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Traces The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History

Vol. 8 2020  3 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History 2

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Published in the United States of America by the UNC-Chapel Hill History Department

Hamilton Hall, CB #3195 Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3195 “Unfortunately there is no Past, available for distil- (919) 962-2115 lation, capture, manipulation, observation and [email protected] description. There have been, and there are, events [email protected] in complex and innumerable combinations, and no magic formula will ever give us mastery over http://www.traces.unc.edu them…. There are, instead, some rather humdrum operations to be performed. We suspect or surmise

Copyright 2020 by UNC-Chapel Hill that an event, a set of events has taken place: where can we find the traces they must have left behind them? Or we have come across some traces: what All rights reserved. Except in those cases that are they worth, as traces, and to what events do comply with the fair use guidelines of US copy- right law (U.S.C. Title 17), no part of this publica- they point? Later on we shall find out which events tion may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, we can, from our own knowledge of their traces, or transmitted in any form by any means, elec- tronic, mechanical, or otherwise, without the prior safely believe to have taken place. It remains a written permission from the publisher. fact, nevertheless, that the whole historical world Printed in the United States of America by Univer- uses the word ‘sources,’ and will continue to do sity of North Carolina Press. so. By refusing to follow its example we shall at Traces is produced by undergraduate and graduate any rate draw attention to the fact that history is students at UNC-Chapel HIll in order to showcase students’ historical research. It was created in 2011 not a deductive science, but an activity and a craft.” by UNC-Chapel Hill students G. Lawson Kueh- nert and Mark W. Hornburg, with support from the UNC-Chapel Hill Parents Council. Traces: The –G.J. Renier, History: Its Purpose and Method UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History is affiliated with the Delta Pi chapter (UNC-Chapel Hill) of Phi Alpha Theta, the National History Honor Society.  5 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History 4

Sponsors Donors

Delta Pi Chapter (UNC-CH), Phi Alpha Theta, Each year, the publication of Traces is supported in part by private donations. The generosity of our National History Honor Society alumni and friends gives undergraduate and grad- Department of History, UNC-Chapel Hill uate students the opportunity to edit and publish original research for an award-winning journal. If UNC-Chapel Hill Parents Council you would like to support the ongoing publication UNC-Chapel Hill Student Government of Traces, please consider making a gift at http:// give.unc.edu. Please be sure to search for “Traces Journal” (account no. 100365) to designate your fit. If you would prefer to mail your donation, please send all checks made payable to the “Arts and Sciences Foundation” to the address below:

Attention: Jennifer Parker Administrative Manager The UNC Department of History Hamilton Hall, CB# 3195 Chapel Hill, NC 27514  7 Traces: The UNc-chapel hill JoUrNal of hisTory 6

Ackowledgments Staff Editors-in-chief: The editorial staff is indebted to the students, Daniel Velásquez faculty, staff, and friends who have supported Traces Kimathi Muiruri since its creation in 2011. We especially would like to Victoria Johnson

thank Dr. William Sturkey for serving as the journal’s Chief Faculty Advisor: Chief Faculty Advisor and Sarah Miles and Emma Dr. William Sturkey Rotherberg, the journal’s previous editors-in-chief, for their support in transitioning to the 2020 team. We are also grateful to the UNC-Chapel Hill Parents council, the UNC-Chapel Hill Department of History, and the UNC-Chapel Hill Student Congress for the funding that has supported the journal’s publication. Finally, we would like to thank Joshua O'Brien for his instrumental help in finishing the design of this issue and preparing it for publicaiton.

Cover photograph: UNC's Old Well by Victoria Johnson 8 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History 9 Table of Contents 10 A Note From the Editors

13 Contributors

15 Impartiality in French Revolutionary Newspapers

Marine Elia 39 “We Must Strike While the Iron is Hot”: Henry Stim- son and the Preparedness Movement, 1914-1917

Amir Rezvani

64 Special Section: Echoes From the Russian Revolution Introduction: The Russian Revolution Goes Global

Donald Raleigh 70 Reds, Whites, and Blacks: Revolutionary Russia in the Black Press, 1910-1922

Cara Price 101 The Black Hammer of Soviet Industry: A Compari- son of Robert Robinson to Two African Americans Work- ing in the Soviet Union, 1930-1939

Evan Amico 124 “The Red Flag Shall Not Menace America”: North Carolina Politicians Lee Overman and Josephus Daniels in the Red Scare, 1919-1921

Holt McKeithan 10 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History 11

populations wildly different in space, time, and ideology have resolved to make good of the moment and reshape what is possi- ble for the future. This work is not, and has never been, done in a silo. The writing of history and telling of stories matters at moments like these. We at Traces affirm our support for the critical action transpiring across the nation. We are humbled at the opportunity to showcase scholarly work on pivotal moments in history while living in one. It is a fortunate coincidence that, A Note From the Editors amid the reality of upheaval in America today, this issue is centered around issues of political upheaval from the past. The first essay, by Marine Elia (UNC ‘20), offers a fresh look at the politics of news media during the French Revolution. The second essay, by Amir Rezvani (Yale ‘20), offers a similarly fresh take on the phenomenon of the “Preparedness Movement” in America - a 20th century predecessor to modern militarism. The special On behalf of all of the editors here at Traces, welcome section at the end of this issue, Echoes from the Russian Revolu- to our eighth volume. In keeping with the times, the produc- tion, is a look back on the Russian Revolution with one hundred tion of this issue has been both affected by and become years of hindsight. First in the section is an incising introduction a commentary on the turbulent nature of our historical from Professor Donald Raleigh, who teaches the undergraduate moment. When COVID-19 forced UNC to close its campus history writing seminar with a focus on the Russian Revolu- this March, it was not yet clear what kind of change would tion here in the UNC department. He offers valuable insight on follow. Still, what has transpired in the months since has proved the legacy of this event in the global imagination. Following beyond what we thought possible in a pre-COVID world. are three articles from UNC undergraduates who studied under Throughout the heat of the summer, all fifty states in the Professor Raleigh. The articles are diverse in their content but Union - and many nations around the world in chorus - have been common in their insightfulness. All, in some way, comment gripped by the spirit of moral reckoning. Sparked by continuous, on political repression, media representation, and racial poli- gruesome cases of police violence against Black Americans, and tics of the Russian Revolution from an American perspective. spurred on by the energy and organization of front line activists The editors would be remiss if we did not acknowledge the everywhere, a diffuse movement has spawned a palpable chal- hard work and dedication of our staff and writers. Our graduate lenge to power. Acts of revolution are often steeped in crises. and undergraduate collaborators put tremendous work into this In 1789 France there were famines, in 1917 Russia there was edition, and we owe them all a debt of gratitude. Moreover, the exhaustion from global war, and this year there is a once-in-a- editors would like to thank all the staff in UNC-Chapel Hill’s lifetime global health crisis. On the back of these conditions, History Department, the previous editors and founders of Traces, 12 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History 13 and our faculty sponsor, Dr. William Sturkey, who has supported ontributors this journal since its inception. The quality of the work in Volume C 8 of Traces is a testament to the high quality of research conducted Amir Rezvani graduated from Yale University in 2020. He by our students and the outstanding mentorship of our faculty. majored in history with a focus on twentieth century Ameri- can political and legal history and plans to attend law school — Victoria Johnson, Kimathi Muiruri, in the near future. His article is adapted from his senior thesis. and Daniel Velásquez Editors in Chief Cara Price graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2020 with degrees in computer science and history with a specialization in Russia and Eastern Europe. This fall, she will join the D. E. Shaw Group as a software developer.

Evan Amico graduated from the University of North Caro- lina at Chapel Hill with distinction in 2020, receiving both a Bachelors of Arts in History and Bachelors of Science in Business Administration. During his time at UNC he focused on African, Asian, and Middle Eastern history while conduct- ing research on the Soviet Union.

Holt McKeithan graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in the spring of 2020 with degrees in history and political science. He deferred admission to Harvard Law School and will begin work as a paralegal in Charlotte.

Marine Elia is a senior undergraduate student at UNC-Chap- el Hill double majoring in French and Journalism with a minor in History. 14 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Impartiality in French Revolutionary Newspapers

Marine Elia

Amid the cacophony of rumors and conspiracy theories produced by the excitement and uncertainty in the early months of the French Revolution, most newspapers strove to provide the public with accurate information on politics and events. By establishing a link between the people and their newly formed representative government, the periodical press served as a vigi- lant watchdog to hold representatives accountable.1 Journalists and editors during the French Revolution continued the task of Enlightenment philosophes, who sought to illuminate despotic practices in Old Regime politics and promote openness in govern- ment.2 Although poverty and lack of education prevented a large stratum of France’s population3 from reading the news, papers reached all classes of French society. Circulated in posh Parisian reading rooms, political clubs, and the bustling town streets, newspapers were “almost [the] obligatory diet of conversation.”4 Prior to this explosion of papers, the complex web of royal regulation and censorship monitored the production of literature with its watchful eye. Under France’s absolutist regime, the king’s divine right bestowed upon him the authority to discern what information was appropriate for his people.5 By granting select publishers licenses to publish certain texts, or privilèges, the state controlled France’s literary culture.6 The collapse of the monarchy, however, initiated an end to governmental 16 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Marine Elia 17

restrictions and regulations, spreading revolutionary fervor and the Favras affair resulted in the only execution of an individ- allowing individuals to launch their own publications.7 The ual found guilty of counterrevolutionary conspiracy during the toppling of the Bastille, the symbol of the monarchy, made it first three years of the Revolution. These events are shrouded clear to Versailles that power rested in the hands of the people. in editors’ attempts to preserve the illusion of impartiality. Journalists leveraged their newfound liberty to express Journalism and Audiences During the Early French diverse views following the collapse of the Bastille. The number Revolution of new periodicals launched in Paris, the nexus of the revolu- tionary press, reached 140 new titles as journalists responded Generally, the French people chose between a variety of to the revolt.8 The location of printing presses in the heart of papers with differing perspectives on revolutionary politics Paris allowed for efficient newsgathering and quick publication. until the radicalization of the revolution in 1792.10 As the public Housed in the former location of the authorized printers’ former developed into an active citizenry who could vote for legislators base on the Left Bank, the locus of the newspaper industry was in the National Assembly, they also gained the power to elect “a hotbed of political activism,” where radical, moderate, and another set of representatives. By subscribing to certain news- royalist papers all published in the same neighborhood. 9 Daily papers over others, they placed their faith in the editors of their or weekly publication echoed the atmosphere of immediacy chosen papers to summarize, analyze, and predict the events of that the Revolution invoked. Enjoying this freedom to publish the Revolution. Although newspapers reported on revolutionary without fear, newspaper editors promoted their own viewpoints events, or journées, editors did not hesitate to promulgate their and defined impartiality according to their own truths, which ulti- own opinions of the revolution, as did those who opposed it. mately contributed to the polarization of revolutionary society. Most eighteenth-century journalists used the press to broad- In order to analyze impartiality and its role in revolution- cast their views and campaign for policies they believed would ary journalism during the first few months of the Revolution, best serve the nation. Enlightenment thinkers viewed demo- this article will interpret the reporting of two major events: cratic society as an institution in which a group of privileged First the October Days as covered by Jean-Paul Marat’s left- elites would supply the common people with the necessary ist Ami du Peuple, Jean Pierre Brissot’s moderate-left Patriote information to make informed political decisions. Establish- Français, and the royalist Journal de Paris edited by Jean-Mi- ing their role as an indispensable part of French revolutionary chel Xhrouet; and second, the arrest and trial of the Marquis society, newspapers rose to the occasion and formed the fourth de Favras as covered by Marat and Brissot’s papers, as well as estate. To inform audiences of political changes under the new the right-wing Mercure de France. Studying these two events government, papers covered National Assembly debates. Jour- is particularly revealing as the October Days changed the nalists mainly summarized the discussions made on the floor course of the Revolution by bringing the king to Paris, while of the Assembly, condensing hours of debate into a few pages. This process required extensive editing, and often ended in 7 Popkin, 32. 8 Ibid., 33. 9 Ibid., 65. 10 Ibid., 38. 18 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Marine Elia 19

biased accounts based on what the journalists believed to be attacks against legislators and their the most important points.11 Given that most papers employed ideas, as well as against other newspa- small teams of writers, and that often the sole employee was pers with opposing views. In doing so, the editor who became the face of his paper, these newspa- journalists questioned the honesty of pers reflected the views of those who assembled 12 them. other publications—what one journal A large section of the French population gained access to poli- stated as the truth was another publi- tics because of the accessible price of newspapers, thus extending cation’s mendacious report. Despite participation in political culture to middle class workers, farm- efforts in the eighteenth-century legal ers in rural areas, and le menu peuple, the poorest members of and scientific communities to promote French society. Though illiteracy, poverty, and location often impartiality, this concept had not yet impeded access to the press, neither of these factors prevented permeated the field of journalism and it. By 1789, over half of adult men could read, though literacy would not until the mid-nineteenth rates for women lagged behind.13 Those who could not afford century. As such, disinterested judg- individual subscriptions could pay a fee to enter cabinets de Opening page of Jean-Paul ment in the pamphlets and papers of the lecture, or reading rooms.14 Others circumvented newspaper Marat’s L’Ami du Peuple revolution was not a common practice. (Friend of the People) no. 15 prices by sharing subscription costs among friends or gathering 86, 28 December 1792 . Im- Journalistic texts, for the most part, in the home of an educated employer to hear the news being age courtesy of Wikicom- correctly reported the dates and times read out loud.16 Those in penury would remove the papers from mons. events occurred as well as the actors their displays on posts in public, as even a journal costing a involved. To prove their dedication to readers, editors described few sous was an extravagance for the impoverished. Besides events from the viewpoint of an omniscient narrator. On the seeking up-to-date accounts of recent events, most readers surface, such reporting appeared to be impartial. However, the sought out titles that reflected and affirmed their points of view. work of compiling numerous eyewitness accounts revealed ideo- Most readers used newspapers as a signal of their ideological logical biases. Although the press tried to explain the course of stance. For example, associating oneself with Jean-Paul Marat’s events, each newspaper highlighted or concealed the signifi- extreme left-wing Ami du Peuple and avoiding the royalist cance of these events according to their own political orienta- Ami du Roi conveyed a reader’s staunch revolutionary stance. tions. Newspapers were an arena for public debate,17 however, Competing for subscribers, editors unleashed vituperative there was little room for debate when the majority of titles only espoused one viewpoint. As stated by Sophia Rosenfeld, “‘truth’ 11 Ibid., 107. has become personal, a matter of subjective feeling and taste 12 Ibid., 61. 18 13 Ibid., 24. and not much different from an opinion.” According to tribal 14 Ibid. epistemology, individuals struggle to believe that someone 15 Ibid., 81. 16 Dominique Godineau, The Women of Paris and Their French Revo- 17 Ibid., 180. lution (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), 216. 18 Rosenfeld, 9. 20 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Marine Elia 21 who shares their perspective would act unethically, even when decrees and the Declaration of the Rights of Man.21 Compounded shown proof. The media reinforces this phenomenon when the by reports of a drunken military banquet hosted at Versailles public selects sources that coincide with their own views and on October 2, 1789, which resulted in the desecration of the ignore the ones that do not, which explains why members of tri-color cockade, the people were disgusted. Exasperated by cabinets de lectures would reach for certain titles over others.19 their king’s neglect and empowered to challenge the display At the beginning of the revolution, journalists believed that of royalist defiance, over six thousand armed women marched the proliferation of political opinions would propel the nation to Versailles to make their demands on the morning of October towards a unified perspective, yet the reality was far from predic- 6.22 Determined to seek an audience with the king, the women tions. Rife with conflict and tensions, each political faction forced their way through the palace gates, resulting in the regarded its opponents as malevolent enemies who sought to murder of two guards. Eventually, Louis XVI allayed tensions cause harm to the nation. Contrary to what editor and deputy by accepting the decrees and the Declaration of the Rights of Jacques Pierre Brissot anticipated, the divisive atmosphere of the Man. The march on Versailles ended in the displacement of the revolution prevented the public from tolerating other opinions.20 royal family to Paris, placing royal authority in the hands of In spite of the journalistic community’s neglect of impartial- the people. The common Parisians’ tenacity to force demands ity as a formally recognized professional value, editors made a from their monarch altered the course of the revolution and conscious effort to promote their impartiality. Whether through “drove a stake through the heart of the Bourbon legacy.”23 This their paper’s mottos, campaigning against rival newspapers with event provoked discussion and debate in the ensuing days. patriotic verve, or incessantly reassuring their readership of their Relaunching his Patriote Français on July 28, 1789, after a commitment to unbiased accounts, journalists embraced their forced hiatus due to government censure, Jacques-Pierre Bris- role as credible transmitters of information. The contradictions sot’s mission was to educate the public and spread patriotic between the efforts made and the explicit statements denounc- lumières.24 In the July 28, 1789 edition, Brissot states his inten- ing opposing perspectives suggest journalists were aware their tions: “By educating the public of the operations of the National reputations rested on the perception that they were impartial. Assembly, the goal is to spread the knowledge that prepares a nation to receive a Constitution everywhere.” This didactic The October Days approach proved successful as Patriote Français became one of In the fall of 1789, rising bread prices and a grain shortage sparked anger in Paris among a neglected section of French society — women. When peasants across the French country- 21 Jeremy Popkin, A Short History of the French Revolution, (London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2016), 39. side rebelled against the local nobles by burning and pillaging 22 Godineau, 98. castles during the Great Fear, the reticent Louis XVI hesitated 23 Julia Douthwaite, The Frankenstein of 1790 and Other Lost Chap- to support the revolution and refused to agree to the August 4 ters from Revolutionary France (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012), 19. 19 Ibid. 24 Claude Bellanger, Histoire Generale De La Presse Française (Paris: 20 Popkin, 181. Presses universitaires de France, 1969), 444. 22 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Marine Elia 23

the most successful pre-revolutionary papers.25 Covering mainly formulaic organization. Although this was intended to keep audi- the National Assembly and news from Paris, Brissot occasionally ences updated about new legislation, this structure also helped referred to the enlightened monsieurs across the Atlantic in Phil- create the journalistic illusion of impartiality. By not advertising adelphia overseeing their democratic government. The Patriote the dramatic happenings of the journées, newspapers temporar- Français pushed its patriotic principles and urged “les bons citoy- ily avoided discussion of events they perceived as important. ens” to fight for revolutionary values. The paper also included Brissot’s coverage of the October Days begins on October reviews and announcements of books that promoted patriotic 6, where he addresses the riot by recounting how the crowd vérités in accordance with Brissot’s views on the revolution. of women stole weapons from the Hôtel-de-Ville. Brissot As leader of the Société des Amis des Noirs, a Parisian commends the Marquis de Lafayette’s efforts to control the abolitionist group, Brissot did not hesitate to push his Soci- situation, stating, “Our commander in chief, who possesses ety’s agenda in the pages of the Patriote often in supplements equal amounts of prudence and courage… We have no doubt to issues. On the front page of every edition of the Patriote that M. de la Fayette will succeed.”26 Before even receiving is its full title “The Patriote Français, Free, Impartial, and news of the killings of the palace guards, Brissot continues with National Journal.” Many papers also included a motto in either a paragraph explaining that the journal’s patriotisme requires French or Latin under the title to further explain the aims of him to exhort readers against making rash decisions: “They the paper. The Patriote used “A free gazette and sentinel that is must avoid acting with haste… Paris is the eye of France; constantly vigilant of the people,” reaffirming Brissot’s voice as there isn’t one citizen who doesn’t monitor the schemes a representative and guardian of the people’s will. The Patriote of our enemies; who would be ready to die for France, but included an address on the bottom of the last page in every paper, as we are rulers of our battlefield, we will not be destroyed inviting readers to submit letters to “the authors of the Patriote by an impulsive decision that could result in bloodshed.”27 Français,” however, contributors often defied this instruction The next day, the front page displayed the king’s October 5 and addressed them directly to Brissot. In the September 14 issue, letter to the Assembly along with the deputy’s unhappy responses the text changed, asking readers to address letters to “M. Bris- to the king’s unwillingness to unequivocally accept the decrees. sot de Warville.” The alteration of the text could suggest Bris- It also stated the details of what transpired at Versailles would be sot’s rising popularity and how readers increasingly associate printed in tomorrow’s paper. The October 8 issue fully explained him with the paper. Yet even after, letters in the paper continue the details of the march. Detailing the reasons behind the grain to be addressed “To the authors of the Patriote Français.” shortage, Brissot demonstrates his sympathy for the people of The Patriote Français, as a characteristic revolutionary journal, Paris, calling them “the pitiful puppets” of the secret maneu- eschewed placing newsworthy stories on the front pages; instead, vers of “the bread hoarders.”28 When describing how the crowd the paper reserved the space for summaries of National Assembly forced entry into the Hôtel-de-Ville, Brissot gives the epithet debates. Not even the most shocking events could not break the 26 Brissot, Patriote Français, (Paris), Oct. 6, 1789. 27 Brissot, Oct 8, 1789. 25 Popkin, Revolutionary News, 113. 28 Ibid. 24 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Marine Elia 25

of “bandits” to the raucous members of the crowd whose idea against violence and “impul- it was to steal money and set fire to the building. The narra- sions that could cause blood- tive of the overzealous crowd is consistent, describing how the shed,”34 claimed to speak for group of women had “violated the sanity” of the Assembly with le peuple, but maintained his “indecent clamors.”29 By referring to the crowds as “the army of suspicions toward the lower women,” Brissot invokes the trope of the militant woman. Histo- classes, suggesting that his rian Julia Douthwaite explains this caricature, “As the homely definition of “the people” fish merchant was increasingly conflated with an armed and was an undemocratic one. dangerous Amazon, she appeared to be out of place, out of line.”30 On October 10, the paper At the conclusion of the paragraph, he opines, “This is not mentions the Assembly’s trou- how a free people should demand reforms to correct injustices.”31 ble in finding a new location He also condemns the violence and the killing of the guards: “[T] in Paris. Here Brissot coun- he awful spectacle seems to foreshadow even bloodier scenes.”32 sels the deputies, advising that In the final lines of the article, he writes: “If this riot, as we armed citizens should guard presume, was plotted by the enemies of the public good, it must Opening page of Journal de Paris no. the building in the event that be said that they served the people well, for the capital obtained 226, 14 August 1779. Image courtesy a disorderly crowd of “men what they most desired, the presence of their king and the of Wikicommons. that are not decently clothed” Assembly.”33 The Patriote Français demonstrates its nuanced attempted to enter.35 Choosing to ignore the success of the pro-revolutionary position by branding the women as “enemies” women during the October Days, he continues in a chauvinis- and crediting them with the feat of forcing the royal family to tic paragraph on the ineptitude of women in political matters: move to Paris along with the National Assembly. In the same sentence, Brissot denounces how the women achieved their goal, Among a serious people, women withdraw them- selves to domestic affairs and do not interfere applauds their mission in bringing the government to the capital. with public ones. Among a frivolous people, their As Brissot sympathizes with the women but does not justify involvement is driven only by their amusement their actions, his position is closer to that of the Journal de and curiosity. Admitted to the National Assembly, Paris. Despite its leftist leanings within revolutionary politics they can usually (for there are exceptions) only contribute an atmosphere of frivolity and ostenta- and events, Brissot’s paper did not match the incendiary rhet- tion, cause distractions, and disturb discussions.36 oric of Marat’s Ami du Peuple. Brissot, constantly warning By undermining the achievements of the women who risked 29 Ibid. their lives to march on Versailles, Brissot’s coverage follows 30 Douthwaite, 19. 31 Brissot, Oct. 8, 1789. 34 Ibid. 32 Ibid. 35 Brissot, Oct. 10, 1789. 33 Ibid. 36 Ibid. 26 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Marine Elia 27

