May 1912

Roosevelt campaigning in Sandusky, Ohio, May 1912

 

The American presidential campaign is growing in intensity as the major parties’ national conventions approach, both now less than a month away.  On the last day of April, President Taft's efforts in Massachusetts were rewarded with his first primary win in a large state.  After the results were in, consistent with his advocacy of primaries, Roosevelt released the Massachusetts delegates at large, previously pledged to him, to cast their votes for Taft.  Taft’s success in Massachusetts was shortly overshadowed, however, by an embarrassing loss three weeks later in his home state of Ohio.  He made a major effort in that state, and predicted victory right up until the day of the primary, when Ohio Republicans voted overwhelmingly for Roosevelt.  A week later, Roosevelt followed up with another victory in New Jersey.

Charles Murphy

On the same day as Roosevelt’s stunning win in the Ohio Republican primary, the Democrats of that state cast their lot with their governor Judson Harmon.  Harmon, who is considered the favorite candidate of the northern conservative faction of the Democratic Party, is also expected to receive the votes of most if not all of the New York delegation, controlled by Charles Murphy’s Tammany Hall.  Champ Clark continued to add to his delegate total with a primary win in California on May 14 while picking up convention victories on May 16 in Maryland and Iowa.  Woodrow Wilson won the endorsement of the Democratic convention in South Carolina on May 16 and in Texas on May 26.

Speculation continues about the possibility of major defections in both parties.  Despite their professions of party loyalty, both Roosevelt and Bryan have been outspoken in their opposition to leading candidates of their respective parties.  Former President Roosevelt is an announced candidate for the Republican nomination, and his denunciations of the incumbent president have grown more strident as the Chicago convention draws nearer.  In the Democratic Party, three-time nominee Bryan has made no secret of his opposition to Governor Harmon and Representative Underwood.  Champ Clark's attempt to avoid making enemies has caused Bryan to begin to question his progressive credentials.  Bryan and Woodrow Wilson appear for the moment to have patched up their differences, but Wilson's opposition to Bryan in his earlier campaigns remains a possible source of friction (unlike Wilson, Clark supported Bryan in those campaigns).  Bryan denies any interest in seeking a fourth nomination, but few doubt that he would happily accept if the opportunity presented itself, and the possibility that he might bolt the party and mount an independent run cannot be wholly discounted.  In short, this year's presidential campaign is shaping up as one of the most contentious in American history, made more so by the possibility that either or both of the major parties' leading figures may refuse to support his party's nominee.

The Socialist Party Ticket

One third party is already in the race.  The Socialist Party, which has been growing in strength in recent years, held its national convention in Indianapolis on May 17.  It nominated Eugene V. Debs of Indiana for president and Emil Seidel of Wisconsin for vice-president.  Debs is a founder and leader of the party, and has been its presidential candidate in every election since 1900.  Before entering politics, Debs led the American Railway Union in a strike against the Pullman Sleeping Car Company.  The strike, which brought railway commerce to a virtual halt, was broken when President Grover Cleveland sent federal troops to enforce an injunction against the strike and Debs was imprisoned for contempt of court for disobeying the injunction.  In 1905, Debs was one of the founders of the Industrial Workers of the World (the IWW, or “Wobblies”).

Earl Rogers

Clarence Darrow, who rose to prominence as Debs's lawyer in the Pullman strike litigation, is now himself on trial, charged with attempting to bribe a juror when he represented the McNamara Brothers at their trial last December for dynamiting the Los Angeles Times building.  Darrow's trial began May 15 in Los Angeles.  He is represented by Earl Rogers, one of the few lawyers in the United States who may be better known than Darrow himself.

Opening Ceremony of the 1912 Olympics

The 1912 Olympic Games were officially opened in Stockholm, Sweden on May 5 by King Gustav V.  So far the only competition has been in tennis, but other events are scheduled throughout the summer.  The modern games began in Athens in 1896 and have been held every four years since.  The games this year, however, will be the sixth:  In addition to those held in Paris in 1900, St. Louis in 1904 and London in 1908, another set of games was held, again in Athens, in 1906, with the intent of returning to Athens every four years thereafter.

