfavor­ able to lift anchor, they would depart early next morning, as there was not a man on board who thought it would be advisable to " Although Wisconsin Indians at various times extracted copper and lead for their own use as well attempt a landing. I told Gen. Webb that if as for bartering purposes, Armstrong is correct in he would have his men lower a yawl I would asserting that no profit motive, in the accepted sense, was involved. scull it ashore and find out what the trouble ° General Luther E. Webb, a native of Connecticut, was if I could. All pronounced me crazy settled in La Crosse in 1856 and was appointed In­ and Agent Webb said I would be foolish to dian agent at Bayfield by President Lincoln in 1861. In 1867 he was appointed Commissioner of Indian attempt it, but the boat was lowered and I Affairs for New Mexico but declined in favor of a got into it feeling satisfied that there was some business career. He died in La Crosse at the age of fifty-three. State Historical Society of Wisconsin Indian on the shore that would recognize the Collections, IX: 452. sign I intended giving them, and as soon as

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I was clear of the schooner and sufficiently The next morning the goods and money near the shore to be distinctly seen by the were taken ashore and from the warehouse Indians I gave the sign and immediately saw were distributed, and a more peaceable and that it had been recognized, for the Indians orderly payment I never witnessed. It was all began to move up to the shore and seat them­ brought about by my knowledge of the secret selves upon the beach. sign, for as soon as the chiefs discovered I This was assurance to me that I would be was a member of their secret society my word protected and when the yawl had reached and advice went almost the same as law. I the bank the Indians assisted in pulling it up mention this one case only as there is a living on the beach where it would be safe from witness to the statement, but I have often washing away. After getting on shore a few found it useful in my intercourse with the Indians recognized me as the interpreter who Indians. had previously been with Mr. Webb. They shook hands with me, saying: "We heard T WILL NOW UNDERTAKE to show with that you were no longer with Mr. Webb." •'• what love, superstitious awe, reverence I told them I was not in his employ now, or by such term as you may see fit to call it, but was only a passenger. I then began to the Indians hold the Great Spirit and to what inquire what the trouble was, and quickly extent they will go in keeping secret a matter, discovered that they had been getting bad the revelation of which might, in their estima­ advice from the traders, the same as had been tion, provoke the Great Spirit. The custom of given to the Sioux previous to the massacre holding religious councils, which is as old at New Ulm, and for the same reason—they as tradition goes, is begun by assembling in a wished to profit by the difference in value wigwam where some one, generally a chief, then existing between specie and greenbacks calls the attention of his hearers to the main and had advised the Indians to accept nothing matter under consideration. but specie in payment of their annuities.'" Then each person present in turn is expected I told them the agent was not to blame for to add remarks upon the subject which is not having gold and silver to pay them. He being considered, giving information of any had brought what the great father had sent experiences he may have had personally since him to give them and if they refused to re­ the last council. Back in the '40's and when ceive it he would be compelled to take it away one of these councils was being held at La and store it in some warehouse and await Pointe, about twenty miles from Ashland, orders as to what he should do with it, as it an old man who had, by the help and guidance was not at all likely that he would attempt to of the Great Spirit, as the Indians imagined, come back again before spring and that my discovered a place where pure silver could advice would be to accept it under protest be obtained which the Indians in those days or the promise of the agent that he would see used for ornaments. An especial use they put that the difference in value between gold and it to was mounting pipes that were to be used greenbacks was made good to them at the on special occasions, such as a visit to the next payment. This resulted in three chiefs great father, and whenever silver was wanted getting into a canoe and going back to the this particular old man was asked to provide boat with me and they told the agent that it as he alone knew the secret of its location. they would accept what he had brought upon For years he had obtained it whenever wanted. his promise to make up the difference on his He would start out alone and unobserved and next trip. return with the silver, but no one knew where he went or by what route. Neither did they consider it a matter of their concern. In fact they considered it would be greatly wronging ^° In August and September of 1862 occurred the great Sioux Outbreak, during which a large portion the Great Spirit for them to inquire after of southwestern Minnesota was terrorized and an the secret that He had vouchsafed to the old estimated 447 persons were killed. For an account of man. the Indian attack on the German-settled village of New Ulm, see Russell W. Fridley et al. (eds.), Charles E. Flandreau and the Defense of New Ulm At the council I have referred to the old (Brown County Historical Society, New Ulm, 1962). man, with much agitation, arose to make his

146 ARMSTRONG: LIFE AMONG THE CHIPPEWA speech, and I saw there was something coming tially restored, to find the place, I have never from him that was not expected. He told his been able to do so.'^ It is now about seventy people that as they knew he had for many years since the Indian found the piece of sil­ years been the possessor of the secret where ver, but where he found it is still a mystery, the silver was found, it was with much regret for if anyone had ever found the place they that he must tell them that the Great Spirit probably would have seen the piece from was angry with him for he could no longer which the Indian cut the specimen he brought find the place where the silver was. He then in which plainly showed the marks of his described the outlook of the place, but did hatchet at each stroke made in securing it not give its geographical location. He de­ from the piece he had found. He came to his scribed it as being a narrow passage at first, death by falling through a hole in a defec­ through which his body would only pass with tive dock at Bayfield, Wisconsin. much exertion, gradually growing larger un­ The American Fur Company knew of this til he could proceed on his hands and knees, find and tried all the persuasion and strategy and finally became large enough for him to of which they were capable to extract this stand erect. He reported that it was a huge secret from the Indian without avail. When cave, where he could pick up or chip off such the old man found this silver his brother was pieces as he required, and I will add that the in company with him. They had stopped by Indians believed it was not right, in cases of a creek to rest, as they were carrying home a this kind, where they were getting rare speci­ deer they had killed. He often told me the mens, to take of such but sparingly and under circumstances of the find. He said they had no circumstances to search for what was hid­ stopped to rest and get a drink from the creek den, but would take only such parts or pieces and while seated there had smoked, and after as the Great Spirit had left in sight for their he had finished he pounded the ashes from use and benefit. his tomahawk pipe on a stone near him and Another example is where an Indian had then in a sort of pastime way he began tap­ found a silver bar, from which he cut with ping his pipe on different stones near, when his hatchet a piece that weighed a pound, and he discovered that the sound of one differed never to his dying day, a good many years from the rest, and that a little moss had gath­ afterwards, would he reveal the place where ered over it, which he brushed off and dis­ he had found it.'' I have many times seen covered the point of a silver bar. At first this piece of silver and weighed it, in fact it he thought it lead and said to his brother: was in my possession a number of years, and "We now have something to make bullets this Indian three times started with me to from." the place where he had found it, and as many Another story in this connection which I times backed out and each time after going, will not vouch for entirely is that the Ameri­ as I afterward learned, to within one-half mile can Fur Company devised a plan by which of it. On his deathbed he told his son to tell they would decoy this brother with whiskey me, when he should next see me, to go just to the spot. They first gave him a few drinks, one-half mile toward the setting sun from the and promised him more as they went along moss-covered log where he had turned back to the place they wished him to point out and from on his first visit with me, and I would told him that in case he succeeded in show­ find it, but between the time he had gone to ing them the bar from which the piece had show me and the time he told his son where been cut, he should receive a heap of presents. I could find, I lost my eye-sight and although I have tried, since my eye-sight has been par-

^^ While encamped in the open in January, 1855, Armstrong was awakened by a mysterious powdery " Native copper found in the Lake Superior re­ substance which fell into his eyes and left him vir­ gion frequently contains amounts of silver. One tually blind for several years. Ralph Bienfang, specimen of pure, detached silver found in a Min­ David Boyd Professor of Pharmacy at the University nesota mine weighed over six pounds and was added of Oklahoma, in a letter dated February 6, 1973, to the collection of the Philadelphia mint. J. W. suggests that the substance may have been oleoresin Foster and J. D. Whitney, Geology and Topography (which has a powdery feel) exuding from freshly of Lake Superior (Washington, 1850), 13, 178. cut evergreens exposed to the heat of the camp fire.

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Some say he was promised a house to live Indian knew of them, but by reason of his in. At any rate they got him into a canoe religious zeal, would not disclose it lest those with another Indian to help him paddle across hidden treasures of the Great Spirit should the water to the main land, over which he be appropriated to the use of man, and their was to proceed to the place where the silver hidden recess be desecrated. There were par­ could be found. The company's men were to ties living on the Apostle Islands, and in sur­ go in another boat, but just as this brother rounding country, subsequent to the advent was about to start the idea flashed across of the American Fur Company, who have seen his mind that his canoe was the proper place this piece of silver. One is still living at Bay­ to carry the bottle of whiskey, and he would field, Wis., his name is Ervin Leihy, who, not budge another step until the men gave until late, was a member of the firm of Leihy him the whiskey. Although the men were & Garnich, of Ashland, Wis., who established almost certain the scheme would miscarry if a hardware business there in 1872. they let him have the bottle, it was their only For years after it became known that I had show, for he would not go without it, and more knowledge of the whereabouts of the after a consultation it was decided to let him silver bar than anyone else except the old have it. The chance they took proved a slim Indian, I was watched if I undertook to go one for the Indians were wildly drunk before to the woods by parties in the hire of men I they had proceeded half way across the water, could mention, which prevented me from mak­ when they fell to fighting over the bottle ing any extensive search for the deposit until and both were drowned. after I had lost my eyesight. I know of silver Although some parts of this is true, I will and native gold also being found in the not guarantee that all of it would have borne vicinity of Ashland by different men from investigation, but enough of it was true to time to time'^ . . . carry to the living brother the conviction that The Indians in those days often lived in the Great Spirit was displeased by the action one locality for from ten days to six weeks, of his brother in attempting to reveal the and made their stay always longest in sugar secret and that he was drowned by the will making time, and as hunting was their only of the Great Spirit, and this, in my opinion, occupation, they had occasion to become fa­ was the reason why the old man would not miliar with every locality in their vicinity, and show it to me. as they moved frequently, the whole country The circumstances connected with this case came under their explorations. The Indians' I often think over. How the old man started nature was to closely search for dens of ani­ with me on three occasions, and each time mals, and no matter how dangerous looking would begin to falter about the same distance a cave or cavern was, the Indian was in his from home, but he would keep on until his elements until the last nook and niche was conscience would no longer allow him to pro­ visited, and as many of the most valuable fur ceed, the reproach he felt by reason of his bearing animals are found in such places, belief caused him to turn back, the fear that they were especially looked after, and as the the Great Spirit would be offended, was too women's duty in those days was to do all much for his untutored mind. He feared the labor in moving camps, pitching them should he show me the spot it would result in in new places, and doing all work attached digging and taking away from the Great Spirit to camp duty, the men's time was all taken the treasures that He had hidden for His own benefit, and all the glitter of prospective wealth, should the mine prove valuable, could '"' In the 1880's attempts to mine gold in Bayfield not drive out this fear. and Ashland counties met with little success because of the minute quantities discovered. An assay made I give these incidents, which look more recently in Bayfield County revealed as little as 0.004 like stories than history, for I firmly believe ounces of gold per ton in a conglomerate sample. See Ashland Press for July and September, 1884; the two places I have mentioned will be dis­ Carl E. Dutton, Sampling of Copper-bearing Kewee- covered, and should this occur, some mav be naum Rocks of Northwestern Wisconsin (Open file living who can connect the stories with the report, University of Wisconsin Extension-Geological and Natural History Survey and Department of In­ find and thus establish the fact that the poor terior, U.S. Geological Survey, 1972).

148 ARMSTRONG: LIFE AMONG THE CHIPPEWA

up outside of camp. Indians in those days but still believe it is teaching a lesson to dis­ lived to a good old age, from 100 to 125 tant people and will soon be with them. But years was not at all uncommon. You readily should a storm pass by without the voice and see what a thorough knowledge of the whole flashes coming near them they are happy country they must have had. There would again, for they feel relieved, believing that probably not be a rock, tree, stream or lake the bird is not angry with them. They firmly that they could not readily speak of by reason believe this bird to be an agency of the Al­ of some peculiarity he had noticed. I never mighty, which is kept moving about to keep knew of one Indian divulging to another any an eye on the wrong doings of the people. discovery he had made, the nature of which When a tree is stricken and set on fire, the would lead to his being considered and ac­ lesson it wishes to impart has been given and knowledged as a child of the Good Spirit, the rain is sent to prevent the fire from de­ and any Indian was considered as a favorite stroying the country. with the Great Spirit who could bring the There is a point of land in this part of the proof, by specimen or otherwise, of anything country that the Indians call Pa-qua-a-wong— that was not a common knowledge or theory. meaning a forest destroyed by the great Each Indian had his own exclusive hunting thunder bird. I have visited this place. It is ground, which was pointed out to him and now almost a barren. The timber which was described by the chief, whenever a new lo­ once upon it having been destroyed by light­ cation was settled, and none encroached upon ning and the Indians believed that the storm the hunting domain of another. Thus each bird destroyed this forest to show its wrath, man had an opportunity of becoming a favo­ that they might profit by the lesson. A hunt­ rite with the Great Spirit if by his researches ing party of Indians were once caught on this he could find or discover any new thing or barren in a thunder storm, and took refuge theory that was not commonly known, and under the trunk of a fallen tree, which had although an Indian received no distinction been burnt sufficiently on the under side to of title or other advantage by reason of his give them shelter. One of the party, in his discoveries, except the distinction of being hurry to get out of the rain, left his gun stand­ favored by the Great Spirit, the natural se­ ing against the log. The lightning struck it, quence was that each man thoroughly searched running down the barrel and twisting it into his own domain. many shapes and destroyed it and the owner of this gun was thereafter pointed out by the rpHE INDIANS believe that thunder is the whole band as the person upon whom the storm -•- voice of an immense invisible bird that bird desired to bestow its frowns. So deep comes at times to warn them that the Great seated are their convictions upon this point Spirit is displeased with something they have that there is not enough language in the In­ done, and that it always comes when the coun­ dian tongue or words enough in the English try is already storm-vexed, as the time is then vocabulary to convince them of their error. opportune to add its voice to the naturally sad­ The quotation is a truthful one which says, dened feelings of the people, thereby making "They saw God in the clouds and heard Him its presence more effective. The lightning in the winds." they believed to be flashes from the eyes of Since white men came among the Indians this enormous bird, and when the storm is they have not been slow to learn. I have often fierce and the flashes vivid it is taken as a warning that their bad deeds are many and that their retribution must be great. When " It is interesting to note that Father Baraga's one is killed by the fluid [lightning?] they celebrated Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language, first published in 1850 and reprinted as recently as believe it is a judgment sent by the Great 1966, does not list the word "thunder." However, Spirit through the agency of this mysterious Reverend Edward F. Wilson in his The Ofeway bird. They call this bird Che-ne-me-ke.^'^ Language (1874) translates it as uhnemeke and defines it as "imaginary birds flying in the clouds." When they see distant flashes of lightning For a fictionalized version of the role of thunder among the Menomini before the white man, see and do not hear the voice, as they believe, of William Steuber, Go Away Thunder (Wisconsin this great bird, they know it is at a distance. House, Madison, 1972).