Douthwaite’s explanation that the event “reminded people of imprisonment did not prevent Marat from continuing his work. those controversial public figures who seemed to be usurping Even Marat’s vehement anti-royalist stance did not prevent male prerogative.”37 This also suggests that Brissot retained his him from employing Brissot’s methods to promote his purported own definition of the “active citizen”— a wealthy, land-owning impartiality. The paper’s Latin motto is “Vitam impendere vero,” man — and considered them to constitute the true people. News- or “to devote one’s life to truth.” By choosing a Latin phrase papers commonly labeled their political opponents as “enemies to grace the front page of each paper, Marat alienated the most of the public good,” however, Brissot had two separate defini- vulnerable and uneducated sections of the population for whom tions of the term. On October 13, the Patriote speaks about a he claimed to speak. Echoing the motto, in the first issue ofAmi cannon power shortage in several towns. Jumping to conclusions du Peuple Marat writes, “The wise are responsible to prepare about a conspiracy theory, Brissot surmises that it is “a means the victory of great truths that will allow justice and liberty to used by enemies of the public good to surprise and easily crush reign.”39 Beginning with the prospectus, Marat promoted his good citizens.”38 Although he does not explicitly state the royal- truths—his views—as the only credible truth. He goes on to ist involvement in the purported plot, the implication that the state, “Thus, the best present to gift the nation in this situa- lack of cannon powder rendered the common people vulnerable, tion, or rather the only writing it needs, would be a periodic suggests that he believes it to be a counterrevolutionary conspir- paper, where we will follow with solicitude the work of the acy. By using “enemies” to describe the opponents of the revo- Estates-General, where we will be attentive to impartiality in lution and the extreme left who use violence to accomplish their each article, where we will incessantly reiterate good princi- political goals, Brissot advocates for impartiality by pushing for ples.”40 By claiming that the public only needed the “impar- his moderate view of patriotism. As evidenced by the Patriote’s tial” Ami du Peuple to keep them informed, Marat dismissed coverage of the October Days, the paper’s unfavorable opinion all other opinions. Writing in third person to assure readers of of the lower classes exposes its elitist view of the revolution. his loyalty to the truth, he writes, “The quill of Monsieur Marat, Another popular pro-revolutionary newspaper was Jean-Paul having only been driven by a love of truth … and the desire Marat’s Ami du Peuple. A departure from Brissot’s tepid style, to circulate his views rapidly and to efficiently advocate for Marat’s fiery pages were filled with bellicose paragraphs urging the people’s cause.”41 The contradiction between pledging to the public to combat their oppressors. The daily publication of report the truth and explicitly stating that the views expressed are Ami du Peuple seven days a week speaks to Marat’s sense of those of the editor is characteristic of revolutionary newspapers. urgency as compared to the Patriote Français, which granted On October 5, Ami du Peuple published an anonymous Brissot a day of repose on Sundays. Physician turned political letter from a reader introducing the situation unfolding in Paris. essayist, Marat became one of the central figures of the revolu- Suspicious of royalist scheming and placing full faith in Marat tion. Consequently, the attention garnered from his radical paper to advise “all good citizens” on how to react to the scandal, the invited government scrutiny, but living under constant threat of 39 Jean-Paul Marat, Ami du Peuple, Sept. 8, 1789. 37 Douthwaite, 22. 40 Ibid. 38 Brissot, Oct. 13, 1789. 41 Ibid. 28 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Marine Elia 29

letter from the anonymous reader reflected both Marat’s writing hiding weapons, the paper expresses a mistrust and fear of the style and his views. Newspapers of this period were involved crowd. The paragraph also mentions deputy Count Mirabeau’s in the process of self-selecting letters from the public in order futile efforts to bring order and “dignity” back to the assembly. to maintain ideological consistency in the paper.42 Respond- In another article detailing the event, the journal states its ing to the letter by calling the event a crime of the state, he distaste to report on large events, saying, “It is difficult to sepa- urges “all good citizens” to take arms against “the enemy.”43 rate the truth in accounts of large, public events.”46 This statement Two days later, Marat describes the “clamor” and disorder in protects themselves against readers who may have disagreed the National Assembly caused by the crowd of women demand- with their reporting. The article recognizes the soldiers’ behav- ing reduced bread prices. He justifies the crowd’s actions in ior during the soirée at Versailles and blamed it on “[r]eckless another paragraph, saying it was provoked by the soldier’s remarks made possible by the drunkenness of the table.”47 The behavior during the feast. Marat also supports the palace editor tries to rationalize the behavior but does not maintain a guards’ murders: “[S]everal of these miserable accomplices of strict counterrevolutionary stance: “[T]hese circumstances were despotism were not able to escape the just fury of an indignant perhaps exaggerated; but the uncontested truths suffice to bring people.”44 Marat then rejoices in the king’s return to Paris as a about legitimate concerns as well as revive defiance and fears.”48 result of the march but does not credit the women for their efforts. The Journal de Paris demonstrates a disconnect with the The counterrevolutionary Journal de Paris filters the events people’s struggles through its scant coverage of flour scarcity and of the October Days through the king’s words and actions rather high bread prices. By dismissing the struggles of the common than those of the people. Starting on October 7, the paper published people, the article does not accurately report the troubles that the king’s October 4 response to the Assembly explaining why he sparked the march to the palace. In addition, they praised the would not fully accept the decrees. Editor Jean-Michel Xhrouet troops who tried to prevent any bloodshed and Lafayette for his could have reported the march but instead preferred to wait, telling efforts to keep both sides calm. The article ends by describing the readers, “[W]e would rather wait in order to preserve accuracy.” joy felt by the Parisians: “[C]alm and trust followed the troubles Without mentioning what drove the king to relocate to Paris, the and alarms, and his Majesty added to the general joy in announcing article ends by describing the royal family’s warm reception in he would stay in the capital.”49 In believing the king’s presence in Paris. The following day’s paper explains the women’s arrival the capital would serve as a panacea for the ills of the nation, the at the Assembly and the disturbance they caused: “This strange Journal de Paris had no qualms towards the public’s discontent. spectacle was made even more so by the dress of several of The Patriote Français’ reporting of the October Days has them, who, with rather elegant clothes, hid hunting knives and more in common with the Journal de Paris’ coverage, demon- swords under their skirts.”45 By mentioning how the women were strating Brissot’s hesitance to adopt an extremist left-wing

42 Popkin, Revolutionary News, 90. 46 Ibid. 43 Marat, Oct. 5, 1789. 47 Ibid. 44 Marat, Oct. 7, 1789. 48 Ibid. 45 Journal de Paris, Oct. 8, 1789. 49 Ibid. 30 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Marine Elia 31

position. By condemning the violence of the October Days and Brissot begins his coverage of the Marquis’ scandal on vilifying the women who took matters into their own hands, December 27, announcing the Comte’s speech to the Assem- Brissot distances himself from Marat, who justified the women’s bly in an effort to dispute the “atrocious” allegations against violence. Despite the celebratory paragraphs rejoicing in the him. The following day’s paper summarizes his speech and royal family’s return to Paris, neither journal fully acknowledged included Bailly’s favorable response. During the Assembly this as the result of the march. The women who risked their lives of Notables, the emergency meeting which called aristocrats to feed their families by demanding the king’s attention to their to vote to reform state finances, the Comte voted to alleviate hardships were not valorized by the papers to the same extent the onus of excessive taxation on the Third Estate, the poor- as those who participated in the taking of the Bastille. Each est section of French society. Bailly reminded the Comité of journal’s usage of “bon Citoyens” and “the truth” conveyed the Comte’s vote, using this as evidence of his “patriotism.” each editor’s personal version of the ideal citizen and the truth. Both Bailly and Lafayette promised the Comte that they would seek out the authors of the leaflet and punish them appro- The Favras Affair priately. The Patriote Français abounds with sympathy for In December 1789, the Marquis de Favras was arrested. the Comte by referring to those who wrote and distributed He would be the only counterrevolutionary conspirator to be the incriminating leaflet as “enemies of the public good.”51 executed during the first three years of the revolution. The The biased coverage of the event continues in the Decem- Marquis was an agent in an assassination plot devised by the ber 29 issue, where Brissot publishes the Comte’s entire king’s brother, the Comte de Provence, to remove the royal speech to the commune of Paris in which he refutes having family from Paris and to crown the Comte. The plot targeted “major connections” with Favras.52 Apart from a few short Parisian leaders Mayor Jean Sylvain Bailly, former minister of updates on the trial, the paper diverts attention to other matters. finance, Jacques Necker, and Marquis de Lafaand, who accused On January 14, Brissot explains his silence on the affair: the Comte of enlisting Favras to carry it out. The following Several of my readers will be no doubt surprised day Favras and his wife were arrested. The commune of Paris to not find any article regarding the search created an ad hoc tribunal to determine the Marquis’ fate. The for the perpetrators of the conspiracy. My official investigative body, the Paris Comité des recherches, and delicate position explains the silence...Until the Châtelet court worked in tandem to protect the nobles at now I had not said anything, in fear of alter- ing the truth or changing public opinion on the top of the scheme. Brissot himself was a member of the the accused, which had happened more than Comité des recherches and was the most influential person who once, even to one of the papers that is the contributed to the institution.50 While editors tried to conceal most attentive to authenticity and accuracy.53 their biases, the trial of Favras proved it to be a futile effort.

50 Barry Shapiro, “Revolutionary Justice in 1789-1790: The Comité 51 Brissot, Patriote Français, Dec. 28, 1789. des Recherches, the Châtelet, and the Fayettist Coalition,” French Histori- 52 Brissot, Dec 29, 1789. cal Studies 17, no. 3 (Spring 1992), 666. 53 Brissot, Jan. 14, 1790. 32 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Marine Elia 33

Brissot’s favorable coverage of the Marquis exposes his neutral between two parties, but of reporting loyalty to the plot’s architects, despite claiming silence. Compared the reasons and the facts that belong to the two 56 to the automatic exoneration of the Comte, Brissot uses Favras as parties, this is another duty we will fulfill. a scapegoat, describing him as “cold-blooded.” Sprinkled in the This contradiction suggests Brissot was cognizant of the weeks of the trial are Brissot’s commentaries on the formation public’s wish for objective news. Brissot collaborated with of a new political faction, “The Impartials.” Ignoring his own other influential revolutionary figures to protect the Comte de participation in the Comité’s efforts to protect the reputation Provence in trial, evidenced by his gentle coverage of the Comte of the aristocrats who managed the plot, Brissot excoriates the in his newspaper. Using Favras as a scapegoat without denounc- moderates who encourage compromise: “Proposing an accord ing him as an “enemy of the public good,” as other leftists did, between the Democratic and Aristocratic Parties means wanting demonstrates Brissot’s reluctance to fully commit to vilifying to unite good and bad principles.”54 In the February 20 issue, a royalist conspirator. Though he supported his subscribers Brissot published a small paragraph stating Favras was sentenced against despotism and tyranny, Brissot was silent when it came to death and was executed the day before. Directly following time to denounce a true example of a counterrevolutionary plot. the paragraph, Brissot continues to insult the moderates’ goals: On December 29, using the same method he employed to [T]he moderates, the impartials …I fear them introduce the October Days, Marat published a letter from a more under this mask than if they held a dagger reader flabbergasted by the “awful conspiracy.” Marat responds in their hands …On one hand they trick the to his reader warning the public of “dark plots” unfolding in plain Republicans, seeming to subscribe to the ideas sight. 57 On December 30, Marat relayed the Comte’s first speech of the new constitution; on the other, they try to seduce the people, by insinuating that liberty to the commune of Paris. In the speech, the king’s brother main- was costly and turbulent, by reminding him of tains his innocence simply because he could never commit such a the so-called virtues and talents of his former crime. To that, Marat writes, “Well! Why not? The king’s brother despots...Patriotic writers should unmask this is just a simple citizen.”58 Skeptical of the Comte’s innocence, impartiality, this moderation that will weaken us.55 Marat dismisses the Comte’s words and begins to present uncon- By assuring his readers of his pre-revolutionary stance firmed evidence as fact, emphasizing the sustained relationship to continue the artifice of a true left-wing newspaper, Bris- between Favras and the Comte. Contrary to the Patriote Français, sot insults compromise. When informing readers about Marat uses various insults such as “this traitor of the state” to 59 several structural changes to the paper, Brissot explains the describe Favras. Thirsty for aristocratic blood, Marat exhorts paper’s title. Regarding the adjective “impartial,” he states: readers to mail him signed denunciations, lest they be considered

We belong to a party, that of the people, which we make our duty. Also we are not impartial in 56 Brissot, Feb. 22, 1790. 57 Jean-Paul Marat, Ami du Peuple, Dec. 29, 1789. that sense, it would be a crime. Patriotic impar- 58 Marat, Dec. 30, 1789. tiality consists of not balancing ideas and staying 59 Marat, Jan. 4, 1790. 34 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Marine Elia 35

a coward.60 As Marat agreed with the are all written with the most revolting partiality, propagating Marquis’ fate, he occupied himself both the truth and lies.”61 Lamenting the mass of newspapers by campaigning against new figures and their strong opinions, du Pan demonstrates his lack of faith and policies. Marat’s belief that in the press, urging his readers to trust only in the Mercure. Favras’s guilt was confirmed upon On January 2, the Mercure mentions the arrest of Favras. his arrest is far from the Patri- Perhaps in an attempt to brush over the fact that an aristocrat ote Français’ calculated reporting had been arrested for conspiracy or in a genuine effort to gather to garner support for the Comte evidence before publication, the Mercure broke the news a few while hinting at Favras’ culpability. days after both the Patriote Français and Ami du Peuple. After Opposing both the Patriote explaining the plan, du Pan swiftly comes to the Comte’s defense: Français and Ami du Peuple was “[T]he newspapers have placed infamy on Monsieur’s name, the literary journal, Mercure de pulling him into the conspiracy. The Prince did not waste one France. Often the target of Brissot’s moment in showing himself as loyal, noble and brilliant.”62 After attacks, the paper also commented taking a clear side, he continues: “We will scrupulously work on the revolution and reported on Opening page of the Mercu- to find the new developments of this judicial affair. If the plans re de France, October 1749 foreign politics. The editor, Mallet issue. Image courtesy of for a project this abominable and this absurd could have entered du Pan, may have restrained Wikicommons. into a man’s mind and found accomplices, it is hoped that the himself from sharing any overtly monarchist opinions, but his vengeance of the law will exert itself against those people with views helped to classify his journal as a staple of the counter- all its severity.”63 By refraining from never assuming Favras’ revolutionary press. The Mercure began as a literary journal guilt, the Mercure is careful not to upset its aristocratic read- in the seventeenth century with the coveted privilège of the ership. Assuring subscribers of his paper’s trustworthiness yet king. Even as the journal continued to publish in post-priv- again, du Pan writes, “Our readers have seen, from its origin, that ilège France, it continued to advertise the king’s approval on the slow and tedious work of the analysis in the Mercure, differs every front page, proudly declaring “With the king’s approval.” almost entirely from the plan, the method, the spirit, and often.”64 Following the Patriote Français, the Mercure included Criticizing other newspapers with opposing political orien- book reviews of works du Pan deigned worthy of discussion. tations allowed titles to distance themselves from each other. On December 26, Mallet writes that he will be publishing the By refraining from criticizing Favras and not offering much Mercure more frequently, stating, “It is thus that I offer means commentary on the trial, du Pan strategically criticizes Marat for of a more prompt enjoyment for the subscribers, gentlemen will his extremist rhetoric and supports the police for taking action no longer have to resort to the crowd of ephemeral publications that constantly copy each other, and which, for the most part, 61 Mallet du Pan, Mercure de France, Dec. 26, 1789. 62 Ibid. 63 Ibid. 60 Marat, Jan. 8, 1790. 64 du Pan, Jan. 30, 1790. 36 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Marine Elia 37

against “new excesses, new defamatory diatribes from the zeal The press during the French revolution offered an increas- of Monsieur Marat.”65 In distancing himself from Ami du Peuple, ingly educated population information on political devel- du Pan thus reinforces the credibility of his own paper. Going opments as well as descriptions of impactful events. The so far as to accuse Marat of inciting the October Days in these democratization of French society allowed the people to “awful scenes,” du Pan comments on the Favras trial by criti- develop a political consciousness after centuries of suppres- cizing Marat’s left-wing reporting. Compared to the other jour- sion under an absolutist regime. Editors thus seized the oppor- nals, the Mercure gives Favras a voice by printing his lawyer’s tunity to guide and influence, and the multiplicity of opinions statement which claimed his client was innocent and by publish- allowed the public to select titles that conformed to their views. ing Favras’ entire speech from the day of his execution. Only Although newspapers ’political orientations motivated read- after Favras said his final words did du Pan feel comfortable in ers to purchase them, editors incessantly assured their subscrib- describing him: “There has never been a more heroic death. M. ers of their fidelity to the truth. Newspaper titles, and mottos de Favras did not show any ostentation.”66 By giving Favras a with the words ‘truth’ or ‘impartial’ as well as campaigns against voice and commenting on his death, the Mercure’s coverage of competing titles established the papers’ ethos. By presenting the Favras affair is consistent with its editor’s ideological slant. the National Assembly coverage before discussion of a major Both the Ami du Peuple and the Mercure de France used the journée, newspapers conformed to a specific organization trial as a way to advocate for their own views. Marat wanted to which avoided any outright display of political bias. Particu- make an example out of Favras and condemn him for plotting larly interesting is each newspaper’s use of “good citizen” when against the people. His arrest validated the conspiracy theo- addressing its subscribers. This term described each newspaper’s ries about which he warned his subscribers. Du Pan, on the version of a model citizen. Although using this label helped other hand, sympathized with Favras and his politics. Brissot to unite subscribers under a common viewpoint, it alienated had a different take as he played a role in the trial. Through other members of the public. Marat’s perception of a “good favorable coverage of the Comte, Brissot used his newspa- citizen” was opposite from du Pan’s or even Brissot’s. In refer- per to echo the beliefs of the other members of the comité de encing those who shared opposing views as “enemies,” news- recherches who feared the repercussions of placing high-rank- papers found yet another way to distance themselves from other ing nobles in jail. By stating he did not wish to offer commen- papers—and other readers—who did not share the same views. tary on the trial, Brissot tried to express his impartiality to his Despite the fact that journalist objectivity had not yet devel- readers. Although Brissot’s attempt at being unbiased demon- oped during the French Revolution, these features of newspa- strates his readers’ expectations of impartiality, he nevertheless pers suggest that editors were aware of their roles as public adheres to his own version of the truth. His coverage of the servants and aimed to deliver their subscribers a quality prod- Favras trial was written to reflect his own moderate perspective. uct. Many journals began with a specific audience in mind and sought to keep subscribers by maintaining consistency in their viewpoints. In addition, as the revolution progressed, journal- 65 Ibid. 66 du Pan, Feb. 27, 1790. ists were empowered to continue publishing biased reports, 38 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History

as evidenced by Brissot advertising the Société des Amis des e ust trike hile the Noirs in his paper and Marat’s choice to continue writing despite “W M S W being chased by the law enforcement for inciting violence. Iron is Hot”: Henry Stimson Thus, editors worked to create the illusion of impartiality. As the restrictions of the Old Regime publishing system fell and the Preparedness Move- with the Bastille, newspapers were an efficient and profitable business that allowed journalists to educate the public according ment, 1914-1917 to their perspectives. Newspapers defined impartiality accord- ing to their own truths, which contributed to the polarization Amir Rezvani of society. In general, newspapers, subscribers, and politicians sought comfort in cocooning themselves in echo chambers in order to filter out any “false” truths. Similar to modern day news organizations that fabricate their own realities and denounce In late December 1914, Solomon Stanwood Menken met the truth as “fake news,” the revolutionary press reported on with Henry Stimson in the Stimson’s Lower Manhattan office.1 events through a pro-revolutionary or counterrevolutionary lens. Menken was a prominent New York attorney who witnessed the debate over England’s preparedness for World War I in the House of Commons during an expedition in the summer of 1914. This experience led him to question his own country’s readiness for armed conflict. In early December, he founded the National Security League (NSL), a civilian advocacy group that promoted stronger defense policies billed as “peace insurance.”2 During their meeting, Menken recruited Stimson  former Secretary of War under President Taft and at the time a private attorney

1 I am grateful to Professor David Engerman, Farhad Rezvani, Josh Hano, Kimathi Muiruri, Victoria Johnson, and Daniel Velasquez for their research guidance and thoughtful critiques of earlier drafts of this paper. Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to Solomon Stanwood Menken, December 21, 1914, Box 47, Folder 3, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. 2 National Security League: Hearings before a Special Committee of the House of Representatives, 65th Cong., 3d Sess. 264, December 19, 1918-February 22, 1919 (Hathi Trust), https://catalog.hathitrust.org/ Record/100669929; Augustus Peabody Gardner, Letter to Henry Lewis Stimson, December 23, 1914, Box 47, Folder 3, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. 40 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History AMIR REZVANI 41

 to chair the NSL’s Army a strategy of indirect lobbying that aimed to mobilize public Committee. Stimson was opinion to pressure the federal government into instituting already somewhat active in the compulsory military training. He worried about the volatile fledgling Preparedness Move- nature of public opinion and thus appreciated the opportunity ment, which aimed to bolster provided by increasing pro-war sentiment in the months lead- American military defenses in ing up to American intervention. Through his work as an offi- light of the growing conflict cer of the National Security League, as well as in articles and that was raging in Europe. At speeches targeting isolationist strongholds, Stimson capitalized the time, Stimson’s Prepared- on this moment. He escalated his campaign to win support for ness activities consisted of compulsory military training by touting its supposed social little more than occasionally benefits, emphasizing the threat of an invasion of the United accompanying his friend States, and portraying compulsory training as crucial for the General Leonard Wood, a survival of American democracy. Stimson’s private correspon- leader in the movement, to dence from this period reveals that he saw World War I as an clubs around the city where Henry Stimson portrait by Harris opportunity to achieve nationwide compulsory military training. they argued for the expansion & Ewing, 1929. Image courtesy of Secondary literature on Stimson’s involvement in the of rifle training programs.3 Wikicommons. Preparedness Movement is sparse. Studies of the movement Joining the League proved to be a turning point for Stim- and the home front during the war provide valuable context son. Thereafter he began spending less time practicing law and for the sociopolitical environment in which Stimson acted, instead became increasingly involved in advancing the cause of but they rarely discuss Stimson’s work in particular. When Preparedness. He wrote opinion articles, gave public speeches, they do, they merely mention him in passing by including his and leveraged his contacts across the country to bolster support for name in a list of notable supporters of the Preparedness Move- Preparedness in elite circles. Stimson’s advocacy culminated in a ment. Biographies of Stimson are more valuable sources for two-week speaking tour of the Midwest in April 1917. Sponsored this topic.5 Overall, these sources tend to focus on Stimson’s by the NSL, the tour aimed to convince isolationist residents in career in public service as Secretary of State under President the Midwest that America needed compulsory military training. Hoover and Secretary of War for Presidents Taft, Franklin Stimson also sought to stir up pro-war sentiment more generally.4 Roosevelt, and Truman. Consequently, they devote little anal- Between 1914 and 1917, Stimson developed and deployed ysis to Stimson’s Preparedness work, which he conducted

5 These are Richard Current’s Secretary Stimson (1954), Elting Mor- ison’s Turmoil and Tradition (1960), and David Schmitz’s Henry L. 3 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to John Adams Aiken, December 22, Stimson: The First Wise Man (2001). The fourth book-length biography 1914, Box 47, Folder 3, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library of Stimson, Godfrey Hodgson’s The Colonel (1990), does not examine Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. Stimson’s Preparedness advocacy. 42 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History AMIR REZVANI 43 while out of office. In taking such a perspective, these sources Stimson’s View of Public Opinion: World War I as an fail to properly contemplate the significance of Stimson’s Opportunity Preparedness work in and of itself. Instead, scholars tend to Stimson’s paramount goal was the creation of a perma- treat it as an interlude between his stints in executive office.6 nent national policy of compulsory military training. He Additionally, these sources are limited in that they analyze envisioned a system in which all young American men Stimson’s Preparedness advocacy solely in relation to other influ- would be required to complete six months of drilling and ential Americans, such as President Theodore Roosevelt (an ally could be summoned anytime thereafter for active duty in of Stimson in the Preparedness Movement) and Congressman the event of armed conflict.7 In a February 1917 letter to a James Hay (the isolationist chairman of the House Committee friend, Stimson described that policy as “the only system of on Military Affairs). Although examining Stimson’s coordina- defense which can be permanently effective in this country.”8 tion and conflicts with fellow elites is certainly important if Beyond policy change, Stimson also desired a broader, more one seeks to understand his Preparedness work, this restricted abstract transformation in how the nation conceptualized citi- analysis provides an incomplete understanding of the topic. An zenship, which included an appreciation for compulsory military examination of Stimson’s correspondence with his friends and training. In March 1916, Stimson wrote to New York State Sena- fellow influential champions of Preparedness complements a tor George Slater that the country required a wholesale “change close reading of his public writings and speeches from this of ideals towards national duty in all respects — national defense period. The former provides insight into how Stimson formu- being only one of its many phases.”9 Indeed, four months later lated a propaganda strategy (including his objectives and the Stimson framed the question of national service (and its subsid- role of public opinion in achieving those aims), while the iary, compulsory military training) as “the most important moral latter sheds light on the form that strategy took in practice. problem now before the country.”10 In his view, the national conscience had been “narcotized” on this issue, implying that it had been artificially suppressed and needed to be rekindled.11

7 This system was sometimes referred to instead as universal military 6 Notably, Stimson did not keep a detailed diary during this period; he training or national military service. only began doing so in 1930, shortly after being sworn in as Secretary 8 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to William McAdoo, February 23, 1917, of State, and continued until a few months before his death. The fact Box 61, Folder 1, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Man- that Stimson did not prioritize keeping a detailed diary during this time uscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. (especially compared to his meticulously-written entries from World War 9 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to George Atwood Slater, March 20, II), suggests that, like the scholars cited above, he may have regarded the 1916, Box 55, Folder 19, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Li- Preparedness period as less important than his later time as a public officer. brary Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. Nevertheless, given his close relationship to political actors and his high 10 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to Samuel Baldwin Marks Young, July level of public activity in the Preparedness Movement, studying Stimson’s 21, 1916, Box 57, Folder 18, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University work during this era is for a better understanding of the shifting national Library Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. sentiment regarding foreign policy during this time period, and also sheds 11 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to James Montgomery Beck, October light on the relationship between elites and public opinion more broadly. 30, 1916, Box 58, Folder 24, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University 44 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History AMIR REZVANI 45

