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The Democrats' Vice-Presidential Nominee
On Monday, July 1, the Democratic convention in Baltimore resumed its attempt to nominate a
candidate for the presidency. On Saturday, the
twenty-sixth ballot had found Speaker Champ
Clark clinging to a narrow but diminishing lead over New Jersey Governor Woodrow
Wilson. On Monday morning the twenty-seventh ballot was uneventful, but on the next ballot Indiana
switched its vote from Governor Thomas Marshall, its favorite son candidate, to Wilson. Two ballots later, Wilson’s vote
total passed Clark’s for the first time. With the forty-third
ballot Tuesday morning Wilson had a majority, and at 3:30 that afternoon the forty-sixth
ballot gave him the nomination. Oscar W. Underwood, whose
delegations from the Deep South had blocked Clark’s
nomination after Tammany's switch to Clark on the tenth ballot, was offered the vice-presidential nomination, but he declined it. The nomination then went to Governor Marshall, whose switch to Wilson Monday morning gave his candidacy a badly needed boost at a critical moment.
Governor Wilson, Speaker Clark and other Democrats at Sea Girt, July 20, 1912
Governor Wilson had followed the proceedings in Baltimore from the governor’s summer residence in Sea
Girt, New Jersey. On July 20, his defeated adversary Speaker Champ Clark led a delegation of
Democratic congressmen to Sea Girt to assure Wilson of their support in the general
election.
Senator Dixon
The losers on the Republican side are less accommodating. Progressive supporters of former
President Roosevelt are making clear their adamant refusal to accept their
party’s nomination of President Taft for another term. On
July 7 in New York City, sixty-three Republican leaders from forty states, led by Senator Joseph M. Dixon of Montana, issued a call for delegates to meet at a national
Progressive convention in Chicago on Monday,
August 5, for the purpose of nominating candidates for president and
vice-president of the United
States.
Harriet Quimby Preparing to Take Off on Her Ill-fated Flight, July 1, 1912
The inherent dangers of aviation were on vivid display this
month. On July 1, the popular aviatrix
Harriet Quimby and her passenger were killed near Boston when a gust of wind flipped their
aircraft throwing them out of their seats a thousand feet in the air. Miss Quimby was the first woman in the United States to receive an aviator’s license,
and earlier this year became the first woman to fly across the English
Channel. In another aerial mishap the next day, a
privately built dirigible balloon, the Akron,
exploded and crashed off the beach near Atlantic
City, New Jersey,
killing its builder and four crew members.
The explosion took place when a hot sun came out on a previously cloudy day, causing the hydrogen gas in the balloon to expand rapidly. The balloon suddenly gained altitude and a flame appeared at
the top, followed by the explosion.
Jim Thorpe Competing at the Olympics
The 1912 Olympic Games, which ended this month in Stockholm, went off without a hitch. This was a welcome development after the recent history of the games, which have been marred by discord, confusion and tragedy since the modern games began in Athens in 1896. Eight years ago the games were forced to accept a subordinate role with the World's Fair in St. Louis. Four years ago the games were moved to London at the last minute after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius caused the Italian government to cancel plans to hold them in Rome, and two years later the Olympic Committee canceled plans to hold interim games in Athens every four years, half-way between the regular quadrennial games. This year's games ended with American athletes winning most of the medals. Jim Thorpe, an American Indian from the Carlisle Indian
School in Pennsylvania, turned in the most impressive performance, including gold medals in both the
Decathlon and the Classic Pentathlon. It is reported that when King
Gustav congratulated him on being the best athlete in the world, Thorpe
replied "Thanks, King."
The Panama Canal Bill, now pending before the Senate, provides for free passage for American ships sailing between American
ports. On July 11, the Senate received Great Britain’s
formal objection to the bill. The British government argues that the free passage provision violates the terms of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, which provides
for nondiscriminatory access to the canal for ships of all nations. Senators Elihu Root (Rep., N.Y.) and Theodore Burton (Rep., Ohio) urged amendment of the bill to comply with the terms of the treaty. Sir Edward Grey, Britain’s
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, outlined Britain’s position on the matter to the House of
Commons on July 16.
Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman, First Sea Lord
A Royal Navy fleet review was held at Spithead on July 9. Forty-four battleships, five battle cruisers
and twenty-five armored cruisers were on display in a demonstration of British maritime power in response to the challenge presented by the new German Naval
Law. On July 22, First Lord of the
Admiralty Winston Churchill delivered a speech in the House of Commons in which
he presented a substantial upward revision of the Naval Estimates.
Dublin's Theatre Royal
Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, whose sponsorship of the Home Rule Bill has made him a popular man in the south of Ireland, received a warm welcome on a visit to Dublin July 18. He told a capacity crowd at the Theatre Royal that the Home Rule Bill will pass the Commons and go to the Lords by Christmas of this year, and asserted that "[t]here is nothing incompatible between the vision of Ireland as a nation and loyalty to a United Kingdom in which Ireland is an integral and an enfranchised and self-governing part." In other news from Great Britain, the results of the Board of Trade’s investigation into the Titanic disaster were made public in London on July 30. The accident was said to be due to excessive speed, but no individuals were directly blamed.
Adolph Zukor
On July 12, the Famous Players Film Company, founded earlier this
year
in New York by Hungarian immigrant Adolph Zukor, released a 40-minute motion picture. Called “Les Amours de la Reine Elisabeth” (“The
Loves of Queen Elizabeth”) it was produced in France and stars the world-famous actress
Sarah Bernhardt. This is believed to be the
first attempt to portray a full-length theatrical production through the medium of motion pictures (click to play a brief excerpt):
*****
Ahmed Mukhtar Pasha, the New Grand Vizier
On July 21, Ahmed Mukhtar Pasha succeeded Mehmed Said Pasha
as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. Tewfik Pasha, Turkish ambassador to Great Britain,
was first offered the post, but declined.
Pascual Orozco With the Tools of His Trade
The Mexican revolution (or civil war if you prefer) continued this
month. On July 3, Mexican government
troops under the command of General Victoriano Huerta decisively defeated rebel
forces led by Pascual Orozco near Chihuahua,
Mexico. Few observers believe this is the end of
armed resistance to the government of President Francisco Madero.
The Late Meiji Emperor
The Emperor Meiji (Mutsuhito) of Japan died July 30 after a reign
of 45 years. The Meiji Emperor (so named
after the era of his reign) ruled over Japan
during a significant period of Japanese history, having ascended to the
Chrysanthemum Throne only a few years after Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry’s
1853 expedition forced Japan
to open its doors to world trade. The
period of his reign, referred to as the Meiji Restoration, saw an impressive surge in Japan’s
international power and influence, punctuated in recent years by successful
wars against China in 1894-95
and Russia
in 1904-05. The new emperor is the Meiji
Emperor’s son, Crown Prince Yoshihito.
The new heir apparent is Yoshihito’s eleven year-old son Hirohito.
July 1912 – Selected
Sources and Recommended Reading
Contemporary Records and Periodicals:
American Review of Reviews, August and September 1912
Democratic National Convention, 1912, Official Report of Proceedings
American Review of Reviews, August and September 1912
Democratic National Convention, 1912, Official Report of Proceedings
New York Times, July 1912
Books:
William J. Bryan, A Tale of Two Conventions
James Chace, 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft & Debs -- the Election That Changed the Country
Randolph S. Churchill, Winston S. Churchill, Volume II, Young Statesman 1901-1914
Champ Clark, My Quarter Century of American Politics
Josephus Daniels, The Wilson Era
Lewis L. Gould, Four Hats in the Ring: The 1912 Election and the Birth of
Modern American Politics
Lewis L. Gould, The William Howard Taft Presidency
Edmund Morris, Colonel Roosevelt
William G. McAdoo, The Crowded Years
Patricia O'Toole, When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt After the White House
Earl of Oxford and Asquith, Memories and Reflections, 1852-1927
Henry F. Pringle, The Life and Times of William Howard Taft
Joseph Tumulty, Woodrow Wilson As I Know Him
Lewis L. Gould, The William Howard Taft Presidency
Edmund Morris, Colonel Roosevelt
William G. McAdoo, The Crowded Years
Patricia O'Toole, When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt After the White House
Earl of Oxford and Asquith, Memories and Reflections, 1852-1927
Henry F. Pringle, The Life and Times of William Howard Taft
Joseph Tumulty, Woodrow Wilson As I Know Him
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