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Spirit and they looked upon them for their guidance the same as white people look upon OTOSHKI-KIKmDIUIN the bible to get an understanding of what our AU creator would have us see and understand. T >: 13 E X IMIN U ^r G GATE B E M A J II X TJ N G Take from the white race their bible and their science and the Indian religion is as orthodox JESUS CHRIST: as any now extant. One thing is certain, they believed in their religion and practiced what IM.V they preached. No hypocrite was ever known OJIBUE L\UEUL\IXG GIlZIllTOXG. among them.

TTNTIL 1842 about all the white people THE *-^ living in this section of the country were NEW TESTAMENT Canadian voyagers and adventurers, mostly all

OP connected with the American Fur Company. This company consisted of John Jacob Astor, OUR LORD AXl.) SAYIOUR JESUS CHRIST: Ramsey Crooks, Doctor [Charles W.] Borup

TRA.\?LATED INTO THK LANGUAliK and David B. Oakes.'" The universal custom here previous to 1842 was that all white men 0J-' THE who came among the Indians to trade were OJICWA L\]).I.\XS. compelled to take Indian wives. This custom was encouraged by the Indians for two reasons. Wars had depleted the male SKV VOIilC: portion of the tribes, and as the female portion .\MEr, IC.\.S' IIIBI.K SOC I FT y, greatly predominated, the Indians were desir­ ous of providing as many of the surplus with homes as they could. In the second place the Title page of the New Testament in the Chippewa American Fur Company had almost complete language. control of the Indian trade and were not giving them fair bargains in the estimation of the heard them remark, "The earth is the white Indians, and they were anxious to have indi­ man's heaven and money is his god." vidual traders come among them, and by get­ The true Indian belief as regards the earth ting them into a relationship by marriage they is that it is the mother of all things, vegetable, thought they would secure fair dealing in the animal, and human. They place the sun as the future. How well the Indians' ideas were con­ father and the air as life. The reason they put firmed in the practice may be judged by what forth in support of this belief is that if air is followed. The American Fur Co. lost their taken from anything either human, animal or hold upon the business through this agency vegetable it will immediately die, and that the and removed their company in 1847 to the sun is the father, for to cover up or shut out Mississippi River. As soon as they were firmly from the rays of the sun any plant, grass, established there they caused the agitation or vegetable, it will wither and droop; but let which resulted in the order for the Indians to the rays of the sun strike it and it will im­ remove from this country to the Mississippi. mediately spring to new life. They also be­ This order did not come until 1849 and was lieve there is a temporary mother who guards all things in their youth, when nature's further development is left to the sun. ^" Ramsey Crooks, a Scotsman, was Astor's partner You will see that the Indian pronunciation and head of the American Fur Company's Western of sun is as near our pronunciation of Jesus Department; Borup, a native of Copenhagen who had received a classical and medical education, was as two human tongues can speak it, they pro­ the company's chief agent at La Pointe. Julius T. nouncing sun as "geses". They believed in Clark, "Reminiscences of Hole-in-the-Day," in Wis­ consin State Historical Society Collections (Madison, what they saw; they read the signs in the 1907), V:379; Guy M. Burnham, The Lake Superior heavens as manifestations from the Great Country in History and in Story (Ashland, 1930), 73.

150 ARMSTRONG: LIFE AMONG THE CHIPPEWA

countermanded by President Fillmore in 1852, The chiefs and other maidens returned to on my visit to Washington with the Indian their homes without a word and waited to see delegation.'^ what turn the affair would take. The trader The plan which the Indians worked to get at first seemed bewildered. The audacity of these white son-in-laws was this. When a man the girl as he at first thought, was inexcusable. came among them to establish himself in the Still he could not help but admire the manner trading business they would at first have noth­ in which she had installed herself as mistress ing to do with him, except in a very small way, of his household and the more he thought the and thus gain time to try his honesty and to matter over the more he admired her style. make inquiries about his general character. The match was consumated and the brave If satisfied on these points the chiefs would little woman ruled the roost. together take their marriagable girls to his In Indian marriages the proceedings differ trading house and he was given his choice of from those of any other nationality. A young the lot. They would sometimes take as many as man believing that he can maintain a family a dozen girls at one time for the trader to will pick out, usually from an adjoining band, choose from. If the choice was made the bal­ a maiden that suits his fancy. He speaks no ance of the group returned and no hard feel­ word to the maiden but hies himself to the ings were ever engendered by the choice. If forest to capture and kill an animal which is the trader refused or neglected to make a recognized as the emblem of love. This differs choice the first visit they would return again from time to time and in different places and in the same manner a few days later, then if depends largely upon the kind of game most no choice was made they would come only numerous in the locality, but it is generally a once more. In the meantime they would not moose, a deer, a bear, or a cariboo. Having trade with him a single cent's worth, nor would secured one he proceeds with it to the wigwam they ever trade with him unless he took one of his girl. Leaving it outside, he enters the of their women for his wife. If he had three wigwam, saying nothing, but lights his pipe times failed to choose his wife, and afterward and makes himself at home. Should there be repented because he had no trade, he became more than one girl in the lodge at the time, he a suitor and often had much difficulty in se­ has a sign by which his choice is made known. curing one. If the girl does not like his appearance she re­ One time when girls were brought to a mains where she is, but if he is agreeable to trader to select a wife from, I saw a trait in her fancy she takes a knife and proceeds to human nature whereby a person, by a certain skin the animal and take charge of the meat, boldness or assurance in their disposition can after which the suitor takes his leave. gain advantages over others without creating The parents of the girl, being advised of any enmity on the part of those over whom what is going on by the presence of meat not the advantage is gained, nicely exemplified. of their killing, commence systematic proceed­ The chiefs had assembled with a dozen eligible ings to ascertain the young man's habits, his maidens before the trading-house, but before ability as a hunter, warrior, etc., and if satis­ the trader had made any sign or shown any fied with them they proceed to the young man's disposition to make a choice, one of the girls parents, who are now for the first time made darted into the cabin and began arranging the aware of the youth's aspirations and they in furniture, sweeping out the place and making turn make inquiry as to the character, etc., of herself perfectly at home. The balance of the their prospective daughter-indaw. If all is party looked on with astonishment, and still satisfactory the young man is given permis­ their wonder was mingled with a sort of ad­ sion by the girl's parents to visit her, but all miration for the bravery and assurance the he or she has to say must be said in the com­ girl had displayed. mon wigwam and before all who happen to be present. If they become satisfied with each other and he has been able to convince her parents that he is an expert at hunting and " For an account of Armstrong's role in this inci­ fishing and is considered a good warrior, and dent, see the summer 1972 issue of the Magazine, pp. able to comfortably support a home, the chiefs 297-298.

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Before their forced association with white people the standard of their morality, for gen­ erations at least, and by tradition, had been most perfect and complete, as to the female portion of their tribes, but now it was assailed. The deadly fire-water (whiskey) was brought among them and virtue fell. Fathers and brothers saw that the example of the white people was far from the teachings of the mis­ sionaries, far from the truth and the preten­ tions of the traders and far from justice and right, if their early teachings had been correct. Thus the naturally quiet and peaceable minds of the Indian men were disturbed and they were further agitated by the upbraidings of their wives and families for having sold their lands and encouraging" white people to come among them. Soon they realized the error they had made, and with them, as with all people, the feeling created by having" made a bad bar­ gain, would not easily down. Promises of better times, of better clothing and being better fed were not fulfilled. An­ nuity payments were delayed or missed alto­ Tanned robe given to the Chippewa Chief Hole-in- gether, and the father who heretofore had been the-Day by the Blackfoot Indians and purchased from a ceaseless toiler for his home and family had the chief by Frank B. Fobes in 1862. The robe, which measures 63" by 50", is decorated with bird become indolent, selfish, and morose, and the and porcupine quills and colored beads and was re­ few families who by reason of their connection cently presented to the Society's museum by William with the traders though their daughters were E. Fobes, Madison. better clothed from the trader's goods or better of the two bands are notified and a wedding is fed from his larder, became the objects of envy arranged, with the two chiefs as head men, of those less fortunate. From bad to worse and it is always the most elaborate of any matters went until the once peaceable and in­ doings of the tribe. dustrious race of a few years before had de­ veloped into an indolent, vicious and beggarly T WISH NOW to go back to the subject re- mob. But this was not all that was in store for -*- lating to the difference in the Indian's them. When a trader had finished his stay condition before and after the white man's ap­ among them, which he was sure to do when pearance among them, for it is a subject that his trading from any cause became unprofit­ I am sure will be eagerly sought for and able or his riches were sufficient he would studied before many years have passed, and abandon his Indian wife and children and that when it has been studied and fairly under­ leave them for the Indians to support. 1 have stood, the feeling that is now a general one known several instances where an Indian girl among the people—which is if the Indians was the second time abandoned by these in­ have been ill used it is no more than they de­ human wretches and left to the care of her served—will be removed, and the blame for all relatives, with additions to her first family. the troubles that have been made by Indians There is now scarcely a day that I do not placed where it properly belongs; the unbiased meet and have occasion to converse with some judgment of the future will be that the Indians of these same children, in many cases where were found good and were made bad by white their fathers are or have been prominent men, people, and that the condition of things has wealthy and respected. not been one whit improved by white associ­ When I see a son or daughter of wealthy ates, but, on the contrary, has been degraded. and respectable men, living as they do with

152 ARMSTRONG: LIFE AMONG THE CHIPPEWA the Indians, the finger of scorn pointed at at his death as far I knew, he had made no them, with no one to care for them on account provision for his daughter of the forest. I of their Indian blood, or to protect them for told them I did not think she should have any their father's sake, it is far from a pleasant greater punishment than the others, who had sight for me, and I feel called upon to relate been arrested and prosecuted for a like of­ at least one incident which happened but re­ fense, and thought the punishment she had cently and in which one of these daughters, already received was sufficient, and that she now a woman perhaps thirty-five or thirty-six had no money and no one to defend her. I years of age, and the child of a man once a asked that she be allowed to go upon her member of the cabinet of our country, was the promise to sin no more, and when the prose­ central figure. She had once been married to cuting witness refused to testify against her if a respectable half-breed, who died shortly after her punishment was to be greater than her their marriage, leaving her in poor circum­ white sisters' had been, the judge and district stances. attorney agreed to and did release her on her A certain class of hoodlum white men— promise never again to give them occasion to whose presence has ever been a curse to the arrest. The result is the woman is now living Indian—gained entrance to her home against on the reservation and as far as I know has her wishes, and with whiskey and unbecoming never given cause for another arrest. conduct caused reports to be circulated which I have done all I could in the past to keep ended in her being arrested for keeping a the Indians quiet, peaceable and satisfied, house of bad repute, all because her Indian hoping that the government would some day blood made it impossible for her to be heard take hold of the matter and right their wrongs, or considered by her white neighbors. She and wish to say without any desire to flatter was placed in jail, where she remained some myself in any way, that I have in the past had thirty days without trial. About the time of the good fortune to keep in check a number of her arrest or a short time previous, there had uprisings among the Indians, which, without been several white women arrested in the city the counsel I gave them, would have resulted for the same offense, but they were prosecuted in butchery. I always gave them counsel when under city ordinance, making the offense a they were in proper moods and sober senses, finable or jailable one, while the charge in her and never when they were excited or intoxi­ case was brought under the state statutes, cated. I never sold an Indian a drop of liquor which made the offense punishable in the state or helped them in any way to procure it. I prison. always dealt fairly with them and gave them There were then quite a number of half- as good bargains as I would a white man. caste people in the community who could read From my earliest recollection, I have been fairly well. They saw the discrimination and more or less among the Indians, in fact the had seen it before, and they believed the dis­ principal part of my life has been spent among position of the officers was not to give them them, first with the Cherokees, Choctaws and fair play, and from the fact that I had been Creek nations in Tennessee and Georgia, and identified with the Indians for fifty-four years at the age of ten years I spoke the Cherokee and from the further fact that I spoke their language better than the English. Leaving that language, it was natural for them to come to part of the country at ten years of age, I never me to be informed in this as well as in other saw much more of those tribes. When fifteen matters, and they asked me why this discrimi­ years old I came north and have been with the nation existed. Knowing they were aware of Sac and Foxes—Black Hawk's people—the its existence, I told them the truth: "It is be­ Sioux, Winnebagos, Potawatomies, Ottawas, cause you are Indians." Menominies and Chippewas, but since 1840 In the case of this woman I went to the with the Chippewas most all the time, and have judge and district attorney and pleaded for been brought up, as might be said, with their her. I told them I knew the woman well and habits and customs. I readily learned the had since her birth, and also knew her father; Chippewa tongue by being familiar with the that he had many times sent her presents language and signs of other tribes with whom through me and kept it up until he died, but I early associated and within two years I had

