Governor James P. Goodrich was born in Winchester, Indiana to a Randolph County lawyer. He taught for a couple of years in the Randolph County schools to save money to go to DePauw. Demonstrating the networking advantages of such places, he became friends with future U.S. Senator Albert Beveridge who was an influence in Goodrich’s eventual involvement in politics. He studied law in the office of his fellow Winchester native and DePauw classmate James Watson (who also became a U.S. Senator).

Becoming active in Republican politics, Goodrich became state party chair (1901-1910) and a national committeeman (1912-1916)  at a difficult time for the Republicans. Senator Beveridge was trying to move the party toward the Progressives while Senator Charles W. Fairbanks was trying to steer it toward the conservatives. When Beveridge bolted the party with Teddy Roosevelt, the party spent some time in the political wilderness. Fortunately, Goodrich could comfort himself with piles of money. In addition to his law practice, Goodrich had made investments in farms, coal mines, grain elevators, and banks which apparently paid off nicely.

He announced his intent to seek the Republican nomination for governor in the 1916 campaign. He became the nominee by winning the state’s first primary. (Previously the decision had been made at state conventions.) His Democratic opponent was John Adair. The Prohibitionists ran a candidate, and the Progressives ran former governor, Frank Hanly. (Hanly had declined an opportunity to run for the Prohibitionsts to accept the Progressive nomination. His Progressive run for governor was probably not as vigorous as it could have been because he was also the Progressive Party’s presidential nominee.)  Due to his long experience in running the state party machinery, Goodrich had an advantage over Adair in terms of running a statewide campaign. This likely proved decisive, given how close the election was. Adair had been a Congressman in the eastern part of the state for ten years. Goodrich beat Adair by about 12,000 votes of about 687,000 cast. On the national ballot, two Hoosiers were nominated as vice-presidential candidates: Thomas Marshall for the Democrats and Charles W. Fairbanks for the Republicans.

The state issues were women’s suffrage, prohibition, tax reform, and  whether to call a state constitutional convention (the amendment process was deemed too difficult because the Indiana Supreme Court had decided that it was not sufficient for an amendment to receive more yes votes than no votes; rather it required that a majority of total votes cast in the election be in favor of the amendment — this holding was overruled by a subsequent Supreme Court in the 1935 case of In re Todd).

With respect to tax reform, Goodrich felt that the burden of property taxes — which was the primary source of government funding — unfairly targeted farmers and rural areas.

[Goodrich] called attention to the fact, that, under the law as it then existed, there was discrimination against the farmer in that in listing his property for taxation he was required to make a complete inventory of his livestock, grain, hay, and other farm property, a method of listing not required of any other class of taxpayers.

He felt that the wealthy citizens of urban areas were not paying their fair share. When the 1851 Constitution was adopted, most Hoosiers were farmers or small town merchants and, so, a general property tax worked well. However, the industrialization that took place after the Civil War changed the equation and, in 1917, there was a great deal of intangible wealth that was escaping taxation. This occurred as the Progressive movement was making more demands on government which, in turn, required more funding.

Thomas Marshall’s attempt to create a new Constitution was struck down by the Indiana Supreme Court, but the decision gave Goodrich reason to believe that the legislature could call a Constitutional convention. Governor Goodrich advocated legislation for an excise tax and a constitutional convention to amend the system of taxation to more equitably distribute the tax burden onto large commercial interests.  The legislature did not pass the excise tax but did pass the legislation for a convention. However, the opponents of the excise tax challenged the convention legislation in court. Marion Circuit Court upheld it at the trial level, but the Supreme Court reversed, holding that the legislature did not have the power to call a convention.

Next time: World War I

Last time, we discussed Governor Samuel Ralston and his efforts with Indiana’s Centennial. One lasting effort had to do with the state parks.

The state park initiative seems to have had its roots in a letter from Juliet Strauss to Gov. Ralston asking for his assistance in preserving Turkey Run in Parke County. Within a week after the letter, Ralston had created a Turkey Run Commission. Richard Lieber, a conservationist who was involved in early efforts to preserve land in Brown County, was made aware of the Turkey Run Commission. He proposed to Gov. Ralston that the State create a system of state parks as a permanent memorial of the centennial celebration. Lieber was appointed to the Indiana Historical Commission which promptly formed a state park memorial committee of which Lieber would be head. The Turkey Run Commission was rolled into that committee.

To win support for a system of state parks Lieber and his colleagues initiated an impressive campaign of education and persuasion. They first pointed out to Indiana citizens that the proposed park plan was the only centennial plan that would memorialize the state as a whole in 1916. But more important, they argued that a park system would be a worthwhile and dignified memorial. The state’s parks would “refresh and strengthen and renew tired people, and fit them for the common round of daily life.” No one, they asserted, could doubt the dignity of such a plan. A comprehensive system of state parks, committee members urged, “would not only memorialize the past but would build for the future. …” Indiana’s parks would “stand forever as a token of the past,” and they would also “bring health, wealth and happiness to our own generation and the many that will come after us.”

The committee took up a subscription to raise funds to buy the Turkey Run site which was going up for auction. In a bidding war, the committee’s representative bid more than the committee had to spend but, even so, was outbid by the Hoosier Veneer Company, a timber firm which bid $30,200 for the site. All was not lost. With financial contributions from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Association, the committee was able to buy the property from the Hoosier Veneer Company for $40,200.

While these negotiations were ongoing, the McCormick’s Creek site was going up for auction. The committee arranged for a bid on the site, provided that the citizens of Owen County raise a quarter of the purchase price. The State acquired the site for a bid of $5,250, giving McCormick’s Creek pride of place as the first of Indiana’s state parks.