Stimson’s portrayal of compulsory military training as more than the proper information, a short-term defense matter suggests that he saw the war and its Americans would favor concomitant threat to America as a vehicle for directing public compulsory training. attention to broader issues of national service. In this regard, Recognizing the Stimson’s personal perspective on the war closely matched that potency of popular of the National Security League as a whole; as David Kennedy opinion as a political noted in Over Here, his landmark study of the American home motivator, Stimson front during World War I, the NSL primarily viewed the war sought to leverage as an occasion to pursue long-standing social objectives.12 Part of a Preparedness Parade, New York City, public sentiment as Stimson considered shaping public opinion to be central May 1916. Image courtesy of Wikicommons. a rhetorical tool to to inaugurating a new era of national service and, by the same support his policy efforts. In a 1916 pamphlet, he criticized Pres- token, compulsory military training. He argued in a February ident Wilson’s record on military affairs and threw his support 1916 letter to a friend that in a democratic republic, “salvation behind the Republican candidate, Charles Evans Hughes, who has got to come through a general public opinion.”13 He claimed Stimson claimed was more favorable to Preparedness. Stimson that public support existed for compulsory military training and wrote that it was not until the sinking of the Lusitania in May the Preparedness program generally, and that it simply needed to 1915 that Wilson “had at last awakened to the seriousness of the be vocalized. According to Stimson, pacifists, or “the enemies crisis and to the fact that the people of the country were behind of the Republic,” had exercised disproportionately large influ- the demand for an adequate national defense.”15 By explicitly ence on federal lawmakers relative to their actual numbers and identifying “the people” as the driving force behind Prepared- had fed the American people for years with “sentimentalism ness, Stimson subtly refuted charges from the movement’s oppo- and falsehood.”14 Stimson’s claim that pacifists had co-opted nents, who claimed that it consisted of a biased minority of public opinion implied that the problem lay in the material they Americans made up of militaristic ideologues and profit-hungry propagated rather than in the people listening; provided with arms manufacturers. Moreover, by stating that Wilson had “at last” perceived that the general public was responsible for the Library Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. impetus of the Preparedness campaign, Stimson implied that 12 David M. Kennedy, Over Here: The First World War and American this sentiment had been widespread for a significant period of Society (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1980), 31. 16 13 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to Thomas Clarke, February 16, 1916, time prior to Wilson’s change in policy. Stimson thus used Box 55, Folder 2, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Man- assertions about public opinion to claim a mandate for Preparedness, uscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. 14 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to E. F. Cragin, January 8, 1917, Box 15 Henry Lewis Stimson and Eric Fisher Wood, “The Record of the 59, Folder 20, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Man- Wilson Administration towards the Army,” 1916, Reel 133, Slide 273, uscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT; Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Manuscripts and Ar- to George Wharton Pepper, June 3, 1915, Box 49, Folder 20, Henry L. chives, New Haven, CT, microfilm. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives, New 16 The results of the election seemed to indicate otherwise, as Wilson Haven, CT. won with the slogan “he kept us out of war.” 46 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History AMIR REZVANI 47 while simultaneously attempting to shape those sentiments. 1917, Stimson had become frustrated with the president and As early as October 1915, Stimson was confident that Congress. He became further convinced that he needed to use the national mood elicited by the war would bolster his efforts, public opinion to pressure the federal government. He wrote to even before the United States entered officially. That month, he a friend that lawmakers waiting to hear the people’s opinions visited the civilian training camp in Plattsburg, New York, where were getting “nothing but the views of the infinitesimal number Preparedness champion General Leonard Wood was stationed of pacifists who are filling the air with their chirrups.”20 By at the time. Upon returning home, a thrilled Stimson wrote to April of that year, Germany’s resumption of unrestricted subma- Wood: “We must strike while the iron is hot, so that by the time rine warfare against American ships and the publication of the the war in Europe is ended, there will be a broad public sentiment Zimmerman Telegram had eroded the isolationist consensus that [in favor of requiring all young American men to train in such had prevailed up to that point. Stimson submitted an article to camps].”17 The following month, he echoed this conviction in a Scribner’s Magazine in which he emphasized the importance of letter to Yale University President Arthur Hadley, a proponent of capitalizing on the momentum of growing anger with Germany’s military training programs for college students. Referencing his actions to establish a policy of compulsory military training. He experience in Washington as a Cabinet official, Stimson under- argued that the public was, in this moment, uniquely attuned scored the urgency of laying “the foundations for inculcating to defense needs and supportive of compulsory training, and the right attitude and spirit towards national service” while the he exhorted policymakers to take advantage of the opportunity. “conscience” of the people was still attuned to that subject.18 Otherwise, he warned, only “a bloody and humiliating disas- By the end of 1915, Stimson was optimistic that the ter” would again bring it to the forefront of priorities.21 Stim- federal government would adopt his vision of compulsory train- son suggested that if lawmakers did not act, the public would ing. In a letter to Theodore Roosevelt, a vociferous advocate continue to neglect the need for compulsory training until an of that policy and of Preparedness in general, Stimson stated American military defeat—which he considered inevitable with- that “until lately” he had “never believed it was within the out that policy—would painfully demonstrate the consequences. realms of political possibility,” but that recently support for the But more than any single letter or article he penned, policy had grown rapidly.19 Over the course of 1916, however, Stimson’s speaking tour of the Midwest in April 1917 strongly lawmakers took no serious action on the issue. By February reflected the importance he placed on shaping the public’s views of Preparedness in the context of the war. Stimson undertook the 17 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to Leonard Wood, October 4, 1915, two-week, ten-city tour jointly with his friend Frederic Coudert Box 52, Folder 14, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. 20 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to Clifford Arrick, February 16, 1917, 18 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to Arthur Twining Hadley, November Box 60, Folder 18, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library 13, 1915, Box 53, Folder 12, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. Library Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. 21 Henry Lewis Stimson, “The Basis for National Military Training,” 19 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to Theodore Roosevelt, December Scribner’s Magazine, April 1917, 408-12, (Google Books), https://play. 16, 1915, Box 53, Folder 23, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University google.com/store/books/details?id=aA5U06jBZmMC&rdid=book-aA5U- Library Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. 06jBZmMC&rdot=1. 48 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History AMIR REZVANI 49

Jr., a fellow member of the National Committee of the National men of the nation] the dangers and discomforts of warfare.”25 In Security League, which organized and sponsored the tour. Stim- a March 1916 letter to Congressman Frederick Hicks he made a son and Coudert’s stated goal was to assess and amplify support similar argument, appealing to Hicks’ Quaker faith by asserting for compulsory military training; after the declaration of war that military training would make the average man more anxious with Germany on April 6, they adopted a secondary goal of to maintain peace with other nations.26 In response to Stim- drumming up support for the war.22 In the report they submitted son’s letter, Hicks described himself as a “fighting Quaker” who to the League after returning from the trip, Stimson and Coudert strongly believed in Preparedness and signaled favorability to wrote that they spoke to over 50,000 people of various socioeco- Stimson’s contention that training would discourage militarism.27 nomic statuses.23 In each of the speeches they gave at the various Stimson also maintained that his favored policy would yield cities, they presented compulsory military training as “the only benefits in regard to some of the most pressing issues of the day. solution either for this war emergency as well as for the ultimate He argued in Scribner’s, for example, that the training would salvation of our American democracy.”24 The fact that Stimson help assimilate recent immigrants by instilling in them a sense stepped away from his lucrative law practice and volunteered two of national duty.28 Given the large wave of immigration in the weeks of his time for this trip evidenced the extent to which he preceding years, such an argument would likely have appealed valued using this particular moment to influence public opinion. to many native-born Americans of different political stripes who held dim views of these recent immigrants, many of whom Touting the Domestic Benefits of Compulsory Training came from southern and eastern Europe. Indicative of the wide- One approach Stimson employed to influence public opin- spread nativist sentiment during this period, Congress passed ion was to advertise the supposed societal benefits of compul- the restrictive Immigration Act of 1917 over President Wilson’s sory military training in public speeches and in letters to elites. veto just three days before Stimson submitted this article. For instance, in the aforementioned Scribner’s article, Stimson Stimson’s piece also claimed that compulsory military train- refuted the common argument that compulsory military training ing would reduce tensions between capital and labor, which ran would make the country more likely to engage in unjustified high in this era. At the time, state governments often called in wars. Stimson claimed that his favored policy would actually the National Guard, in lieu of a police force, to break strikes. have the opposite effect in that it would “make more vivid to [the This, Stimson said, made working-class Americans, who had

22 “Itinerary of Henry L. Stimson and Frederic R. Coudert through 25 Stimson, “The Basis for National Military Training,” Scribner’s the West and South,” March 12, 1917, Reel U142, Slide 250, Henry L. Magazine, 410. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives, New 26 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to Frederick Hicks, March 21, 1916, Haven, CT, microfilm. Box 55, Folder 20, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library 23 Henry Lewis Stimson, and Frederic Rene Coudert, Jr., Report on Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. Speaking Trip through the Midwest, April 1917, Box 69, Folder 4, Henry 27 Frederick Hicks, Letter to Henry Lewis Stimson, March 22, 1916, L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives, Box 55, Folder 20, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library New Haven, CT, 1. Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. 24 Stimson and Coudert, Report on Speaking Trip through the Midwest, 28 Stimson, “The Basis for National Military Training,” Scribner’s 2. Magazine, 410. 50 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History AMIR REZVANI 51 the “most to suffer in case of foreign invasion and who should Engaging with Elite Institutions be the backbone of the military defense of this country,” distrust Stimson also promoted his cause by circulating pro-compul- the military.29 Opponents of compulsory training often presented sory training material among his friends and other connections expanding the National Guard as an alternative. Stimson argued throughout the country in early 1917. Specifically, he sent to his that a conscripted military force would be under exclusive federal contacts in government and elite civic organizations copies of control and thus not subject to the dictates of strike-weary states, resolutions in favor of compulsory military training, and in support unlike the National Guard, which was subject to dual command by of President Wilson’s decision to break off diplomatic relations the federal and state governments. Furthermore, he asserted that with Germany. Stimson requested that they pass these resolutions compulsory training would help restore “democratic relations” and send memoranda of their actions to the White House and to between rich and poor Americans in that it would treat everyone their representatives in Congress. For instance, in a letter to John equally and engender camaraderie through shared experience.30 Mitchel, mayor of New York City, Stimson asserted that a silent Shortly after submitting this article, Stimson exchanged majority existed both in the city and in the nation at large, a popu- several letters with Samuel Gompers, the founder and pres- lation whose voice ought to be heard in Washington. Stimson ident of the American Federation of Labor. Gompers, who included 60 copies of the pro-training resolution and requested wielded considerable influence as the well-respected leader of that the mayor distribute them among influential New Yorkers.32 4,000,000 AFL members, had publicly expressed support for Stimson sent the same resolutions (and largely received general Preparedness but remained skeptical of compulsory confirmation of their passage and transmission to Washington) to training. In one letter, Stimson inveighed against proposals to contacts in civic organizations across the Northeast and Midwest, expand the National Guard and (unsuccessfully) appealed to in cities such as Boston, Syracuse, Minneapolis, Chicago, and Gompers by arguing that no modifications to the National Guard Kansas City.33 He estimated that he distributed between 3,000 would prevent it from being liable to be used as a strike force.31 Stimson’s public and private arguments contended that 32 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to John Purrey Mitchel, February compulsory training was preferable to continued reliance on 16, 1917, Box 60, Folder 18, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. the National Guard for defense. Since many of the country’s 33 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to Barrett Wendell, February 17, 1917, workers were unionized in this era, this approach took advan- Box 60, Folder 19, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library tage of the uneasiness that existed between labor on one hand Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT; Alan Fobes, Letter to Henry Lewis Stimson, February 20, 1917, Box 60, Folder 20, Henry L. Stimson and capital (supported by the National Guard) on the other. Papers, Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT; John Crosby, Letter to Henry Lewis Stimson, February 23, 1917, Box 61, Folder 1, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Manu- 29 Ibid. scripts and Archives, New Haven, CT; Clifford Arrick, Letter to Henry 30 Stimson, “The Basis for National Military Training,” Scribner’s Lewis Stimson, February 19, 1917, Box 60, Folder 19, Henry L. Stimson Magazine, 410-411. Papers, Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, 31 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to Samuel Gompers, March 3, 1916, CT; H. Haskell, Letter to Henry Lewis Stimson, February 24, 1917, Box Box 55, Folder 10, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library 61, Folder 2, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Manu- Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. scripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. 52 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History AMIR REZVANI 53

and 4,000 resolutions in all.34 Stimson chose this particular strat- New Haven, Connecticut even egy of indirect lobbying because, as he noted in a letter to a installed and manned an anti-air- Connecticut minister, his time in Washington led him to believe craft gun to defend the city in that more than “any other sources of public opinion,” members the event of an aerial attack.38 of Congress most cared about letters from constituents and reso- In a March 1915 opinion lutions passed by organizations in their respective districts.35 article for the Yale Daily News, Notably, while he was actively appealing to public opinion Stimson contended that the during early 1917 in speeches and essays, Stimson asserted he American military would be was merely encouraging the vocalization of existing sentiments, “wholly inadequate” for offer- not changing minds. He wrote in February 1917 to a fellow ing resisting an invasion by attorney that Congress must be shown “the real sentiment of a European nation due to its New England and the middle States.”36 In a May 1917 letter, he small size relative to European positively assessed the impact of this strategy, telling a friend militaries. To reify the threat that he believed the resolutions “had a good deal of effect in crys- of invasion in the minds of his tallizing public opinion and in stirring up the administration.”37 Advertisement in the August 1916 readers, Stimson referenced issue of Moving Picture World for such historical examples as the The Specter of Invasion the 1915 film The Battle Cry of Peace. Image courtesy of Wikicom- American Revolution and the mons. 39 Stimson also attempted to mold public opinion by emphasiz- War of 1812. He echoed this ing the threat of an invasion of the United States. His approach sentiment in a February 1916 New York Times article in which capitalized on existing fears that permeated the American he detailed the state of the American army and navy at the time. populace. In the early- to mid-1910s, popular novels such as Stimson claimed that the consensus of military officials held America Fallen by J. Bernard Walker and films like Stuart Black- that the United States needed an army of at least 500,000 men ton’s Battle Cry of Peace proliferated such anxieties. Vigilante to adequately protect the country against invasion, a figure based groups that sought to uncover German spies and monitor coastal on how many American troops fought in the War of 1812 (the defenses sprung up across the Eastern seaboard; residents of last time the country had been invaded). This figure far exceeded size the army and militia in 1916; their numbers stood at 30,000 34 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to Paul S. Andrews, May 2, 1917, Reel U48, Slide 854, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Manu- and 100,000, respectively. Stimson argued that compulsory mili- scripts and Archives, New Haven, CT, microfilm. tary training was the only feasible option for closing that gap.40 35 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to George Hill, February 28, 1917, Box 61, Folder 3, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Manu- 38 Rollin G. Osterweis, Three Centuries of New Haven, 1638—1938 scripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1953), 404. 36 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to Henry Chamberlain, February 17, 39 Henry Lewis Stimson, “National Protection.” Yale Daily News (New 1917, Box 60, Folder 19, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Li- Haven, CT), March 10, 1915, http://digital.library.yale.edu/cdm/compoun- brary Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. dobject/collection/yale-ydn/id/2914/rec/2. 37 Stimson, Letter to Paul S. Andrews. 40 Henry Lewis Stimson, “The Sound Basis for a Continental Army,” 54 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History AMIR REZVANI 55

Furthermore, in his “Issues of the War” speech, which he Lincoln and drew an analogy to the Civil War, demonstrating a delivered at each of the stops on his 1917 speaking tour, Stim- keen understanding of his audience. Of the six states Stimson son detailed the capabilities of the German military, for which visited on his tour, five were states at the time of the Civil War, he argued it would be “the work of but a few weeks” to take all of which had been on the side of the Union. Stimson declared control of most of the Eastern Seaboard, from the mouth of the that “[t]he struggle between autocracy and democracy … is Chesapeake to the border with Canada.41 Stimson prompted his as inevitable as the issue between slavery and freedom was in audience to consider the disastrous consequences that would this country sixty years ago and that struggle must go on until ensue if America met the same fate as Belgium. This reference the world is either all slave or all free.”44 Stimson’s deliberate was a shrewd rhetorical tactic on Stimson’s part. It conjured appeals to American history sought to stir up national pride strong imagery from media accounts and pro-Allied propaganda and pro-intervention sentiment in his audience, much of which at the time that depicted in graphic detail the brutal treatment was skeptical of America’s interest in the war before he visited. Belgium experienced at the hands of the German military. Spotlight on the Midwest Stimson presented the Issues of War speech widely to audiences at chambers of commerce, universities, meetings of The manner in which Stimson identified the enemy in his civic organizations, and lecture halls open to the general public, “Issues of the War” speech demonstrated cognizance of his framing the war as an existential struggle for freedom in the Midwestern audience. He drew a clear distinction between United States and around the world. He claimed that autocracy the German government and the German people, describ- and democracy were “at grips along the battle line in Europe,” ing the former as the enemy and the latter as victims of thereby juxtaposing the Allies and the Central Powers.42 Stim- tyranny. Additionally, amid growing anti-German sentiment, son then cited American history and tradition to appeal to his Stimson explicitly affirmed the loyalty of German-Amer- audience’s national pride. He argued that America entered the icans, who made up a substantial portion of the Midwest- war to defend the principle that governmental power derives ern populace, and he argued that the vast majority of the from the consent of governed individuals. This, according to German-American population had proven their patriotism.45 Stimson, was the same principle American colonists promoted Stimson’s tour strategically targeted that region because when they rebelled against the Ship Money Tax of 1640 and of its population’s pacifist sympathies, which were eroding the Stamp Tax of 1765.43 He also quoted President Abraham but still strong relative to the rest of the country at the time.46 He told the New York Times that he aimed to accelerate the New York Times (New York, NY), February 8, 1916, 10, https://www. nytimes.com/1916/02/08/archives/the-sound-basis-for-a-continental-army- henry-l-stimson-shows-the.html. 44 Stimson, “The Issues of the War,” 5. 41 Henry Lewis Stimson, “The Issues of the War,” April 1917, Box 178, 45 Stimson, “The Issues of the War,” 28. Folder 23, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Manuscripts 46 “Off to Rouse West in Nation’s Defense; Henry L. Stimson and Fred- and Archives, New Haven, CT. eric R. Coudert Open Tour in Detroit Today,” New York Times (New York, 42 Stimson, “The Issues of the War,” 2. NY), April 2, 1917, https://www.nytimes.com/1917/04/02/archives/off-to- 43 Stimson, “The Issues of the War,” 3. rouse-west-in-nations-defense-henry-l-stimson-and-frederic-r.html. 56 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History AMIR REZVANI 57

“strong awakening” happening in the region.47 In a letter to a itinerary. The itinerary listed every major newspaper in the city friend, Stimson explained that he undertook the tour because being visited and each paper’s stance on Preparedness. Part the Midwest was the part of the country most in need of of the Chicago entry reads: “An address in Chicago, if given convincing in regards to compulsory military training.48 good space in Chicago papers would be read by hundreds of As early as February 1915, two years prior to his speak- thousands of people in that city, and in the middle west. An ing tour, Stimson had noted the importance of the region. He equal amount of free publicity to reach such a large propor- wrote to a fellow attorney that, even though he had met several tion of the population could not be obtained in any other lawmakers from the Midwest who were indifferent to the East way.”51 The itinerary also highlighted the role of Midwestern Coast’s military needs, he regarded Midwesterners as some of newspaper publishers who were sympathetic to the Prepared- the most patriotic people in the country. He declared that it ness Movement or even officers of local National Security would be “a tremendous mistake not to rely upon [them] in any League branches, such as Victor Rosewater of the Omaha Bee movement as this.”49 Stimson recognized Midwesterners’ unique and L.T. Golding of the St. Joseph News-Press.52 Evidently, ideological stance and the necessity of garnering their support to Stimson recognized the importance of using local media to build sufficient momentum behind compulsory military training. amplify his message to those who would not otherwise hear it. Stimson’s itinerary, which provided notes on the leanings of Stimson, Coudert, and the League devised the tour itin- the population of each city on the trip, singled out certain pockets erary to exploit every opportunity for publicity. The tour of pacifist sentiment for special attention, such as Detroit, Minne- included a public relations professional to manage exter- apolis, and all of Kansas. For instance, the document noted, “A nal communication. A March 1917 letter from the League’s meeting in Detroit is important because although the Chamber Executive Secretary noted: “The places selected are centers of Commerce favors Universal Military Training, there is a large of population where newspapers of considerable circulation antagonistic foreign element and Henry Ford [a pacifist] employs are published and good reports of your speeches would be thirty five thousand men.”50 The detailed descriptions provided for assured by sending our publicity man with you on the trip.”53 each stop on the itinerary testified to the importance of this infor- Stimson and Coudert also seemed to appreciate the mation to Stimson’s formulation of a strategy of public persuasion. propagandistic value that news reports about sedition in the Information about local media also pervaded Stimson’s Midwest offered their campaign. Their post-trip report stated:

Individual instances of criminal attempts against 47 “Off to Rouse West in Nation’s Defense,” 3. the country’s transportation and food supply 48 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to Clifford Arrick, March 12, 1917, occurred in several communities while we were Box 61, Folder 11, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. 49 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to S. Goodfriend, February 16, 1915, 51 Ibid. Box 48, Folder 2, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Man- 52 Ibid. uscripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. 53 Henry West, Letter to Henry Lewis Stimson, March 12, 1917, Box 50 “Itinerary of Henry L. Stimson and Frederic R. Coudert through the 61, Folder 11, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Manu- West and South,” 2. scripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. 58 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History AMIR REZVANI 59

there, but these were not reported by the press. It Stimson and Chamberlain, the Senate never took up that bill. seemed to us that the suppression of such reports is a mistake. The west is not yet fully alive to the Evaluating Stimson’s Strategy serious possibilities of this war. Its public opinion cannot be aroused or guided unless it is put in Stimson’s focus on shaping public opinion rather than directly possession of these instances of hostile attack.54 lobbying government officials was well-advised given the grass- roots nature of the pacifist and pro-neutrality groups who opposed In his stump speech, Stimson contended that the Eastern the Preparedness Movement. It seems likely that Stimson and his Seaboard was vulnerable to German invasion. But to an Amer- fellow Preparedness advocates believed they should counter a ican tucked away in the heart of the country, especially one who grassroots movement with one of their own (albeit one comple- had never traveled to the East Coast, the invasion scenario that mented by elite outreach, as anti-war groups did too). His decision Stimson described may have been difficult to fathom. He and to specifically target Midwesterners, a group that held the staunch- Coudert recognized this weakness in their strategy and argued est anti-Preparedness attitudes, supports the understanding that that reporting acts of sedition in the Midwest would be useful to countering grassroots with grassroots was a conscious strategy. rouse public sentiment. They suggested that such reports would Evidence indicates that the efforts of Preparedness advo- help illustrate to Midwesterners that “the tentacles of the German cates to promote compulsory training received favorable public octopus,” as one contemporary author put it, were not only capa- reception. For instance, a March 1917 National Security League ble of reaching into the American heartland, but were already review, which surveyed American newspapers and the mayors 55 doing so in early 1917. Stimson and Coudert hoped that concret- of towns with populations over 5,000 people, demonstrated izing the German threat in the minds of Midwesterners would substantial support for the proposal. The organization found serve to consolidate pro-intervention public opinion in the region that of the 476 newspapers that had referenced compulsory of the country most skeptical of America’s interests in the war. training in the last year, only 49 (chiefly religious and socialist Although Stimson’s strategy chiefly consisted of indirect papers) opposed the proposed policy; 268 supported it, and 159 lobbying that tried to bring public pressure to bear on Congress were non-committal. Among the mayors who were polled, 200 and the president, he at least once attempted a more direct were in favor and 35 were against, with 144 undecided.57 Other mode of influence. In a March 1917 letter, Stimson claimed polls conducted in the summer and fall of 1916, and cited by to have participated in drafting a compulsory military train- Stimson in letters to acquaintances, yielded similar results.58 ing bill that Senator George Chamberlain introduced and the Senate Military Committee approved.56 Unfortunately for 61, Folder 15, Henry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Manu- scripts and Archives, New Haven, CT. 54 Stimson and Coudert, Report on Speaking Trip through the Midwest, 57 Chase C. Mooney and Martha E. Layman, “Some Phases of 4. the Compulsory Military Training Movement, 1914-1920,” The Mis- 55 Earl E. Sperry, The Tentacles of the German Octopus in America sissippi Valley Historical Review 38, no. 4 (1952), 645 (JSTOR), (New York, NY: National Security League, 1917), (Hathi Trust), https:// doi:10.2307/1892841. catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100406365. 58 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter, July 26, 1916, Box 57, Folder 19, Hen- 56 Henry Lewis Stimson, Letter to Irving Fisher, March 20, 1917, Box ry L. Stimson Papers, Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives, 60 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History AMIR REZVANI 61

These surveys, however, should be viewed skeptically given December 1917 that he would not recommend establishing the inchoate nature of polling at the time, as well as the possibility permanent compulsory training until after the war.60 Similarly, that Stimson and the NSL cherry-picked favorable data. The lack President Wilson stated in early 1918 that legislation insti- of reliable polls, often conducted by disinterested sources, makes tuting compulsory training was “impracticable at this time.”61 it difficult to verify the claims of activists like Stimson. Editorials The failure of Stimson’s indirect lobbying strategy can help from popular publications can also provide some general insight explain the approach he used in his next major attempt to insti- into public opinion during this time, but they too are incompre- tute compulsory training. Once again seizing on the mobiliza- hensive sources for ascertaining the public’s views since such tion mentality engendered by a world war, Stimson employed publications were often controlled by elites whose views did a more direct route in 1945. Coordinating with Army Chief of not necessarily represent the opinions of the general population. Staff George C. Marshall, Stimson leveraged his position as Ultimately, despite the promising polling data, Stimson and Secretary of War and capitalized on President Harry Truman’s the NSL failed to accomplish their goal of instituting compul- strong trust in him and Marshall to push for the policy. These sory training. This outcome can largely be attributed to the efforts eventually faltered because the country lacked politi- passage of the Selective Service Act of 1917, which paradoxi- cal and popular support for a peacetime policy of compulsory cally fulfilled short-term Preparedness goals while making less military training after four years of total war mobilization.62 likely the realization of the movement’s long-term aims. The Conclusion temporary draft that this law imposed appeased mainstream Preparedness advocates, who focused on defending the coun- Despite spearheading two major campaigns for compulsory try in World War I. It thereby weakened the impetus toward military training, Stimson never succeeded in ensuring “the ulti- permanent compulsory training, which found favor with more mate salvation of our American democracy.”63 Throughout his ardent Preparedness activists like Menken, Wood, and Stim- efforts in the Preparedness Movement, he seemed aware of the son who desired lasting changes in national policy and culture. risk of failure due to the capricious nature of public sentiment. The words and actions of federal officials and lawmakers By the same token, he appreciated the rare chance provided by reflected this necessary compromise. For example, in a survey brief pro-Preparedness momentum. He viewed World War I as of Congress conducted by the NSL in May 1917 immedi- ately after the passage of the Selective Service Act, only 35 60 Newton Diehl Baker Jr., “Report of the Secretary of War,” War Department Annual Reports, 1917 (Washington, 1918): 14-21, 42-43, senators and 146 representatives expressed support for a (Google Books), google.com/books/edition/Annual_Reports_of_the_Sec- hypothetical bill instituting permanent compulsory training.59 retary_of_War/QAUSAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0. Secretary of War Newton Baker wrote in his annual report of 61 Mooney and Layman, “Some Phases of the Compulsory Military Training Movement, 1914-1920,” 647. 62 Frank D. Cunningham, “Harry S. Truman and Universal Military New Haven, CT. Training, 1945,” The Historian 46, no. 3 (1984): 397-415 (JSTOR), www. 59 New York Times (New York, NY), “Work for Athletes in the Army jstor.org/stable/24445419. Camps,” May 21, 1917, 2, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesma- 63 Stimson and Coudert, Report on Speaking Trip through the Midwest, chine/1917/05/21/102346381.html?pageNumber=2. 2. 62 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History AMIR REZVANI 63