153 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973 their language almost perfect, and from my upon the reservations and one can see that of earliest contact with Indians I learned that the those people there now, not one fourth remain best to adopt was truthfulness and fair dealing, that have no white blood in their veins, and a "do as you would be done by" policy, as it two thirds of this amalgamation is traceable was the true and only one that found favor to those persons who located themselves among with them. I never promised an Indian any­ the Indians for the purpose of trading exclu­ thing until I was positive I could fulfill it. In sively, Indian agents and government em­ this way I soon had their confidence and ployes. friendship, and I must say I have ever found It has always seemed to the Indians that the them the truest of friends and the most im­ disposition of traders was purely selfish, and placable enemies. now they know that their only object in com­ The Indians are a very quick-sighted people ing among them was to profit by and through and have a memory that is traditional for its their unskillfulness, and never had any inten­ volume and they were not long in discovering tion of dealing fairly and being honorable that they were being unfairly treated by the with them, myself also included with the vic­ traders and others, and they reasoned in this tims, for certainly I have been wronged and way: These men are now our relatives by mar­ swindled by this same class of men, who be­ riage to our sisters and we must make the best trayed me after my confidence was gained. of it for the sake of this relationship. Under this way of looking at things matters continued IVTOW I WILL DESCRIBE a scalp-lock, the for a number of years, and was borne by the ^ ^ manner and object of putting it up. All Indians as the best way of getting along. Indians wore their hair as long as it would But the climax came when the traders quit grow. They first take up three small whisps the country and left their families to the In­ of hair at the crown of the head and braid dians' care. This led to family troubles. The them, firmly tying the braid about midway abandoned woman would go back to her fam­ the length of the hair, after which they then ily, where there were probably several children wrap this braid with moosewood, basswood or and dependent persons to support and only other strong bark so that the braid would one or two men to hunt for their living. The stand erect on the head from six to eight addition to the perhaps already heavy burden inches. Then the hair above the braid was was hard to bear. The white race were cursed, allowed to fall over, giving the lock a parasol family talks resulted in aggravating troubles appearance. After cloth came to their knowl- that were already heavy enough. Division of edged they preferred it to bark for winding sentiment in many cases led to bitter quarrels the braid, and always took red flannel when and bloodshed, and in some cases separation they could get it, because it was more showy. between man and wife, a thing unheard of un­ A genuine brave thought as much of his scalp- til recent years. lock as he did of his war club and desired The abandoned women have, in many cases, to make it as conspicuous as possible. lived to see their former husband married to The scalp-lock was invariably put up before white women, too proud even to speak to their going upon the war path if they had time to wife or child of a few years before. I do not do so, and if any man in the tribe refused to wish to reflect on any one or more persons to do this he was drummed out of service and whom this may be personal but give it for sent home to do camp duty with the squaws; history only. I give no man credit for mar­ his pipe was taken from him and his using it rying an Indian woman and claim he gains prohibited and in many cases they were com­ no honors by so doing, but I do claim that pelled to wear the costume of a squaw as a once he has married her he puts himself upon mark of cowardice. The amount of hair used a level with her and really is no better than in a scalp-lock would be the amount growing she and certainly the children are of his blood on a space about the size of a silver half dollar. and he should at least see that they are cared All bands on the war path and when going for and educated instead of leaving them to into battle know that the enemies' scalp-lock grow up in ignorance with a race he had vol­ is up ready for them if they can get it and untarily left as unfit for his association. Go the enemy expects the same thing of them,

154 ARMSTRONG: LIFE AMONG THE CHIPPEWA and the only question is which gets it. The scalping always takes place as soon as the victim falls to the ground, if the fighting is with clubs and if with guns as soon as they can get to the fallen man. They always go into battle with club in one hand and knife in the other, and do not wait till the fight is over to collect the scalps but take them im­ mediately. If they should wait till the fight had ended some brave might not get the share that properly belonged to him, and thus be deprived of the eagle feather [denoting a scalp taken], and I believe that the expression in common use, "That's a feather in his cap" had its origin from this custom.'^ The custom of scalping thus quickly accounts for the many cases where persons are living who have been scalped, of whom I know quite a number. It so happens that the person was only stunned by the blow from the club, and consciousness returned after the scalp had been taken.'* Among the most interesting matters to which I have listened while with the Indians is their tradition and belief regarding the earliest inhabitants that lived in this country, the trend of which is that two distinct races of people were upon the earth before the In­ Eastman, Aniciican Aboriginal Porttolio dians were—the Mound Builders and Ground "The Death Whoop," from Seth Eastman's depiction House People—though many of the most in­ of a scalping. telligent believe that the two races were upon the earth at the same time. Their opinion and I am aware that this does not agree with belief, however, is founded upon tradition, many eminent historians and there are many and what they can see upon the face of the educated people who have made deep re­ earth. The mounds that are familiar to many searches, who believe they were of Indian con­ of us, are supposed by most people to be of struction, but I have talked scores of times many years standing. The Indians have no with old Indians upon this point and am satis­ tradition concerning their origin and are as fied that they knew nothing of them, nor have much in the dark as we are as to whom or by they any tradition that the people who did what race they were built. . . . build them were like themselves in any par­ ticular, but believe whoever they were that they were exterminated by a conquering foe or destroyed by a pestilence. Nor have they " The practice of wearing a feather in one's hair or cap as a mark of distinction is ancient and wide­ any idea of their origin but do believe that spread. Richard Hansard's Description of Hungary, it has been many thousand years since their written in 1599, notes that Hungarians who had killed race began.'^ a Turk were legally entitled to wear feathers in their caps, one for each Turk slain. " One of the best-known such cases concerns Marie WILL NOW ENDEAVOR to give the Regis, infant daughter of Registre Gagnier, who lived near Prairie du Chien. On June 28, 1827, Red Bird, I reader some words and definitions of things a Winnebago chief and three companions murdered Gagnier and his hired man Solomon Lipcap and scalped the child, leaving her for dead. However, Marie recovered, was twice married, had numerous " For a comprehensive account of the archeological children, and lived for many years in Prairie du information on this subject see Robert Silverberg, Chien. Peter Lawrence Scanlan, Prairie du Chien: The Mound Builders of Ancient America (New York French-British-American (1930), 130. Graphic Society, 1968).

155 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973 unknown to the Indians before the advent of marten or sable; shong-gua-zhe, a mink; wa- white people among them and also of things shush, a. rat; ah-mik, a beaver; ne-jik, an otter; always familiar to them.^" This tribe, as far ah-chit-a-moo, a squirrel and muk-wa, a bear. back as I have ever been able to delve, never An Indian never uses profane language, but had a horse or pony, and when white men when he wishes to use all the venom he can he brought them they named them ba-ba-zhe-go- calls the object of his wrath "mar-che-an-im," ga-zhe, meaning an animal with a solid or which means "the devil's dog." round hoof. When the cow became known Sco-ta-wa-boo is whiskey, sco-la meaning among them it was named be-zhe-ga; ba-zhe- fire and wa-boo a drink or tea. ga-wug is cattle. A moose is called moze, and Surprise a Chippewa and his first act will the white people preserved nearly the Indian be to place his hand over his mouth. His ex­ name. Ah-dik is elk; wa-was-kish is deer; pression on seeing a handsome woman is ka- ma-nish-to-nish is sheep; ah-nim-moze, a dog; gat-qua-nage-e-qua. Let him be surprised at ma-ying-gun, a wolf; wa-gooch, a fox; pesh- his own thoughtlessness or want of skill and shu, a lynx; o-geak, a fisher; wa-ba-shush, a he will put his hand over his mouth and shout "te-wa." Ke-sha-man-a-tou is the name of God. The good spirit is man-a-tou and mar- ™ Chippewa belongs to the Ojibway group of the che-man-a-tou is the bad spirit or devil. Algonquian language family, a group estimated to I will now give you some words and phrases be spoken by over 50,000 Indians in the western Great Lakes region. Particularly in the nineteenth used by them in designating different articles century, a number of word-lists, grammars, and dic­ and other things, the accent always on the last tionaries were compiled for the use of missionaries syllable. and traders, among them J. Long, Voyages and Tra­ vels of an Indian Interpreter (London, 1791) ; John Different woods and timbers: the white Summerfield, Sketch of Grammar of the Chippeway birch or its bark is called we-quas; sugar Language (Cazenovia, New York, 1834) ; and George Antoine Belcourt, Principes de la Langue des Sau- maple, nin-a-tick; sap is sis-e-ba-qut-ah-boo; vages Appeles Salteux (Quebec, 1839). A landmark sap boiled down to molasses they say is che- in American Indian linguistics was reached with the wah-ge-mis-e-gon and sugar is sis-e-bah-qut. publication of Father Baraga's Theoretical and Prac­ tical Grammar of the Otchipwe Language (1850) White cedar is ge-zhik. A canoe made of and his Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language (1853), birch-bark is we-quass-che-mon, but the word the second edition of which was printed in 1870 and reprinted as recently as 1966. In 1901 Father Chrys- is not applicable to a boat of any other de­ ostom Verwyst, a Franciscan missionary to the Chip­ scription. Paddle, ah-bo-eh. A pole used in pewa of the Ashland-Bayfield area, published his pushing a canoe is con-da-ge-gon-auk. A pine Chippewa Exercises, based on Baraga's grammar, but simplifying it and adding much new and prac­ tree, chin-quak; oak, me-tick-o-mich; tama­ tical information. Verwyst's book was also reprinted rack, mus-ke-qua-tick. A combination word in 1966 (by Ross and Haines of Minneapolis), and contains a splendid introduction by John David used to designate all evergreens except the two Nichols of the linguistics department of Harvard species of pine, is shin-go-beeg. One log, stick University, which is both a useful guide to proper or tree is me-tick; me-tick-ohg, a collection of pronunciation and an overview of twentieth-century scholarship in this field. As in the case of everyone logs or trees. A forest is me-tick-o-goge. encountering a strange and complex language hav­ A prairie is mush-go-day, and means a coun­ ing no established orthography, Armstrong wrote try formerly a forest which has been cleared down the Chippewa words as they sounded to him. A careful comparison of his transliterations with by fire; a marsh or swamp, mush-ke-gonk; those of J. Long, Fathers Baraga and Verwvst, and natural meadows, mush-ko-se-wan-ing; mush- the Reverend Edward F. Wilson, whose The Ofeb- way Language was published in Toronto in 1874, ko-se-wan is hay or standing grass. Ah-sin is reveals complete competence on Armstrong's part. a rock, while ah-sin-ege-cog means a rocky As examples, the following versions of the word for bottom or reef. A rock in a cliff is ah-she-bik. "man" and "woman" are cited: man, inini or anini (Baraga) ; enene (Wilson) ; inini ('V^erwyst) ; ah- Names they gave to metals: Pe-wa-bik is nine (Armstrong) : woman, ikwe or akwa (Baraga) ; iron; man-a-tou-wa-bik, steel; mes-qua-bik is egua (Wilson) ; ikwe (Verwyst) ; and equa (Arm­ strong) . A bit of historical insight is furnished by copper; o-sa-wa-bik, brass; o-sa-wa-shu-ne-ah Long, whose 1791 book was intended to be a prac­ is gold either in coin or in its rough state; tical guide to the rough-and-tumble life of the fur wa-be-ska-shu-ne-ah, is silver, either coin or trader. Although Long gives the word for man as ninnee, under the w's he omits the word for woman as a metal; shu-ne-ah-ma-sin-ah-a-gon, paper entirely and gives only the Chippewa equivalent of money; o-sa-wah-bik-onse is their name for whore. penny.

156 ARMSTRONG: LIFE AMONG THE CHIPPEWA

An iron stove they call ke-sha-be-kis-e-gon; a saw, gis-ke-bi-je-gon; an axe, wa-ga-qut: ah- kik, iron kettle; ah-skik-o-mon-ah-kik, tin pail; a knife, mo-quo-mon; pas-kis-e-gon is gun; a- skek-o-man is lead: ah-new-eh, bullet; she-she- bun-win, shot; muk-ah-day is powder, the same word being applicable to black as a color; be-wah-nuk, a flint as used in a gun- lock. A needle was a wonderful thing with the Indians. It was so frail a thing and had such a delicate eye that it caused much amusement and they named it sha-bo-ne-gon, meaning that it had an eye to carry a thread. Pins were introduced about the same time and being so much the shape of the needle they named them o-ste-guan-sha-bo-ne-gon, meaning a needle with a head. Che-mo-quo-mon is used in speaking of a white man and is also a name used to designate a large knife or sword. It was brought into use by seeing white officers with swords. As "che" meant large and mo-quo-mon meant knife, so che-mo-quo-mon meant large knife, and thereby designated officers and soldiers from other pale-faced people, such as traders and missionaries, who were called ah-nin-e- wog, simply meaning men. Among articles of clothing they designated a blanket, wa-be-wi-on; wa-be-e-gon, a flannel for clothing; man-a-tou-wa-gon is a fine broad­ cloth; wa-ba-ske-gon, muslin or white cotton goods; man-a-tou-me-nase, beads; moc-ah-cin- on, buckskin or moose hide moccasins; wa- was-kish-wi-on, a deer hide untanned, while an untanned moose hide was moze-wi-on, and either one after being tanned or dressed would be called bu-squa-gun; me-tick-qua-ke-cin, a boot or shoe; kit-da-ge-gon is calico. In naming lakes and rivers the whites, in some cases preserved the Indian pronuncia­ tion. Following are the names of some of the most prominent lakes and rivers: the Indians call a lake soc-ka-a-gon, and a river ce-be. Their name for Lake Superior is Cha-jik-o- ming, meaning the largest body of fresh water they knew of. The name of the Mississippi River, it will be noticed, has not been changed in any respect, their name being Mis-e-ce-be, the meaning of which is a grand and extensive water-course, the tributaries of which are al­ Two aspects of Chippewa life portrayed by Edwin most numberless. They call the St. Croix River Tunis. (Above) Gathering wild rice; (below) the grave of an early Chippewa, with horizontal lines to Ah-gich-che-ce-be, meaning pipe-stem, as this indicate the number of scalps he took and a depiction river has a lake at its source and another at of his clan totem, a marten.