Good Roads

The “Good Roads” movement also got a boost in Indiana thanks to the centennial celebration. At the time, Indiana lacked organization in its system of roads, did not have a Highway Department and, consequently, missed out on federal funding for roads. “Each county and each township [was] a rule unto itself.” Indiana lagged behind other states in this, but the farm population was resistant. They valued local control of the roads, felt that a state road system would benefit urban populations over rural, and did not like the idea of new taxes. Part of the problems is that such taxes would have to be paid in cash. Apparently it was not uncommon at this time for farmers to be able to contribute to the local roads in labor, rather than money — and to contribute that labor at a time that would not be detrimental to caring for the crops.

Gov. Ralston was a highway enthusiast, but he had been unable to mobilize the farm vote in the General Assembly to get behind a road bill that would have created a state highway department. Ralston declared October 12, 1916, to be “Centennial Highway Day” and laid groundwork in an effort to get Indiana eligible for part of the $75 million Congress had made available to construct rural post roads. He was able to get President Wilson to come to the state to talk about good roads. President Wilson, at the state fairgrounds, told Hoosiers, “Good roads are necessary … to draw neighbors together, to create a community of feeling, for the blood of the nation will not flow in harmonious concord unless it can flow in intimate sympathy.” This paved the way (so to speak) for a state highway department to be created in 1917.

Despite the resistance with respect to the local roads, Indiana had had some success with respect to long distance highways. At the urging of Carl Fisher (who had also been a motivating force behind the east-west Lincoln Highway), Ralston was instrumental in obtaining the cooperation of state governors to build the north-south Dixie Highway. In 1914, the governors of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia met in Chattanooga, Tennessee to discuss the project. In advocating for the road, Ralston declared that “only a completed road uniting North and South would ‘prove a blessing to unborn generations and stand as an epoch in American history.’” The highway (more a series of roads than necessarily a unified highway) was built starting in 1915. Among other things, part of the route became State Road 37 south out of Indianapolis. You can see the route reflected in major parts of I-65, I-75, and U.S. 31. In September 1916, Ralston and Fisher led a celebration in Martinsville when the route opened from Indianapolis to Miami, Florida.

At the conclusion of the Centennial Year, Ralston declared “never before . . . was Indiana prouder of … its place … in the galaxy of American states.” I am, unfortunately, not getting that sense out of Indiana in its bicentennial year.

Samuel Ralston was born in Ohio but raised in Owen County where he helped with the family farm. After the farm fell into financial difficulty, he spent time working as a butcher and a coal mine. Though he spent time teaching while in college, Ralston studied law after graduating and began his practice in Lebanon, Indiana. He ran for office several times but, as a Democrat in a Republican area, he was unsuccessful. However, he did make the acquaintance of Indiana’s Democratic party boss, Thomas Taggart during the course of those unsuccessful runs.

In 1908, Taggart supported Ralston as the party’s nominee for governor due to Ralston’s anti-prohibitionist stance. But, the party instead nominated Thomas Marshall to the position. However, it was in 1908 that Ralston obtained his first electoral victory — election to the Lebanon School Board. In 1912, he was nominated as the Democrats’ candidate for governor. During that election, Marshall’s proposed new constitution was a hot issue and the Republicans nominated former governor, Winfield Durbin to run on their behalf. However, the Republican Party was fractured at the time, with many members joining the Progressives. As part of that split, Teddy Roosevelt supporter and former Republican, Albert Beveridge ran as the Progressive Party’s candidate for governor. Beveridge had been a Senator but lost his seat when the Democrats took power in the Indiana General Assembly in 1910. With the Republican vote split, Ralston won the governor’s race by a healthy margin (48.1% versus 28.6% for Beveridge and 26.7% for Durbin. The Prohibition Party candidate took 3.1%.)

By winning this particular election, Ralston became Indiana’s “Centennial Governor” since he presided over Indiana’s centennial on December 11, 1916. It seems fair to say that Indiana made a bigger deal over its centennial than it is currently making over its bicentennial. The state’s progress during the first 100 years was remarkable, and it had a prominent standing in the country among states, particularly as compared to today when the state seems to be content to simply not be last in measures of prosperity and well-being.

In 1915, as the centennial was approaching, Ralston asked the General Assembly to create a Centennial Commission and appropriate $25,000 (about $600,000 in today’s money) for public celebration. He desired to  “jealously guard [Indiana’s] fair name and zealously labor to preserve her untarnished glory.” The Indiana Historical Commission was created. The Commission was charged with preparing and executing plans for the celebration and with collecting, editing, and publishing materials related to the history of Indiana. The Commission had a fairly extensive media campaign. For example, one of the commissioners, Charity Dye, wrote a weekly article for the Indianapolis Star called, “The Centennial Story Hour.” (The chairman of the Commission’s committee on publicity was Lew O’Bannon, grandfather to future Governor Frank O’Bannon.)

The Commission worked hard to keep centennial celebrations from being tawdry or mere excuses for profiteering. For example, it was compelled to issue several statements denouncing an outfit out of Washington D.C. calling itself the “National Patriotic League.” It’s chief goal seemed to be allowing its promoters to make money off of the civic feeling of Indiana’s citizens. Indiana secured the old capitol at Corydon as a permanent state memorial, and the Indiana Historical Commission inaugurated Indiana’s system of state parks.

Next time: state parks and good roads.