The games have had to deal with their share of difficulties over the years.  The plan to hold games in Athens every four years was abandoned in 1910 due to political turmoil in Greece.  Chicago was originally chosen for the 1904 Olympics, but when the organizers of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis refused to change their plans, the Olympic games were moved to St. Louis, where they became essentially a sideshow to the World's Fair.  Four years later, the 1908 Olympics were relocated from Rome to London after the city of Naples was devastated by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906.

Launching of the U.S.S. Texas

The new battleship U.S.S. Texas (BB-35) was launched May 18.  The latest member of the New York class of battleships, it will be the largest ship in the U.S. Navy.  Apparently unimpressed, the House of Representatives on May 28 passed a naval appropriations bill with no provision for new battleships.

The Gatun Lock Under Construction in March 1912

The Panama Canal, which is nearing completion, will enable merchant ships as well as naval vessels like the Texas to transit with relative ease between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  On May 23, the House of Representatives passed the Panama Canal Bill, which provides for free passage through the canal by American vessels en route from one U.S. port to another.  Because the canal, the most ambitious engineering project in history, has been an entirely American project, Congress's desire to favor American shipping interests is understandable.  This is likely to cause diplomatic difficulties with Great Britain, however, because of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty of 1901, in which the British agreed to abandon their right to share control of an isthmus canal (based on the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850) in return for the United States' commitment to grant passage through the canal to ships of all nations on equal terms.

President Roosevelt became the first president to leave the United States while in office when he traveled to Panama in 1905 to view the progress of the canal's construction.  This film, shot during Roosevelt's visit, gives an idea of the scale of the project  (click to play):

 The Panama Canal Under Construction During President Roosevelt's 1905 Visit


*****

John Charles Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey

The Senate Special Committee on the Titanic released its report on May28.  Senator Smith, the chairman of the committee, summed up its findings, noting the Titanic's excessive speed through the ice field, the lack of discipline among the crew during the emergency, the insufficient number of lifeboats and the fact that many were lowered before they were filled.  The committee's most scathing criticism was reserved for Captain Lord of the Californian, whose failure to go to the Titanic's assistance, or even to arouse his ship's wireless operator to investigate the reason for the emergency flares seen on the horizon, was found responsible for the deaths of most if not all of those lost on the Titanic.  The committee also criticizes lax regulation and hasty inspection by the British government authorities.  This will be a major focus of the British investigation conducted by Lord Mersey, which began May 2 and is under way at month's end.

Captain Rostron and Mrs. Brown

The senate report praises the actions of Arthur Henry Rostron, the captain of the Carpathia, who at risk to his own ship's safety raced at top speed through the ice field to the Titanic's assistance.  The Carpathia, the first ship on the scene, arrived too late to save those on the Titanic or in the water, but rescued hundreds in the lifeboats.  On May 29 a committee of Titanic survivors represented by Mrs. J.J. ("Molly") Brown presented a loving cup to Captain Rostron in appreciation of his efforts.

Wilbur Wright

Wilbur and Orville Wright, brothers from Dayton, Ohio, are credited with the invention of the powered, heavier-than-air aeroplane.  On May 30, Wilbur Wright, aged 45, died unexpectedly of typhoid fever.

The First Flight (Orville airborne, Wilbur earthbound)

The Wright Brothers' first sustained and controlled flight took place at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903.  Since then the brothers have been active in improving the design of flying machines and promoting aviation to the general public, as well as defending their numerous patents against challenges by Glenn Curtiss and others. The aeroplane's potential in military operations has only begun to be demonstrated.

Sheriff Carl Hayden

On May 13, Congress proposed an amendment to the Constitution providing for the popular election of United States senators.  The amendment has much popular support, and on May 22 Massachusetts became the first state to ratify it.  Unless and until it is ratified by three-fourths of the states, the provision of Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution that senators are selected by their state legislatures remains in effect.  In Arizona, the latest state admitted to the Union, the state legislature has selected Henry F. Ashurst and Marcus A. Smith, both Democrats, as the state’s first senators.  Arizona's lone member of the House of Representatives is Democrat Carl Hayden, formerly the sheriff of Maricopa County, who won an election held last year in anticipation of statehood.  One of Arizona’s first acts as a state after its admission to the Union was to ratify another amendment to the Constitution, this one authorizing a federal income tax.