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Ashland, Wis., from the main lake, and a gov­ ernment lighthouse is now located there. Non- do-na-gon is the name of the river the whites call Ontanogon, and the Indian name means searching for the lost dish; the non-do mean­ ing search and na-gon meaning dish. In the Chippewa language the earth is ah- ke-kong; a small territory is ah-kee: clay is wa-be-gun; sand, bing-que-ca; flying dust, bing-que; flying ashes, sco-ta-bing-que. Soil colors—white clay, wa-be-sca-be-gun; red clay, mus-squa-be-gun; yellow clay, o-sa-wa-be-gun. The word by which a color is designated is prefixed to the one describing the material proper. White, wa-be-ska; red, ma-squa; blue, o-sou-wa-squa; yellow, o-sah-wa; black muck, muk-a-da-wa; mus-shuk-gunk-es-sha-na-gua-sit, a sky color; ge-zhe-gunk, is the Heavens; ge- zhe-gue, is day; noon-gum, the present time; tip-pe-cut is night; noon-gum-tip-pe-cut, to­ night; noon-gum-ge-zhe-gut, the present day.

jDEFORE WHITE PEOPLE came among -'-' them they knew no Sunday, nor the be­ Bureau of Ethnology Report, 1885-86 ginning or ending of weeks or months, but These pictographs on birch-bark probably represent reckoned time by moons, winter and summer a Chippeiva mishkiki or medicine song. seasons; but now they have a name for Sun­ day—Ah-num-e-a-ge-zhe-gut—which means its mouth, one representing to them the smoker "the day we go to church." They call the ser­ and the other the bowl of the pipe. Nim-ma- vice at church, Ah-num-e-a. New Years day kah-gon means, in their tongue, a lake where is Nom-mik-wa-ta-tin, or the meeting of two sturgeon are caught. 0-da-bin-ick means wild years. They call priest, Muk-wa-da-ah-coo-ne- potatoes and the stream that empties into the a. Ah-num-ah-a-wa-co-me-cunk, means a St. Croix river above Stillwater, and called church; ah-nin-e is man; ah-nin-e-wug, a num­ Apple River by the whites, the Indians named ber of men; e-qua is woman; e-qua-wug, wo­ 0-da-bin-ick-con-ce-be. Kin-ne-ke-nik-ce-be, a men; ah-be-no-gee, child; ah-be-no-gee-ng, river which empties into St. Croix Lake at children; ah-cue-wan-zee, an old man; che- Hudson, Wis., the white people call Willow mene-de-mo-ya, an old woman; o-skin-ah-way, river. Ka-ka-be-kong means the falls of a a young man; o-ske-nage-e-qua, a young wo­ river. Snake River they named Ka-na-be-go- man; ah-qua-nage-e-qua, a handsome woman ce-be, and Kettle River Ah-kik-ah-ce-be. The or girl; ah-qua-nage-ah-min-e, a handsome river leading from the source of the St. Croix man; song-gua-da, brave; song-qua-da-a-nin-e, River to Lake Superior the Indians named, a brave man. Wa-sah-que-da-ce-be, meaning burnt river, and A human being is ah-nich-ah-na-be, that is is now called by the whites, Brule, the French as a whole. Descriptive it is this: Beginning term for burnt. Ah-ga-wa-ce-be-one, is the at the feet, the Indian would say, a foot is o- name given by the Indians to the Montreal sit, the leg is o-cot; the thigh is ob-wam, the River, which divides Michigan and Wisconsin hips o-chi-gun, the back o-bic-wan, the abdo­ and the meaning of it is, "we hardly get start­ men or stomach o-mis-cut, the arm o-nick, the ed before the falls stop our navigation." Mus- hand o-minge, the neck o-qua-gun; the head ke-ce-be means Swamp River, but it is now is o-ste-guan, the ear o-do-uck, the nose o-josh, called by the whites Bad River. Sha-ga-wa- the mouth is o-doone, the eye is o-ske-zhic, the me-gunk is a peninsula dividing the bay at teeth is we-bit-dun, the tongue o-da-un-eau, the

158 ARMSTRONG: LIFE AMONG THE CHIPPEWA

chin is o-da-mik-cun, the chest o-cah-ke-gun, the heart o-day, the blood mis-qua. The brain, which all Indians believe to be the source from which all knowledge eminates, they call we- nin-dip. One Indian, in speaking of another whom he considers above mediocrity in brain power would say of him: Ka-get che-me-cha- ni-o-we-nin-dip. This means he has got a very large brain. Nee-oss, my own flesh; ke-oss, your flesh; nin, myself; kin, yourself and win, a third person; ah-nish-e-nah-big, two or three persons; che-ne-pe-wa-ah-nish-e-nah-big, means a great many people. I never knew an Indian to grow a beard. The first chore in the morning, when a beard is showing itself, is to pluck every vestige of it out. I have often inquired why they did it, Eastman, American Aboriginal Portfolio but could never get a satisfactory answer. The Indian method of transporting the wounded. only reason seemed to be that it was not pretty. They have a name for it, however, and call it zhic moze." me-soc-wat-one, the meaning of which word is To continue with the names the Indians gave the mouth hidden. to the different species of the feathery flock, Now try to read this sentence: 0-da-bin, ah- the American eagle they call che-me-ke-se, be-no-gee ma-we go-sha—go take the child, it while me-ke-se is an ordinary eagle. Ah-zhe- cries. jok, a sand-hill crane; ne-kuk, a goose or The Indian count was thus: One, ba-zhic; brant; zhe-zheep, a duck; zhe-zhe-buck, many 2, neich; 3, nis-swy; 4, ne-win; 5, nah-nun; ducks; ka-kek, hawk; co-co-co, owl; wa-be-na, 6, go-twas-swe; 7, neich-was-swe; 8, swa-swy; grouse or prairie chicken; pe-na, partridge; 9, shong-qus-swy; 10, me-dah-swy; 11, me-da- o-me-me, pigeon, mumg-ua-na, yellow ham­ swy-ah-she-ba-shik; 12, me-da-swy-ah-she- mer. neich, and so on to twenty. You will observe Madeline Island, in Lake Superior, derived that me-dah-swy means 10, ah-she means its name from this bird, as it used to congre- "and," the numeral being added to this until you reach twenty. Example: Nis-swy is 3; then me-da-swy-ah-she-nis-swy is 13; 20 is neich-tan-a; 21 is neich-tan-a-ah-she-ba-zhic, and so on to 30, which is nis-ce-me-tan-ah; 31, nis-ce-me-ta-na-ah-she-baz-hic; 40 is ne-me- tan-ah; 50, na-ne-me-tan-ah; 60, go-twas-e- me-tan-ah; 70, neich-was-me-tan-ah; 80, swas- e-me-tan-ah; 90, shong-gus-e-me-tan-ah; 100, na-ning-go-twauk; 101, nane-go-twauk-ah-she- ba-zhic; 102, nane-go-twauk-ah-she-nich, and so on; 200, neich-wauk; 201, neich-wauk-ah- she-ba-zhic, and so on; 300, nis-wauk; 400, ne-wauk; 500, non-wauk; 600, go-twas-wauk; 700, neich-was-wauk; 800, swas-wauk; 900, shong-us-wauk; 1,000, me-dos-wauk, and so on. Write the following in Chippewa: "Indian killed one bear, two deer and one moose to­ Bureau of Ethnology Report, 1885-86 day," and it will read, "Noon-gum-ge-ne-sa A Chippewa "removing" disease from an ailing ba-zhic muk-wa, neich wa-was-ka-zhe-gi-ah ba- companion.

159 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973

Owen, Geological Survey Aindi-bi-tunk, a Chippewa, made this sketch of La Pointe on Madeline Island at the request of the United States geologist, David Dale Owen, whose survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota was published in 1852. gate there in great numbers. They named the so much pleasure, the brook trout, marsh-ah- island Mun-gua-na-ca-ning, but the Mission­ may-guass, while a lake trout they named as aries muddled it into Madeline.^' na-may-guass; a whitefish, ad-dik-gum-egg; Pe-na-she, a bird; pe-na-she-ug, many birds; catfish, ma-num-meg; sturgeon, na-mae; wall­ ga-ga-ge, a crow; ma-ma, the large woodcock, eyed pike, o-gah; pickerel, ke-no-zhe; muscal- by many historians called the Indian hen; longe, mash-ka-no-zhe, and the perch o-ga-weg. twe-twish-ke-wah, a plover; che-zhe-zhe-buck, The Indian child now calls its father ne-bah- canvass-back duck; nin-ah-zhe-buck, mallard; bah, and mother, ne-mah-mah. Formerly it wa-week-ing-gronge-ge, the blue wing teal, was noce for father, and ning-ga for mother. meaning "their wings whistle in the air." Brother, ne-cieh; sister, ne-mis-eh, but it only Most other species they simply called zhe-zhe- applies to brothers and sisters older than the buck. Ba-ka-qua, domestic chicken; mis-e-say, speaker. Ne-she-way would apply to either a turkey. brother or sister younger than the speaker. Among the finny tribe they named the fish Ne-she-ma-que-we-zence means a boy; ne-she- which affords the followers of Isaac Walton ma-e-qua-zence, a girl; sah-sa-gah-e-nin-e means handsomely dressed or nice manners. '^ Sometime after 1792, Michel Cadotte, son of a Their names for berries and fruits: Rasp­ French-Canadian fur trader, established a trading berries they call mis-que-me-nuk, meaning post at La Pointe and subsequently married the daughter of a Chippewa chief, White Crane. In her blood berries; blackberries, tuk-og-o-me-nuk; honor the island's aboriginal name (also spelled strawberries, o-da-me-nuk, shaped like a heart; Moningwunkaning, place of the lapwings or golden breasted woodpecker) was given her baptismal name, cranberries, mus-ke-ge-me-nug; me-num, blue­ Madeline. Hamilton Nelson Ross, La Pointe, Village berries; a common apple, me-she-min; thorn Outpost (St. Paul, 1960), 65; Robert E. Gard and apple, me-she-me-nace-suc. L. G. Sorden, The Romance of Wisconsin Place Names (New York, 1968), 73. The followino; is a miscellaneous collection

160 ARMSTRONG: LIFE AMONG THE CHIPPEWA

of names and words which were in use almost Chippewa were long over. For a while he daily, among which will be found the sub- had conducted a grocery business in Duluth, stantials of life introduced by the white race: the city which grew up around the square Wheat-flour, or bread made from flour, bo- mile north of Minnesota Point and the shore qua-zhe-gun; corn, min-dah-min; cornbread is of the St. Louis River, land which Chief Buf­ min-da-min-ah-ba-qua-zhe-gun; o-be-nick, po­ falo, before agreeing to sign the confiscatory tatoes; che-a-ne-bish, cabbage; ah-ne-bish, tea, Treaty of 1845, insisted he be allowed to give and after it is steeped it is called ah-ne-be-sha- his adopted white son. Had Armstrong not boo; coffee is muk-a-da-ma-ske-ke-wa-boo; do- been defrauded of his property he would do-sha-boo is milk; mus-ke-ke-iva-boo is a have died as wealthy as he died respected, for medicine; the mus-ke-ke the medicine and wa- as the Ashland Daily Press reported, he once boo the drink; do-do-sha-bo-ba-me-day is but­ "had title to Duluth real estate that is now ter, meaning, properly, grease from milk; worth an immense amount of money." we-oss is fresh meat; be-she-ke-we-oss is beef; In his last years Armstrong settled perma­ co-kush-we-oss is pork; wa-was-kesh-we-oss, nently in Ashland where he became prominent venison; moze-we-oss, fresh moose meat; muk- in local affairs. In 1887 when the city was wa-we-oss, bear meat; ah-dik-we-oss, elk meat; incorporated he was elected one of its origi­ ma-nic-ton-ish-we-oss, mutton; o-da-bon, sleigh nal aldermen, a post he held for nine consecu­ or wagon; de-be-sa-o-dak-bon, wagon or car tive years before resigning. In 1888 he was with wheels; ne-cun-ah, a road or trail; sko- persuaded by friends to run for mayor in a da-o-da-bon-me-cun-ah, a railroad; ah-sho-gun, special election but was defeated, and a year a bridge; ah-sho-ga, across a bridge or water; or two later he began dictating his memoirs be-mich-ca, he crosses in a boat; this shore, to his secretary, Thomas Wentworth. o-das-o-gon; the other shore, ah-gon-mink; It is more than a little ironic that this man to row a boat is ah-sha-boo-ya, while ba-ma- whose adult life was spent in frank brother­ sha is sailing a boat; ba-mo-za, walking; be- hood with his Chippewa neighbors, who was me-bat-to, running; ke-she-ca, run fast; ba- chosen as a son by their greatest chief, mar­ pin, to laugh; ma-we, to cry; ge-git-o, speak; ried a daughter of the tribe, and openly ad­ ke-nooch, speak to those people. Both the lat­ mired their culture while deploring their lot ter words are commands. Was-wa means a in an increasingly alien world, should have fire hunt; wa-swa-gun is torch-light; was- been eulogized in his obituary as "one of those squaw-nane-ge-gun is lamp or candle light; brave whites who penetrated the dark entangle­ the sun is called ge-ses; the moon, tip-e-ge-ses; ments of the primitive forests to conquer for a star, ah-nung; ah-nung-goog is many stars; God and government."^^ me-shuk-qut, clear sky; ah-nuk-qut, cloudy sky; num-me-keeg is thunder; num-me-keeg- wa-sa-tage is lightning.

'^Ashland Daily Press, August 1, 1900. The tract Epilogue given Armstrong by Chief Buffalo had a curious history. A part of it which Armstrong and his wife sold in 1856 passed through many hands until N JULY 31, 1900, Ben Armstrong died in the 1890's Frederick D. Prentice, a New Yorker, O in Ashland at the home of his son Henry. brought a series of suits against the city of Duluth claiming the land as rightfully his. These suits, He was eighty, and according to the local later disposed of by the courts, caused much turmoil newspaper, the oldest white settler of the Lake and inhibited city development. See Dwight E. Superior region. His active days as an inter­ Woodbridge and John S. Pardee, History of Duluth and St. Louis County, Past and Present (Chicago, preter for, mentor to, and trader with the 1910), 1: 92-96.

(This is the final installment of a four-part series.)