 

Warren G. Harding (1921 – 1923)  Harding was a Senator from Ohio, hailing from the town of Marion. He was not considered a leading candidate when he decided to seek the Republican nomination for the 1920 election. The Progressives having returned to the Republican Party, Theodore Roosevelt was widely expected to make another run. But, he died unexpectedly on January 6, 1919. Harding was not a leading recipient of delegates in the primary, but the leaders such as General Leonard Wood and Illinois Governor Frank Lowden could not get a majority. The bitterness that had arisen during the campaign (and before) ensured that they would not compromise with each other. Harding ended up being an acceptable compromise and received the nomination. His promise to return America to a period of “normalcy” resonated with the country, tired after war and upheaval.

Wilson wanted to be nominated to a third term by the Democrats, but the delegates knew that his health would not permit it. Vice President (and former Indiana governor) Thomas Marshall had been thought to be a contender, but his dithering and handling of Wilson’s incapacity was apparently a deal breaker. Ultimately Ohio governor James Cox was nominated along with a 38 year old assistant secretary of the navy by the name of Franklin Roosevelt.

Harding was not a dream candidate. His speeches were described as “an army of pompous phrases moving over the landscape in search of an idea.” H.L. Mencken said of a speech, “it reminds me of a string of wet sponges, it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a kind of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of the dark abysm … of pish, and crawls insanely up the topmost pinnacle of tosh. It is rumble and bumble. It is balder and dash.” Nevertheless, the electorate was tired of war, unrest, Progressivism, and Wilson. KDKA out of Pittsburgh was the first radio station to broadcast the results of a Presidential election as they came in. The power of the station was such that the station could be heard over much of the eastern United States. The result was a landslide for Harding who captured 60.3% of the popular vote and 400 electoral votes.

Harding had waffled on the League of Nations during the campaign but hardened his stance against it when he took office. His Secretary of State, Charles Evans Hughes, negotiated a peace treaty with Germany since, in the absence of ratification of the Treaty of Versailles, the U.S. was still technically at war. The U.S. also needed to get back on a postwar economic footing. Income taxes were reduced, agricultural tariffs were raised, and measures were passed to support highways, aviation, and radio.  Adoption of the automobile led to economic activity in the form of roads, rubber, steel, and construction of hotels. Harding pushed for regulation of radio licenses. Congress was slow to act, not passing legislation until 1927, but the Commerce department facilitated agreements among major broadcasters for the licensing of radio frequencies.

Harding was generally pro-business and viewed labor as a conspiracy against business. That said, he was somewhat helpful to labor — helping to negotiate an end to a mining strike in 1922 and helping with a process that led to the end of 12 hour work days (7 days a week) in the steel industry. (U.S. Steel Chairman, Elbert Gary, opposed this initiative.) He was able to appoint four pro-business conservatives to the United States Supreme Court.

The 1922 mid-term elections did not go well for Harding. The economy was still having difficulty and labor was angry over the outcome of recent strikes. Unemployment was at 11%. The Republicans retained majorities in Congress, but lost 80 seats in the House and fell to 51 seats in the Senate.

Harding took an extensive tour of the west in the summer of 1923, becoming the first President to visit Alaska. However, he took ill, experiencing heart problems and pneumonia. He died on August 2, 1923, at the age of 57. This came as a blow to the nation. He was extremely popular at the time. However, economic scandals and infidelity would come to light that retroactively tarnished his reputation — in particular, the Teapot Dome scandal. Harding’s secretary of the interior had apparently received a bribe from Sinclair Oil to lease federal oil reserves to the company at below market rates.

Calvin Coolidge (1923 – 1929) Calvin Coolidge, known as “Silent Cal” has some of the best one-liners in Presidential history. Two of my favorites:

[A] young woman sitting next to Coolidge at a dinner party confided to him she had bet she could get at least three words of conversation from him. Without looking at her he quietly retorted, “You lose.”

And:

The President and Mrs. Coolidge were being shown [separately] around an experimental government farm. When [Mrs. Coolidge] came to the chicken yard she noticed that a rooster was mating very frequently. She asked the attendant how often that happened and was told, “Dozens of times each day.” Mrs. Coolidge said, “Tell that to the President when he comes by.”

Upon being told, the President asked, “Same hen every time?”

The reply was, “Oh, no, Mr. President, a different hen every time.”

President: “Tell that to Mrs. Coolidge.”

He was born to an old New England family and eventually opened a practice as a country lawyer. He got into politics, working his way up from city and county offices to the state legislature to lieutenant governor to governor to Harding’s vice-president and, ultimately, President.

Harding died in San Francisco on August 2, 1923. Coolidge was visiting his parents’ house which didn’t have electricity or a telephone. A messenger was sent to the home to give Coolidge the news. His father was a notary public and administered the oath of office at 2:47 a.m. on August 3 by the light of a kerosene lamp.

Coolidge felt it was his duty to continue Harding’s policies and, to the extent possible, maintain his cabinet until the next election. He took a methodical approach to the scandals of the Harding administration, mainly letting the Senate investigations take their course. He did have to intervene and force the resignation of the Attorney General who was resisting the congressional probe. He approved the reduction of the income tax from a top rate of 58% to 46% and an increase in the estate and gift taxes.