an occasion to capitalize on the fleeting focus of Americans on draft, however, likely stifled the momentum behind estab- issues of defense to establish a system of compulsory training. lishing compulsory military training for all American To this opportunity, Stimson developed and deployed a men. Ultimately, the support for compulsory training strategy principally aimed at indirectly lobbying Congress proved more precarious than Stimson had thought or hoped. and the president by consolidating public opinion behind his favored policy. Stimson’s approach encouraged public mani- festations of that support in the form of constituent letters and resolutions passed by civic organizations; he then used these demonstrations of support as proof that the American people backed Preparedness. Future research might build upon this understanding of Stimson’s strategy and advo- cacy as a private citizen during World War I to contextual- ize his later efforts in favor of compulsory military training. Studying Stimson’s activities between 1914 and 1917 supports a more nuanced understanding of the Preparedness Movement as an effort to use the war crisis to mobilize public opinion in response to immediate military needs and in pursuit of long-term social goals. Examining Stimson’s work in this period contributes to a more complete understanding of the causes and effects of the pro-intervention shift in American public opinion on the eve of entry into World War I. Figures like Stimson partially induced such change in public sentiment while simultaneously citing such change as a mandate for enact- ing Preparedness policies — a mandate that ultimately failed to produce a policy. Studying Stimson’s Preparedness activism also sheds light on the question of how elites capitalize on the pervasive anxieties and concerns of the populace when crafting and communicating a public message. This movement is a quint- essential example of the bidirectional nature of the relationship between elites and public opinion: The former actively shapes the latter while the latter constrains the behavior of the former. Henry Stimson’s Preparedness advocacy efforts were calculating and strategic. The introduction of a temporary Special Section: Echoes From the DON RALEIGH 65 Russian Revolution autocratic rule by the Romanovs, and the October or Novem- ber Revolution brought Lenin’s Bolsheviks to power). Among historians in Russia and in the rest of the world, the centenary The russian revoluTion spawned publication of a spate of historical overviews of the 2 3 oes lobal Revolution, articles (most often clustered in issues of journals), G G and conferences and conference panels,4 far too numerous to Don Raleigh 2 Among historical overviews, see Laura Engelstein, Russia in Flames: War, Revolution, Civil War, 1914-1921 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, Major anniversaries of defining moments in history such as 2017); Sean McMeekin, The Russian Revolution: A New History (New the Great War and Russian Revolution provide unique opportuni- York: Basic Books, 2017); S. A. Smith, Russia in Revolution: An Empire in Crisis, 1890 to 1928 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017); and ties for historians, public affairs writers, interest groups, and even Mark D. Steinberg, The Russian Revolution, 1905-1921 (Oxford: Oxford governments to revisit foundational narratives, often resulting in University Press, 2017). their revision, modification, or even rejection, which reflect the 3 Major journals that published clusters of articles on the revolution include Revolutionary Russia, which, over the course of several issues be- climate of the times. On the 100th anniversary of the French ginning with vol. 30, no. 1 (June 2017) put out a wide variety of research Revolution in 1889, for instance, the French erected the Eiffel articles, think pieces, and historiographical discussions. The first issue Tower, one of the world’s most renowned landmarks, in a politi- comprises articles on the February Revolution and on the Socialist Revo- lutionaries. The vol. 30, no. 7 (December 2017) issue features articles on cal environment that sought to legitimate the values of the Third reassessing the February Revolution and the role of the Great War in 1917 Republic. A hundred years later, the glass and metal Louvre Pyra- and essays on gender and the revolution. Volume 31, no. 1 (June 2018) mid, which serves as the main entrance to the Louvre Museum, continues the journal’s evaluation of the centenary of 1917 with important articles on the Bolshevik Revolution and the Russian Orthodox Church opened. It, too, became a landmark of the city of Paris, but in a and on how Russia’s ruling elite marked the centenary, while the volume strikingly different political environment in which politics had 31, no. 2 (December 2018) addresses the global impact of the Russian shifted to the center and right and some major historians ques- Revolution. The volume 32, no. 1 (June 2019) issue of the journal is composed of papers originally presented at the 2017 Young Researchers’ tioned the results of the French Revolution. Take Simon Scha- Conference funded by the Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet ma’s Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution.1 Published Studies at Miami University, Ohio, and held in Duma, Italy. See also on the bicentenary of the French Revolution, it, like so many Slavic Review 76, no. 3 (June 2017); The Journal of Modern Russian History and Historiography 9, no. 1 (October 2016); and Matthew Rendle, studies appearing in France that year, attacked the event’s legacy. ed., The Centenary of the Russian Revolution: New Directions in Re- In stressing that history, like our own memories, is inher- search, special issue of Historical Research 90, no. 247 (February 2017). ently revisionist and reflects attitudes about the present, I wish 4 In May 2015 the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, State Central Museum of the Contemporary History of Russia, the Institute to make several generalizations about how historians have of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of marked the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolutions of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian 1917 (the February or March Revolution ended centuries of Historical Society sponsored a roundtable discussion on the centenni- al, the proceedings of which were published, 100 let Velikoi rossiiskoi revoliultsii: Osmyslenie vo imia konsolidatsii: Materialy kruglogo stola, 1 Published in New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989. sostoiavshegosia 20 maia 2015, sbornik statei (Moskva: GTsMSIR, 2017). 66 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History DON RALEIGH 67

cite here. Moreover, an international community of scholars the politics of memory in Russia following the centenary of launched, Russia’s Great War and Revolution Series, a project World War I began to separate the Great War from 1917. In more than ten years in the making involving over 200 contrib- the sanitized view of Russian leaders and court historians, the utors from Europe, North America, Russia, Asia, and Austra- war proved the heroism of the Russian soldier and the patriotic lia, which “aims to fundamentally transform understanding of mobilization at the rear. This was memorialized in an arresting Russia’s ‘continuum of crisis’ during the years 1914-1922.”5 new monument on Poklonnaia Gora in Moscow to the heroes Unlike the situation during the Soviet era, Russian scholars who gave their lives in World War I, which President Vladimir are now fully integrated into a larger, global community of Putin dedicated on August 1, 2014. In stepping out of the shadow fellow scholars who share a common range of perspectives of the Revolution, the war began to cast its own shadow on 1917, and methodologies. That said, non-Russian historians have which the Russian government even characterized as an event devoted greater attention than their Russian counterparts during that robbed Russia of victory in the Great War. Revolution as the anniversary period to discussing the global impact of the a concept needed to be discredited, suggests Russian historian Russian Revolution, an issue now generally recognized as the B. I. Kolonitskii, in order to eliminate it as a possible scenario most significant lacuna in contemporary scholarship on 1917. for Russia’s political development today.7 Just when the world Ironically, observers have noted the “underwhelming” historical community has acknowledged the need to devote response to the centenary in Russia itself at the governmen- greater attention to the impact of the Russian Revolution on tal level, and the greater official memorialization around the global history, then, the Russian government seeks to diminish bicentenary of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 2012 and the the Revolution’s resonance today and to question its very efficacy. outbreak of the Great War in 2014. Drawing implicit conclu- As part of this trend to consider the Russian Revolution’s sions about the relationship between the Russian Revolutions global reach, I offered in the fall of 2019 a new section of our of 1917 and the Putin present, Minister of Culture Vladimir department’s undergraduate writing seminar, HIST 398, “The Medinskii depicted the February Revolution of 1917 as a trag- Russian Revolution and Its Impact on World History.” This edy that did nothing to solve the country’s nagging problems, approach had the added merits of greatly increasing the body while Patriarch Kirill and the Russian Orthodox Church honored of primary sources available to undergraduates and of allowing the “victims” of the revolution.6 Moreover, already by 2015 seminar participants to combine any interest they might have in the Russian Revolution with other events in world history. In June 2016 the Institute of Russian History, St. Petersburg, Russian Academy of Sciences, the European University of St. Petersburg, and a Apart from a student who authored a paper on the impact of cohort of leading Western scholars organized an international conference revolutionary dreaming on Soviet urban planning, the others involving over forty scholars from Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic nations, and crafted essays on the Revolution’s global impact. They wrote from around the globe, “The Epoch of Russia’s Revolution, 1914–1922.” B. I. Kolonitskii and Daniel T. Orlovsky edited the published proceed- ings, Epokha voin i revoliutsii, 1914-1922 (St. Petersburg: Nestor-Istoriia, of 1917,” in Revolutionary Russia 30, no. 1 (June 2017): 1. 2017). 7 Boris I. Kolonitskii, “On Studying the 1917 Revolution: Autobi- 5 https://slavica.indiana.edu/series/Russia_Great_War_Series. ographical Confessions and Historiographical Predictions,” Kritika: Ex- 6 Matthew Rendle and Aaron B. Retish, “Introduction: The ‘Lessons’ plorations in Russian and Eurasian History 16, no. 4 (Fall 2015): 765. 68 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History DON RALEIGH 69

on Peru, Brazil, Cuba, street names in East Berlin, sports, Amer- and racial justice in the Soviet Union during Stalin’s indus- ican press coverage on the tenth anniversaries of the Russian trialization drive, unfolding against the backdrop of the Great Revolution through 1947, American New York Jewish news- Depression and its aftermath. I am sure readers will agree with papers’ representations of the Russian Revolution, and more. me that these fine essays make original contributions to historical An implicit understanding that, despite the violence and scholarship as they remind us both of the liberating power of negative aspects of the Russian Revolution, it inspired idealism 1917 and the fears it inflamed. Indeed, whatever one’s personal and hope for human justice in the hearts of many unites the three or generational perspective or methodology, the historiograph- articles published in this issue of Traces and produced in this ical shifts taking place in connection with the centennial of the course. Cara Price’s fluent and finely wrought essay is based on Russian Revolution have not invalidated two crucial points: the a close reading of three major black publications—The Crisis, Revolution remains “a” if not “the” defining historical event The Messenger, and The Chicago Defender—in the period of the twentieth century, regardless the position of the Russian immediately before, during, and after 1917. She demonstrates government; and the ideals of failed revolutions, if one may call that, despite the publications’ disparate political ideologies and the Russian Revolution that, remain vital even today and will the views they presented about Russian culture and the Russian further evolve as 1917’s legacy constrains and enables the future. Revolution, they refracted their coverage of and reflections on these topics through the lens of domestic politics to promote racial justice in the United States. Drawing on pertinent primary materials and making strategic use of an established historiogra- phy on the Red Scare, Holt McKeithan’s essay interrogates the roles of North Carolinians U.S. Senator Lee Overman and Secre- tary of the Navy Josephus Daniels in the Red Scare of 1919-21. The author draws compelling conclusions not only about the Red Scare in North Carolina, but, importantly, also about how anti- communist rhetoric impacted American society. In this regard, the liberating appeal of the Revolution finds reflection in the opposition it provoked in the hearts and minds of some American leaders. And, through a close reading of the memoir of Robert Robinson, the “coal-black protégé of Joseph Stalin,” perhaps the best known African American to have lived and worked in Red Russia, Evan Amico examines the reasons for Robinson’s meteoric rise to fame in the USSR, and beyond. He extends his analysis by comparing Robinson’s personal account with those of two other American black engineers who sought out work 70 Cara Price 71

3 eds hites and lacks class issues. Although it was R , W , B : never produced, Black and Revolutionary Russia in the White thus became a point of contention in the black press, Black Press, 1910-1922 and discourse over the actions of the Soviets regarding the Cara Price film reflected the diversity of African Americans’ perspec- tives on the Soviet Union. Black and White ignited Even before they arrived in the Soviet Union in 1932, the a controversy, but it also high- twenty-two African Americans recruited to produce Black and lighted existing journalistic and White, a film about racial discrimination in the American South, ideological differences in the were divided by differing attitudes toward their hosts. While black press’s coverage of the Soviet Union. While the film’s Cover of the July 1918 issue of some, like Louise Thompson Patterson, belonged to Harlem’s The Messenger. Image courtesy of Soviet Friendship Society, her fellow leftist Langston Hughes scope and Hughes’s presence Wikicommons. observed that the majority simply sought “an exciting way to may have attracted additional spend the summer.”1 When the Soviet government cancelled the publicity, African Americans had been traveling to the Soviet film, citing artistic and technical difficulties, the divisions within Union since at least 1922, when black activists Claude McKay the group escalated from an internal disagreement over domestic and Otto Huiswood attended the Fourth World Congress of the politics to a public dispute over Soviet motives.2 In the Amster- Comintern; others had been writing about it for even longer.4 dam News, two conservative members of the film group, Ted Although a wealth of secondary literature and autobiographical Poston and Henry Moon, alleged that the U.S.S.R. dropped the accounts document black sojourners’ travels, relatively little atten- film to appease the U.S. in exchange for diplomatic recognition; tion has been paid to how the Russian Revolution and early Soviet in The Chicago Defender and The Pittsburgh Courier, their more life were discussed within the African American community, and radical companion, Loren Miller claimed that the cancellation was onlya delay and praised the Soviet approach to racial and 3 Larry A. Greene, “Langston Hughes, Russia, and the African-Ameri- can Press,” in Russian-American Links: African-Americans and Russia, ed. 1 Keith Gilyard, Louise Thompson Patterson: A Life of Struggle for Yuri P. Tretyakov and Elena M. Apenko (St. Petersburg: Nauka Publishers, Justice (Durham: Duke University Press, 2017), 76, 81; Langston Hughes, 2009), 208-11. Autobiography: I Wonder as I Wander, ed. Joseph McLaren (Columbia: 4 Amanda L. Bosworth, “In Search of an Elusive Equality: African University of Missouri Press, 2003), 96. Americans in the Soviet Union, 1922-1939” (paper presented at the 37th 2 Joy Gleason Carew, Blacks, Reds, and Russians: Sojourners in Search Annual NESEEES Conference, 2 April 2016), 18. https://www.academia. of the Soviet Promise (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2008), edu/12676401/_In_Search_of_an_Elusive_Equality_African_Americans_ 128-29. in_the_Soviet_Union_1922-1939_. 72 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Cara Price 73

not just by those privileged or driven enough to visit Red Russia. revenue, plus “canned editorials” and “a flood of news releases.”6 To address this deficiency in the literature, this paper exam- Meanwhile, in the South, white mobs forced African Americans ines three African American publications’ coverage of Russia daring enough to condemn lynching to flee their communities.7 over a period spanning from 1910, when the first issue of The Accordingly, at the turn of the century, financial pressures and Crisis marked a new age in Black journalism, to 1922, the end the threat of violence coupled with Washington’s intellectual of the Russian Civil War. Specifically, I compare The Crisis, a influence to establish a conservative tone in the Black press. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People As Washington’s influence waned, however, so did his (NAACP) publication founded and edited by W. E. B. Du Bois; philosophy’s grip on the press. In the early twentieth century, The Messenger, a radical literary magazine associated with the W. E. B. Du Bois rose to prominence as Washington’s intel- Harlem Renaissance that “opposed Du Bois as much as Wash- lectual rival. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk, published in ington;” and The Chicago Defender, the most widely-circulated 1903, rejects Washington’s accommodationism and embrace of Black newspaper of its time.5 These sources reveal the breadth vocational training, encouraging political agitation and liberal of the Black press’s responses to the Russian Revolution and education in their stead. In 1905, Du Bois launched the Niagara the formation of the Soviet Union. Some depicted Bolshevism Movement, which demanded freedom of speech, freedom of the as a threat to democracy; others framed the Soviet Union as a press, and the eradication of racial discrimination. Officially, the raceless and classless utopia. The debates over Soviet inten- movement ended within five years, but the ideas and networks tions provoked by the cancellation of Black and White thus it developed drove the formation of the NAACP in 1909 and constituted a continuation of existing disagreements within the publication of the organization’s monthly magazine, The the African American community. However, despite deploying Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races, in 1910.8 The heavily diverse tactics, The Crisis, The Messenger, and The Chicago white NAACP board appointed Du Bois editor but required him Defender all leveraged Bolshevism to promote racial equal- to moderate his tone and accept their suggestions.9 Despite these ity in the U.S. while simultaneously expressing genuine curi- conditions, Du Bois finally realized his vision of publishing a osity about Russia, its culture, and its political experiment. “‘high class journal’” for “‘intelligent Negroes,’” and The Crisis The Black Press in the Early Twentieth Century proved more outspoken than Tuskegee-funded publications in The Black press evolved rapidly in the first several decades its denunciations of lynching, segregation, and other forms of of the twentieth century. Initially, it tended to uphold the accom- injustice.10 In 1910, its monthly circulation averaged 1,750; modationist philosophy of Booker T. Washington, who encour- aged African Americans to accept their inferior status, prove their 6 Patrick S. Washburn, The African American Newspaper: Voice of economic usefulness, and strive for social cohesion. Washing- Freedom (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2006), 74. 7 William G. Jordan, Black Newspapers & America’s War for Democ- ton’s “Tuskegee Machine” subsidized and even purchased papers racy, 1914-1920 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, sympathetic to his views; as many publications struggled to 2001), 19-20. remain profitable, the Tuskegee news bureau offered them crucial 8 Washburn, The African American Newspaper, 77-78. 9 Jordan, Black Newspapers & America’s War for Democracy, 28-29. 10 Wolseley, The Black Press, 41-43. 74 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Cara Price 75

by 1918, it had grown beyond front page from 1921 features bold text reading, “Mad Lover 50,000, with readers nation- Slays Girl and Father,” “Ku Klux Invade Chicago,” and “Mob’s wide.11 Its mounting popularity Bold Move Stirs Georgians.”15 These stories, gathered with indicated African Americans’ the aid of traveling porters, also gave the Defender national hunger for thoughtful political appeal. Although Abbott took some relatively traditional posi- and cultural analysis that chal- tions, such as opposing women’s suffrage and supporting lenged Washington’s status quo. the war effort, the Defender deviated from Washington-style Shortly before Du Bois accommodationism in its condemnation of white violence and began publishing The Crisis, demand for racial justice.16 Together, Abbott’s Defender and Robert Abbott launched The Du Bois’s Crisis reflect the Black press’s shift from passivity to Chicago Defender, a weekly protest and the development of a “New Negro,” whom Harlem newspaper with a circulation Renaissance thinker Alain Locke distinguished from the “Old that would also grow expo- Negro” based on a “renewed self-respect and self-dependence,” nentially over the course of as well as African Americans’ “spiritual Coming of Age.”17 Opening page of the first Issue the 1910s. Unlike Washington Yet even these new publications’ defiance had its limits. of The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races. New York: NAACP, and Du Bois, Abbott was not In 1918, both Abbott and Du Bois attended a conference orga- November 1910. Image courtesy of a well-known intellectual, and nized by the War Department and the Committee on Public Wikicommons. he began his paper without Information. Alongside twenty-nine other Black journalists, they institutional support. Nevertheless, by 1919, its circulation had agreed to use their influence to raise enthusiasm for the war in soared to 230,000, making it the most widely-distributed Black what some interpreted as surrender to a government threatening periodical of its time.12 As with all such publications, reader- to suppress their liberties.18 However, not all publications were ship would have been even higher, given the custom of sharing so compliant. In 1917, Chandler Owen and A. Philip Randolph, papers and reading them aloud.13 Abbott drew a large audience two young socialists living in Harlem, published the first issue partially by emulating William Randolph Hearst and Joseph of The Messenger, in which they denounced “the cheap, peanut Pulitzer’s style of Yellow Journalism, which favors sensation- politics of the old, reactionary Negro leaders” (a reference to alist headlines over “tepid community news.”14 A representative Washington and likely to Du Bois) and declared that “patriotism has no appeal to [them]; justice has.”19 Although both Owen and 11 W. E. B. Du Bois, Concerning the circulation of The Crisis, 1918, W. E. B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312), Special Collections and University Ar- 15 The Chicago Defender (National Edition), August 20, 1921, Pro- chives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries. http://credo.library. Quest Historical Newspapers. umass.edu/view/full/mums312-b164-i180. 16 Jordan, Black Newspapers & America’s War for Democracy, 35. 12 Roi Ottley, The Lonely Warrior: The Life and Times of Robert S. 17 Alain Locke, “Enter the New Negro,” Survey Graphic, March 1925, Abbott (Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1955), 139. 2, 6, National Humanities Resource Center Toolbox. 13 Washburn, The African American Newspaper, 83. 18 Washburn, The African American Newspaper, 106-08. 14 Ibid., 83-84. 19 Chandler Owen and A. Philip Randolph, “Messages from The Mes- 76 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Cara Price 77

Randolph thought of themselves as conscientious objectors to mastheads “The Only Radical Negro Magazine in America” and the war,20 an editorial arguing that African Americans’ general “A Journal of Scientific Radicalism” in favor of the less incen- discontent stemmed from segregation and injustice, not German diary “The World’s Greatest Negro Monthly.”25 Nevertheless, propaganda, proved adequate justification for the government to from its inception in 1917 until the early 1920s, The Messen- revoke the magazine’s second-class permit, increasing its postal ger was “singular” in its “ultra-militant” radicalism, earning fees and crippling its profits.21 The same summer, Justice Depart- a reputation that outlasted its adherence to that philosophy.26 ment agents arrested Owen and Randolph for treason; they were Despite its unique position in the Black press, The Messen- released because the judge doubted that they were intelligent ger’s origin story reflects broader trends in the field. The Great enough to write the provocative editorials bearing their names.22 Migration of African Americans to Northern cities and Ameri- Despite these legal challenges, Owen and Randolph ca’s entry into World War I coincided with (and to some extent continued publishing The Messenger for the next eleven years. caused) the birth of many new Black periodicals, as well as Although its circulation never rivaled that of The Chicago rapid growth in the circulation of those already in print.27 At Defender or even of The Crisis, The Messenger played a major the time, mainstream white newspapers rarely included arti- role in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, publishing the work cles devoted to African Americans’ activities and achievements, of globally famous intellectuals such as Langston Hughes and aside from an occasional page of “Negro News” listing local Zora Neale Hurston. It was also one of the few Black publica- births, deaths, and crimes. Beyond a focus on Black life, devo- tions to openly embrace socialism.23 Its format, which included tion to “advocacy journalism” further distinguished the Black both editorials and literature, resembled The Crisis, but Owen press from its white counterpart, which increasingly strove for and Randolph often defined The Messenger by its ideological and affected “objectivity.”28 These factors combined to give opposition to the other magazine, noting, for example, that African American publications immense influence — particu- while The Crisis’s “Horizon” section begins with “Music & larly the power to shape Black attitudes toward current events. Art,” followed by “Meetings,” “The War,” and finally “Industry” On the Eve of Revolution: Cultural Connections and and “Politics,” The Messenger prioritizes “Politics and Econom- the Jewish Parallel ics” and thus leads with that column.24 Eventually, as radical- ism lost traction due to economic depression and the Socialist In the years leading up to the 1917 revolutions, Russia Party’s poor election returns, The Messenger too incorporated appeared in the pages of The Chicago Defender and The Crisis more coverage of sports, society, and art, shedding its previous as an object of cultural interest. Especially in the Defender, this interest often manifested itself in the form of trivia: three lines senger,” The Messenger, November 1917, 31, HathiTrust Digital Library. 29 20 Theodore Kornweibel, Jr., No Crystal Stair: Black Life and the Mes- devoted to a law forbidding marriage after the age of 80; a column senger, 1917-1928 (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1975), 21. describing the roots of a village’s ongoing belief in vampires and 21 Washburn, The African American Newspaper, 102. 22 Kornweibel, No Crystal Stair, 3-4. 23 Jordan, Black Newspapers & America’s War for Democracy, 154. 25 Kornweibel, No Crystal Stair, 49-51. 24 “Who’s Who?” The Messenger, July 1918, 27–31. 26 Ibid., 49. 78 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Cara Price 79

their brutal response to rumors of a spirit;30 several paragraphs claims “the Russian” taught “the Afro-American” that the “inex- about “little buildings resembling chicken coops” where mothers haustible wealth” of Black music and storytelling would “estab- leave their babies while working in the fields;31 and so on. Stories lish a great school of music and enrich musical literature;” later with economic or political implications, such as a political pris- in the same piece, the writer recommends that such a school be oner’s self-immolation or revolutionaries’ assassination of a led by a Russian composer and teacher “who, unhindered by tsarist spy, tended to focus mostly on their sensational elements.32 prejudice, will understand . . . the peculiar musical genius of These tidbits about life in Russia not only empowered readers the Afro-American child.”35 This proposal’s depiction of a color- to imagine a world beyond white America, but also doubled blind Russian would re-emerge in later coverage of the Soviet as entertainment. As a journalistic tactic, sensationalism sold. Union, implying continuity between early artistic exchanges Because the Defender carried announcements of events and later political alliances. Several years earlier, The Crisis pertaining to African Americans in Chicago and beyond, it reported that Black violinist Sinclair White left Chicago for also offers a glimpse into how these communities interacted five years’ study in Russia and that Russian violinist Efram with Russian culture outside of the Black press. For example, Zimbalist performed “a fantasie on Negro melodies” at his Richard T. Greener, an African American who worked at the New York and Boston concerts, confirming the reciprocal rela- U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok for seven years, delivered public tionship between African American and Russian musicians.36 lectures on topics such as Russian music and the works of poet In addition to these cultural connections, faithful readers Alexander Pushkin.33 In a similar vein, Ida Forsyne, a Black of the Defender and The Crisis would have learned of another vaudeville dancer who had traveled throughout Russia and aspect of Russian life before the revolution: discrimination and Europe, performed Russian dances upon her return to the U.S.34 violence toward the country’s Jewish population, which some These items illustrate that cultural exchange between Russians Black writers considered analogous to their own suffering. In the and African Americans preceded the Soviet Union’s political early 1910s, a debate over the Russo-American Treaty of 1832 outreach. In a column on Black folk music, one Defender writer drew attention to this parallel. The U.S. eventually announced that it would terminate the treaty, which stipulated “a recipro- 30 “Relic of Heathenism: Belief in Vampires is Many Centuries Old,” cal liberty of commerce and navigation,” on the grounds that The Chicago Defender (Big Weekend Edition), August 23, 1913. Russia’s discrimination against Jewish Americans violated not 31 Greeley Cor, “Coops in Fields for Babies,” The Chicago Defender only the treaty’s terms, but also a fundamental American prin- (Big Weekend Edition), August 12, 1911. 37 32 “A Prison Horror: Awful Fate of a Russian Political Offender,” The ciple: freedom of religion. Yet an editorial in The Crisis finds Chicago Defender (Big Weekend Edition), April 23, 1910; “Bomb is Hid by Cherries: Russian Woman Police Spy Was Slain by Anarchists,” The 35 Cary B. Lewis, “W.M. Marion Cook Champion of Folk Lore Song,” Chicago Defender (Big Weekend Edition), March 1, 1913. The Chicago Defender (Big Weekend Edition), May 1, 1915. 33 “Hon. Richard T. Greener to Appear at Institutional,” The Chicago 36 “Art,” The Crisis, January 1912, 98; “Music and Art,” The Crisis, Defender (Big Weekend Edition), October 9, 1915; “Y. M. C. A. Gossip.” August 1912, 169. The Chicago Defender (Big Weekend Edition), March 13, 1915. 37 Naomi W. Cohen, “The Abrogation of the Russo-American Treaty of 34 “Ida Forsyne,” The Chicago Defender (Big Weekend Edition), Janu- 1832,” Jewish Social Studies 25, no. 1 (1963): 3-41, http://www.jstor.org/ ary 13, 1917. stable/4465950. 80 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Cara Price 81

dark humor in the “fervent declarations” from “impassioned hypocrisy.”44 By first calling attention to an American double Southern [congressional] representatives” that “discrimina- standard toward race relations, then relaying similar criticism tion because of race is un-American and cannot be tolerated,” from abroad, the Black press demonstrated how foreign affairs particularly Senator Elihu Root’s insistence that “there should could be weaponized to expose domestic injustice and ultimately not be any discrimination which constitutes two sharply sepa- to influence policy (or at least rally the African American commu- rated classes of our citizens.”38 The editorial then identifies nity and its allies). The strategies Black journalists pioneered The New York Evening Post as the only white newspaper to in their coverage of the Russo-American Treaty of 1832 would acknowledge this irony; it sarcastically called the Southern become increasingly popular later in the 1910s and 1920s. leaders’ indignation “good news for the Negroes of the South.”39 Perhaps because the debate surrounding the treaty height- Meanwhile, unlike most white papers, Black publications “of ened awareness of their plight, treatment of Jews in Russia course” alleged hypocrisy in the discourse surrounding Jews and consistently served as a basis of comparison for that of African African Americans.40 The St. Louis Advocate pointed out Amer- Americans in the U.S. “Even Russia has not proved so cruel,” ica’s “very inconsistent attitude” of “[demanding] that Russia complained a Defender writer regarding the application of Jim cease proscribing the Jew” while “practicing wholesale proscrip- Crow laws to soldiers in uniform; Jewish soldiers enjoyed “all tion upon her own native citizens.”41 The Cincinnati Union like- the privileges of the Czar’s army.”45 After a string of race riots, wise questioned when the president would “use similar haste one editorial labeled African Americans “victims of a national and courage” to ensure fair treatment of “ten millions . . . here at pogrom much like that against the Jews in Russia.”46 Another riot home.”42 In The Chicago Defender, Booker T. Washington used inspired a writer to opine that “the Jews in Russia suffered little the occasion to highlight lynchings that had occurred in the past in comparison to members of our Race.”47 Logically, if white year, although his column is subtler in its accusation of hypocrisy Americans objected to the persecution of Jews, they should have and more conciliatory in its tone.43 Perhaps the most damning also objected to discrimination in their own country. Although condemnation of white American discourse surrounding the one white newspaper responded by distinguishing between racial treaty came from Russia itself: The Crisis quoted a “well-in- and religious persecution, labeling discrimination against Jews formed” man at a protest “in Russia” who cited “the condition the latter and excusing the former, the Black press succeeded of the Negroes,” including a lynching documented in that day’s in highlighting the parallels between the groups’ circumstances St. Petersburg papers, as evidence of the U.S.’s “monumental