161 REVIEWS

The Norse Voyages to America: A Review

By Einar Haugen

The author of this book provides us with Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico as well. In the a new testimonial to the undying fascination present book he has put together all his argu­ of the enigma embodied in the sagas of the ments for this thesis, richly illustrated them Norse voyages to America. Frederick Pohl is with home-made charts, and engagingly pre­ an emeritus schoolteacher from Brooklyn who sented them in an account that disarms the began writing about this topic in 1945, after critic by its utter naivete and well-meaning publishing a book on Amerigo Vespucci in sincerity. 1944. His bibliography in the present work It is clear that no critique presented by an lists sixteen articles and four books {The Lost academic person like the present reviewer can Discovery, Norton, New York, 1952; The ruffle the composure of the author, who be­ Vikings on Cape Cod, Pictou Press, Pictou, longs to a breed of "horse sense" writers who N.S., 1957; Atlantic Crossings before Colum­ flourish in our country. While academic writ­ bus, Norton, New York, 1961; The Viking ers refine their methods to the vanishing Explorers, T. Y. Crowell, New York, 1966). point, their writings go unheeded by the un­ Throughout his authorship Mr. Pohl has stood trained but enthusiastic and motivated ama­ in opposition to academic views concerning teurs in scholarship. The general reader who the authenticity of Norse artifacts in North embarks on a perusal of this book will find it, America. He has not only accepted the New­ in the words of the jacket, "as intriguing as port Tower and the Kensington Stone as valid a detective story." If he is content to take it testimonials to the Norse presence in America, as pure entertainment, intended like any good but has now even incorporated into his theory detective story to reassure the reader that life's the fantasies of Messrs. Monge and Landsverk puzzles can be solved, he will be satisfied. concerning the presence of cryptograms in But if he is genuinely concerned about his­ runic inscriptions. His own views place Vin- torical reality and unwilling to accept shoddy land on Cape Cod (Follins Pond), Stream- source material and speculation as reasoning, fjord in New York Harbor, and Karlsefni's he will find himself sadly disappointed. On Hop on the James River in Virginia. Since the every page the author asserts that some no­ Vinland Map (unveiled at Yale in 1965), he tion has been "proved" beyond doubt or con­ has identified its central section with the en­ firmed by "unquestionable" evidence, when tire East Coast, which puts the Vikings into in fact the proof is achieved by neglecting counterevidence or by sheer fiat. The book opens with a first section entitled "The Narrative", in which the two saga The Viking Settlements of North America. By sources (Saga of the Greenlanders and Eirik's FREDERICK J. POHL. (Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., Saga) are retold in a harmonized narrative New York, 1972. Pp. xii, 339. Bibliography, which also identifies the locales according to maps, index. $7.95.) the author's theorv. A second section is "Iden-

162 BOOK REVIEWS tifications and Archaeological Discoveries," nothing to do with "shrieking") ; hveitiax in which the evidence is presented and argued sjalfsait as "a new kind of cultivated wheat" in some detail. A third section, "The Vinland (296), "self-sown wheat" (300), the correct Sagas," presents the author's translations of translation; einfoetingr as "a one-footed crea­ these, while a fourth is called "Appendix — ture", "a creature resembling a one-footed This Truly Vast Land," with some additional man," and a "uniped", all on the same page putative finds. (303) ; Straumney as "Current Island", but The reader who is previously uninformed Straumffordr as "Stream Fjord" (297). about the topic had best begin with section One could go on citing examples, but to III and read the actual sources, the two con­ no purpose. The real point to be made is that flicting saga accounts. He will not, however, some of these are not due to ignorance, but find here an accurate or even a very read­ to deliberate policy. In a preface to the trans­ able translation; in fact, one may question lations he claims that the translation must whether it is a translation and not actually "enable us to trace the voyages" (264), and a paraphrase. After carefully collating it with so he violates the sense of the original at the original, I conclude that Mr. Pohl does will to confirm his own theory of the geo­ not in fact know Old Norse at all. His "trans­ graphical realities. When the text clearly and lation" is merely a compilation of the trans­ indisputably says that Helluland was so called lations of others, twisted to fit his own theo­ because "the land from the glaciers to the sea ries concerning the events of the sagas. Some was like one rock" (sem ein hella), one is not of his errors are subtle but misleading, e. g., entitled to translate "all was one level stone­ "Freydis who was called his daughter" (271) field" (273) and then argue that this is justi­ should be "Freydis was his daughter's name" fied since "anyone who looks for a slab of (era Freydis het dottir hans) ; "Thorvard was rock several miles long is likely to lose Leif's a little man" (271) should be "Thorvard was trail" (264). Especially when one notes that a nobody" (litilmenni) ; "Southerner" (273) the text does not speak of a slab "several is used for "German" isudroenn) and "South­ miles long," an expression that derives from ern tongue" (275) for "German language" the author's mistranslation of allt hit efra as (pyzk). Other errors are gross, such as "Leif "faraway" (264) or "in the distance" (273), said he [Eric] might be a better commander when it simply means "the heights" (or as of the kinsmen" (273), instead of "Leif said interpreted by Gwyn Jones, "the back­ that of all the kinsmen he [Eric] would still ground"). This translation is needed to justi­ command the best luck"; the phrase "all the fy his identification of Helluland as the east same mountains" (oil ein ffoil) is translated as shore of the Newfoundland peninsula (174). "formed one mountain chain" (303). We are Pohl claims to have avoided the errors of pre­ repeatedly told that traders like Thorfinn decessors, but the very passage he corrects Karlsefni were known as "great vikings" (e.g., (266) is absurdly misunderstood by his con­ p. 63), which is news to any student of Old fusion of til siofar "to the sea" with at sia Norse. His attempts at translating on his own "to see" (182). the skaldic verses in the sagas are simply pathetic, and in one case hilarious, as when This procedure is the more disturbing since he manages to produce "wind-raising war­ he claims to be a literal interpreter of the riors" (interpreted on p. 96 as a "vulgar re­ text. He ridicules scholars who accept some ference to their rectal blasts") from a kenning statements in the sagas and reject others that means "those who raise the storm of the (261) and claims that he himself finds "no sword", i. e., "Warriors" pure and simple geographical contradictions and that both (bellendr Laufavedrs, on which see, e. g., E. sagas are geographically accurate in all de­ V. Gordon, An Introduction to Old Norse, tails" (262). He compares them to the He­ Oxford, 1927, p. 196). It is characteristic that brew texts of the Old Testament, which were he translates the same Old Norse word in handed down orally as sacred texts without various ways, without obvious reason, e. g., change, thereby revealing his unawareness of vinvid as "withy vines" (275 et passim), the evidence abundantly amassed concerning "vinestocks" (278), "withies" (283), "vines" the unreliability of the sagas as historical (300) (the correct word is "grape vines") ; evidence. One need only look, e. g., in Theo­ vinber as "wine berries" or "grapes" (both on dore M. Andersson's, The Problem of Ice­ 275), "berries" (283) (they were no doubt landic Saga Origins (Yale University Press, grapes); skraelingar as "shriekers" (277), 1964), to realize that the sagas are not his­ but as "Skraelings" elsewhere (the word has tory, but historical fiction (or fictional his­ tory) . One of the problems with the many

163 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973 amateurs who are fired by the Vinland sagas Mr. Pohl's overall thesis concerning the is that not only do they know nothing of the sagas, that they tell a substantially true story, original language, but also that they have no that the two versions can be reconciled in understanding of the place of the saga genre their main outlines, and that they indicate either in Icelandic life or in world literature. at least some exploration and settlement as Our author's deliberate mistranslations are far south as New England is one that this evidence enough that the texts are unclear and reviewer shares (see his Voyages to Vinland, self-contradictory and that they need inter­ Knopf, New York, 1942). But there is nothing pretation. But all such interpretation should in this book that strengthens these views, and be banished from the translation itself much that weakens them. It could even be that wherever possible; they belong in the com­ his identifications will turn out to be right; mentary only. but the book as it stands is just another piece of Vinland fiction. What is right in it is al­ Pohl's chief claim to credit for original re­ ready known; what is new is clearly wrong. search rests on his 1952 discovery of a ship One can only put it back on the shelf with a shoring on Follins Pond, which is here re­ sigh and add it to the long list of Americana counted in all its dramatic detail (191//.). Un­ Curiosa that includes among its most distin­ fortunately he neglects to mention the contrary guished practitioners the late Professor Eben report which was published in the Massa­ Norton Horsford, who planted the famous chusetts Archaeological Society Bulletin (vol. plaque commemorating Leif Ericson's land­ 14, 1953, pp. 82-88) by Benjamin Smith, fall at Gerry's Landing just a bowshot from showing that this was a colonial ship repair the Harvard Yard! yard, that a colonial shipwright's axe was also unearthed there, and that the "mooring holes" (The revieiver is Victor S. were drilled by nineteenth-century stone Thomas professor of Scandinavian Languages blasters. Similarly he makes only passing and Linguistics, Harvard University.) (and anonymous) reference to the striking discoveries of Helge Ingstad at Lanse-aux- Meadows in Newfoundland, which so far ap­ pear to have unearthed the only reasonably certain Norse artifacts on the North American STATE AND REGIONAL continent (Ingstad's books, e. g.. Westward to Vinland, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1969, are not even listed in the bibliography). He Wisconsin: A State for All Seasons. Jill airily dismisses the evidence in favor of a Dean and Susan Smith, editors; Howard more northern location of Vinland advanced Mead, publisher; William T. Pope, designer. not only by Ingstad, but also by Gwyn Jones (Wisconsin Tales and Trails, Madison, 1972. {The Norse Atlantic Saga, Oxford, 1964) and Pp. 175. Illustrations, credits, $15.) Samuel Morison {The European Discovery of America, Oxford, 1971). Instead, he embraces This newest book by the creative young avidly all the so-called "rune stones" found people at Wisconsin Trails has beauty, lite­ by Olaf Strandwold and others in the most rary merit, a modern historical merit. They remote and improbable parts of the United have divided the state into four seasons, and States, all of which are such obvious fakes have lavishly illustrated these sectors of the that anyone competent in runes can dismiss calendar with photographs in both black and them out of hand. (See now the competent white and color from some of Wisconsin's archeological treatment by Birgitta Wallace most distinguished photographers. in The Quest for America, Praeger, New York, There's more to this book than just good 1971.) Concerning the absurd inscriptions things to look at and admire. It has sorted found in Oklahoma he flatly declares that "it out bits and snatches of unusual and distinc­ has been amply demonstrated that these are tive things that are pure Wisconsin, things not hoaxes, but genuine inscriptions of great that are seldom found elsewhere in America age," while immediately admitting that "none —the jumping frogs of Dousman, harness of the six has a translatable meaning in racing, circuses, quilters, Christmas trees. words" (324) ! There seems to be a fixation Where else can one find such a rich variety on runes among our amateur archeologists, of interesting pursuits and games? Every­ none of whom appear to have taken the trou­ one knows about Wisconsin's beer and cheese, ble to find out what runes really are. but this book approaches these ancient econo­ mies from a new and fresh point of view.

164 BOOK REVIEWS

If Wisconsin history is still taught in the The Jacksonian Democrats mobilized safe schools, here is an excellent reference work. majorities in Michigan by appealing to egali­ A digest in a less expensive edition could be tarian and antimonopoly values, and by de­ used as a text book. fending Catholic interests. The party en­ Most large books of the end-table variety trenched itself with a strong organization and are ones to be glanced at during the cocktail inculcated a deep sense of partisan loyalty. party, and then passed by. This one is dif­ The Whigs emerged less as a party than as an ferent. It can be admired and then read in anti-Democratic protest. Its community unity, small or large doses over a long period of ideology of harmony of interests, and a linger­ time. ing sense of deference helped the Whigs ex­ The publishing efforts of Howard Mead ploit the strong antipartyism inherent in the and his talented and capable staff deserve evangelical Protestant ethos, even though in special commendation. A frankly commercial the long run it doomed the viability of organ­ venture that hopes some day to make money, ized Whiggery. Presbyterians — devoted to its early years have been dedicated to pro­ moral reform and prominent among the state's ducing magazines and books of quality, to elite — shaped Whiggery to their own style. telling the Wisconsin story in pictures and Nativism became one of the few legislative prose, and without the crass commercialism issues clearly separating the parties. that accompanies so many similar efforts. In the 1850's, evangelical Protestants The start has been highly promising, and threw themselves into crusades for social there are more and better publications in purity — prohibition, anti-Catholicism, clean the works. government, and, to a lesser extent, antislav­ ery. When the Whig party proved too inef­ DON ANDERSON fective as a carrier for their moralism, the Madi evangelicals abandoned it for Know-Noth- ingism. In 1854, an evangelical fusion move­ {The reviewer is the emeritus pub­ ment pulled antipartyism, antislavery, pro­ lisher of the Wisconsin State Jour­ hibition, and nativism into a new, irresistable nal.) movement, the Republican party. Ethnic and religious lines, already fairly distinct, became the basis of politics in Michi­ gan in the 1850's. The Republicans appro­ The Birth of Mass Political Parties: Michigan, priated egalitarian values by attacking the 1827-1861. By RONALD P. FORMISANO. subservience of the Democratic party to (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1971. aristocratic Southern slaveholders. This did Pp. xii, 356. Notes, index. $12.50.) not make Republicans abolitionists, but it did pull Michigan into the national debate over The Birth of Mass Political Parties repre­ the plight of the white laborer or farmer sents the breakthrough of the "new political threatened by the expansion of slave labor. history" to the formative antebellum period. Evangelicals from New England, New York It is the fullest, most sophisticated and most and Britain, including Baptists and Congre- satisfying study yet to appear on the grass­ gationalists, besides Presbyterians, became roots formation and composition of the Whig, solidly Republican. Methodists are portrayed Democratic, and Republican parties in any as a nonevangelical group who now switched state. into the Republican party. Since he disso­ The book combines detailed Michigan party ciates them from the reform Calvinists he history with electoral analysis of the patterns labels "Evangelicals," Formisano has difficul­ of voting at the township and ward level. ty explaining Methodist behavior. However, Formisano shows that urban-rural and class if the Methodists are treated as pietists (as cleavages were minor when compared to the Paul Kleppner and the reviewer have done), more basic forces at work. "Religion, ethnic­ then it was only natural that they would join, ity, and economic role," he concludes, "seem and lead, the Republicans; the only question is to have been the most salient influences on why most of them had not become Whigs. voting behavior." Formisano thus lends fresh The liturgical groups, especially Catholics, support to the ethno-religious conflict inter­ Episcopalians, and German Lutherans, be­ pretation of voting history, which seems now came even more staunchly Democratic, as did to have fairly well displaced the old Beardian the dechristianized ("hedonist") voters. The emphasis on supposed class conflict. pietistic Dutch, who "should" have swung