In 1924, Coolidge was easily nominated as the Republican’s candidate for President, winning on the first ballot. The Democrats did not have such an easy time. It took a record setting 103 ballots over 15 days at their convention in New York. There was a war of attrition between the leading candidates, California Senator (and Woodrow Wilson son-in-law) William McAdoo and Al Smith, Governor of New York. The Klan was a significant factor in the nomination. The Democrats had a coalition that involved rural southern states and the industrial cities of the north. The city votes were behind Smith but he was Catholic, so the Klan votes were against him. When an anti-Klan plank for the party platform was rejected, Klansmen celebrated across the river  in New Jersey with masks and burning crosses and whatnot. It left an indelible mark on the convention which became known as the “Klanbake.” As vote after vote failed to advance the prospects of either man, compromises were sought. For a time, Indiana’s own former governor Sam Ralston was advanced as a possibility. He was supported by old Democratic warhorse, William Jennings Bryan and, of course, the indefatigable Indiana Democratic political boss, Tom Taggart. Taggart would later assert that enough votes had been arranged for Ralston but that Ralston — who would die the next year — had concerns about his health and that of his wife and son. Ralston withdrew before the vote in question and, ultimately, the Democrats nominated John Davis, a former ambassador and Solicitor General for the U.S. The convention nominated Nebraska governor Charles Bryan — brother of William Jennings Bryan — as Davis’ vice-presidential nominee.

The Democrats got creamed in the election, winning just 28.8% of the vote. Their electoral votes came entirely from the old Confederacy. Coolidge’s gratification at the victory was muted, however. In July of that year, his son died. Showing how much more precarious life was then — his son’s death was caused by an infected blister that Cal. Jr. developed after playing tennis with his brother John while wearing tennis shoes without socks. Coolidge said, “when he died, the power and glory of the Presidency went with him.”

During Coolidge’s second term, the rapid economic growth that came to be known as the Roaring Twenties kicked into high gear. Between Coolidge and his Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, the state of regulation was “thin to the point of invisibility.” Coolidge is famous for asserting that, “the chief business of the American people is business.”  Hoover was an enthusiastic promoter of the growth of airlines and radio.  Coolidge reduced federal income taxes, held federal spending flat, and paid down the federal debt. “By 1927, only the wealthiest 2% of taxpayers paid any federal income tax. Federal spending remained flat during Coolidge’s administration, allowing one-fourth of the federal debt to be retired in total. State and local governments saw considerable growth, however, surpassing the federal budget in 1927.”  Coolidge opposed subsidies of farmers, believing that farms should succeed or fail like other businesses. He did support efforts to modernize farming practices. At one point, he (the son of a farmer) said, “farmers never have made much money. I do not believe we can do much about it.” He also opposed federal flood control measures Congress passed in the wake of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, believing property owners should bear most of the cost.

In the summer of 1927, Coolidge vacationed in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Custer State Park was made his “summer White House.” It was there, he issued the terse statement, “I do not choose to run for President in 1928.” By way of explanation, he later explained:

“The Presidential office takes a heavy toll of those who occupy it and those who are dear to them. While we should not refuse to spend and be spent in the service of our country, it is hazardous to attempt what we feel is beyond our strength to accomplish.”

That would open the door for Herbert Hoover about whom we’ll talk more in Installment 9. Next time, we’ll move on to the governors: Samuel Ralston in particular.

In 1916, Wilson campaigned on the fact that he’d kept America out of war and on a progressive platform that :

highlighted federal legislation to promote workers’ health and safety, prohibit child labour, provide unemployment compensation and establish minimum wages and maximum hours. Wilson, in turn, included in his draft platform a plank that called for all work performed by and for the federal government to provide a minimum wage, an eight-hour day and six-day workweek, health and safety measures, the prohibition of child labour, and (his own additions) safeguards for female workers and a retirement program.

The Republican nominee was Charles Evans Hughes of New York who was also a progressive. The campaign was close, but Hughes was hampered by having to keep the Republican party with its fractured progressive and conservative wings intact. Wilson apparently spent more time attacking Roosevelt during the campaign than he did Hughes, the actual opponent.

The war in Europe was probably a turning point in the American economy. European wealth was being destroyed at a furious pace and were engaged in a total war that demanded resources that the Americans were able to supply.  Ultimately, the U-Boat affronts became more than the U.S. could ignore. Germany was probably aware of this, but it had to gamble on the U-boats because it didn’t have a lot of options given its position in the war. The Zimmerman Telegram certainly didn’t help matters either. Germany was going to resume unrestricted submarine warfare which, it knew, would provoke the Americans. If the U.S. joined the war against Mexico, the telegram suggested that Mexico should ally with Germany and “reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.” A declaration of war was passed by Congress and signed by President Wilson on April 6, 1917. The Russian Revolution in March of 1917 removed a barrier to U.S. entry inasmuch as the U.S. would not be obliged to fight alongside an autocratic regime. Russia’s exit from the war, however, made the U.S. contribution all the more important since the Germans were able to focus more intently on the Western Front.

Near the beginning of the U.S. involvement in the war, on July 4, 1917, Col. Charles Stanton went to the tomb of the Marquis de Lafayette in Paris and said:

America has joined forces with the Allied Powers, and what we have of blood and treasure are yours. Therefore it is that with loving pride we drape the colors in tribute of respect to this citizen of your great republic. And here and now, in the presence of the illustrious dead, we pledge our hearts and our honor in carrying this war to a successful issue. Lafayette, we are here!

Consistent with the Progressive ethos of the day, the U.S. attempted to enlist a technocratic approach to mobilizing the home-front for the war. A notable example of this was future President Herbert Hoover who headed up the U.S. Food Administration during the war. Hoover sought and obtained a great deal of centralized power for the Food Administration, declaring “food will win the war.” “Hoover established set days for people to avoid eating specified foods and save them for soldiers’ rations: meatless Mondays, wheatless Wednesdays, and “when in doubt, eat potatoes”.” The agency also used price controls and licensing schemes to maximize production.

The U.S. raised an army through conscription and Wilson gave General Pershing broad authority with respect to strategy and tactics. By August 1918, the U.S. had a million soldiers in Europe.