44 “As Russia Sees Us,” The Crisis, August 1912, 176. 38 “Charity Abroad,” The Crisis, February 1912, 147–48. 45 “Article 17 — No Title,” The Chicago Defender (Big Weekend Edi- 39 Ibid., 147. tion), July 22, 1916. 40 Ibid., 148. 46 “The Boston Riots,” The Chicago Defender (Big Weekend Edition), 41 Ibid., 148. September 20, 1919. 42 Ibid., 148. 47 “Shield Rioters; Hunt Citizens as Criminals: Ridiculous Situation 43 Booker T. Washington, “Gods of Hemp Rope Indicted,” The Chica- Stirs the Outside World to Demand Fair Play,” The Chicago Defender go Defender (Big Weekend Edition), March 30, 1912. (National Edition), June 11, 1921. 82 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Cara Price 83

(and thus the hypocrisy of America’s defense of Russian Jews).48 instantaneously.”54 Although Russian peasants enjoyed greater The relationship between African Americans and Russian economic freedom than freed slaves and had the “same hue” as Jews extended beyond these rhetorical strategies, also encompass- their middle class neighbors, Rubinow reports that fifty years ing mutual support. For example, while Black writers expressed after emancipation, they remained just as destitute as African their sympathy for and identification with Jews in Russia, some Americans, if not more so, and were also less literate.55 This American Jews, including Russian immigrants, served as allies observation leads to his first “lesson:” it is “utterly unscien- to African Americans in their struggle against racial prejudice.49 tific” to attribute the divide between Black and white Americans Occasionally this solidarity entailed financial assistance, such to “any inherent racial traits,” considering similar conditions as Julius Rosenwald’s donation of $25,000 to establish a Young produced “identical results . . . in an entirely different race.”56 Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in Chicago.50 More often, Then, drawing on the experiences of Russian Jews, Rubinow their support was emotional or intellectual. One of the first issues argues that “race inferiority has nothing to do with violent race of The Crisis printed a letter from a “Russian Revolutionist” persecution, but an exclusive position under the law” designed to who noted that he shares African Americans’ “struggle with “divert the attention of an ignorant though dissatisfied mass from the same inaccessible wall of prejudice and hatred,” praised the real political and social problems,” namely tsarist oppression their “good nature and ingenious beauty,” and encouraged them in Russia and threats to “the supremacy of the solid Democracy” not to heed the advice of those who “speak about the spiritual in America.57 Rubinow concludes: “fight not alone,” but instead submission of the Negroes.”51 Letters like these confirm not “seek . . . natural historical allies” among the working class.58 only international attention to racial injustice, but also the reci- His recommendation of “active resistance” driven by class as procity of each group’s respect for and support of the other. much as race derives partially from his admiration of the “failed” Several years later, after an issue of The Crisis noting Revolution of 1905.59 By framing Russian revolutionaries as a that he had spoken alongside Du Bois at an NAACP confer- potential source of inspiration for African Americans, Rubinow ence, Jewish immigrant I. W. Rubinow, a former member of foreshadows a dynamic that would develop in the wake of the the Imperial Russian Civil Service, wrote a series of “Lessons 1917 revolutions. While solidarity with Russian Jews domi- from Russia.”52 Compared to the abolition of American slavery, nated the Black press’s coverage of Russia until 1917, Soviet Rubinow called the concurrent emancipation of Russian serfs Russia’s approach to change and labor — sometimes condemned, “a masterpiece of statesmanship,” as they were “at least given sometimes embraced — quickly emerged as another recurring some opportunity to acquire land . . . and [were] left undis- theme, likewise used to further each publication’s political goals. turbed as independent [tillers] of the soil.”53 Meanwhile, former First Reports of Revolution in The Chicago Defender slaves in America found themselves “free not only of individual and The Crisis restraint but also of visible means of subsistence,” their liber- ators full of “childish faith” that “a simple substitution of the Neither The Chicago Defender nor The Crisis devoted relationship of the employer and employee for those of master significant coverage to the February Revolution, which ended and slave” would solve “all economic and social problems . . . the tsarist autocracy and established a Provisional Government. 84 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Cara Price 85

When the papers mention revolutionary activity in the spring brotherhood of man,’” The Crisis declared that “it’s enough to and summer of 1917, it is framed in the context of American make one snicker and snort;” after all, North Carolina was “home interests, particularly Black American interests. On the first of the KKK [Ku Klux Klan], the Jim Crow Car, mob murder, page of the March 1917 edition of The Crisis, a brief editorial segregation and damnation” — hardly a beacon of freedom for reports that “another revolution in Russia mystifies the world its Black residents.63 This criticism echoes earlier allegations and makes us wonder whether the German menace is to be of hypocrisy toward Southern politicians who condemned the followed by a Russian menace.”60 Although the editorial provides persecution of Russian Jews, with a subtle twist. While previ- no further details regarding the revolution itself, the question ous coverage relied on the premise that violence Americans of a Russian “menace” casts the situation in a negative light. consider unacceptable abroad should also be unacceptable at However, two months later, The Crisis devoted more atten- home, mockery of Bickett’s message undermines fundamen- tion to Russia. This next reference to the revolution identifies tal American ideals by implying that democracy is hollow if it it as one of “three vast events” that “stand out” in international is not universal. How, The Crisis asks, could he congratulate affairs (alongside women’s suffrage in England and the war) Russians for acquiring “divine rights” his own constituents and imagines Catherine Breshkovsky, a socialist imprisoned by lack, especially when he has the power to rectify the situation? the tsarist government during the 1905 Revolution, “returning America’s entry into World War I in April 1917 added urgency from Siberia after a long fight” just as one day a “black woman to this question, inspiring further critiques of how the U.S. failed will ride down the world” celebrating the end of disenfranchise- to live up to its stated ideals. Although The Crisis supported the ment and segregation.61 Interestingly, the same issue includes war, writing on behalf of African Americans that they would “fight a membership drive for the NAACP that encourages readers shoulder to shoulder with the world,”64 Mary White Ovington, a to “take advantage of war-created opportunities to advance the co-founder of the NAACP, zeroed in on the principles supposedly status of colored people, as . . . the oppressed masses of Russia driving the conflict: “Democracy against Autocracy and Milita- have advanced theirs;” this language recurs verbatim in June rism.”65 After questioning whether it “is democracy” to “deny [a and July advertisements.62 Both the editorial and the advertise- part of the population] the right to vote” or “to set it apart in a ments indicate identification with the Russian revolutionaries ghetto,” she responds that it is not; rather, “it is despotism . . . the and admiration of their strategies, a dynamic that turns offen- despotism that Russia has thrown off.”66 If the American govern- sive in critiques of American discrimination. When Thomas ment does not “at once enforce the 15th Amendment,” Ovington Walter Bickett, the governor of North Carolina, congratulated the suggests that it will become “a laughing stock to its enemies.”67 Russian people for “‘[asserting] their divine rights in joining the Just as The Crisis once described Russians incorporating

60 “The World Last Month,” The Crisis, March 1917, 215. 61 “The World Last Month,” The Crisis, May 1917, 8. 63 “Glass Houses,” The Crisis, June 1917, 76. 62 “National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,” The 64 “The World Last Month,” The Crisis, May 1917, 8. Crisis, May 1917, 18-19; “National Association for the Advancement of 65 Mary White Ovington, “Democracy,” The Crisis, July 1917, 114–16. Colored People,” The Crisis, June 1917, 54; “National Association for the 66 Ibid., 115. Advancement of Colored People,” The Crisis, July 1917, 106. 67 Ibid., 115. 86 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Cara Price 87

examples of American racism into their protests of the revo- Crisis and the Herald do not challenge American involvement cation of the Russo-American Treaty of 1832, the Defender in the war. Instead, they frame the threat of Russian rhetoric reprinted a Lexington Herald editorial illustrating the appar- condemning segregation in America as a material consequence ent fulfillment of Ovington’s prophecy. The article, which the of inconsistently applied democratic values. In the uncertainty Defender’s editors hoped would reach not only their usual audi- following the February Revolution, it would not have been diffi- ence but also “the white people of . . . Mississippi,” reports cult to imagine a major shift in Russian-American relations, and that Germans distributed anti-American propaganda in Russia, Black writers saw an opportunity to channel the recent uptick in including photographs of race riots and lynchings.68 Juxtaposed rhetoric about democracy and liberation toward their own ends. against idyllic depictions of life in Germany, these images Even when their critiques implicitly cast doubt on America’s implied that the U.S. was not a “democracy in which people stated motives for entering the conflict, the editors ofThe Crisis were treated with fairness and with justice” but instead “a and The Chicago Defender aimed to “take advantage of war-cre- capitalistic country” intent on “[attaining] dominance in world ated opportunities to advance the status of colored people,”72 as affairs for the purpose of exploiting the people and the resources the NAACP membership drive put it, not to pressure the U.S. to of other countries.”69 Arguing that propaganda “indubitably” change its behavior abroad. This stance is unsurprising consid- contributed to Germany’s advances on the Russian front, the ering Abbott and Du Bois had promised the War Department Herald classifies any white man who participates in a lynching and the Committee on Public Information that their publications as “an ally of the Beast of Berlin” and thus a threat to Ameri- would support the war, and that the Sedition Act of 1918 forbade can interests abroad.70 Such crimes would be especially egre- “disloyal” speech during wartime.73 Instead of reading dry factual gious in light of the “thousands” of Black men “ready to give reports about the February Revolution, subscribers to The Crisis their lives for the cause of civilization,” a theme the Defender and the Defender would have therefore encountered the news had begun emphasizing as soon as the U.S. entered the war. through the lens of domestic racial politics. As the war continued Fittingly, the first Defender article to mention the Russian and the situation in Russia developed, however, both publications Revolution is a March 1917 critique of discrimination in the U.S. introduced new perspectives on Soviet life, ranging from editori- Navy, which cites the situation in Russia as evidence that a nation als about Bolshevism to reviews of plays inspired by the turmoil. cannot be strong unless it is united, and that unity cannot be The October Revolution and The Messenger achieved without “justice to all classes.”71 The editorials in The Beginning in its first issue, The Messenger set itself 68 “Southern White Daily Becomes Conscience Stricken: Lynchers apart from the Defender and The Crisis by openly celebrating are the Allies of the Huns,” The Chicago Defender (Big Weekend Edition), June 22, 1918. (Big Weekend Edition), March 31, 1917. 69 Ibid. 72 “National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,” The 70 “Southern White Daily Becomes Conscience Stricken: Lynchers Crisis, May 1917, 18-19; “National Association for the Advancement of are the Allies of the Huns,” The Chicago Defender (Big Weekend Edition), Colored People,” The Crisis, June 1917, 54; “National Association for the June 22, 1918. Advancement of Colored People,” The Crisis, July 1917, 106. 71 “Discrimination in the United States Navy,” The Chicago Defender 73 Washburn, The African American Newspaper, 100, 106-08. 88 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Cara Price 89

the Russian Revolution: “Long live Kerenski! Long live Revo- being unreasonably extreme their demands,” but instead because lutionary Russia! Long live Socialism!”74 The article, which they will not accept less than that to which they are “entitled:” prematurely notes that “the firm hand of Kerenski . . . stayed the namely, workers’ ownership and operation of the land, as well overthrow of the Provisional Russian government,” may have as “a general, and not a separate peace” in the war.80 Because the already been outdated upon its publication;75 the issue is dated issue dates to January 1918, it is unclear whether the editorial November 1917, the same month the Bolsheviks’ October Revo- preceded or followed the brief convention and dissolution of lution succeeded in ousting Kerensky. Despite this hiccup, The the democratically elected Constituent Assembly mid-month. Messenger’s support for the revolution grew increasingly vocal Regardless, the editors’ conflation of the Bolsheviks with in its later issues, further widening the divide between “The Only the Russian populace suggests that they might accept Bolshe- Radical Negro Magazine in America” and other Black periodicals. vik leader Vladimir Lenin’s claim that “the dictatorship of the In January 1918,76 the second issue updated readers on proletariat” more fully embodies democratic principles than “the Bolsheviki,” who now led what one of its editorials calls “the “theusual bourgeois republic.”81 Aside from praising Lenin and people’s most democratic government.”77 The same month, an his ally Leon Trotsky as “sagacious, statesmanlike, and coura- editorial published in the Defender argues against prohibition by geous leaders,” the editorial emphasizes their call for “the people suggesting that “if it comes, [it] will be imposed by states which of every country to follow the lead of Russia . . . to disgorge have turned their backs as squarely upon their ancient principles the exploiters and the profiteers.”82 Crucially, it then implies of government as the Russian Bolsheviki have turned their backs that this call has been heeded as “the Bolsheviki of all coun- upon the obligations of democracy.”78 Although neither publica- tries [ask] searching questions.”83 This phrasing establishes that, tion delves into the details of the October Revolution (omitting, in the rhetoric of The Messenger, Bolshevism doubles as both for example, the essential questions of why the Bolsheviks over- a synonym for socialism and the uncontested ideology of the threw the Provisional Government and what replaced it), The Russian people. In another editorial, which refers sweepingly Messenger portrays the revolution as “the death knell of half to the “psychologies” of nations, Owen reinforces this inter- pay to the workers of Russia,” an event worth celebrating.79 The pretation by listing “the Bolsheviki” as a “people” alongside editorial concedes that the Bolsheviks “represent the extreme the French, the Italians, and the British.84 The Messenger’s radicals,” then quickly clarifies that they are not so “in the sense of version of the October Revolution and its immediate after- math thus obscures ongoing political turmoil in Russia, where 74 “Who’s Who?” The Messenger, November 1917, 32. 75 Ibid., 32. Bolsheviks still competed with (and suppressed) other parties, 76 Although Randolph and Owen eventually published The Messenger monthly, early issues were more sporadic. See HathiTrust Digital Library 80 Ibid., 7. documentation for more information. 81 Vladimir Lenin, “Theses on the Constituent Assembly,” in Collected 77 “The Bolsheviki,” The Messenger, January 1918, 7; Chandler Owen, Works, ed. George Hanna (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1972), 379. “Peace,” The Messenger, January 1918, 17. 82 “The Bolsheviki,” The Messenger, January 1918, 7. 78 “Democracy Betrayed by the South,” The Chicago Defender (Big 83 Ibid. Weekend Edition), January 19, 1918. 84 Chandler Owen, “Psychology Will Win This War,” The Messenger, 79 “The Bolsheviki,” The Messenger, January 1918, 7. July 1918, 19-21. 90 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Cara Price 91

such as the Socialist Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks. engaged on the Eastern Front “in spite of herself.”89 Never- These omissions serve a political purpose: they encourage theless, on March 3, 1918, Soviet Russia signed the Treaty of readers to identify with the Bolsheviks’ progress rather than Brest-Litovsk, ceding the Baltics, Ukraine, and parts of Belo- questioning their motives or methods. The editors “see no russia to Germany in exchange for a separate peace. Within Utopia” and “have no dream,” according to an editorial mark- weeks, the Defender labeled Russia a “disorderly, fleeing mob.”90 ing the dawn of 1918.85 However, “the trend of the times,” as Yet the withdrawal’s effect on the war signaled an opportunity exhibited by “the Russian peasants [raising] up a government for African Americans to fight abroad in greater numbers and destined to achieve the social welfare,” pointed toward “the next fill domestic positions vacated by their white countrymen, thus change in human and property rights.”86 Soviet Russia was not securing better political and economic positions for themselves. their “Utopia,” but it did represent hope. While the U.S. locked Columnist Ralph W. Tyler argued that in what began as a “white up socialists, “called traitors and pro-Germans throughout the man’s war,” loyal Black citizens’ help “was not wanted” until country,” Owen and Randolph counted the Bolsheviks among Russia’s retreat and the Allies’ increasingly precarious position the “millions marching not in the armies of destruction, but in forced the U.S. to rely on “all its fighting men and the hearty the armies of progress.”87 Reporting on the ongoing conflict cooperation of every class.”91 Strain on the economy and military among the people, especially the Bolsheviks’ violent suppres- “compelled” the government to promote Black soldiers, hire Black sion of fellow socialists, would complicate their depiction of workers, and meet with Black leaders; similarly, the deployment Russia as a model for America and the rest of the world. Soli- of many white workers prompted the American Federation of darity therefore took precedence over nuance. In the months Labor to strengthen its ranks by accepting Black members for and years to come, The Messenger’s coverage of Russia would the first time.92 Considering these concessions, many African maintain the ideal of a revolutionary government “destined” Americans hoped victory would further elevate their status.93 In for success — assuming it could survive the Allies’ sabotage. a speech printed in the Defender, Emmett J. Scott, who held the newly-created position of Special Advisor on Black Affairs to the War and Peace Secretary of War, expressed his confidence that once democracy The October Revolution’s implications for World War “has been achieved” for “the men of the world,” it would also I shaped each publication’s allusions to revolutionary Russia. include “the men of America — the black no less than the white.”94

Although the Bolsheviks initially advocated for a general peace, 89 “Peace Balloons,” The Chicago Defender (Big Weekend Edition), calling for negotiations among all combatants “on the basis February 16, 1918. of a repudiation of territorial annexations . . . and national 90 Ralph W. Tyler, “Many Promotions in the Army,” The Chicago De- 88 fender (Big Weekend Edition), March 16, 1918. self-determination,” the Allies rejected their proposal. The 91 Ibid. Defender affirmed this decision: “to turn back now would be 92 Tyler, “Many Promotions in the Army,” The Chicago Defender (Big folly,” given President Woodrow Wilson’s prediction that the Weekend Edition), March 16, 1918. 93 Ethan Michaeli, The Defender: How the Legendary Black Newspa- war would end within a year, and Russia might well remain per Changed America (New York: Mariner Books, 2016), 93-95. 94 “Triumphant Democracy Coming for All Men,” The Chicago De- 92 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Cara Price 93

Meanwhile, The Crisis reinforced the necessity of this mission would no longer be a distinct ruling class motivated by profit, and to both Americans in general and African Americans specifically. the cost to common people — death, heavy taxes, “and the most Beneath the title “Safe for Democracy,” it printed two columns indescribable suffering” — is always unjustifiably high.100 Owen side-by-side: the first fromThe New York Evening Post, describing also identifies “insincerity” in America’s refusal to participate the Red Army’s brutal murder of a Russian general and the mob’s in Bolshevik peace negotiations on the grounds that the German subsequent abuse of his corpse, and the second from The Chata- government is not a “people’s government” and therefore cannot nooga Daily Times, describing another mob’s toturous lynching be trusted. If democracy truly signals integrity, why would the of a Black man in Tennessee.95 Without further comment, the U.S. “make terms with the autocracy of Russia” while refusing juxtaposition of these stories communicates what was at stake “to recognize [its] people’s most democratic government?”101 in the war. When Wilson publicly condemned lynching in July Between Owen’s editorial and an antiwar poem, The Messen- 1918, suggesting that the murders “discredit” American democ- ger prints its response: a cartoon that depicts Wilson sitting racy, his language echoed editorials from The Crisis and the atop money bags and ignoring the white and Black Americans Defender and implied that Black patriotism would be rewarded.96 who suffer above him.102 Unlike The Crisis and the Defender, Even so, The Messenger remained critical of U.S. involve- whose coverage of the war focused on domestic consequences ment in the war and skeptical of the conflict’s alleged benefits for and wielded Russia as a rhetorical weapon, The Messenger African Americans. In July, the same month Wilson denounced took a pacifist stance consistent with its sympathy toward the lynching, it printed a letter from Mary White Ovington in which Bolsheviks but ultimately rooted in its socialist philosophy. she declares that only “class consciousness” and “internation- The Russian Civil War, Allied Intervention, and the alism” can “save the black races” and “all mankind.”97 She Red Scare praises both The Messenger and Soviet Russia for spreading this message of peace and class solidarity, even though “the Beyond advocating for a general peace, The Messenger governments held down the people . . . strangling the answer they further distinguished itself from The Crisis and the Defender might have sent.”98 Her belief that “the people” would advocate by consistently covering Allied intervention in the Russian Civil for peace aligns with editor Chandler Owen’s argument that War. Aside from a joke about the U.S. having “law and order to “the most democratic government,” a label he applies to Soviet spare” and a line noting that an African American cavalry unit Russia, would also be the most peaceful.99 According to Owen, had been sent to Vladivostok, The Crisis ignored the topic.103 a socialist state would avoid or possibly even abolish war; there 100 Ibid., 20. 101 Ibid., 17. fender (Big Weekend Edition), March 30, 1918. 102 Illustration, The Messenger, January 1918, 18-19. 95 “Safe for Democracy,” The Crisis, April 1918, 270. 103 The joke reads, “‘Was it not their [Secretary of State] Lansing who 96 Michaeli, The Defender, 95-96. called on all the nations to bring order to Russia when we had OUR riots?’ 97 Mary White Ovington, “Miss Mary White Ovington’s Letter to the / ‘What! Are THESE people,’ said the Peasant Bolshevik, ‘who have so Editors,” The Messenger, July 1918, 14-15. MANY troops and so much law and order to SPARE for Russia?’” 98 Ibid., 15. 99 Chandler Owen, “Peace,” The Messenger, January 1918, 17-20. “Spirit of the Times,” The Crisis, October 1919, 305; “The War,” The Cri- 94 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Cara Price 95

The Defender printed a series of letters from an African Amer- Eugene V. Debs. However, when the war ended, domestic unrest ican soldier who joined the Japanese army in Siberia, but his escalated. Despite Wilson’s harsh words, lynchings continued correspondence, while critical of the Red Army, prioritized with little intervention from the federal government. According adventure stories over political commentary.104 Although Du to a report from The Nation reprinted in The Crisis, sixty-two Bois and Abbott’s agreement with the War Department may lynchings occurred in 1918, twenty-two more than in 1917, yet have encompassed their coverage of the Russian Civil War, it reports of the crimes were “crowded toward back pages” of is also possible that the editors did not consider the conflict mainstream publications that devoted “long columns,” “often likely to interest their readers for its own sake. The Messenger, wholly unsubstantiated,” to “Russian and German brutalities.”108 on the other hand, began protesting as soon as Japan proposed Racial violence occurred on an even greater scale as riots erupted entering Siberia. Ostensibly a defense against Germany, the across the country, killing dozens, including some Black veter- move troubled the editors, who attribute the European Allies’ ans.109 Clearly, the post-war respect many African Americans support for the plan to fear of socialism spreading, and Ameri- had hoped for did not materialize. Meanwhile, labor unions can acceptance of it to investments in Siberian natural resourc- organized massive strikes; bombs (and bomb scares) terror- es.105 Aside from protecting “capitalists’ anticipated profits,” ized the public; and Soviet Russia convened the Third Inter- the editors suggest that the U.S. had also contracted “the national, an organization promoting worldwide revolution.110 socialist contagion,” a threat that makes Russia “the object From this atmosphere of tension and terror emerged the Red of . . . international hate.”106 Their conclusion echoes much of Scare, a period of anti-Bolshevik hysteria from 1919 to 1920. The Messenger’s commentary on the war: “American public The Defender quickly weaponized this panic. One editorial opinion” should force the government to abandon its “embar- associates white supremacist senators James K. Vardaman and rassing alliance” with “autocratic” Japan and “get on the side M. Hoke Smith, as well as their “disciples,” with a “red flag — of democracy” — in their eyes, of course, the Soviet side.107 in a different form — [waving] as freely as it does in Russia.”111 While Randolph and Owen hoped that the Russian Revo- Although the article does not elaborate, the “red flag” acts as lution would inspire similar uprisings worldwide, American a shorthand for the senators’ treachery, implicitly linking the authorities did everything in their power to maintain order, from confederate flag to a symbol of communist revolt. Weeks later, restricting free speech through the Espionage Act of 1917 and after the discovery of a bomb plot targeting American leaders, the Sedition Act of 1918 to arresting socialist leaders such as the Defender attributes the incident to “the mob spirit,” which, if “allowed to run unchecked” against even a portion of the sis, October 1918, 291. population, would eventually “[dominate] and [threaten] the 104 “Windshield Jackson,” The Chicago Defender (Big Weekend Edition), April 23, 1921; “Windshield Jackson: Twenty-Sixth Letter,” The 108 “The Pity of It,” The Crisis, April 1919, 291. Chicago Defender (Big Weekend Edition), November 12, 1921; interven- 109 Michaeli, The Defender, 109-113. ing issues. 110 Robert K. Murray, Red Scare: A Study in National Hysteria, 1919- 105 “Japan and the Far East,” The Messenger, July 1918, 22-23. 1920 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1955), 105. 106 Ibid., 23. 111 “Breaking Bread,” The Chicago Defender (Big Weekend Edition), 107 Ibid., 23. April 19, 1919. 96 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Cara Price 97

entire social fabric.”112 The paper thus transitioned from framing exist only between equals; a man thus could not be loyal to his lynching as a threat to American interests abroad to portraying it government any more than a slave could be loyal to his master.118 as a domestic vulnerability with implications for white citizens. The Messenger’s rejection of blind patriotism freed it to Over the course of the next several years, the Defender also continue criticizing Allied intervention in the Russian Civil defended African Americans against white suspicions that they War and other punitive measures against Soviet Russia. In the might be susceptible to Bolshevism. On the contrary, opines March and August 1919 issues, the editors urged an interna- writer Phil H. Brown, Black citizens “never question the right tional labor strike that would last until the Allies withdrew their or wrong of their country in war,” instead “[standing] firm as armies from Russian territory and offered the Soviet govern- the bulwark of Americanism” against the “destructive vagary of ment “a voice at the peace table;” without these measures, they Bolshevism.”113 By highlighting their loyalty (with a particular feared the new state’s “legislative and administrative invention” emphasis on their work ethic), Brown frames Black laborers as would be squandered.119 (A spirited poem, “Call Off Your Dogs attractive alternatives to “restless [aliens],” whom he implies of War!,” reiterates the sentiment.120) Similarly, in 1920, The may harbor “bolshevistic, socialistic, anarchistic” sympathies.114 Messenger praised the formation of a “British Labor Council Brown evidently did not read The Messenger. “We Want of Action” that would call a general strike if war with Russia More Bolshevik Patriotism,” declares one title printed at seemed imminent, and in 1922, called on American workers to the height of the Red Scare.115 According to the article, such emulate the British “Hands Off Russia” boycott of Japanese patriotism would offer land and protection to every citizen, goods.121 These objections targeted not only military intervention, eschew “race, color, [and] sex lines,” and cultivate empathy but also the Allies’ economic blockade, which one Messenger for all “fellowmen.”116 Loyalty, a virtue so often espoused in editorial blames for the Russian famine, and American human- the Defender and The Crisis, does not possess the same inherent itarian aid, which the editors claim was structured to sabo- value in The Messenger. One editorial mocks Du Bois for his tage the Soviet government and benefit U.S. capitalists at the “silly and asinine” belief in African Americans’ fundamental expense of starving children.122 The Messenger thus acknowl- morality, arguing instead that “liberty and justice have advanced edged bleak conditions in Soviet Russia but absolved the Soviet in the world in proportion as people have been traitorous to system, preserving the illusion of Bolshevism’s infallibility. their tyrants and oppressors.”117 Another posits that loyalty can Conclusion