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toward the Republicans, were apparently too most urbanists would probably agree with his inwardly directed to make that move just yet. impressionistic judgments. "Dynamic De­ By 1860 the basic ethno-cultural alignments troit" has become "distress city." which dominate Michigan voting patterns to Unfortunately, the book does not have un­ this day had been established. der control the kind and quantity of precision Formisano is not to be accused of under- data and careful documentation that would interpreting his sources. He concludes at one command unreserved support for its thesis. point that "later arrival, lack of acceptance The first ten chapters covering Detroit's early by the in-group, rejection in whole or in part twentieth-century history are written from a of accepted norms, lack of integration, per­ limited number of secondary sources, and haps alienation or anomie" can be deduced are meant to serve only as background for the from two lines of a memoir which casually themes advanced in the last few chapters. The mentioned that "a majority of settlers on land book has some curious omissions. Apparently outside the [Vermontville] colony purchase the author did not consult the definitive study were staunch Democrats." On the whole, how­ of the sitdown strikes (Sidney Fine's Sitdown: ever, his conclusions are well grounded in the The General Motors Strike of 1936-1937) data and are presented without excessive so- even though he devotes some substantial atten­ ciologese. He has mined the censuses as well tion to that event. Also ignored in the pre­ as the election returns, and even uncovered paration of the book were the rich storehouses some invaluable interview data from Lansing of materials at Detroit's Burton Historical and Detroit. Unfortunately his tables are too Collection and Wayne State University's prolix; a smaller number of summary tables Archives of Labor History and Urban Affairs. would have neatly encapsulated the major The author offers no explanation for these statistical findings. omissions. Similarly the voluminious studies and sources on the Detroit riot of 1967 have The very exhaustiveness of Formisano's re­ not been consulted: for that event the Detroit search makes his book difficult to read, de­ Free Press investigative reports are his main spite the abundance of short, pithy quotations. source. The early chapters are journalistic Without a narrative to move his story along, and simply a narrative recounting of events. nor a dramatic tension to whet the reader's Perhaps most disappointing is the fact that interest, the book overwhelms one with for­ Widick, a former UAW research economist, gotten names, unknown dates, unheard of was on the inside of important black and places, and baffling numbers. The metho­ white labor circles in a city where organized dology, while not innovative, is so thorough­ labor counts for much, and yet this inside ly explained that it will be helpful to anyone experience seems to have provided him with trying to discover how groups vote. While its a paucity of keen insights. style will preclude a wide audience, the book's clever use of socio-economic microhistory will Nevertheless, the book has an important make it a primer for historians of party forma­ message for general readers and city watchers. tion in any state. Its real strength lies in the last two chapters which relate effectively the awesome growth RICHARD J. JENSEN of black-white tensions and simultaneously the growth of black political, social, and eco­ University of Illinois at Chicago Circle nomic power. The author fully appreciates the volatility of that mix and recognizes that it will require more than old-fashioned poli­ tical alchemy or pleas for union solidarity to Detroit: City of Race and Class Violence. By prevent combustion. B. J. WiDICK. (Quadrangle Books, Chicago, Widick recently returned to an auto plant 1972. Pp. xi, 251. Notes, bibliography, index. where he had once spent fifteen years as a $8.95.) union official and discovered to his surprise that it wasn't class conflict but racial tension B. J. Widick's choice of a title is an accurate and drug addiction that galvanized work description of his book and an even more crews. The drug problem is not to be taken accurate description of recent events unfold­ lightly, for Detroit has experienced a bloody ing in Detroit. Widick suggests that Detroit's war between two rival gangs that has taken problems are worse than those of most large upwards of twenty-five lives in the fight for metropolitan centers, but does no comparative control of the dope traffic. So frightening is probing to ascertain that view. Nevertheless, the plant drug scene, says Widick, that many

166 BOOK REVIEWS union officials have taken to carrying guns, ousted by angry Kansas Populists who tired not only to fend off addicts, but also to meet of his inattention to real problems. racial encounters that too often have a bloody Such is the standard view of Ingalls, and finale in Detroit. Every time that the fires this slender volume by Burton J. Williams of racial hate seem to be cooling, some nasty adds little of importance. As the first full and brutish racial altercation punctures the biography of Ingalls it does provide new in­ peace. The black community was enraged over formation on other aspects of his career as the acquittal of the white police officers in­ lawyer, lecturer, and writer, but its primary volved in the Algiers Motel shootings. Whites objective is simply to "personalize" Ingalls. were equally incensed, in June, 1971, over the It offers virtually nothing to explain his sig­ acquittal of a black auto worker who slew a nificance. Williams notes of Ingalls' death that white craftsman and two foremen on a kill­ "The obituaries leave the impression that In­ ing spree in his plant. It is not class conflict galls was a nationally known figure, possibly or working class solidarity but race conflict a great man, certainly unique if not eccentric, that now colors and stains the social fabric of without stating satisfactory reasons for their Detroit. claims." The same observation must apply to In the face of such dismal social facts Williams' own work. He never really explains Widick suggests, with some convincing evi­ Ingalls' rise to power, the state political sys­ dence, that Detroit may become the "Black tem which he dominated, the basis for his Metropolis of the Future." The increasing higher ambitions, or other topics as necessary concentration of blacks in the auto industry for understanding Ingalls the man as Ingalls with high paying blue-collar jobs, the solid the important politician. and continued growth of a large, middle-in­ This failure results from Williams' reluc­ come black community, impressive home own­ tance to investigate sources other than Ingalls' ership and college attendance figures support own papers. Shaped and biased by its almost that judgment. So, too, the movement of exclusive reliance on personal letters of the blacks into leadership positions in the auto Ingalls family, the book has errors of both workers and other unions will enhance their commission and omission: if something was position. Detroit is developing a powerful mentioned in Ingalls' private correspondence, base for the expression of black power. With it is repeated here, whether or not important strong representation in local, state, and na­ or germane; conversely, if a matter went un­ tional legislative bodies, Detroit may indeed recorded in the correspondence, it goes un- become America's first "Black Metropolis." mentioned in the biography. Paradoxically, as the old white city deterior­ Inevitably, this circumscribed approach also ates, perhaps a new black phoenix will rise makes the book, despite Williams' denial, a from the ashes of racial turmoil and economic defense of Ingalls, as when he quotes Ingalls' contraction. tender words to his wife and children and asserts, "Certainly this lovely tribute dispels MELVIN G. HOLLI any illusions that Ingalls was a 'cold and heart­ University of Illinois at Chicago Circle less' man, as some of his contemporaries claimed." But no one ever accused Ingalls of being insensitive to his own family, only to the plight of the agrarian majority, a charge indirectly substantiated here by the absence Senator John James Ingalls: Kansas' Iri­ of any indication of his concern for agricul­ descent Republican. By BURTON J. WILLIAMS. tural distress. (University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, 1972. Williams makes this dependence upon In­ Pp. ix, 201. Notes, bibliography, index. galls' correspondence more disconcerting $7.75.) when, in at least one instance, he incorrectly deciphers Ingalls' handwriting, reading "short John J. Ingalls served in the United States dance" rather than "ghost dance," the actual Senate from 1873 to 1891, earning a reputa­ phrase in the original letter. Aside from caus­ tion as a brilliant orator of biting invective ing one to wonder whether more important and unmatched skill in waving the bloody matters have been similarly misconstrued, this shirt. Although permanent President Pro Tem incident also indicates the vacuum in which of the Senate, Ingalls never advocated signifi­ the "personalized" Ingalls exists in this book. cant legislation but instead enjoyed the role Rarely is a book so restricted in purpose, of critic and opponent until he was finally and rather than increasing his effort in order

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to develop a meaningful study, Williams is excellence." The first edition of Merk's book content to present a chronological narrative, (1916) merited both the accolade and this giving equal treatment to every topic, whether second edition. Economic historians today the itinerary of a journey or a re-election to have the advantage of more sophisticated the Senate. Williams attempts only to record, theories, economic indicators, and computers, not to answer, the historical questions sur­ but diligence, imagination, and a clear ex­ rounding Ingalls' career, and accepts Ingalls' pository style are necessary elements for a own explanation of his personal inconsistencies standard work. This is a standard. as products of fate—hardly an appropriate The first issue of the Wisconsin Magazine position for a historian! Similarly, while the of History in September, 1917, reported that: reader could legitimately expect from a per­ "In September, 1916, Mr. Frederick Merk, sonal biography some evaluation of Ingalls' for five years research assistant on the So­ morbid fascination with fate and death, Wil­ ciety's staff, began an indefinite leave of liams refrains; only the mention of the fasci­ absence, with a view to prosecuting his grad­ nation remains. uate studies at Harvard University." The This approach, combined with a didactic "indefinite leave" covered a distinguished ca­ style, often makes the book tedious and repe­ reer at Harvard from which he "retired" as titious: "He viewed the two major political emeritus professor in 1957. Professor Merk parties as being interchangeable with the reports, in the Directory of American Schol­ armies of the Union and the Confederacy. The ars, that he left Madison in 1916 with an political parties. Democratic and Republican, A.B. degree granted in 1911. One would think and the sections of the country. North and that this first book should have been worth South, were in Ingalls [sic] opinion, opposing an M.A. The oversight was repaired in 1971 armies." Not surprisingly, then, the book is when he returned to accept an honorary doc­ at its best when Williams stops paraphrasing torate. and allows Ingalls to speak for himself, for his mordant wit has never been surpassed in The Society's second edition contains four American politics: "There is no man in this improvements over the original. The full title country whose ignorance is so profound, is displayed on the book's back. The original whose obscurity is so impenetrable, and whose claimed too much with "Economic History of antecedents are so degraded that he may not Wisconsin." It would be more accurate than justifiably aspire to a Presidential nomina­ either to use the dates 1857-1873. The fold tion—by the Democratic party." map in the front of the original has been printed on the inside cover with a minimum Yet no number of well-selected quotes can of reduction. The illustrations have been col­ compensate for the absence of analysis and lected in a signature with a selection that re­ evaluation. At least, however, Ingalls does tains some of the former illustrations and adds emerge from this eclectic hodge-podge of anec­ some better ones. Fourthly, the author's pref­ dotes and quotations as something more than ace to the 1971 edition is a welcome continua­ a vindictive partisan. That is an achievement, tion of the original preface. and it makes the reviewer more sympathetic to the Senator—but sympathetic enough to wish One notes the absence of a bibliography. him a better biography. The author was creating sources in the foot­ notes. He remarked, in the original preface, that the "historical sources for this volume PETER H. ARGERSINGER have been scattering, often fragmentary." He University of Maryland—Baltimore County laid down high grade ore that has been dili­ gently worked by scholars since.

ROBERT C. NESBIT Economic History of Wisconsin During the University of Wisconsin—Madison Civil War Decade. By FREDERICK MERK. (State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madi­ son, 2nd edition, 1971. Pp. 414. Illustrations, notes, map, index. $10.00.)

Fifty-five years ago Carl Russell Fish com­ mented that "the work is unusual in the de­ gree and the well-rounded proportion of its

168 BOOK REVIEWS

found authority without much hesitation. In­ GENERAL HISTORY tervention in Haiti came at the end of this adolescent period, when the Yankees, while still acting to serve their own security needs, had developed an elaborate rationale based on a conviction of superiority and an attend­ ant missionary zeal to spread democracy and Yanqui Politics and the Isthmian Canal. civilization. The Dominican era under discus­ By LAWRENCE 0. EALY. (Pennsylvania State sion coincides with the Great Depression and University Press, University Park, 1971. Pp. Second World War, when United States 192. Notes, bibliography, index. $8.50.) policymakers were compelled to devote great­ er attention to the domestic crisis and the The United States Occupation of Haiti: global struggle for the survival of their na­ 1915-1934. By HANS SCHMIDT. (Rutgers tion, and after they had learned that military University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey, intervention could be costly and unproductive. 1971. Pp. X, 303. Illustrations, notes, bibli­ ography, index. $10.00.) Professor Ealy's study of Panama is a re­ latively brief, broad survey of the Canal con­ The United States and the Trujillo Regime. troversey through the years, drawn princi­ By G. POPE ATKINS and LARMAN C. WILSON. pally from the wealth of secondary sources (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, dealing with the various aspects of this ques­ New Jersey, 1972. Pp. viii, 245. Illustrations, tion. More than half the text is devoted to notes, bibliography, maps, index. $10.00.) the acquisition of the Canal Zone and the re­ sulting disputes. The study then rapidly These three volumes, each dealing with a glides from 1923 to an examination of the different aspect of American policy in the negotiations regarding revision of the canal Caribbean, bring strikingly divergent types treaty during the 1950's and 1960's, with but of focus upon three very distinct incidents. scant analysis of the talks during the 1930's. Although all are concerned with American The intervening chapters deal with the Amer­ diplomacy and intervention in the Caribbean, ican impact in Panama, and the comments on each of the incidents under consideration is the effect of the Yankee legal system on Pana­ sharply distinguished from the others. ma are particularly valuable. The author gen­ erally defends the Yankee actions, but em­ Despite the prevalance of stereotypes, phasizes the differing impact of the events American relations with the Caribbean na­ in Panama and the United States, indicating tions encompass a wide range of actions, due the divergent interests of the two protagonists to the varying local situations, changing policy and the limited options available to each. In exigencies, and the passage of time. The general, this volume offers an effective, well- Panamanian incident involved the acquisition written survey of a familiar story, which will of territory for the construction of an Inter- prove far more useful to students and the gen­ Oceanic Canal which the Yankees considered eral public than to the specialist. vital to their security. Consequently, the methods involved were not overly scrupulous, In his study of the intervention in Haiti, but there was a need for only a single canal. Professor Schmidt follows the lines of a doc­ The Haitian situation was a classic case of toral dissertation. This work is well re­ military intervention in a small nation, car­ searched in primary sources, and the narrative ried out not because the United States de­ portions provide an effective summary of the sired the territory, but rather as a preventive intervention and the policy questions in­ action born of concern for the security of the volved. Unfortunately, however, the author Canal, and a resultant fear of foreign bases feels compelled to inject personal value judg­ along its communications lanes. Relations ments which lack the balance of his narrative. with the regime of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, Admittedly, the American occupation of Haiti on the other hand, were strictly diplomatic in constitutes a depressing nadir of United States nature, with no troop landings involved dur­ Foreign Policy, but by his excessive use of ing the period he held office. It should also pejoratives the author detracts from the hor­ be noted that these three incidents are the ror of the events. Of course, despite exten­ products of distinct historical eras. The sive research, there is always room for more. Panama episode dates from the period when Particularly striking is the omission from the the United States was initially emerging as a bibliography of Dana G. Munro's "The Amer­ world power and given to asserting its new­ ican Withdrawal from Haiti: 1929-1934,"