The Democrats did not fare well in the 1918 mid-term elections, and the Republicans took control of the Congress. As the war was winding down, Wilson was in Europe for the better part of six months for the peace conference. He played a major role — advancing his Fourteen Points and pushing for the creation of a League of Nations. However, there is an argument to be made that he was more persuasive in Europe than at home. The Senate would not ratify the treaty of Versailles which incorporated the League of Nations charter. During the treaty negotiations, Wilson had suffered illness which weakened him in the face of the Senate negotiations which, being controlled by the opposing Republicans, was going to be an uphill battle regardless. Wilson then suffered a series of strokes. The Senate opposition was led by Senator Lodge. The key point of disagreement was whether the treaty would diminish the ability of Congress to declare war. Ratification was ultimately defeated.

Demobilization caused a good bit of disruption. Four million soldiers abruptly returned home without much in the way of money or benefits. Returning soldiers mixed with new workers who had been recruited during the wartime labor shortage — often these workers were blacks who were induced to move from the South to the north where the factories were. A wartime land price bubble burst, leaving many farmers deeply in debt. Strikes disrupted the economy in 1919. Race riots erupted throughout the country (with the greatest violence taking place in Chicago)  as postwar economic issues, racial tensions, labor activity, a civil rights movement, and fear of Bolshevism created a toxic mix.

The Red Scare reached its apex during 1919 and 1920. The anarchists were a problem, and the Bolshevik take over of the Soviet Union made the danger seem very real. Authorities saw the threat of Communist revolution in any number of labor events. In April and June of 1919, anarchists attempted over mail bombings. Attorney General Mitchell Palmer was targeted twice. They were not particularly effective as weapons of assassination, but they were unnerving. Palmer recruited a recent law school graduate by the name of J. Edgar Hoover to help him fight back.

Palmer launched his campaign against radicalism with two sets of police actions known as the Palmer Raids in November 1919 and January 1920. Federal agents supported by local police rounded up large groups of suspected radicals, often based on membership in a political group rather than any action taken. Undercover informants and warrantless wiretaps (authorized under the Sedition Act) helped to identify several thousand suspected leftists and radicals to be arrested.

Despite serious constitutional questions about the actions, the public largely supported the raids.

On June 4, 1919, Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment, giving women the right to vote. The language had first been proposed in 1878. That language didn’t get a vote in the Senate until 1887 when it was rejected by a vote of 16 – 34. Then it languished for 30 years. The women’s suffrage movement saw some success, particularly in the west, during the 1910s due in part to the successes of the Progressive and socialist movements. In 1918, President Wilson advocated passage of the 19th Amendment. It received the necessary votes in the House but fell two votes short in the Senate. A second vote got it within one vote. There was a desire to obtain passage before the 1920 election. President Wilson called Congress into special session and, finally, the June 4, 1919, vote got the measure passed in the Senate. The measure was opposed by conservative Southerners (because of course it was), but it finally got the necessary state ratifications on August 18, 1920, when Tennessee narrowly passed the measure. (Indiana passed it on January 16, 1920).

During the last part of Wilson’s term, he was physically unable to perform the job. The strokes had debilitated him severely. His wife insulated him for the most part, choosing matters for his attention and delegating others to cabinet members. His situation was one of the cases that eventually led to ratification of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment which provides a process for removing the President when “the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”

Next time: Warren Harding promises a return to normalcy.

In this 8th installment of the bicentennial series, we’ll cover the period from 1913 – 1929. The Great War was about to get under way, though the U.S. would stay out of it for a few years. We’ll also go through Indiana’s Centennial, Prohibition, D.C. Stephenson and the Klan during the Roaring Twenties.

The Presidents during this period: Woodrow Wilson (1913 – 1921), Warren G. Harding (1921 – 1923), and Calvin Coolidge (1923 – 1929). The Governors during this period: Samuel Ralston (1913 – 1917), James Goodrich (1917 – 1921), Warren McCray (1921-1924), Emmet Branch (1924-1925), and Edward Jackson (1925 – 1929).

8.1: The National Scene

Woodrow Wilson (1913 – 1921)  Wilson was definitely the beneficiary of the rift in the Republican Party caused by Teddy Roosevelt and his Progressives bolting when it became clear that Taft was going to get the nomination. Democrats took control of the Congress, and Wilson was the first southerner (he was governor of New Jersey but had been raised in Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina) since before the Civil War. Prior to being governor, Wilson had been an academic — having a PhD in political science. Wilson was a scholar of government, and embraced progressive principles. Generally speaking, he believed government had the power and the duty to take action to improve the lives of its citizens. In some ways, we take this idea for granted these days. In other ways, we seem to believe that it’s a patronizing and untrue concept. I think we have the luxury of these inconsistent views because of the policies implemented by Roosevelt and Wilson and the progressive lawmakers of the early 20th century. We are no longer exposed to many of the brutal conditions left unaddressed by the theories of government that preceded the progressives.

Wilson took office shortly after the 16th Amendment was passed, and his administration oversaw introduction of the income tax. His administration also passed a good deal of progressive legislation, including the Federal Reserve Act, Federal Trade Commission Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, and the Federal Farm Loan Act.  The Wilson administration also passed the Smith–Lever Act of 1914 which created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges (for Indiana, this would be the Purdue extension offices.) The agents taught new techniques to farmers.

Wilson believed that monopoly needed to be checked, in part by lowering tariffs and by reforming the banking system. He was able to get through legislation lowering the tariffs, but its economic effects were soon overwhelmed by the effects of World War I which started in 1914 in Europe.  

The Wilson administration implemented increased segregation in federal offices. “By the end of 1913 many departments, including the Navy, had workspaces segregated by screens, and restrooms, cafeterias were segregated, although no executive order had been issued.” Wilson suggested that segregation removed “friction” from the races.