112 “A Boomerang,” The Chicago Defender (Big Weekend Edition), Although the Black press published diverse takes on the May 10, 1919. Russian Revolution, framing Soviet Russia alternately as a threat 113 Phil H. Brown, “Are We Bolshevists?” The Chicago Defender (Big Weekend Edition), January 8, 1921. to democracy or a raceless utopia, these publications shared a 114 Ibid. common goal: leveraging international affairs to promote racial 115 “We Want More Bolshevik Patriotism!” The Messenger, May/June equality in the U.S. In the years preceding the revolution, both 1919, 29. 116 Ibid., 29. The Crisis and The Chicago Defender employed this strategy by 117 “The Crisis of The Crisis,” The Messenger, July 1919, 10-12. drawing attention to the hypocritical rhetoric surrounding the 98 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Cara Price 99

termination of the Russo-American Treaty of 1832. Comparisons agenda shaped their coverage of revolutionary Russia, which between Russian Jews and African Americans continued well downplayed negative aspects of Soviet life and politics in order beyond coverage of the treaty; in addition to suffering under to counter the Red Scare and illustrate the benefits of socialism. similarly oppressive conditions, each group expressed solidarity By the time Langston Hughes and Louise Thompson Patter- with the other. This reciprocal relationship persisted, but during son set sail to filmBlack and White, they would have had years of the revolutionary period that began in 1917, several new themes exposure to leftist advocacy journalism, as well as less favorable dominated the Black press’s coverage of Russia. Given their focus commentary on the Soviet Union in mainstream Black publica- on racial injustice and Black empowerment in the U.S., The Crisis tions like the Defender and The Crisis. These papers did not exist and the Defender did not initially print much information about in a vacuum; some writers wrote for all three, and each publi- the revolution itself. Instead, early references to the situation in cation occasionally contained references to the others, giving Russia typically put it in terms of American military interests and Black intellectuals such as Hughes and Patterson the opportunity the country’s reputation abroad, which the editors identified as to compare a variety of sources and perspectives. Even within a topics vital to advancing their own cause. This dynamic shifted single publication, attitudes toward the Soviet Union evolved. In as the Red Scare gained steam; perhaps because some white a sequence of articles spanning from 1923 to 1924, The Crisis, politicians alleged a connection between African Americans which had not devoted much coverage to the revolution itself, and Bolshevism, many Black writers denounced the ideology, published Claude McKay’s admiring account of his time in praised their race’s loyalty, and denied that any African Ameri- Russia at the Fourth World Congress of the Comintern.123 Several cans harbored an affinity for Soviet Russia. On the contrary, they years later, in 1926, Du Bois traveled to the Soviet Union for the argued, Black citizens deserved political rewards for their loyalty. first time, a journey he would repeat each decade until his death. Meanwhile, The Messenger consistently disproved these His experiences there ultimately contributed to what historian writers’ claims of universal adherence to traditional American Kate Baldwin describes as his “political realignment from liber- values. Editors Randolph and Owen not only questioned whether alism to socialism, and later from socialism to communism.”124 such loyalty would be a virtue, but also advocated for a socialist Du Bois’ ideological shift serves as a reminder of the indi- revolution in the U.S. and printed pro-Soviet perspectives on a viduality and complexity of the writers behind The Crisis, the variety of issues, including international sanctions’ role in the Defender, and The Messenger. The Russian Revolution coin- Russian famine and a “Hands Off Russia” boycott of Japanese cided with a period of intellectual dynamism in Black thought, goods. Yet even their stance had roots and goals in domestic when commentators generally agreed on the emergence of a politics. In the eyes of Randolph, Owen, and other Messenger “New Negro” but not on how he should be defined or what writers, Black empowerment required more than the enforce- 123 Claude McKay, “Soviet Russia and the Negro,” The Crisis, Decem- ment of the Fifteenth Amendment, the prosecution of lynchers, ber 1923, 61-65; Claude McKay, “Soviet Russia and the Negro (Conclud- and the integration of schools and public spaces; for African ed),” The Crisis, January 1924, 114-118.. Americans’ conditions to substantially improve, the U.S. would 124 Kate A. Baldwin, Beyond the Color Line and the Iron Curtain: Reading Encounters between Black and Red, 1922-1963 (Durham and need to exchange capitalism for socialism. This anticapitalist London: Duke University Press, 2002), 150. 100 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History

political strategies he should espouse. While Randolph and he lack ammer of Owen characterize this New Negro as “radical,” associating T B H him with their rejection of capitalism and admiration of Russia, Soviet Industry: A Comparison Alain Locke, who popularized the term, calls the New Negro “radical on race matters, conservative on others,” “a social of Robert Robinson to Two protestant rather than a genuine radical.”125 Taken together, these apparently contradictory definitions suggest another: the African Americans Working in New Negro as a member of a diverse intellectual community that included both “genuine radicals” and “social protestants,” the Soviet Union, 1930-1939 Randolph and Owen as well as Locke, who were united not by a single ideology but by the goal of racial advancement. By Evan Amico invoking a wide array of perspectives and strategies, the Black press’s coverage of revolutionary Russia offers a window into this community and its engagement with the rest of the world. Robert Robinson, nicknamed the “coal-black protege of Joseph Stalin”1 by TIME Magazine in 1934, may be the most famous African American to have ever lived in the Soviet Union. His fame can be traced back to the so-called “Stalingrad Incident” and its media aftermath. A few weeks after Robinson’s arrival to the Soviet Union in 1930, two white Americans – named Louis and Brown – assaulted Robinson along a riverbank in Stalingrad in 1930. They told him he had twenty-four hours to leave the Soviet Union or he would “be sorry.”2 They began to beat him. The two men had decided to take the enforcement of Jim Crow segregation into their own hands. But Robinson fought back. He broke free from their grasp and bit into Louis’s neck. This act of defense would have meant certain death for Robinson in the United States, but in his new Soviet home, it made him a hero. Soviet authorities used his story to propagate the idea that

125 A. Philip Randolph and Chandler Owen, “The New Negro — What 1 “RUSSIA: Black Blank,” TIME Magazine, December 24, 1934. is He?” The Messenger, August 1920, 73-74; Locke, “Enter the New 2 Robert Robinson and Jonathan Slevin, Black on Red: My 44 Years In- Negro,” 4. side the Soviet Union (Washington DC: Acropolis Books LTD, 1988), 66. 102 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Evan Amico 103

the Soviet Union was a nation free from racism.3 His story American audience. During this time period, however, the Amer- became a rallying point for both Soviets and Americans during ican public sought to discredit Soviet ideology. Thus, the authors the Cold War. Soviet authorities used him as proof of their may have written their memoirs to present the Soviet Union less progressive values and the opportunities in the USSR for black favorably than they otherwise might have. Yet, as Kathy Iwasaki men and women, while the Americans condemned his “commu- professes, these types of sources are valuable in presenting “indi- nist values.” The Moscow Daily News, written in English and vidual expressions of reality as perceived by the [authors] at a intended for international distribution, projected Robinson’s particular moment.”5 Overall, these memoirs make it clear that success throughout the world to serve as a beacon to other Robert Robinson’s experience was not unique; rather, African racially oppressed groups.4 According to Soviet propaganda, Americans of diverse prestige and profession enjoyed heightened the new Soviet system of government empowered all of mankind, opportunity and social status as workers in the Soviet Union. black or white. But could other African Americans achieve some- Background thing comparable to Robert Robinson’s career path in the Soviet Union, or did Robinson merely receive special treatment from The Soviet Union recruited Robinson, Powers, and Smith the Soviet government thanks to his fame and propaganda value? to help realize Joseph Stalin’s Five-Year Plan, which spanned This article explores the opportunities available to African from 1928 through 1932. Shortly after Stalin’s rise to power in Americans in the Soviet Union between 1930 and 1939, from 1924, he prioritized advancement of the Soviet Union’s indus- Robinson’s arrival in the USSR to the Soviet Union’s involve- trial sector. To achieve his goal, he created the Five-Year Plan, ment in World War II. I compare the experiences of Robert under which the Soviet Union brought in foreign specialists Robinson to those of Homer Smith and Bernard Powers, two as consultants to improve Soviet industry. These men came other African Americans who traveled to the Soviet Union for from industrialized nations, such as the United States, and work and opportunities not found in the United States but who guided Soviet citizens during their rapid industrialization.6 have received much less scholarly attention. While Smith wrote While in the Soviet Union, these men received special his own memoir, Langston Hughes, a famous African Ameri- privileges, such as access to private foreign shops, which can poet, referenced his friend Bernard Powers in many of his native Russians were not granted. Robert Robinson, Homer works, which describe Powers’ life in the Soviet Union. Smith Smith, and Bernard Powers represent many Americans the lived and worked in Moscow with Robinson while Powers, an educated engineer, had a similar background to Robinson. 5 Kathy M. Iwasakai, “The Memoir as Text: Impressions of American Both Robinson and Smith wrote their memoirs after return- Engineers in the Soviet Union, 1928-1932,” (Master’s Thesis, University ing to the United States, in 1988 and 1964 respectively. Writ- of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1990), 13. In addition to memoirs, I use the Moscow Daily News to analyze how the Soviet media portrayed these ten during the Cold War, these memoirs were intended for an events to the outside world. I avoid the use of western papers to put Soviet representation in sharper focus. 3 Z. Rumer, “Engineer Robinson’s Guests,” Moscow News (Moscow), 6 Barbara Keys, “An African-American Worker in Stalin’s Soviet no. 39, May 15, 1957, 5. Union: Race and the Soviet Experiment in International Perspective,” His- 4 Ibid. torian 71, no. 1 (Spring 2009): 32. 104 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Evan Amico 105

Soviet government contracted to help them improve Soviet went to Detroit to enter industry, but what sets them apart is their race. In the United the automotive industry.9 States, these African Americans were treated as second-class In the Jim Crow era, the citizens and received less opportunities to succeed than their machinist’s role was a white coworkers. The Soviet Union promoted themselves white man’s job, and it as a “racial paradise” where talented African Americans was difficult for minori- could reach their full potential to capitalize on American ties to gain employment racism. They promoted their communist ideology to influen- in highly skilled posi- tial African Americans, hoping to draw others to their nation.7 tions.10 Robinson began working in a Ford factory Robert Robinson Robert Robinson in a Soviet factory. Im- age courtesy of Wikicommons. as a floor sweeper while Robert Nathaniel Robinson faced many unique chal- he waited for approval to complete the training required for lenges not common in the already difficult lives of African Amer- toolmakers. Despite this opportunity, Robertson did not receive icans. Although his early life is not the topic of much scholarly the same training that white students received, which put him research, his autobiography provides insight into his decision to at a disadvantage. His prior experience in Cuba and his strong travel to the Soviet Union. Robinson was born in Jamaica in 1907 desire to bring his mother to the United States, however, moti- to a Jamaican mother and Cuban father. His family later immi- vated him to become one of the Ford Factory’s most skilled grated to his father’s home country of Cuba, where his father machinists. Yet his success did not earn him his white peers’ abandoned him and his mother. A few weeks before Robinson respect, and they repeatedly sabotaged his machine hoping left for the Soviet Union, his mother confessed that she brought to slow him down or harm him.11 In 1927, Robertson was baby Robert to the ocean with the intention to drown him after Ford’s only non-white toolmaker out of 270,000 employ- they had run out of food. He was saved only when Robinson’s ees,12 which made him a target for discrimination and racism. mother saw a vision of God telling her to spare her son. The next In 1930, during the early months of the Great Depression, day she went to a woman in her church for help and was even- Robert Robinson’s life in the United States looked promising. tually able to work her way out of poverty.8 Robinson’s impov- He was twenty-three years old and had been working a job he erished background motivated him to seek economic success. enjoyed for three years. In his words, he felt that his “future After turning twenty, Robinson immigrated to the United seemed bright.”13 Later that year, an envoy from the Soviet Union States in search of work. Trained as a toolmaker in Cuba, he discovered Robinson working at his machine in the Ford factory.

9 Ibid., 24. 7 Doris Zallen and Joy Gleason Carew, Blacks, Reds, and Russians: 10 Keys, “An African-American Worker in Stalin’s Soviet Union,” 33. Sojourners in Search of the Soviet Promise (Piscataway: Rutgers Universi- 11 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 25. ty Press, 2008), 1-4. 12 Zallen and Carew, Blacks, Reds, and Russians, 70. 8 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 31-32. 13 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 26. 106 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Evan Amico 107

A translator bombarded him with questions regarding his work. ing example of how some Russians treated African American In the end, he asked Robinson if he would be willing to go to the guests. Novikov only invited a select group of Americans, Soviet Union to teach young apprentices. Not wanting to draw Robinson included, as the pair had grown close because attention to himself, Robinson quickly replied, “Yes,” in the hope Robinson’s fellow Americans showed him only hostility. that the Soviet envoy would leave him alone.14 The Soviet envoy Perhaps these and other experiences under the Soviet offered Robinson a one-year contract, promising benefits like system empowered Robinson to stand up for his rights during better pay and free housing. Owing to the depression, Robinson the aforementioned “Stalingrad Incident,” which took place expected to be fired from his factory job any day and jumped at three weeks into Robinson’s employment at a Soviet tap and the opportunity for a one-year contract and job security while die factory.18 “I was biting him for all the humiliation I had working in a field he enjoyed.15 Robinson claims his motivations suffered, for the pain I had quietly endured,” Robinson wrote for traveling to the Soviet Union were not political, as he had in his autobiography, adding that, “all my years of suppressed no interest in the “Communist experiment,” which drew the anger spewed out.”19 But as he overcame this battle against attention of many interested in a communist state’s values. His American racism, he encountered another obstacle: Soviet fame. motivation for going to the USSR thus differs from that of many In the weeks following the incident, the Soviet media other African Americans who went to the Soviet Union search- trumpeted the story of Robinson’s assault throughout the country. ing for opportunities not found in Jim Crow’s America. Robin- According to historian Barbara Keys, Trud, the national trade son’s early life suggests he was motivated by economic security, union newspaper printed in Russian, was the first to pick up this not the draw of the Soviet Union’s vaunted “racial paradise.” story.20 Keys wrote that this newspaper coverage was the source Throughout Robinson’s journey, Soviet officials sought of Robinson’s fame. After other newspapers ran articles regard- to integrate Robinson with Russians and his white peers. During ing Robinson’s assault, the Soviet public demanded that his the voyage to the USSR, for instance, the Soviet captain of assaulters be brought to justice.21 Robinson expected the authori- the ship urged the white passengers to treat Robinson as an ties to side with the white men, but to his surprise they found both equal — after all, segregation was illegal under Soviet law.16 As men, Louis and Brown, guilty. The Soviet judge expelled Louis Robinson traveled across the Soviet Union with other Ameri- from the Soviet Union but allowed Brown to finish the remainder cans to their new factory in Stalingrad, the group’s translator, of his one-year contract.22 Soviet media characterized Louis’s Novikov, invited Robinson and his roommates to his brother’s deportation from the “workers’ paradise” as a major punishment.23 home.17 There, the group learned traditional ways of drinking This trial launched Robinson to international fame. In his tea, and experienced new food. The invitation represents a tell- memoir, Robinson wrote that The New York Times sent an

18 Keys, “An African-American Worker in Stalin’s Soviet Union,” 42. 14 Ibid., 27. 19 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 67. 15 Robert Robinson, interview by Dina Newman, The Engineer Who 20 Keys, “An African-American Worker in Stalin’s Soviet Union,” 43. Went to the USSR and Got Stuck for 50 Years, BBC, 1991, 0:37. 21 Zallen and Carew, Blacks, Reds, and Russians, 74. 16 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 36. 22 Ibid., 73. 17 Ibid., 47. 23 Keys, “An African-American Worker in Stalin’s Soviet Union,” 48. 108 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Evan Amico 109

American reporter, Anna Louise Strong, to interview him. Strong As Robinson was about to return home after his contract never asked a single question regarding the incident during the had expired, he was offered a position in the First State Ball interview but wrote an extensive article about his assault, hailing Bearing Plant in Moscow. This plant already employed around him as a hero.24 His story was published throughout the world, 300 other foreign specialists from many different countries.29 but the Soviet Union in particular lauded his act of resistance. Robinson accepted the new opportunity, citing poor economic This national attention jumpstarted Robinson’s career in Stalin- conditions in the United States and the opportunity to advance grad. An entire nation now admired him as a symbol of racial his technical knowledge. Robinson wrote that “[his] greatest justice in their Communist state. This event made Robinson a joy was simply having the freedom to detect a problem and local celebrity, too. When Langston Hughes visited Robinson create a mechanical solution.”30 Robinson dreamed of attend- in 1932, two years after the event, he noticed a large picture ing an engineering school and learning to optimize factory of Robinson hanging in his factory to celebrate his services.25 workflows. During a visit to his mother, who had immigrated Native workers in his factory went out of their way to express to the United States with the help of Robinson’s Soviet salary, their sympathy and support for his cause in the weeks after the he explained that this dream could made reality in the Soviet incident.26 Robinson was no longer just another foreign specialist Union. Attending a Soviet engineering school was not only more but a symbol of racial freedom, whether he wanted to be or not. realistic then attending one in the United States but cheaper.31 In 1931, Robinson and the rest of his program had nearly Robinson had saved money to bring his mother from Cuba to completed their one-year contracts. Satisfied with the progress the United States. After his first contract expired, he applied the foreign workers had accomplished, the Soviet government for temporary leave from the country to visit her. The govern- created a new set of goals for them, transitioning them away ment permitted him to leave due to his excellent work record from their privileged status and toward parity with native work- and prominence as a figure of racial freedom in the Soviet ers.27 In his memoir, Robinson claimed, “[The Soviet govern- Union.32 While his story was well known after the Stalingrad ment] wanted us Sovietized. To join the party, or to place [our] incident, Robinson’s memoir suggests that it was the quality of children in the Pioneers (a party indoctrination organization for his work that allowed Robinson the luxury of returning home. youth).”28 Robinson had no desire to join the Communist party In 1933, Joseph Stalin began to purge many tsarist and because he disagreed with their atheist beliefs. He was a devout foreign technical specialists. Stalin wanted to strengthen the Christian. He decided to delay joining the party until his contract Soviet Union with a new generation of Soviet factory work- expired and initially intended to return to the United States. ers, and both black and white foreigners feared they would be targeted.33 As a part of this new policy, the Soviet government 24 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 68. 25 Zallen and Carew, Blacks, Reds, and Russians, 74. 29 Ibid., 80. 26 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 69. 30 Zallen and Carew, Blacks, Reds, and Russians, 75. 27 Sylvia R. Margulies, The Pilgrimage to Russia; the Soviet Union and 31 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 83. the Treatment of Foreigners, 1924-1937 (Madison: University of Wiscon- 32 Zallen and Carew, Blacks, Reds, and Russians, 75. sin Press, 1968), 108-10. 33 Peter Francis, I Worked in a Soviet Factory (London: Jarrolds Pub- 28 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 78. lishers, 1939), 175-85. 110 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Evan Amico 111

transferred workers between facto- black American, Coretta Arle-Titzs, whom Robinson met in Stal- ries. Gross, Robinson’s old super- ingrad, introduced him to this group. Coretta married a Russian intendent at the Stalingrad factory, music professor and had been living in the Soviet Union since was transferred to Robinson’s ball before the revolution. These families survived the revolution bearing plant. An American born of by assimilating into the new Bolshevik culture. They invited Hungarian parents, Gross traveled Robinson to secret parties and shared with him the remnants to the Soviet Union for work. He of the lives they lived before the revolution. These parties was a well-respected leader, earn- consisted of lavish food, music, and clothing – all unattainable ing a medal for his outstanding by the general population.36 These families trusted Robinson service to the Soviet Union. Despite to keep their secrets during the Great Terror, which high- his achievements, his nationality lights the prominence of Robinson in the Moscow community. put him in danger. In his memoir, Robinson devoted much of his daily life to the ball bearing Robinson recalled the day Gross factory, working two shifts almost every day. Because of his failed to show up for work. The efforts, he was offered a twenty-four-day pass to visit a govern- Soviet secret police, called the GPU, ment-owned vacation home in 1934. The Trade Union Committee evicted him and his family, banish- awarded him this luxury to highlight his extra work in the factory, ing them from Moscow. Robinson in which he improved mechanical processes and trained appren- later learned that Gross had been tices.37 Robinson’s extra effort coincided with the Stakhanovite shot and killed with many other Movement, in which workers prided themselves in their work men from the Stalingrad factory and ability to produce more resources to strengthen the Soviet in 1936 during the Great Terror, Union.38 Despite this alignment, Robinson never mentioned this a much larger purge that swept movement in his memoir. Rather, he described his fear that he Robinson in a Soviet Factory, 34 the entire nation. His story was circa 1935. Image courtesy of would be sent back to the depression-ridden United States if he not unique during this state-sanc- BlackPast.org. did not work diligently.39 However, the Soviet government may tioned purge. Many others shared his fate. Despite the turmoil have mistakenly attributed his actions as a commitment to Soviet around him, Robinson survived. He believes his American values. Robinson’s vacation exemplifies his value to the factory, passport spared his life, but his survival indicates the Soviet as noted by official recognition of his service to Soviet industry. government had recognized and silently accepted Robinson. Robinson’s most unique experience in the Soviet Union During the political turmoil of 1933, Robinson became acquainted with multiple families from the remaining tsarist 36 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 88-91. intelligentsia, the educational elite of the Russian empire.35 A 37 Ibid., 91. 38 “Year of the Stakhanovite,” Michigan State University, accessed No- vember 26, 2019, soviethistory.msu.edu/1936-2/year-of-the-stakhanovite/. 34 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 87. 39 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 85-88. 112 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Evan Amico 113 was his 1934 election to the Moscow Soviet, the local govern- appointment through these publications. Robeson organized a ment of Moscow. Robinson’s election marked the first time private meeting with Robinson to learn more about his Soviet a black foreigner was elected to a position of power in the experience.45 Robinson’s encounter with a prominent American Soviet Union. Robinson’s election came at a surprise to no figure demonstrates the extensive reach of Soviet propaganda. one but himself. He was not informed of his election before Despite Robinson’s reluctance to accept his new position, he the announcement and had strived to stay apolitical to main- diligently performed the tasks required of him. He was responsi- tain his American passport.40 Robinson claims the election ble for the inspection of various factories and drafted reports on was done “…without [his] consent, against [his] will, [and their effectiveness. While this was a position of power that could that he] was never asked.”41 He was confused and disturbed easily be exploited, Robinson used his influence to help improve at the news, as he was neither a citizen nor a member of the various aspects of each factory he observed. During his time as Communist party. Robinson may have claimed such confusion both deputy to the Moscow Soviet and foreman in the First State to facilitate reintegration back home, but his memoir suggests Ball Bearing Plant, he made many suggestions that improved the that he had no prior interest in Soviet politics. Despite his production of various Soviet factories.46 These achievements are hesitation, Robinson confirmed his position and agreed to a well documented in the Moscow Daily News, which published four-year term out of the fear of being sent back to the pover- editorials celebrating his technical success throughout the globe.47 ty-stricken United States, leaving his mother to fend for herself.42 His merit caused his boss to offer him special privileges reserved Many news sources reported Robinson’s election, including for top Russian specialists, such as better living accommodations, the Moscow Daily News.43 The paper announces his appointment vacations, and even access to a car. Robinson refused these as a party official, highlighting Robinson’s struggles against gifts, not wanting to be more indebted to his hosts. Although he racism in the United States and the Stalingrad Incident as well denied them, these offerings show the value he brought to both as his excellent work record. Robinson’s surprise election was his factory and the Soviet Union. The Soviet government recog- not unique: A foreigner from Germany was also elected to the nized Robinson for inventing a machine that saved his factory Moscow Soviet, but his story was not included in this article.44 time and money.48 He was given a medal and cash prize, an act By publishing his story in international newspapers and leav- highly documented by the international media, including Time ing out others, Soviet propaganda used Robinson to highlight Magazine.49 Robinson’s technical expertise and availability for the USSR’s “racial paradise.” Paul Robeson, a famous Afri- propaganda made him a valuable asset to the Soviet government. can American actor and musician, learned about Robinson’s After years of hard work, Robinson was finally admit- ted into the Evening Institute of Mechanical Engineering of 40 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 96. 41 Robinson, The Engineer Who Went to the USSR, 1:56. 45 Zallen and Carew, Blacks, Reds, and Russians, 76. 42 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 97. 46 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 99-105. 43 “Another Illustration of Leninist National Policy,” Moscow Daily 47 “Shows How Foreign Workers Can Get Rationalizations Effected,” News (Moscow), no. 287, December 14, 1934, 3. Moscow Daily News, June 16, 1933, no. 137, 4. 44 “American Negro is Chosen for Deputy’s Post,” Moscow Daily News 48 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 101-10. (Moscow), no. 285, December 11, 1934, 1. 49 “RUSSIA: Black Blank,” TIME Magazine. 114 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Evan Amico 115