169 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973 which appeared in the Hispanic American His­ American History in American Thought: torical Review in February, 1969. This item, Christopher Columbus to Henry Adams. By which adopts a different tack than the author's BERT JAMES LOEWENBERG. (Simon and Schu­ description of the same events and should ster, New York, 1972. Pp. 731. Notes, bibli­ be read along with his volume, fails to appear ography, index. $14.95.) despite the fact that Professor Schmidt inter­ viewed Dr. Munro during the course of his It is a rare historian who never feels the research. urge to publish some reflections on his craft. The Atkins and Wilson book is a political One of the most reflective of historians, Bert science study, depending on secondary sources James Loewenberg, has projected a four- and published documents, neither making use volume series under the general title. Histori­ of archival materials nor attempting to exam­ cal Writing in American Culture. The first ine all the intricacies of American relations two volumes cover American historians and with the Trujillo regime. Instead, it focuses their histories, the third deals with special on certain selected aspects of this era, which areas cultivated since 1865, while philosoph­ are examined exclusively from the vantage ical problems associated with the writing of point of specific questions. The text of the history comprise the final volume. The com­ study is extremely brief, and since it includes pleted series will constitute by far the most a prologue and epilogue, the amount of space comprehensive work in American histori­ devoted to the Trujillo regime is quite limit­ ography, including not only the history of ed. Hence despite the title, this volume is American history, but both "speculative" and not a detailed examination of the multifaceted "critical" philosophies of history. relations between the United States and the Although, according to the author, there Dominican Republic during the era of Tru­ can be no "definitive" history, this series, jillo. Instead, it is a study of United States judging from the first volume at hand, bids relations with a dictator, viewed within the fair to approach that category. Professor perspective of the policy debate between the Loewenberg's canvas is broad and his per­ urge to support democracy and the necessity spective is deep. Believing that history and of dealing with tyrants. The authors retain historiography differ only in emphases, he a balanced perspective, pointing out the argu­ shows how historians and their histories re­ ments on both sides, and realistically demon­ late to their times; and he feels no compunc­ strate the narrow range of policy options tion about including his own views, realizing available. They emphasize the limits of that implicitly or explicitly they will be pres­ American power and the fact that the alter­ ent. native to support for the Dominican dictator was Yankee intervention, since mere non- Loewenberg's general philosophy can be recognition would not have been sufficient to found in the introduction. Epistemology is overthrow him. The volume is effective as a as crucial a problem for history as any area concise examination of a single aspect of of inquiry, and the author sees "an endless diplomatic relations between two regimes, but succession of critiques" leading to clarified would be strengthened by consideration of and refined understanding, but never to any other facets of the interaction between them, final truth. His is a pragmatic middle way and especially by use of State Department between objectivism and subjectivism. His Papers, which are available through 1945 but etiology is similarly balanced. American His­ which the authors fail to cite except items pub­ tory in American Thought: Christopher Co­ lished in Foreign Relations volumes. This lumbus to Henry Adams is a history of ideas study is well worth the attention of specialists and, to Loewenberg, ideas have consequences. in American Foreign Policy interested in the But ideas are culturally conditioned; they in­ democracy-dictatorship dichotomy. teract with the objective social environment producing change — and progress. The These three volumes thus demonstrate both authors' social values are implicit in the book: the diversity of American policy in the Carib­ faith in the continuing advance of democracy, bean, and of the approaches that can be em­ equality, and social harmony through the ra­ ployed in its study. All make a contribution, tional good will of men. Compared to the although to distinct audiences. radicalism and malaise of the post-liberal generation, his guarded optimism appears al­ most serene. KENNETH J. GRIEB Balance, optimism, and detachment are con­ University of Wisconsin — Oshkosh ducive to good history. With no brittle ideo-

170 BOOK REVIEWS logical axe to hone, Loewenberg blends his­ torians' lives and histories with the times and his own ideas in an impressive panorama. The book gains in depth and intensity as American scholarship matures, climaxing in brilliant exegeses of the works of John William Bur­ gess, Herbert Baxter Adams, and the incom­ parable Henry Adams. This augurs well for the volumes to come, dealing with the post- Civil War era. A few negative observations are in order. Although by his own affirmation there can be no "true" interpretations, frequently Loe­ wenberg writes as if there were. Apparently, Perry Miller made no mistakes on Puritanism, and Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. told the truth about the Jacksonians. The reviewer would prefer that Loewenberg direct his positivism toward such subjects as Anglo-Saxon racism and slavery. His genial survey contains only a mild criticism of ethnocentric historians, and that only because of their myopia toward the new immigrants. Any feeling he has for the enormity of black slavery is carefully hid­ den. These issues will undoubtedly receive fuller analysis in forthcoming volumes, but A Sioux warrior praying at dawn; an illustration it seems that a more positive approach would from The Mystic Warriors of the Plains. have been desirable in this one. Lapses in providing background information on such artist and Indian hobbyist by avocation. Thus, historians as Albert Bushnell Hart and An­ drew Dickson White, and the use of after- while disclaiming any desire to convert the notes instead of footnotes, do not greatly de­ Indians, his text is interlarded with some­ tract from this book or diminish the review­ times strained analogies of Plains ideology er's anticipation of future volumes. to Christianity. The approach is assuredly not that of the scholar who seeks to provide an objective, holistic, and functional ac­ HOWARD A. BARNES count of cultural phenomena. Mails lauds Winston-Salem State University what he finds admirable from the perspec­ tive of white culture and excuses what he finds embarassing as not as bad or excessive as the things recorded for other cultures one The Mystic Warriors of the Plains. By THOM­ might mention. By his own admission. Mails AS E. MAILS. (Doubleday, Garden City, New is not deeply concerned with ethnological pre­ York, 1972. Pp. viii, 618. Bibliography, in­ cision in regard to the organizational, non- dex, color plates, drawings, maps, all illustra­ tangible aspects of culture. Furthermore, he tions by the author. $25.00.) warns the reader at the outset not to expect much in the way of illustration or discussion The Mystic Warriors of the Plains is a labor of women's activities or belongings. It is of love. Lavishly illustrated with thirty-two amusing that the short shrift given Indian color plates and nearly 1,000 drawings, the women apparently extends to women general­ book is limited quite explicitly to the selected ly. On page 570, Mails attributes Frances aspects of Plains culture of particular inter­ Densmore's book, Teton Sioux Music, to an­ est to its author. Mails treats of the heyday of other woman anthropologist, Alice Fletcher. the Plains Indians, ca. 1750-1875, focusing Fundamentally, Mails is a material cul­ on male activities, particularly the life and ture expert and his book has real merit as a accoutrements of the warrior. It is difficult significant reference work in providing clear, to fault anyone who admits so candidly to attractive, and generally well-documented il­ his biases and predilections. Mails is a Luth­ lustrations of costuming, face painting, horse eran minister by profession and a skilled trappings, weapons, and a host of other items.

171 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973

In effect. Mails has depicted with remarkable protect "a child race." Southern conserva­ success and in his own style a series of sub­ tive capitalists knew that White Supremacy jects that might have been but were not dealt could aid industrial development in a New with at first hand by, e.g., Catlin or Brady South, placate the "nigger-baiting white trash" in the nineteenth century. Using old pic­ by convincing them that their best interests tures, museum specimens, and documentary were served by the planter-business class, and references. Mails recreates selected subjects paternalistically protect the "helpless darkies" from the past with accuracy and visual ap­ by promulgating the Hampton-Tuskegee in­ peal. His emphasis is reminiscent of the old dustrial education platform. trait-list school of anthropology, stressing dis­ The technique of Negro suppression was parate individuals and artifacts rather than not a new idea. The Virginia landowning the functional interrelatedness of cultural as­ class reduced black men into a peculiar in­ pects. We have many examples of teepees, stitution at the end of the seventeenth century for instance, but no camp circles. Likewise, to calm rebellious, landless white freemen. while trade items are shown. Mails is not As slavery "enabled Virginia to nourish rep­ concerned with the whole history of con­ resentative government in a plantation socie­ tinuing adaptive responses to white culture. ty," as Edmund S. Morgan has recently sug­ Mails presents the Plains in a kind of iso­ gested, the Great Race Settlement of the late lated aboriginal glory, adverts to the loss of nineteenth and early twentieth centuries al­ the buffalo and the effects of disease, con­ lowed second-generation Henry Gradys to quest, and settlement leading to the rapid control more firmly the turbulent forces of demise of Plains culture, and ends his book white and black labor. on a brief, mildly optimistic note regarding new Pan-Indian stirrings for recognition of Jack Temple Kirby's Darkness at the Dawn­ Indians' rights and self-determination. The ing: Race and Reform in the Progressive primary appeal and very real value of the South adds documentation to a scenario well volume lie in the illustrations. The color sketched a decade or so ago by C. Van Wood­ plates remind one of Winold Reiss in an un­ ward's Origins of the New South and George restrained mood, while the drawings, printed Tindall's The Emergence of the New South. in shades of gray, suggest both silver-point With aid from Paul K. Conkin's "tough- technique and the immediacy and credibility minded editorship," Kirby illustrates how of photographs contemporary to the period various Southern Progressives used the rhe­ covered. toric of reform to consolidate their budding economic and political hegemony over the post-Populist South. Progressive politicians NANCY OESTREICH LURIE like Memphis's Edward Crump "carried the Milwaukee Public Museum style and techniques of business into public administration," in part, by driving "vice safely within the confines of the black ghet­ to. . . ." New South spokesman Clarence Poe expounded on "a great rural civilization" that Darkness at the Dawning: Race and Reform could educate and uplift both races of the in the Progressive South. By JACK TEMPLE South by overcoming the barrier of racial, KiRBY. (J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadel­ political, and social equality. By the reorder­ phia, New York, and Toronto, 1972. Pp. 210. ing of the law and of society's institutions, Notes and bibliography, index. Cloth, $6.95; Kirby observes, poor whites ceased to be re­ paper, $2.45.) bellious and blacks ceased to be full-human beings. A generation of separation enabled Southern capitalists to "reform" black-white Suppression of the Negro in order to estab­ populist-type protests out of existence. lish and justify a new American socioeco­ nomic order was the essence of the reform Like Woodward's The Strange Career of movement in the Progressive South. Southern Jim Crow, Kirby suggests strong parallels reformer Alexander Jeffrey McKelway agreed between the South African racial settlement with racial demagogues that the Wilmington, after the Anglo-Boer War and the "Southern North Carolina, and the Atlanta riots were Way" as the "American Way." Scanty docu­ justified techniques to control a "criminal" mentation and a lack of development on this and "degenerate" people. Protective legisla­ issue mar what should have been a fine chap­ tion, including complete disfranchisement and ter on African and American racial segre­ total physical separation, was the means to gation. Kirby notes that the Vereeniging

172 BOOK REVIEWS

Treaty and the attempt at "racial unity" estab­ The focus is on the Howe brothers, their lished the foundations for apartheid, but ig­ political connections, their relationships with nores other similarities of note: the white the ministry, their attitude to the Revolution, capitalist endorsement of industrial education and their military actions in America. The programs on the Hampton-Tuskegee model; organization is generally chronological, and the increased rhetoric concerning black sexual the author intersperses chapters on the activi­ attacks on white womanhood, etc. White ties of the Howes in America with chapters South Africans did not "look to the American discussing the effects of their actions in Lon­ South for segregation laws," but they did don and the creation of British policy. In a look to America for a capitalist answer to final chapter Professor Gruber surveys the rising expectations of African missionary- variety of explanations advanced by histo­ educated labor, especially in Natal. The solu­ rians to explain the failure in America, re­ tions were provided more by Booker T. Wash­ jects the idea of a synthesis, and concludes ington than by the Vardamans and Hoke that "The Howes failed primarily because Smiths. they and a majority of the ministry were Kirby accuses Progressive historians and working in separate and mutually destructive educators of lending "the imprimatur of the ways toward the restoration of British gov­ Ph.D. degree and academia to the southern ernment in America." More specifically, he race settlement." To be sure, Ulrich B. Phil­ concludes that "In pursuing unsuccessfully lips's racist predilections appealed to North­ their own dreams of conciliation, the Howes ern and Southern Progressives, but he also sacrificed the ministry's best prospect for re­ accurately viewed slavery for what it was — gaining the colonies." a way of life that made more men than profits. The detailed narrative does much to sub­ Thomas Nelson Page and Joel Chandler Har­ stantiate Gruber's conclusions, but also sug­ ris ignored the brutality of slavery, but skil­ gests that in his natural desire to avoid pre­ fully described the warm relations between senting only a synthesis of earlier explanations blacks and whites of the Old South. Kirby he has perhaps somewhat oversimplified in denounces the New South's racism without his conclusions the results of his own research­ giving credit to Phillips's, et al. ability to es. In arguing one of his most important carefully paint a "blend of tyranny and ben­ points — that the Howes wanted to conciliate evolence." the Americans rather than destroy the op­ Southern Progressives demanded strictly posing military forces and will to resist — enforced child labor laws, an end to the Gruber is more convincing in writing of evils of demon rum, and improved farming Admiral Howe than in writing of Gen­ conditions. Their central reform, which per­ eral Howe. In the case of the land war, mitted all other social progress, Kirby tells the evidence marshalled appears to support us, was the erection of a permanent color line. a view of General Howe's ineptness as much Darkness at the Dawning, despite its historio­ as his ambiguity of purpose. The author graphical flaws, accurately describes a society points out, with reason, that General Howe sowing the seeds of its own destruction. was inept in turning tactical advantages into total victories, and there seems reason to be­ W. MANNING MARABLE lieve that General Howe's failure to destroy University of Maryland — the American army at New York in the sum­ College Park mer of 1776 stemmed as much from incompe­ tence as from a desire to conciliate the Amer­ icans. Confusion in objectives and incompe­ tence appear to be inextricably blended in The Howe Brothers and the American Revolu­ these years. tion. By IRA D. GRUBER. (Published for the Professor Gruber has carried out extensive Institute of Early American History and Cul­ work in British archives, and from his rich ture at Williamsburg, Virginia, by Atheneum, source material has produced a variety of in­ New York, 1972. Pp. ix, 396. Notes, bibh- sights into the complex relationships within ography, maps, appendix, index. $14.95.) the ministry, and their effect on the appoint­ ment and retention of the Howes. In the This book attempts to answer in a new analysis of the actual military operations in manner the old question of why the British America, it would have helped if the abun­ failed to end the American Revolution in dant British material used in the study had the first years of campaigning in America. been bolstered with more evaluations from