The U.S. had a fraught relationship to Mexico during the Wilson administration. Wilson refused to recognize the Huerta military junta that came to power through assassination. Huerta arrested military personnel in the port of Vera Cruz, and  Wilson sent the navy to occupy the city. General warfare was averted through negotiations. Huerta was thrown out of power, but those events led to Pancho Villa invading Columbus, New Mexico where he burned the town and seized supplies. This, in turn, led to John “Black Jack” Pershing invading Mexico in an ultimately unsuccessful bid to capture Villa. Another invasion took place in Haiti. After the Haitian dictator was murdered — and due to some concerns about German activity in the country —  the Wilson administration sent the marines, and the occupation would last for the next 20 years.

In 1914, the Ludlow Massacre took place. This was an attack by the Colorado National Guard and mining interests on 1,200 striking miners and their families in Ludlow, Colorado. John D. Rockefeller was partial owner of the mine and largely blamed for the incident. “The massacre, the culmination of a bloody widespread strike against Colorado coal mines, resulted in the violent deaths of between 19 and 26 people; reported death tolls vary but include two women and eleven children, asphyxiated and burned to death under a single tent.” Rockefeller apparently declined President Wilson’s offer of mediation. In retaliation for the massacre, miners attacked dozens of mines over the next 10 days. “The entire strike would cost between 69 and 199 lives. Thomas G. Andrews described it as the ‘deadliest strike in the history of the United States.’” The subsequent Congressional investigation of the affair led to child labor laws and the eight-hour work day.

During the period leading up to the First World War, an anarchist movement was intertwined with the labor movement. One anarchist, Leon Czolgosz had assassinated President McKinley. Often they were motivated by (among other things like, perhaps, delusions of grandeur) a perception (frequently real) that there was injustice in American society that allowed the wealthy to enrich themselves by exploiting the poor. Some sought to “replace the privilege and authority of the State” with the “free and spontaneous organization of labor.” One prominent anarchist was Luigi Galleani. He managed to keep his own hands relatively clean, but he was an advocate of what they called, “propaganda of the deed,” which was a euphemism for violence. Galleani was an effective speaker. Said one contemporary, “You heard Galleani speak, and you were ready to shoot the first policeman you saw.”  Galleanists are believed to have been involved in bombings from 1914 through the 1920s.

The 1919 anarchist bombings were undertaken by Galleanists, targeting, among others, John D. Rockefeller and the Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer. A flyer with the bombs read:

War, Class war, and you were the first to wage it under the cover of the powerful institutions you call order, in the darkness of your laws. There will have to be bloodshed; we will not dodge; there will have to be murder: we will kill, because it is necessary; there will have to be destruction; we will destroy to rid the world of your tyrannical institutions.

In response, Palmer initiated what came to be known as the Palmer Raids, characterized by large scale arrests and warrantless seizures and was part of the “Red Scare”.

But, I’m probably getting ahead of myself. That took place in Wilson’s second term. For present purposes, it’s enough to note that anarchism was a political movement both at home and abroad; and the “propaganda of the deed” was in vogue. Gavril Princip who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and lit the fuse that would detonate the powder keg of Europe may or may not have been an anarchist. He is mostly described as a Serbian Nationalist. But, there are parallels either way with those who perceive themselves as part of an underclass challenging power through violence. When Princip assassinated Ferdinand as part of a bid for Serbia to gain independence from the Austro-Hungarian empire, international relations were so snarled up that this led pretty quickly to Germany invading France and Russia.

(As a little boy, I asked my grandpa why they fought the World Wars. “Well,” he said, “the first one, they just kind of wanted to fight, and the second one I think they were fighting over a girl.” Now, obviously the explanation for the second World War was  bunch of hooey, but the explanation for the first one is unnervingly accurate.)

I guess I don’t know how deep into the weeds to get here in terms of the causes of World War I. But, I’ll just go with this: The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand caused the Austro-Hungarian Empire to threaten war with Serbia. Serbia was allied with Russia which was, in turn, allied with France. The Austrians were allied with the Germans. The Germans were stuck between Russia and France,  and the Germans had a war plan premised on knocking either Russia or France out of a fight quickly so it could avoid fighting on two fronts. One of the best ways into France was through neutral Belgium. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia began mobilizing its troops. Germany invaded Belgium on its way to France — reasoning that Russia would take longer to mobilize its troops, and, therefore, Germany could hope to knock out France in time to wheel its army back around again and deal with Russia. Violation of Belgian neutrality brought Great Britain into the war. The initial weeks of the war were very fluid, but eventually the battle lines hardened, and the conflict turned into a relentless meat grinder, characterized by trench warfare where huge numbers of lives were thrown away in an effort to claw out a few extra yards of territory. 

Wilson’s initial response to the war was neutrality. However, Germany could not match Britain’s navy with conventional ships. When Britain disrespected America’s neutrality with respect to merchant ships, it could do so by blocking them with British warships and turning them around. Americans weren’t necessarily happy about that, but it was no reason to go to war. Germany, on the other hand, was often fighting its naval battles with submarines. This led to sinkings that killed Americans and made the policy of neutrality more difficult to maintain.

Next: The election of 1916 and the U.S. enters the war.