Moscow in 1934. This was Robinson’s dream, and he accepted 1939, Robinson remained alive.54 Almost every foreigner another one-year work contract. He even became a citizen of was questioned, but his prominence within official propa- the Soviet Union, feeling that citizenship would help protect ganda likely allowed him to remain employed and alive. him during his prolonged stay in the Soviet Union. His deci- Homer Smith Jr. sion would come to haunt him in the future, as he had a difficult time returning to the United States during the Cold Without context, Robinson’s life seems to be littered with War as a Soviet citizen.50 His new citizenship also revoked unique privileges he experienced in the Soviet Union. Analy- his foreign worker status, which lost him access to foreign sis of memoirs of other African Americans living in the USSR, specialty shops. But Robinson admitted it did not change his like Homer Smith Jr., during the same time period, however, Soviet life significantly since he did not frequent these shops.51 contain many similarities. Soviet propaganda about racial free- The Great Terror, a large purge of hundreds of citizens of the dom drew Smith, an African American from Minnesota, to the Soviet Union, occurred in 1936.52 Now, the government rounded USSR. Determined to go to the Soviet Union and figuring his up factory workers taught by foreign entities and replaced them best shot of immigration was his post office experience, he sent with those who were fully indoctrinated with Soviet ideals. Robin- his application to a Moscow post office in 1931. While this was son describes this time as a period of fear. He and others slept not his dream career, he believed Soviet immigration would with their clothes on, fearing that the Soviet police (the NKVD) be his best opportunity to escape America’s racial inequalities. would take them from their homes any night. It was during this Smith studied journalism at the University of Minnesota and purge when Robinson’s old supervisor, Gross, was killed. Many hoped to write for American “negro newspapers” as a Soviet men disappeared during the Great Terror. Robinson recalled six correspondent.55 Unlike Robinson, Soviet ideology drove Smith Russian-born American citizens fully committed to the Soviet to immigrate. The USSR’s “communist experiment” and prom- cause. They brought tools and equipment from America and ises of freedom and opportunity not found in the U.S. appealed taught the locals how to use them, but despite their commit- to him. This is an important distinction between the two men, ment, they disappeared into the night, never to be seen again.53 as Robinson cites his motivation for Soviet employment as a During the turmoil, Soviet authorities took Robinson in better salary and work conditions rather than racial equality. for questioning about how he arrived in the Soviet Union. While Robinson traveled with a large group to the Soviet They released him after interrogation, but his contract docu- Union, Smith traveled alone. After his acceptance into the ments were not returned, making him vulnerable to further Moscow postal office, he began the journey from Minneapolis abuse. After the bloodshed of the second purge ended in to Moscow. While Robertson and other engineers were greeted with large bands and tour guides upon their arrival to the Soviet 50 Robinson, The Engineer Who Went to the USSR, 2:30. Union, Smith was simply directed to his hotel when he pulled 51 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 112. 52 Robert Conquest, “The Great Terror: Stalin’s Purge of the Thirties,” 54 Ibid., 117-24. International Affairs 47, no. 3 (July 1971): 568. 55 Homer Smith, Black Man in Red Russia (Chicago: Johnson Publish- 53 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 119-21. ing Company, 1964), 1-2. 116 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Evan Amico 117

into port.56 The celebration of the to Soviet industrial problems, such as Smith and Robinson. arrival of Robinson’s group differed Like Robinson, Smith quickly befriended many members of from that of Smith, showing the the old Soviet elite. Smith’s Russian tutors, an affluent family high value of engineers to the Soviet from the days of the Russian empire, were among his first local Union as opposed to postal workers. friends. While they did not enjoy many of the luxuries they once Despite Smith’s lackluster jour- had, they did give Smith insight into the old Russian empire. In his ney, he was well received in his memoir, Smith described his social circle, which included many new position at the Moscow Post people Robinson interacted with, including Coretta. Smith’s clos- Office. In addition to his generous est friends, however, were actors and actresses, and they gave salary, Smith was given anything he him access to shows and performances whenever he pleased.59 asked for, notably an English type- Many natives befriended foreigners due to their access to writer from the United States during special shops set up by the Soviet government, stocked with a time of severe shortages. His food and supplies unavailable to Soviet citizens. Both Robin- position included leadership over a son and Smith wrote about these stores, but Smith explained Homer Smith shortly after 60 small staff, translator included, and his arrival in Moscow, 1932. the bargaining power they provided. He was aware that some more responsibility than he expected. Image courtesy of Black- of the friendships he made were “merely temporary expedi- His role was to find inefficien- Past.org. ency on the part of hungry Russians.”61 This insight devalues cies in the Soviet Postal System and to suggest the “privileges” the locals gave Smith and Robinson. Smith improvements based on his previous experience with the United recognized this in his memoir. While he traveled to the Soviet States Postal System. He did this with enthusiasm, giving Union to escape from racial segregation, he observed “racial suggestions that were “highly critical of red tape, bureau- inequality in reverse” in Moscow. Here, African Americans were cracy, paper work, low salaries, and general inefficiency.”57 invited to the front of every line, asked to dance with pretty This was far different from his position in the United States, girls, or given preference in any building they entered.62 This where he was never in charge of a staff nor given as bene- demonstrates that African Americans received similar treatment ficial accommodations as in the Soviet Union.58 His experi- across the Soviet Union and suggests that Robinson’s preferen- ences show how much the Soviet government valued foreign tial treatment in the Soviet Union was not out of the ordinary. suggestions of improvement. The Soviets were clearly hungry Robinson’s Stalingrad Incident caused national uproar in the for efficiency, looking to other nations to aid the improvement of press, but it was not the only instance of racism that received various industrial sectors. The government’s desire for improve- national attention. Smith reported only one incident of racism ment benefited men and women who could offer solutions 59 Smith, Black Man in Red Russia, 13-41. 60 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 55-124. 61 Smith, Black Man in Red Russia, 18. 56 Smith, Black Man in Red Russia, 3-6. 62 Ibid., 56. 118 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Evan Amico 119

his time in the Soviet Union. During a train ride to Leningrad, expressing his optimism for the new constitution and the direc- he was assigned a compartment with an older American woman tion of the USSR. This experience highlights the wide variety of who, upon seeing Smith, complained to the conductor. The privileges foreigners received while living in the Soviet Union. conductor explained that the mixing of gender and race was a While living in the USSR, Smith grew close to a promi- common. Despite this reassurance, the woman refused to enter nent African American in the Communist party, Lovett Fort- the compartment, instead spending the night on her suitcases in Whiteman. Fort-Whiteman, a well-known figure in the black the common area. Smith shared his views on the racist woman, Communist movement, worked closely with the Comintern, the writing in his memoir, “I did not hate or despise the woman; Soviet Union’s organization to spread international Communism. I pitied her.” Upon his return trip to Moscow, he shared this Smith describes Fort-Whiteman as “a dyed-in-the-wool Commu- story to another passenger on the train. Three days after his nist dogmatist” who refused to deviate from the Communist line. arrival back to Moscow, a reporter from the same Trud newspa- Despite his zeal for the Communist party, Fort-Whiteman disap- per that first reported Robinson’s incident contacted Smith. He peared during the Great Terror of 1936.66 Both Robinson and claimed this reporter wrote a story “with Marxist ideological Smith knew the danger they faced during the purge, citing their overtones and anti-capitalist embellishments that expanded the fear of knocks on the door and being taken in the night. Smith, like incident out of all proportion to its importance.”63 This reaction Robinson, was even taken in for questioning by the secret police.67 closely mirrors Robinson’s experience with the Soviet press. In 1938, Homer Smith married Marie Petrovna, a Russian Both Smith and Robinson enjoyed unique privileges that woman born in 1918. At the time of his marriage, Smith had Soviet citizens did not. After Smith did not renew his post office become a prominent correspondent of the “negro press.” Smith’s contract in 1935, he became a full-time foreign correspondent status allowed the young couple to mingle with various foreign for multiple black newspapers in the United States, including ambassadors living in Moscow. In his memoir, Smith described the Chicago Defender and Crisis Magazine, two of the most the initial challenges Marie faced during these events, like having popular of the time. In 1936, he was invited to observe and to be coached in “the practices and manners of western soci- document Stalin’s signing of the 1936 Constitution,64 which ety.” As a foreigner who spoke both English and Russian, Smith promised many new democratic freedoms and rights for the befriended many foreign diplomats, notably Luis Quintanilla, a Soviet Union.65 During this event, Smith came face to face powerful Mexican diplomat.68 Homer and Marie Smith befriended with the leader of the Soviet Union, a privilege not given to many powerful foreigners living in the Soviet Union, indicating many foreigners, let alone African Americans. After witnessing their complex but “privileged” experience of the Soviet Union. the signing, he wrote editorials for various American papers, Bernard Powers 63 Smith, Black Man in Red Russia, 57-60, quotes on 59 and 60 respec- tively. Bernard Powers was an engineer, and he traveled to the 64 Ibid.,67-70. 65 Samantha Lomb, Stalin’s Constitution: Soviet Participatory Politics 66 Smith, Black Man in Red Russia, 77-83. and the Discussion of the 1936 Draft Constitution (New York: Routledge, 67 Ibid., 91-96. 2018), 24-33. 68 Smith, Black Man in Red Russia, 99-103, quote on 101. 120 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Evan Amico 121

Soviet Union in 1931 with other agricultural engineers, which as a translator. The community of foreign specialists in Tash- draws closer comparative potential between his story and that of kent surprised Hughes with the tight bonds they had forged Robert Robinson.69 Profession was an important distinction since during their time in a foreign country.73 Unlike Moscow, home Stalin’s Five-Year Plan emphasized improving Soviet industry to Robinson and Smith, Tashkent resembled a Central Asian through the teachings of foreign engineers, giving them better metropolis, making the specialist group’s dark skin tone treatment and privileges compared to other foreigners. This policy stand out less. This may explain the lack of racial incidents encouraged over one thousand American engineers to come to during Hughes’s journey in this part of the Soviet Union. Soviet Union by the end of 1931.70 While Powers did not write In his memoir, Hughes describes celebrating Christ- a memoir upon returning to the United States, Langston Hughes mas with Powers and the other foreign specialists. At this documented his encounters with Powers in his own memoir. time, the Soviet Union had outlawed celebration of reli- Powers attended Howard University in the United States gious holidays. Both Robinson and Smith noted the Sovi- and graduated from its engineering program. His education ets’ lack of religious tolerance, and fearing retribution, they attracted the attention of the Soviet Union, who offered him a instead celebrated the New Year.74 Powers and other special- contract in their agricultural specialist program, which differed ists, however, were not concerned during their Christmas from Robinson’s industrial expertise.71 The agricultural special- celebration, which highlights the privileges they enjoyed as ist program sought to industrialize the USSR’s Central Asian specialists in this part of the USSR as opposed to Moscow.75 territories and recruited eleven African Americans, including Powers and Hughes traveled by train to the Christmas party, Oliver Golden, a figure in the American Communist party. located outside of the city in a foreigner’s home. Not want- These men were selected due to their educated background and ing to wait in the long lines, Powers used his foreign workers knowledge of agricultural engineering. Traveling to the Soviet card, given to him by the Soviet government, to jump to the Union in 1931, this group found itself in the Uzbek Soviet front of the ticket line.76 This privilege is one Robinson also Socialist Republic, a member of the Soviet Union commonly enjoyed during this time, as he used his foreign worker’s card called Uzbekistan, whose government tasked them with to do the same thing in Moscow.77 This shows the common improving agricultural production to feed the Soviet Union.72 utility of foreign privilege in the Soviet Union, a privilege not While not much is written about Powers’ first year in the reserved exclusively for Robinson and his added media fame. Soviet Union, he met Hughes in 1932 during Hughes’ tour of Powers became a prominent figure in Tashkent owing to his Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. Not knowing much Russian contributions to agricultural production. When a new athletic and unable to speak to the locals, Hughes enlisted Powers’ help complex was slated for construction in the city, Powers modeled

69 Zallen and Carew, Blacks, Reds, and Russians, 86. 73 Hughes and McLaren, I Wonder as I Wander, 177-79. 70 Iwasaki, “The Memoir as Text,” 9. 74 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 145. 71 Langston Hughes and Joseph McLaren, I Wonder as I Wander (Co- 75 Hughes and McLaren, I Wonder as I Wander, 188-90. lumbia: University of Missouri Press, 1956), 125. 76 Ibid., 188. 72 Zallen and Carew, Blacks, Reds, and Russians, 100-01. 77 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 165. 122 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Evan Amico 123 for the statues surrounding it. The famous sculptor, Nina Zaratelli, as other African Americans also received press coverage. created a cast of his head to model a large bust to be placed Was it, then, a matter of occupation? The Soviet Union in the complex.78 His celebration shows the power and promi- valued Robert Robinson’s engineering skills, yet despite being the nence these specialists had in Soviet society. The government most well-known African American engineer in industrial Moscow, celebrated their time and commitment to the Soviet Union, as he was not the only one in the Soviet Union. Bernard Powers it reached its goals to rapidly industrialize. Unlike Robinson, held a similar job that the Soviets also valued, which they demon- Powers returned to the United States in the late 1930s, yet he too strated through the praise and honor Powers received in Tashkent. spent his time in the Soviet Union advancing industrial opera- The experiences of these three men reveal that the Soviet tions and enjoying privileges the Soviet government granted him. government did not give Robinson special treatment. Robin- son’s passion for engineering and improvement of industrial Conclusion processes made him an asset to the Soviet Union. In his memoir, Could other African Americans have achieved Robinson’s he highlights the joy of creating new machinery and aiding success in the Soviet Union? I argue that it was not only attainable Soviet factories.79 Soviet media recognized and celebrated this but realistic for other African Americans as driven and gifted as passion.80 I believe it is this passion and technical experience that Robert Robinson to enjoy a better life in the Soviet Union. Two drove Robinson’s success compared to other African Americans. other African Americans of diverse public status and profession – Homer Smith and Bernard Powers – also achieved success in the Soviet Union. Robinson’s experience, then, was not so unique. Robinson’s major claim to fame was the Stalingrad Inci- dent press coverage. Broadcasted by international publications like the Moscow Daily News and Time Magazine, his name was known around the globe. Despite Robinson’s international fame, these types of news stories were not unique in the Soviet Union: Another publication featured a story on Homer Smith’s own encounter with racial injustice in the Soviet Union, albeit on a much smaller scale. The violent nature of Robinson’s inci- dent, both the assault and his defense, was the driving force behind his media explosion. While his story became well known in Moscow, two other African Americans living in the USSR had similar experiences. Because of this, one cannot say that the Stalingrad Incident drove all of Robinson’s success, 79 Robinson and Slevin, Black on Red, 108-12. 80 “Shows How Foreign Workers Can Get Rationalizations Effected,” 78 Hughes and McLaren, I Wonder as I Wander, 192-231. Moscow Daily News, June 16, 1933, no. 137, 4. Holt McKeithan 125

he ed lag hall ot shifting its direction from an investigation into the political “T R F S N interests of German brewers in the United States during World Menace America”: North War I to Bolshevik propaganda. The committee’s final report painted a doomsday hypothetical warning of the destruc- Carolina Politicians Lee tion of the “American way of life,” despite delivering little evidence illustrating Bolshevik influence in the United States. Overman and Josephus Daniels Josephus Daniels took a more complicated stance on the matter. As a cabinet member, Daniels was a key advisor to in the Red Scare, 1919-1921 President Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921). Staunchly anti-Bol- shevik in his public rhetoric in 1918 and 1919, Daniels Holt McKeithan later became an outspoken critic of alarmists such as Over- man and insisted that the Red Scare was an exaggeration. I present the influence the state of North Carolina wielded on the development of the Red Scare. The Red Scare itself is The United States took notice when Vladimir Lenin and well documented, yet there is no relevant work that analyzes the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia during the October the role played by North Carolinians in the Scare.1 While John Revolution of 1917. Amid social unrest following the end of Andrew Costello’s 1967 master’s thesis, “Congress and Internal World War I, fear of a Bolshevik-style revolution in the United Security: The Overman Committee,” thoroughly details the find- States gripped the nation. From 1919 to 1921, mass labor ings and workings of the Overman Committee, Lee A. Craig’s strikes, attempted bombings of U.S. officials, and govern- biography of Josephus Daniels pays little attention to Daniels’s ment-led raids targeting radicals and leftists marked what thoughts on the Bolshevik threat.2 By synthesizing these mate- came to be known as the Red Scare. As the communist take- rials and new sources, I conclude that Overman took an active over in Russia colored domestic life in America, politicians role in fueling red hysteria, despite a demonstrated absence of and editors saw revolutionaries around every corner, claiming concern on the part of his constituents. He steered a Congressio- Bolshevik influence behind labor strikes, race riots, and more. nal committee away from fact finding and toward sensationalism. This essay investigates the role that North Carolina poli- ticians played from 1919 to 1921 in influencing this national 1 Robert K. Murray wrote the seminal text on the event, Red Scare: clamor. I focus on two Tar Heels in particular, U.S. Senator A Study in National Hysteria, 1919-1920 (Minneapolis: University of Lee Overman (1903-1930) and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Minnesota Press, 1955). Also instructive are Regin Schmidt’s Red Scare: FBI and the Origins of Anticommunism in the United States, 1919-1943 Daniels (1913-1921). Leading a Senate Judiciary subcommittee (Museum Tusculanum Press, 2000), and Richard G. Powers, Not Without charged with investigating German and Bolshevik propaganda, Honor: The History of American Anti-Communism (New York: The Free Overman stoked fear over the alleged impending Bolshe- Press, 1995). 2 Lee A. Craig, Josephus Daniels: His Life & Times (Chapel Hill: The vik threat. He steered the eponymous Overman Committee, University of North Carolina Press, 2013). 126 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Holt McKeithan 127

Daniels, while later a critic of those who saw red, engaged antiwar advocates, or anyone who was feared to be loyal to an in alarmist, anticommunist rhetoric for political expediency. enemy government with suspicion. A small but active group of leftists in the U.S., mostly members of the American Social- The Red Scare: A Timeline ist party, were particularly targeted. They “were called slack- In October 1917, Vladimir Lenin, head of the Bolshevik ers, traitors, and pro-German, and were overwhelmed by an Party, began making plans to seize power from a Provisional unprecedented wave of popular hatred and government perse- Government ruling Russia following the collapse of the tsarist cution. Soon the most famous radicals in the country were on regime in February 1917. Lenin believed the time was ripe for their way to prison.”5 Socialist Eugene Debs, who won over a revolution, and he set in action plans to establish his dicta- 900,000 votes as a presidential candidate in 1920, openly praised torship of the proletariat. By November 7, Red troops led by the Bolsheviks, and in the minds of most Americans, social- Leon Trotsky, Soviet Commissar of Foreign Affairs and War ists, and other leftists became synonymous with Bolshevism.6 controlled most of Petrograd, the seat of the Provisional Govern- Leftist ideas thus became conflated in the American imagina- ment under Alexander Kerensky. That day, Lenin appeared tion, regardless of ideology or nationality. Various labels such as before the public to announce “in Russia we must now set “anarchist”, “radical”, “red”, “Bolshevik” were treated with the about building a proletarian socialist state.”3 What happened same hostility, and the U.S. government and press did not care next is a fascinating case of how radical political change in to make distinctions. Historian Robert K. Murray describes the one part of the world can deeply impact a country across the general perception of the stereotype of a radical as “an ever pres- globe. The October Revolution set into motion a phenomenon ent picture of the ‘Red’ with wild eyes, bushy, unkempt hair, and in the United States that led to the curbing of civil rights for tattered clothes, holding a smoking bomb in his hands.”7 During American citizens, mass fear of subversive foreign influence, this period, Germans and Russians came to be lumped together hostility toward labor movements, and hysteria over a Bolshe- as well. Rumors swirled surrounding Lenin’s involvement with vik takeover in the U.S.: a phenomenon called the Red Scare. the Germans. On April 3, 1917, Lenin returned to Russia from The United States was ripe for such a national clamor in the exile by traveling through Germany on a sealed train. When he aftermath of World War I. Government mobilization of popular signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918, ending sentiment in favor of the war effort created an environment in hostilities between Germany and Russia, rumors that Germans America hostile to nonconformists. In 1918, Congress passed controlled Lenin and the Bolsheviks gained steam.8 Even U.S. the Sedition Act, which outlawed spoken or written criticism President Woodrow Wilson believed Bolsheviks in Russia and in of the U.S. government, a clear violation of the freedom of the United States “were in reality nothing but German agents.”9 speech guaranteed by the Constitution.4 However, mainstream society largely tolerated these laws and treated dissenters, 5 Powers, Not Without Honor, 8. 6 Powers, Not Without Honor, 8. 3 S.A. Smith, Russia in Revolution: An Empire in Crisis, 1890-1928 7 Murray, Red Scare, 69. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017), 148-50. 8 Smith, Russia in Revolution, 110-11. 4 Murray, Red Scare, 14. 9 Powers, Not Without Honor, 14. 128 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Holt McKeithan 129

During the Red Scare, Mitchell Palmer to take action against radicals. As Murray the press accused labor explains, “under his direction the federal police power set in of Bolshevism more than motion so zealously against domestic radicalism that the months any other group. Given the of November 1919 to January 1920 have sometimes been labeled influence of socialists in . . . ‘Palmer’s Reign of Terror.’”14 Palmer conducted a series of the labor movement, and raids, arrests and deportations of suspected radicals aimed at the Bolsheviks’ empha- rooting out the Bolshevik threat in America. On December 21, he sis on rule by the working deported 249 individuals, of whom “the vast majority had never class in Russia, strikes were participated in any terroristic action nor did they have any crimi- widely covered in national nal record.”15 They simply had leftists beliefs, and to Palmer that media and treated with was enough. On January 2, 1920, Palmer directed the Department suspicion. On February 3, of Justice to arrest thousands of individuals across thirty cities. 1919, the Seattle Central Though these initial raids were wildly popular with the Labor Council declared a public, the January arrests proved to be too much. The raids general strike to take effect Alexander Mitchell Palmer, 1919. Im- “were so outrageous by any standards of decency and legal- February 6. Sixty thou- age courtesy of Wikicommons. ity that they mobilized lawyers, clergymen and civil liber- sand struck, terrifying the city and country. Newspapers tarians to demand a halt to the antiradical campaign.”16 This declared that Bolsheviks were behind the strike and that it was criticism marked the beginning of the end of public support the first step to communist revolution in the United States.10 for Palmer and the Red Scare. For weeks leading up to May The Seattle strike was the first event in a year of escalating 1, 1920, Palmer warned of repeat, anniversary attacks by red fear. Immediately responding to the strike, the U.S. Senate radicals. When none occurred, what was left of his credi- passed a resolution for a Senate Judiciary subcommittee led by bility deteriorated. Throughout the rest of 1920, red hyste- Lee Overman to investigate Bolshevik influence in the United ria waned, marking 1920 as the last year of the Red Scare.17 States.11 In late April, public panic reached its apex. Carlos Vald- Lee Overman: Chairman of the Red Scare inoci, leader of a cell of Italian anarchists known as “Gruppo Autonomo” sent 36 bombs to public officials by post. Valdinoci On September 18, 1918, Mitchell Palmer took the stage intended the bombs be set off on May 1, May Day, a day cele- in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to address the Democratic State brated as an international holiday for labor.12 None of the bombs Committee. The man who would become U.S. attorney general found their target. Only two were injured, the wife of Sena- let loose a tirade against the liquor industry in the United States, tor Thomas Hardwick of Atlanta and her maid, both of whom survived.13 The bombs were the catalyst for Attorney General 14 Murray, Red Scare, 191. 15 Murray, Red Scare, 207. 16 Powers, Not Without Honor, 29. 10 Murray, Red Scare, 58-66. 17 Murray, Red Scare, 252. 130 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Holt McKeithan 131 which he believed was dominated by the subversive influ- a revolution in the United ence of German nationals. Palmer, a familiar character in the States. The committee ulti- drama of the Red Scare, bellowed with characteristic gusto, mately released a report warning of a communist the facts will soon appear that will show conclu- takeover “ending with the sively that twelve or fifteen German brewers in America, in association with the United States inauguration of a regime of Brewers Association furnished the money . . . to fear, terror and violence.”21 buy a great newspaper in one of the chief cities of The Overman Committee, an the nation. . . . Now, I say to you that when this engine of Red Scare hyste- traffic doomed though it is, undertakes and seeks by these secret methods to control party nomi- ria, exaggerated the commu- nations, party machinery, whole political parties, nist threat even where no and thereby control the Government of State and evidence besides witness 18 nation, it is time the people know the truth. testimony could support underlying claims. As the Palmer claimed that the liquor industry was spreading Lee Overman, 1915. Image courtesy of committee’s chair, Overman pro-German propaganda through newspapers, influencing Wikicommons. became a key figure in drum- political appointments for its own interests in profits, and ming up Red Scare hysteria. But, before diving into the details of undermining the United States’ government. Five days later, the committee’s actions and impact, it is important to examine its the United States Senate passed Senate Resolution 307, creat- origins, and then determine how a committee created to investi- ing a Senate Judiciary subcommittee to investigate Palmer’s gate the brewing industry in the United States became the first ever claims and determine the extent to which German brewers in American Congressional committee to investigate communism. 19 the United States were spreading propaganda. With that, the Against the backdrop of World War I, American institutions U.S. Senate authorized what would become the first Congres- and society were wary of outspoken critics of the government 20 sional committee in U.S. history to investigate communism. and those seen as outsiders. Stirrings of war-born patriotism Under the leadership of Lee Slater Overman, a senior U.S. aided by government-backed propaganda combined with a senator from North Carolina, the Overman Committee first confluence of factors to create an environment perceived as investigated the influence of a World War I enemy, Germany, hostile to “the American way of life.” These factors included then the spread of Bolshevik propaganda and influence. The labor uprisings, antiwar advocacy, and an influx of immigra- committee heard sensational, often unfounded testimony from tion from southern and eastern Europe.22 The U.S. Congress many witnesses claiming that communists were poised to stage passed measures that curbed civil rights in the name of national 18 Bolshevik Propaganda, Vol. II, 7. 19 U.S. Congress, Senate, S. Res. 309, 66th Cong., 2nd Sess., Septem- ber 19, 1918. 21 L.C. Martin, “Senate Warns of Red Menace,” Louisville Courier 20 Costello, “Congress and Internal Security”, 3. Journal, June 15, 1919. 132 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Holt McKeithan 133

security, namely the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition government, adopted a scheme to create a public sentiment in Act of 1918.23 In this wartime atmosphere, a sense of paranoia the country against war, against this country going to war.”28 grew that German spies permeated the United States. In 1917, After Germany formally surrendered on November 11, 1918, President Wilson gave a speech to Congress claiming that the national fervor for rooting out German spies began to fade. Germany’s spies had infiltrated the country even before the war However, the perceived threat of foreign interference did not die began.24 Palmer, who at that time served as Custodian of Alien with the German spy network. Thomas Tunney, police inspec- Property (a wartime office created to administer confiscated tor of New York City, was one of a number of witnesses who property previously belonging to U.S. enemies), declared in the testified to the connection between Germany and Bolshevik above speech to the Pennsylvania Democratic Committee that revolutionaries.29 Tunney testified to the committee that Trotsky, German agents within the U.S. Brewers Association operated at a meeting of German socialists and Russians in New York, subversively to support the German war effort in many ways, declared: “I am going back to Russia to overthrow the provi- one of which included the purchase of a national newspaper sional government and stop the war with Germany. . . . I want to spread propaganda.25 On September 18, 1918, the Senate you people here to organize and keep on organizing until you are created the Overman Committee to look into those concerns. able to overthrow this damned, rotten capitalistic government Lee Overman, a Democratic senator, held office for fifteen of this country.”30 Overman seemed to believe Tunney unques- years before the Overman Committee’s authorization. Given his tioningly. Without asking how the police inspector obtained experience in office and on the Senate Judiciary Committee, he that information, Overman, as if incredulous, asked Tunney to led the subcommittee looking into German brewing interests. repeat himself multiple times. Overman continued, “Do you Senate Resolution 309 authorized the committee to investigate know whether they followed his advice, or whether they are specifically the charges Palmer raised regarding German brew- going on with that work?”31 Tunney responded in the affirmative. ing interests, nothing broader.26 Yet, influenced by anti-German The threat of the Bolshevik revolution spreading to Germany sentiment present in the country since the beginning of World added to the perceived connection between the two in the United War I, the committee focused primarily on whether the German States. The U.S. government suspected that Germany backed the government or the U.S. Brewers Association attempted to buy Bolsheviks in Russia, and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk between national newspapers.27 Throughout the process, Overman was the two powers, taking Russia out of World War I, seemed quick to accept evidence of German subterfuge. Based on testi- to confirm that suspicion. In 1919, when the Third Interna- mony of Justice Department official Bruce Bielaski, Overman tional Comintern formed to support the spread of communism concluded that “German agents, in the employ of the German worldwide and revolution broke out in Germany and Hungary,