173 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1972-1973 the American side of the strategic and tactical Taft's "character." He explores and speculates positions that faced the Howes, but the ma­ about the childhood, personal life, and inner­ terial drawn from British sources is compre­ most drives and emotions of his subject. That hensive and illuminating. This is a valuable is not to say, however, that this biography is book, and it should interest all historians of a bold foray into "psychohistory." Wisely, the American Revolution. it is not. Either despite or because of fa­ miliarity with recent work on personality de­ REGINALD HORSMAN velopment, especially the writings of Erik University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee Erikson, Patterson approaches Taft's psyche with caution, tentativeness, restraint, and re­ spect. As a result, this book resembles more than anything else the traditional excellence of works like those of Benjamin P. Thomas Mr. Republican: A Biography of Robert A. or Dumas Malone—which is, to my mind, the Taft. By JAMES T. PATTERSON. (Houghton highest compliment that can be paid to a Mifflin, Boston, 1972. Pp. xvi, 749. Illustra­ biography. tions, notes, bibliography, index. $12.50.) Taft emerges from Patterson's portrayal as an individualized figure, treated sympa­ When the late Clinton Rossiter published thetically but critically, probed and inter­ his study of American conservatism in 1955, preted but never reduced to being "explained." he employed a provocative subtitle—"the One example of the sensitivity of this por­ thankless persuasion." Perhaps nothing in trait concerns the influence of Taft's father, recent history has better illustrated the ap­ William Howard Taft, on the development propriateness of Rossiter's phrase than the of his son's personality and political views. career of Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio. Patterson does not minimize the impact of Although Taft was unquestionably the ablest growing up as the oldest child of a man who and easily the most appealing conservative was, successively, Governor General of the political leader yet produced in the twentieth- Philippines, Cabinet member. President, and century United States, the larger enterprises Chief Justice. Rather, he repeatedly draws of his public life invariably ended in frus­ inferences about the influence of the elder tration, disappointment, and defeat. The Taft Taft and his example. He points out that story is no success story: it is an account of the Senator's views in the 1940's and '50's on failure borne, for the most part, with an ex­ the sanctity of law in domestic affairs and traordinary grace and dignity that in the end the need to extend the rule of law in interna­ approached the heights of tragic heroism. tional affairs often recreated those of the The happiest thing one can say about such President, ex-President, and Chief Justice lives is that they offer the finest field for thirty years before. Likewise, Robert Taft's biographers' talents, and in the case of Rob­ unshakable fealty to the Republican party ert Taft the subject has found a biographer and partisan regularity must have owed much able to give him the rich, deftly insightful to William Howard Taft's scarring intraparty treatment he deserves. combat with Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. But Patterson also hastens to show where Although James T. Patterson disclaims all similarities end and parallels break down. intentions of having written a "definitive" Unlike his father, Taft never had any interest biography, by almost any conceivable stan­ in becoming a judge or entering the higher dard he has done just that. Little pertinent realms of constitutional interpretation. In information can have escaped his exhaustive fact, observes Patterson, Taft seldom engaged research. Besides examining the mammoth in abstract thinking or philosophical specu­ collections of papers left by Taft and his fam­ lation. His bent of mind ran toward the tac­ ily, personal friends, legal associates, and tical and practical sides of political, social, political colleagues, Patterson has also in­ and economic questions. Nor did the shy, terviewed and corresponded with nearly all intense, apparently cold younger Taft bear the living people who could add to the docu­ much resemblance to his bluff, genial, out­ mentary record. In turn, further research and wardly easygoing sire. Of all his seniors, acquaintance with historical literature have Robert Taft seems to have come closest in served to place Taft's views and activities mind, personality, and reputation to Herbert in the context of their times. Yet Patterson Hoover, under whom he served during World never forgets his overriding purpose of exe­ War I. Hoover, Patterson notes, provided cuting a portrait of what he calls Robert

174 BOOK REVIEWS

Taft with the other great model and influ­ with McCarthy, which temporarily under­ ence, besides his father, in his political career. mined the finest traits of his character. The stance taken toward the Senator's politi­ Possibly the most interesting question raised cal views and activities in this biography is in this biography is why Taft's career ended most often one of respectful disagreement. so largely in failure. Patterson addresses the Patterson fully appreciates the keen intelli­ problem most directly in assessing the final gence that underlay Taft's critiques of the and nearest grasp at the Republican presi­ welfare state and extensive military and po­ dential nomination in 1952. More than spe­ litical commitments abroad. He also cele­ cific blunders or missed opportunities, the brates Taft in his role of responsible, flexi­ Senator's defeat sprang, he concludes, from having "fallen out of step with his times." ble conservatism when he championed public Not only too set and distinctive in personality housing and federal aid to education, to the to adapt much to new requirements of the chagrin and frequently snarling disagreement mass media, Taft also could not help emulat­ of his right-wing cohorts. Those experiences ing his father and Hoover in clinging "stead­ alone should hopefully lay to rest the re­ fastly to a set of assumptions about the world." nowned crack that Taft had "the best eigh­ These assumptions ill suited the Republicans' teenth century mind in Washington—until he political needs as a minority party competing made it up." At the same time, Patterson with Democratic New Deal-Fair Deal policies can become appropriately harsh in criticiz­ at home and internationalism abroad. "When ing the lapses and shortcomings to which the delegates whispered, 'Taft Can't Win,' Taft fell prey. For example, he resists a cur­ they were talking not only about a man who rently fashionable temptation to resurrect the lacked charisma but about a figure who Senator as a spokesman for feasible, desirable seemed uncomfortable with the world of alternatives to Cold War policies. Despite 1952." In the final analysis, then, Taft's fail­ Taft's generally refreshing skepticism and lack ures sprang from the same source as his great­ of sentimentality, Patterson finds him neither ness, and in that sense he was a true tragic diligent nor profound as a student of foreign hero. Perhaps the greatest reward of reading policy. Similarly, Taft's willingness to smile this superb biography comes from the op­ upon the antics of his colleague Joseph R. portunity to observe and understand how McCarthy receives proper condemnation. Pat­ Robert A. Taft played that role for which he terson does add, by way of information rather was ordained. than defense, that family misfortunes and in­ tense political pressures in 1950 and 1951 JOHN MILTON COOPER, JR. probably entered into the Ohioan's consorting University of Wisconsin—Madison

BOOK REVIEWS

Atkins and Wilson, The United States and the Tru­ Mails, The Mystic Warriors of the Plains, reviewed jillo Regime, reviewed by Kenneth J. Grieb .... 169 by Nancy Oestreich Lurie 171 Dean and Smith, Wisconsin: A State for All Seasons, Merk, Economic History of Wisconsin During the reviewed by Don Anderson 164 Civil War Decade, reviewed by Robert C. Ealy, Yanqui Politics and the Isthmian Canal, re­ Nesbit 168 viewed by Kenneth J. Grieb 169 Patterson, Mr. Republican: A Biography of Robert Formisano, The Birth of Mass Political Parties, re­ A. Taft, reviewed by John Milton Cooper 174 viewed by Richard J. Jensen 165 Pohl, The Viking Settlements of North America, re­ Gruber, The Howe Brothers and the American Re­ viewed by Einar Haugen 162 volution, reviewed by Reginald Horsman 173 Schmidt, The United States Occupation of Haiti: Kirby, Darkness at the Dawning: Race and Reform 1915-1934, reviewed by Kenneth J. Grieb 169 in the Progressive South, reviewed by W. Manning Widick, Detroit: City of Race and Class Violence, Marable 172 reviewed by Melvin G. Holli 166 Loewenberg, American History in American Thought: Williams, Senator John James Ingalls: Kansas' Iri­ Christopher Columbus to Henry Adams, reviewed descent Republican, reviewed by Peter H. Ar­ by Howard A. Barnes 170 gersinger 167

175 Contributors DAVID M. OSHINSKY was born in 1944 in New York City. He MICHAEL O'BRIEN, a native of attended Forest Hills High Green Bay, attended the Uni­ School, Cornell University, versity of Notre Dame where and received his doctorate he received his B.A. in 1965. from Brandeis University in He pursued his graduate stu­ 1970. He is currently an assistant professor dies in history at the Univer­ of history at Douglass College, Rutgers Uni­ sity of Wisconsin-Madison and was awarded versity, and is working on a study of the his M.A. in 1967 and his Ph.D. in 1971. His Jewish community's response to the Rosen­ doctoral dissertation, completed under the di­ berg spy trial as well as a short political biog­ rection of E. David Cronon, was entitled, raphy of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy. His "Senator Joseph McCarthy and Wisconsin: articles and reviews have appeared in Labor 1946-1957." He is now assistant professor of History, Commentary, Change, and The New history at the University of Wisconsin Center- Leader. Fox Valley (Menasha). Mr. O'Brien has pub­ THOMAS G. PATERSON was lished articles in Historical Musings and Jour­ born in Oregon City, Oregon, nalism Quarterly, and will be one of the con­ in 1941, and was reared in tributors to the forthcoming Anti-Communist that state and New Hamp­ Politics and the Origins of McCarthyism be­ shire, where he received his ing edited by two former contributors to the bachelor's degree from the Magazine, Athan Theoharis and Robert Grif­ University of New Hampshire in 1963. His fith. graduate degrees are both from the Univer­ sity of California at Berkeley, the M.A. in STUART M. RICH, born and 1964 and the Ph.D. in 1968. While at Berke­ reared in New York City, re­ ley he was a Bolton Fellow and a Brown ceived his B.S. from Ohio Fellow. His first teaching position was at the State in 1952, his M.B.A. University of Connecticut, where he is now an from the same institution two associate professor of history. His interest years later, and his Ph.D. in lies in twentieth-century American diplomatic Business Administration from Indiana Uni­ history, with emphasis on Soviet-American versity in 1960. Besides spending five years relations and the Cold War period. The Harry in industry in marketing research, he has S. Truman Institute has awarded him grants taught at the University of Louisville, In­ to pursue research and to complete his forth­ diana University, the University of North coming monograph, Soviet-American Con­ Dakota, and since 1959 at the University of frontation: United States Economic Diplo­ Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he is professor macy and the Origins of the Cold War. He of economics. His fields of specialization in­ has also edited a collection of original essays. clude transportation, government regulation, Cold War Critics (1971), and The Origins and industrial history. He has published arti­ of the Cold War (1970), and has contributed cles and monographs on such diverse subjects essays to Business History Review, Journal of as electric home heating studies, the economic American History, The Nation, the American base of Walworth County, the use of audio­ Historical Review, The Historian, and the visual materials in the teaching of geography, Pacific Historical Review, among others. He and an Ohio electrical interurban history. Mr. is now writing a book on the Truman Doc­ Rich has also written an unpublished history trine from Greece to Vietnam, and this year of the original Wisconsin Central Railroad Addison-Wesley will publish his Containment and its successors, and has completed research and the Cold War, which stresses the role of on railroad shops in the Fond du Lac area. Georee F. Kennan.

176 THE WAY IT WAS...

This was Wisconsin on the eve of statehood in 1848: a cluster of buildings at Prairie du Chien, a bustling lakeport at Milwaukee, a tin-domed capitol at Madison, and something over 300,000 proud, self-conscious inhabitants. Ahead lay entry into the federal Union, a great sectional conflict, the rise of industry and dairying, the cycles of boom and bust, the aspirations and accomplishments of an infinitely varied people. Behind lay two centuries of exploration, warfare, and settlement by French, British, and American trappers, fur traders, missionaries, soldiers, craftsmen, farmers. After ten years of planning, research, and writing, the State His'.orical Society of Wisconsin is proud to announce the first of six volumes in the definitive History of Wisconsin. Alice E. Smith's Volume I: From Exploration to Statehood caps the distinguished forty-year career of the foremost scholar of Wisconsin's territorial history. The book contains 784 pages, including 16 pages of illustrations and 22 maps. Available June 14 for $15.00 (10% discount to members of the Society). THE HISTORY OF WISCONSIN Volume I: From Exploration to Statehood • By Alice E. Smith ca£:r=n»

To promote a wider appreciation of the American heritage The Purpose with particular emphasis on the collection, advancement, of this and dissemination of knowledge of the history of Wisconsin Society shall be and of the Middle West.

State Historical Society of Wisconsin 816 State Street Madison, Wisconsin 53706 Second-class postage paid at Madison, Wisconsin, and at Return Requested additional mailing offices.