To, at long last, finish this installment #7 of our bicentennial series, a couple of other things during the term of Gov. Thomas Marshall (most notably, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway & the 500):

In 1910, Blanche Scott is credited as the first woman to have flown an airplane solo with her flight taking place on September 6, 1910 in Fort Wayne. (This flight may or may not have been somewhat accidental — her instructor thought he had limited the plane so it could not take off. Some others credit Bessie Raiche with the accomplishment about 10 days later.) Scott had gained some fame by being part of a pair of women who made the first female automobile trip from east to west across the United States. The quaint writing of the New York Times about the automobile trip is a reminder of the condescension women had to face. (It’s still present but fortunately somewhat diminished.) The New York Times, May 17, 2010: “Miss Scott, with Miss Phillips as only companion, starts on long trip with the object of demonstrating the possibility of a woman driving a motor car across the country and making all the necessary repairs en route. Miss Blanche Stuart Scott yesterday started in an Overland automobile on a transcontinental journey which will end in San Francisco.”  

And, in 1911, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway — which had opened in 1909 — had its very first Indianapolis 500. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was the idea of Carl Fisher, who we met earlier in this installment — the bicycle repairman turned auto salesman turned headlight magnate. He thought a track would be a good place to test new automobile technology and race the vehicles in a way that gave spectators a better view than what was going on at the time, driving the cars on makeshift tracks and horse trails. He also saw that Europe currently had the upper hand in automobile technology. He was further inspired by the Brooklands Circuit outside of London with its banked turns. Fisher found a suitable site at the Pressley farm about five miles outside of Indianapolis and convinced James Allison (of Allison Engines), Arthur Newby, and Frank Newby to assist him with the purchase.

Construction of the track started in March 1909. Fisher had to quickly downsize his planned 3-mile (5 km) oval with a 2-mile (3 km) road course to a 2.5-mile (4.0 km) oval to leave room for the grandstands. Reshaping of the land for the speedway took 500 laborers, 300 mules and a fleet of steam-powered machinery. The track surface consisted of graded and packed soil covered by 2 inches (5 cm) of gravel, 2 inches (5 cm) of limestone covered with taroid (a solution of tar and oil), 1–2 inches (3–5 cm) of crushed stone chips that were also drenched with taroid, and a final topping of crushed stone. Workers also constructed dozens of buildings, several bridges, grandstands with 12,000 seats, and an 8-foot (2.4 m) perimeter fence. A white-with-green-trim paint scheme was used throughout the property.

A balloon race in June 1909 before the track was completed drew 40,000 people. (Bill Bryson, in his book “One Summer: America 1927” observed that in the early 20th century almost any sort of spectacle could draw a crowd.) Track conditions for early races became an issue.  The first motorcycle race had to be cut short due to concerns about suitability for motorcycles. During the track’s first racing event in August 1909, the track conditions again deteriorated and  tragedy ensued:

On the third day of racing, 35,000 spectators showed up to watch the grand finale 300-mile (480 km) race. At 175 miles (282 km) into the race, the right front tire blew on Charlie Merz’s car. His car mowed down five fence posts and toppled dozens of spectators. Two spectators and his mechanic, Claude Kellum, were killed in the crash. Ten laps later, driver Bruce Keen struck a pothole and crashed into a bridge support. The race was then halted and the remaining drivers given engraved certificates instead of trophies. The race resulted in the AAA boycotting any future events at the speedway until significant improvements were made.

To address this problem, Fisher and his partners undertook repaving the IMS with bricks, as a surface that would not fall apart during races — giving the track its moniker, “The Brickyard.” Governor Marshall laid the final brick, made of gold in December, 1909.

In 1910, the track held a multitude of events with races on Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day weekends, including several 100 – 200 mile races and many shorter ones. In 1911, there was a shift in marketing focus due in part to the increased crowds the races were drawing. The organizers settled on a 500 mile race with a spectacular purse of $25,000 in gold. (The $25,000 would be worth something like $600,000 today and the 82.93 pounds of gold would probably be north of a million (I don’t know the purity or anything like that.) The length and purse gave the race primacy in the racing world. On May 30, 1911, the first Indy 500 was held with 40 racers and was won by Ray Harroun in front of a crowd of 80,000 in his Marmon “Wasp” race car. Harroun’s car featured a new innovation — the rear view mirror. His win was not without controversy, however. “Many considered Harroun to be a hazard during the race, as he was the only driver in the race driving without a riding mechanic, who checked the oil pressure and let the driver know when traffic was coming.”

Former World War 1 flying ace, Eddie Rickenbacker purchased the track from Allison and Fisher in that year as well. During World War II the race was not conducted and the track fell into disrepair. In November 1945, Rickenbacker sold the track to Terre Haute businessman, Tony Hulman.The race has, of course, become a staple of Memorial Day weekend in Indiana with its 100th running having taken place this year.   

In the next installment, we’ll cross the centennial line, head into World War I, and probably conclude shortly before the Great Depression.

Marshall was generally an advocate of separation of powers and temperance when it came to the use of executive power, but, even so, he chafed at the cumbersome process for amending the state’s 1851 Constitution — requiring as it did, passage of two consecutive General Assemblies and approval, not just by a majority of votes, but by a majority of those casting votes (so, if the “ayes” outnumber the “nos” but are less than 51% of the ballots cast, the Constitutional provision would not pass.) During the 10 years from 1894 to 1904, when the Progressive movement was in full bloom, the other states had adopted 230 constitutional amendments while Indiana had failed to adopt one.

One of Marshall’s close advisers was a lawyer by the name of Jacob Piatt Dunn. Looking at some happy language from the Declaration of Independence and the somewhat irregular method by which the 1851 Constitution was passed, in 1911, Dunn suggested that the entire Constitution could be swapped out more easily than the existing one could be amended. He suggested that the new Constitution could be recommended by one General Assembly (all Democratic since the 1910 election) and ratified by the voters.  