23 Murray, Red Scare, 11-12. 24 Costello, “The Overman Committee,” 10. 28 Bolshevik Propaganda, Vol. II, 1595. 25 Bolshevik Propaganda, Vol. II, 7. 29 Costello, “The Overman Committee,” 26. 26 U.S. Congress, Senate, S. Res 309. 30 Bolshevik Propaganda, Vol. II, 2679-80. 27 Costello, “The Overman Committee,” 19. 31 Bolshevik Propaganda, Vol. II, 2681. 134 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Holt McKeithan 135 fears of a Bolshevik revolution across Europe were palpable.32 press closely covered the committee’s investigation, which As the committee heard other witnesses testify on the connec- was evident in headlines. The Indianapolis Star proclaimed tion between German subversives and Bolshevism, including “Red Plot to Overthrow U.S. Will be Probed: Senate Proposes Justice Department official Archibald Stevenson, the national Sweeping Federal Investigation of Bolshevism.”36 The New mood became increasingly suspicious of the reds. On Janu- York Tribune warned of a “Soviet Plan of Forced Free Love: ary 21, 1919, Seattle shipyard workers went on strike. When Two Decrees for Nationalization of Women Given to Over- that strike escalated into a general strike of 60,000 workers in man Committee.”37 Similar scandalous headlines dominated early February, the press raised the alarm, claiming Bolshe- front pages throughout the months of the Bolshevik hearings. viks orchestrated the strike. This event shifted red radicalism Overman used his leadership position to indulge in anticom- to the forefront of American discourse, and many Americans munist alarmism rather than to seek truth. Archibald Steven- now considered it the most important problem facing the son of the Department of Justice submitted to the committee nation.33 In this context, the Overman Committee officially such a list of people in the United States whom he formally shifted focus away from an investigation of German subver- called “pacifists” but not so subtly hinted that they were radicals. sives to Bolshevik influence. On February 4, 1919, two days Overman made the decision to publicize the list, even in cases after the declaration of a general strike in Seattle, the Senate where he had no reason to believe they were radicals. Overman passed Resolution 439, extending the committee’s mandate to explained the decision by stating: “It was felt that the pacifist investigate Bolshevik propaganda and attempts to overthrow the societies, and socialists and IWW (International Workers of the U.S. government.34 It began to hear witnesses on February 11 World) societies should be published with the names of members, concerning the extent of Bolshevik influence. Overman led the and we decided to do that, without making any charges against charge for the committee as it fueled the Red Scare’s fever pitch. anybody, whether they were disloyal citizens or not.”38 Many on As chair of the committee, Overman made operational this so-called “pacifist list” protested that it was not supported decisions that promoted sensationalism rather than fact-find- by evidence and that it damaged their reputations. One such ing. On the day the Senate passed Resolution 439, he called example was Brown University professor Lindsay Damon, who an emergency meeting to launch the investigation, declaring pleaded his innocence by testifying before the committee.39 After that testimony would begin the next day. He also decided the listening to his statement, Overman, apparently convinced, stated, hearings would be held openly, so that the public could hear “Professor, in the opinion of this committee there is nothing in this the testimony.35 By opening the hearings to the public and calling extremely anti-Bolshevik witnesses, Overman moved 36 “‘Red’ Plot to Overthrow U.S. Will Be Probed,” Indianapolis Star, the committee to the center of anticommunist discourse. The February 5, 1919. 37 “Soviet Plan of Forced Free Love: Two Decrees for ‘Nationalization’ of Women Given to Overman Committee,” New York Tribune, February 32 Murray, Red Scare, 15. 18, 1919. 33 Murray, Red Scare, 57-67. 38 Costello, “The Overman Committee,” 24. 34 Bolshevik Propaganda, Vol. III, 6. 39 “Senate Will Advocate Law to End Propaganda,” New York Times, 35 “Senate Orders ‘Red’ Inquiry,” Washington Post, February 5, 1919. January 31, 1919. 136 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Holt McKeithan 137

record that shows that you are a pacifist or that you are a disloyal conflation of communism and anarchism). Nonetheless, the citizen, or in any way un-American.” A tense exchange ensued committee recommended Congress pass acts, even in peace- in which Damon thanked Overman but asked that his name be time, similar to the wartime Espionage and Sedition Acts to removed from the pacifist list. Overman refused, countering with prevent communist subversion. Murray succinctly captured the a question. “Why are you not satisfied? . . . You ought to be satis- committee’s mistakes: “Instead of discovering the obvious fact fied with that statement.”40 Damon’s name remained on the list. that the radical menace was being badly exaggerated . . . the The Overman Committee became a tool for fearmongering. investigators themselves succumbed to the emotionalism of the Through March 10, the committee continued to call witnesses. time and arrived at wholly erroneous and biased conclusions.”45 Two-thirds of the witnesses that testified were “violently Consumed by red hysteria, the Overman Committee itself anti-Bolshevik.”41 Overman and the committee heard testi- became a Bolshevik fear-mongering machine, and as chair of mony mostly about the actions of the Soviet regime in Russia, the committee, Lee Overman helped drive it from 1919 to 1920. but also that Bolsheviks were active in the United States, and Josephus Daniels and the “Hungry Wolves of that New York City Jews supported the Bolshevik revolution.42 Bolshevism” Though witnesses produced little evidence beyond anecdotes to support their accusations, Overman and the committee were On February 17, 1919, Josephus Daniels delivered a speech convinced. On June 15, 1919, the Overman Committee released in New York City. As the Secretary of the Navy, Daniels deliv- its final report. Dramatic and alarmist, the report painted a ered a screed praising Seattle mayor Ole Hanson for his unrelent- doomsday scenario for the United States, warning of violence, ing stand against the general strikers, and denouncing Bolshevik terror, and the erosion of democracy and the American way of influence. In this moment, Daniels felt triumphant. A week prior, life. It contained a hypothetical scenario regarding what would the Seattle Strike Committee called off a citywide general strike happen if a communist regime took root in America, but lacked that sent the American public and press into a frenzy of Red evidence demonstrating serious risk of a Bolshevik revolution Scare hysteria. It was also four months after Germany signed in the United States.43 In fact, the report even acknowledges an armistice with the Allies, ending World War I. The United that few radicals in the country advocated a communist revolu- States had defeated German imperialism abroad and fought tion. The Louisville Courier Journal reported: “It is significant back the Bolshevik threat domestically. In reference to the that in the United States only a portion of the so-called radical Seattle strike, Daniels said: “What happened there will happen revolutionary groups and organizations accept in its entirety, any time a similar movement is started in any city that has a the doctrine of anarchism”44 (here, again, is an example of the mayor with a backbone and Americanism. The red flag shall 46 40 Bolshevik Propaganda, Vol. II, 2794. not menace America. It has no business to fly in America.” 41 Murray, Red Scare, 95. 42 Costello, “The Overman Committee,” 29. 45 Murray, Red Scare, 94. 43 “Senators Tell What Bolshevism in America Means,” The New York 46 “Permanent Peace Era is Forecast: Secretary Daniels Says That the Times, June 15, 1919. Returning Soldiers Will Meet the Menace of Bolshevism,” The Christian 44 Martin, “Senate Warns of Red Menace.” Science Monitor, February 17, 1919. 138 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Holt McKeithan 139

In this speech, Daniels’ A controversial figure, largely due to the racism underpinning fiercely anticommunist rhet- his rise to prominence in North Carolina, Daniels wielded his oric closely mirrored that of political influence as editor of theNews & Observer to support Lee Overman or Attorney what he himself called the “White Supremacy Campaign,” General Mitchell Palmer. also known as the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898.48 Yet Daniels’ position on the As Daniels’ stature rose in the state, he began to meet so-called Bolshevik threat other prominent Democrats, including a former Princeton was more nuanced. At vari- professor, Woodrow Wilson. The two became professional ous points, he advised Presi- acquaintances, and when Wilson was elected president of dent Woodrow Wilson against the United States in 1913, he appointed Daniels his Secretary extreme anticommunist of the Navy.49 The two became close on a professional and measures Palmer proposed personal level, forging a bond in the Cabinet during the stress and declared that the Red of war. Daniels’s glowing admiration of the president is clear Scare was entirely imaginary. throughout his prolific writings about his own life, but partic- So why does Daniels in this Josephus Daniels portrait by Harris & ularly in the forward to The Wilson Era Years of War and After, Ewing, circa 1920. Image courtesy of speech, and in others through- Wikicommons. 1917-1923, the third of Daniels’s four-volume autobiography. out 1919, appear as apprehensive about communism as anyone? Daniels’ stance on the Red Scare evolved with time and with his I have felt it a solemn responsibility, as the last surviving member of [Wilson’s] original Cabi- political goals. Though always skeptical that communists within net, to give the inside story as his great leader- the country posed any real threat to the United States, he initially ship unfolded, from the day he summoned the embraced the use of anticommunist rhetoric as a tool to grow people to a war against war until he died in holy support for the League of Nations. But as the Red Scare carried on, passion of undeviating consecration to lasting peace. . . . These sidelights of history reveal he began advocating restraint against anticommunist measures Wilson as one of the greatest minds of his age, and later became an outspoken critic of figures like Palmer. Born in Washington, North Carolina, Josephus Daniels 48 Daniels led the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898, the only successful rose to statewide prominence first through his work in the news- coup d’etat in United States history. Daniels and other members of the state’s Democratic Party ousted duly elected black officials from office paper business. Daniels was owner and editor of the Raleigh and destroyed black businesses and property in Wilmington. It is a de- News & Observer, which he grew to become the largest and spicable aspect of Daniels’s legacy that deserves mention in any account most influential paper in the state. Daniels capitalized on the of his background, although it is not my focus in this paper. For more on Daniels’s role in the coup, see Lee, His Life and Times, 178-191. For paper’s success to become arguably the most important political more on the insurrection in general, also known as the Wilmington Race figure in North Carolina in the first decade of the th20 century.47 Riot, see David Cecelski and Timothy Tyson, Democracy Betrayed: The Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 and its Legacy (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1998). 49 Lee, His Life and Times, 211-24. 140 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Holt McKeithan 141

with the noblest passion for unselfish public [sic] and anarchy and help preserve the people. Danger of no 50 service and rarest devotion to loyal associates. government is our call for help.”54 Daniels saw Germany as the first domino that might fall to Bolshevism, paving the way It appears Wilson returned Daniels’s respect. During the for a spread across Europe. In a conversation with the Italian heat of war, Republicans criticized Wilson’s leadership, insist- ambassador to the United States, Macchi di Cellere, Cellere ing Wilson “put politics aside” and follow the British model implored Daniels to ask Wilson for aid. Cellere “feared if Italy of a coalition cabinet comprising liberals and conservatives. did not get its claims, the [government] would be overthrown Specifically, Republicans called for Theodore Roosevelt and Bolshevism would be enthroned. He spoke almost with (U.S. President, 1901-1909) to replace Daniels as Secre- tears in his eyes so deep was his feeling.”55 In none of his diary tary of the Navy. Wilson resisted such calls and continued to entries, however, does Daniels ever express fear of Bolshe- back Daniels and the rest of his political allies in the Cabi- vism in the United States.56 Wilson shared Daniels’s concern 51 net. Daniels’s relationship with Wilson would become the key with starvation in Europe. After the signing of the armistice on source of his influence during the Great War and Red Scare. November 11, 1918, Wilson appointed Herbert Hoover (U.S In the early stages of the Red Scare, Daniels saw the Bolshe- President 1929-1933) to head the European Relief and Reha- vik threat as a war issue —a serious problem in Europe, but not bilitation Administration, which channeled 34 million tons of in the United States. In October 1918, the war was drawing to American food and other supplies to Europe and to Red Russia.57 a close. It was clear the Allies would be victorious, and indeed Following the armistice, Daniels threw himself behind on November 11, 1918, Germany and the Allies signed an armi- Wilson’s effort to make peace in Europe. In doing so, he often stice. But in the meantime, Wilson’s Cabinet was embroiled with used anticommunist rhetoric to argue for the necessity of the question of what to do in Germany after Kaiser Wilhelm Wilson’s ambitious international peace project, the League of II’s imperial government collapsed. They feared a Bolshevik Nations. It is unclear whether Daniels himself believed there takeover amid conditions of hunger and a power vacuum in the was a serious Bolshevik threat in the United States, his lack of German government. On October 8, the Cabinet discussed this concern in diary entries and later comments lambasting those issue. Daniels feared that “we might witness Bolshevikism [in who rang the red alarm indicate that he did not. Still, as the Red 52 Germany] worse than in Russia.” Apparently, Wilson viewed Scare heated up in 1919, Daniels utilized the popular rhetoric sending food to Europe as key to suppressing Bolshevism: of the time to underscore his own political objectives. In the “[Wilson] said no man could worship God on an empty stomach. aforementioned “red flag shall not menace America” speech 53 Similarly, hunger will bring on Bolshevikism [sic] and anarchy.” delivered on February 17, 1919, Daniels used the threat of Daniels became personally concerned with this threat, writing on November 10 that “food must go to prevent Bolshevikism 54 Ibid., 348. 55 Ibid,, 386. 50 Daniels, The Wilson Era Years of War and After 1917-1923, viii. 56 Ibid. 51 Lee, His Life and Times, 346. 57 “Years of Compassion 1914-1923.” Herbert Hoover Presidential 52 Cronon, Cabinet Diaries, 339. Library Museum Archives Online. https://hoover.archives.gov/exhibits/ 53 Ibid. 342. years-compassion-1914-1923 (accessed November 8, 2019). 142 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Holt McKeithan 143

Bolshevik takeover in Europe as an argument for the League Cabinet meetings, he consistently advised Wilson about the of Nations. He warned of red influence and declared that “the danger of communists, anarchists, and radicals in the United draft for a League of Nations makes the Magna Carta and the States and sought extreme measures to combat their influence.60 Declaration of Independence mere forerunners of an immor- On June 10, 1919, Daniels notes, “Cabinet discussed deporta- tal instrument that blesses all the world for generations.”58 A tion of aliens who advocated change by force. Palmer said very month later he spoke again to defend the League of Nations: stringent alien and sedition laws were proposed and he thought would make it possible to reach radical socialists who did not Sweeping down from the Russian steppes, threat- resort to force and he thought them dangerous.”61 In this instance ening to engulf fallen Germany, beating on our very doors, are the hungry wolves of Bolshevism. we see Palmer advise targeting individuals who had not commit- . . . The party that throws itself strongest for world ted a crime, but simply whom he believed to be “dangerous.” wide permanent peace is the party that will best Though Daniels would later come to fight back against these serve America and the world in this hour when sorts of recommendations, he mentions neither disagreeing with the perils of peace are only less than the horrors of war. The issue far transcends party politics, Palmer at this particular meeting nor having any personal qualms and it is unfortunate that an attempt has been with his recommendation. Furthermore, this period coincides made to inject it into the most momentous ques- with Daniels’ most fiercely anticommunist rhetoric. Thus, Palm- 59 tion ever considered in the history of the world. er’s arguments may have influenced Daniels’ anticommunist stance. Only four days later, Daniels gave a commencement Here is evidence that Daniels engaged in the language address at the University of Maryland, where he spoke on the of the staunchest anticommunists of the time. At the same “League of Nations and danger of Junkers and Bolshevists.”62 time, it reveals the nuances in his belief. Although genuinely In October 1919, Wilson suffered a stroke on a speech tour concerned with Bolshevik spread in Europe, Daniels was to campaign for adopting the League of Nations. The presi- unwilling to go as far as others and declare that Bolsheviks dent’s illness marked a turning point for Daniels’s views on currently wielded influence in the United States (in his mind, Bolshevism. The stroke nearly killed Wilson and mostly inca- they had still yet to invade: “beating on our very doors”). This pacitated him for the rest of his term in office. Daniels took speech underlies his political savvy rather than actual belief. the news hard, writing that “it fell like a pall on all hearts.”63 He knew tapping into that red fear would help rally support From then on, he came to resist the increasingly aggressive for his political goal of ratifying the League of Nations. actions and stances Palmer advocated in Cabinet meetings. On In addition, Mitchell Palmer’s presence in Wilson’s Cabinet October 28, 1919, the Cabinet (meeting without Wilson) met may have influenced Daniels’ thinking and public comments with Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of regarding anticommunist rhetoric. On March 5, 1919, Palmer

took his place in Wilson’s Cabinet as attorney general. During 60 Cronon, Cabinet Diaries, 377-604. 61 Cronon, Cabinet Diaries, 418. 58 “Permanent Peace Era is Forecast.” 62 Cronon, Cabinet Diaries, 419-20. 59 Ibid. 63 Cronon, Cabinet Diaries, 444. 144 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Holt McKeithan 145

Labor and one of the loudest anticommunist voices in Amer- of Kaiser Wilhelm II’s imperial government in Germany as the ica. Daniels noted that Gompers “sees red and thinks coun- primary cause of concern. After the war, Daniels focused on try is full of Bolshevists.” The skepticism in his tone is clear. helping Wilson pass the Covenant of the League of Nations in During the meeting, Palmer proposed criminally charging the United States. Perhaps influenced by Palmer’s presence in strikers. Daniels disagreed, saying he “thought it would be the Cabinet, Daniels embraced the use of anticommunist rhetoric dangerous.”64 In Wilson’s absence, Palmer became increas- as a tool to grow public support for the League of Nations. But ingly aggressive, and the Cabinet split.65 What Daniels described after Wilson fell ill and Palmer grew bolder, Daniels began to as “a serious rupture in the cabinet” spanned over a series of advocate restraint in adopting anticommunist measures, setting contentious meetings ranging from late 1919 through 1920.66 himself against Palmer. Yet, after Wilson’s illness, Daniels’s To Daniels, Palmer’s behavior exploited Wilson’s sick- influence waned. He was ineffective in opposing Palmer, as ness; he believed that had Wilson been healthy, the president evidenced by the series of anticommunist arrests and deporta- would have stopped Palmer’s most extreme anticommu- tions known now as the “Palmer raids” conducted from Novem- nist measures. One episode in particular supports this belief. ber 1919 (just a month after Wilson fell ill) to January 1920. On April 14, 1920, Wilson made a rare Cabinet appearance. As a final note regarding Daniels, it is interesting to see how During the meeting, Palmer advocated aggressive strikebreak- his views on the Red Scare continued to evolve after his term as ing measures. Wilson’s wife and doctor came in to dismiss Secretary of the Navy, shifting from complicit in the movement the meeting, citing Wilson’s poor health. But before leaving, to hostile to its perpetrators. After Wilson left office in March Wilson “told Palmer not to let the country see red.”67 During 1921, Daniels returned home to Raleigh to reclaim his post as Wilson’s sickness, Daniels became increasingly wary of editor of the News & Observer. During this time, his stance figures like Palmer and toned down his anticommunist rhetoric. became increasingly hostile to those he saw as stirring up red Though he did not succeed in stopping Palmer, he continued to fear. On April 23, 1922, he wrote a column attacking figures encourage restraint through the rest of Wilson’s administration. such as Palmer, though he did not use his name directly. Entitled, During the Red Scare, Daniels was an influential voice on “‘Piffle, Daniels says of Reds: ex-chief of Navy finds scare in U.S. Wilson’s cabinet. His early public comments on the matter were mere imagination,” Daniels’ column attacked the Department of as anti-red as any. But for Daniels, unlike Overman, the threat of Justice, which Palmer had led as attorney general. Daniels said Bolshevik takeover in the United States was never real. Daniels’ the department “has thrown scares into an unsuspecting public focus on World War I influenced his view of the phenomenon. by sending out statements that make timid people afraid to stick Daniels was wary of Bolshevik takeover in Europe, not in the their heads out from the covers after dark.” He continued, “When United States. He saw the power vacuum left by the collapse I am told that this ‘underground movement is working every- where’, my impulse born of many former such utterances is to 64 Cronon, Cabinet Diaries, 453-54 say: Rats!”68 Had Daniels been so outspoken while on the Cabi- 65 Murray, Red Scare, 203. 66 Daniels, Wilson Era Years of War and After, 546. 68 “Piffle, Daniels Says of Reds: Ex-Chief of Navy Finds Scare Over 67 Cronon, Cabinet Diaries, 517-18. Bolshevists in U.S. Mere Imagination,” The Detroit Free Press, April 23, 146 Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History Holt McKeithan 147

net, perhaps he would have more effectively checked Palmer. occurred. North Carolina was neither populous nor urban enough to house a significant group of leftists or even labor disputes. Conclusion Overman took an active role in fueling red hysteria, despite a Besides Daniels and Overman, other North Carolinians demonstrated absence of concern on the part of his constituents. attained national prominence during this time. However, none He steered a Congressional committee away from fact finding and took any vocal public interest in the unfolding Red Scare and toward sensationalism. Daniels, while later a critic of those who thus had little collective impact. A collection of the personal saw red, engaged in alarmist, anticommunist rhetoric for political papers of Furnifold Simmons, U.S. Senator from 1901-1931, expediency. Zeroing in on these two politicians, who hail from a reveals no interest in the Bolshevik threat.69 Perhaps this should state mostly unconcerned with the Bolshevik threat, reveals an be expected. In North Carolina, the Bolshevik threat was not ironic truth about the nature of the Red Scare. The United States politically salient. The public papers and speeches of Thomas claimed to stand for a way of life that was opposite to and supe- Walter Bickett, governor of North Carolina from 1917 to 1921, rior than Bolshevism. The United States claimed to be a land of reveal almost no concern with Bolshevism.70 A collection of democracy, peace, and individual freedoms, and it aggressively Overman’s correspondences with constituents is also tell- positioned itself as such in juxtaposition to the nascent Soviet ing. From 1919 to 1921, not a single letter from a constituent Union. However, by engaging so vigorously in anticommunist addresses labor, Bolshevism, or any related term or concept.71 persecution, it curbed individual liberties and generated feelings Constituents often wrote asking for his support on bills but of public anxiety and fear. The U.S. between 1919 and 1920 tried never for anything about the Red Scare. In fact, there is only to resist Bolshevik influence, but in doing so it let Bolsheviks one reference to the Overman Committee in this collection in Russia dominate the national discourse and influence govern- of correspondence: a campaign flyer highlighting Overman’s mental decision making. The October Revolution in Russia achievements in the Senate (his chairmanship of the Overman reshaped American society during the postwar period because Committee is listed as the fourth most important accomplish- of—not despite—anticommunist rhetoric and action from figures ment).72 The Red Scare did not grip North Carolina for several like Mitchell Palmer, Lee Overman, and Josephus Daniels. reasons. The centers of the Red Scare in the United States were major cities, places such Seattle and Boston where labor disputes

1922. 69 James F. Rippy, ed., F.M. Simmons, Statesman of the New South: Memoirs and Addresses (Durham: Duke University Press, 1936). 70 R.B. House, ed., Public Letters and Papers of Thomas Walter Bickett, Governor of North Carolina, 1917-1921 (Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton Printing Company, 1923). The one time Bickett does mention the “threat of Bolshevism” is in reference to the United States in a national context, not to North Carolina. See page 213. 71 Overman, Overman Papers, Box 1. 72 Overman, Overman Papers, Box 1, Folder 5.