The document that Dunn produced and Marshall then provided to the General Assembly for debate included such earlier reform attempts as granting the legislature the power to fix requirements for admission to the bar and increasing the size of the Indiana Supreme Court from five justices to as many as eleven. Other revisions included increasing the size of the Indiana House of Representatives to 130 members; lengthening the General Assembly session to 100 days; giving the legislature the power to enact workmen’s compensation laws and measures for the initiative, referendum, and recall of all elected officials except judges; requiring a three-fifths vote by the House and Senate to override a governor’s veto; giving the governor a line-item veto power on appropriation bills; prohibiting salary increases for public officials during the term to which they were elected; easing the amending process for the Constitution; and providing political parties the opportunity to declare for or against constitutional amendments at their conventions and making such a decision a part of their tickets to be acted on by voters.

Marshall also suggested that the new Constitution would improve the integrity of elections. Among other things, it would have restricted eligibility to male citizens who had paid a poll tax and could read. It also required residency in the state for 12 months and in a precinct for 30 days prior to the election. With respect to foreign-born residents of Indiana, the 1851 Constitution required that foreigners declare an intent to become citizens. Marshall observed that, back then, Indiana wanted people to immigrate. In 1911, apparently the days of really wanting immigrants was over and, besides, they were probably the “wrong type” of immigrants.

Republicans were not amused. They derided a “Constitution” that was ginned up in a party caucus by men who had not been elected to frame a Constitution. Senator James Sexson of Owen County had a little fun:

On February 16, 1911, Sexson introduced a Senate resolution appointing [Governor] Marshall as a committee of one with the power to put the new Constitution into effect without holding an election. The resolution also gave Marshall the power to “revise the Lord’s prayer, amend the Declaration of Independence, repeal the Mosaic law, bring the thirty nine articles of faith down to date, abridge the sermon on the mount and do all other things as will appear in his infinite wisdom and supreme interest in the welfare of the people, to be fitting and proper.”

The resolution did not pass. Republican newspapers, including the Indianapolis Star, blasted the proposal relentlessly. Nevertheless, the legislation passed. Opponents went to court. By a slim 3 – 2, the Indiana Supreme Court decided that the General Assembly did not have the legislative authority to propose replacement of the 1851 Constitution except through the amendment process laid out in that document.

Even with a loss, however, the furor over the proposed amendment apparently helped Marshall’s reputation at the national Democratic convention in 1914 and helped him gain the Vice-Presidential spot, running with Woodrow Wilson.

Thomas Marshall (1909-1913)  was born to a family of staunch Democrats who located in Indiana in 1817. Marshall was born in North Manchester, but his family moved around in an effort to find a climate that would help his mother’s tuberculosis. They spent some time in Illinois, during which they attended the Lincoln-Douglas debates and, apparently, four year old Thomas recalled sitting on the lap of both Lincoln and Douglas. They would move on to Osawotamie, Kansas in 1859. This would have been during the bleeding Kansas era, near the time of John Brown’s “Battle of Osawatomie,” when free soilers clashed with the pro-slavery forces. Marshall’s family made their way back to Indiana by way of Missouri and Illinois.

While in college at Wabash, in 1872, Marshall wrote an unfavorable article about a female lecturer at the school, accusing her of “seeking liberties” with the students. She hired Lew Wallace to sue Marshall for libel. Marshall hired Benjamin Harrison to defend him. Harrison was successful in the defense.

Marshall opened a law practice in Columbia City and gained some prominence. However, he had a drinking problem which began to interfere with his work. His wife apparently helped him to give up liquor by locking him up at home for two weeks. Thereafter, he became part of the temperance movement and gave speeches on the dangers of alcohol.

He was true to his family’s Democratic heritage and, because he lived in a Republican stronghold, was not initially successful in winning office. However, he stumped for other candidates across the state and became part of the state Democratic party’s central planning committee in 1904. He passed on a nomination to run for Congress but started angling for a nomination for the governor’s race. In this, he was opposed by former Indianapolis mayor and Democratic party boss, Thomas Taggart due to his prohibitionism. (You may recall a reference earlier in this installment where Taggart was selling the bicyclists on the virtues of Indianapolis as a site for a future convention.) But, a coalition of his supporters, Taggart opponents, and prohibitionists were enough to secure the nomination in the 1908 campaign. The rift between the Republican conservatives and progressives provided an opportunity for Marshall. He won narrowly, by about 10,000 votes out of 700,000 cast (48% to Republican James Watson’s 48.1%). Democrats controlled the House and Republicans retained control over the Senate.

Given how long the party had spent in the wilderness, the first order of business was to appoint Democrats to patronage positions. Marshall apparently kept the peace in the party by allowing Taggart to handle most of the selections. Marshall was more focused on policy. During the first General Assembly of his term – with split control of the chambers –  things proceeded slowly. Marshall was unsuccessful in his proposals for direct election of United States senators and improved railroad and insurance company regulation. He was, however, successful in obtaining the creation of the State Board of Accounts.

One of Marshall’s proposals, direct election of Senators could not be had through legislative action in the first part of his term, but was obtained through passage of the Seventeenth Amendment by the United States Congress and ratified by the states, including – on February 13, 1913 – Indiana. One theme that has run like a drumbeat throughout the first half of this bicentennial series has been the shenanigans and machinations of Indiana politicians angling for the Senate seat – backroom deals, an empty Senate seat, a governor for two days, a sketchy lieutenant governor’s election, fist fights, gun shots. While it’s no way to run a government, it sure has made some fun writing. I’ll miss that angle going forward. Maybe advocates of the 17th Amendment’s repeal can succeed with their horrible idea and provide some color for Hoosiers one day writing about our tricentennial.

Next time: Papa’s got a brand new constitution.