Arizona is the newest state, and ragtime music is all the rage.  The two have been combined in this new popular song, recorded last month at the Victor Talking Machine Company's recording studio in Camden, New Jersey (Click to play):

Ragtime Cowboy Joe (sung by Bob Roberts)

*****

Commander Charles Samson flying from the deck of HMS Hibernia, May 1912

In Britain, the King looked on with First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill and thousands of spectators as the Royal Navy conducted a naval review in Weymouth from May 7 to May 11.  Hundreds of warships participated, demonstrating the latest advances in naval gunnery and tactics, including the first take-off of an aeroplane from the deck of a ship under way.  Not to be outdone, the German Reichstag voted on May 10 and 14 to increase the size of the army and navy.

Emmeline Pankhurst

Woman suffrage in Britain continues to make the news.  On May 22, Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst, the founder and leader of the Women's Social and Political Union who is believed to have been involved in the recent window-smashing in London, and Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, editors of Votes for Women, were found guilty of conspiracy at the Old Bailey and sentenced to nine months in prison.  In other news from Great Britain, Irish home rule took a step closer to reality when on May 9 the Government of Ireland Bill passed its second reading in the House of Commons.


In Mexico, insurgent threats to the government of Francisco Madero continue.  Emiliano Zapata leads revolutionary forces in the south, while Pascual Orozco leads rebels in the north.  On May 4, former Interior Minister Emilio Vasquez Gomez returned to Juarez from the United States, seeking to join forces with Orozco.  He has proclaimed himself provisional president and has named Orozco his Minister of War.

May 1912 – Selected Sources and Recommended Reading

Contemporary Periodicals:
American Review of Reviews, June and July 1912
Literary Digest, May 1912

New York Times, May 1912

Books and Articles:
James Chace, 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft & Debs -- the Election That Changed the Country

Randolph S. Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Young Statesman 1901-1914
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
Lewis L. Gould, Grand Old Party, A History of the Republicans
Edmund Morris, Colonel Roosevelt
Patricia O'Toole, When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt After the White House
Henry F. Pringle, The Life and Times of William Howard Taft

April 1912

Major Butt

The new luxury liner RMS Titanic, owned and operated by the White Star Line, was en route from Southampton to New York on her maiden voyage when she struck an iceberg and sank off the coast of Newfoundland, taking with her some 1,500 passengers and crew, many of whom perished from exposure in the icy water after the ship went down.  Among the victims was Major Archibald Butt, President Taft's military aide, who was returning from a holiday with his brother who lives in England.  Survivors report that Major Butt acted heroically throughout the emergency, insisting that women and children be given priority and assisting them into the lifeboats. 

Isidor and Ida Straus

Isidor Straus, co-owner (with his brother) of Macy's Department Store, was also on the Titanic, and was lost along with his wife, who was urged to board a lifeboat but refused to leave her husband's side.  Two other wealthy Americans, J. Pierpont Morgan and Alfred G. Vanderbilt, had booked passage on the Titanic, but changed their plans at the last minute.

The Carpathia in New York, Lowering the Titanic's Lifeboats

The Titanic's collision with the iceberg happened late Sunday evening, April 14, and the ship sank bow first in the early morning hours of Monday the 15th.  The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia, en route from New York to Fiume, Austria-Hungary, received the Titanic's wireless distress signals and proceeded at high speed through the ice fields toward the Titanic's last reported location.  She reached the first lifeboats at about 4 o'clock Monday morning, picked up survivors, and returned to New York, arriving late Thursday night.  It appears that the nearest ship when the Titanic was sinking was not the Carpathia but the Leyland Line steamship SS Californian, en route from London to Boston with no passengers.  Although the Californian saw the Titanic's emergency flares, she did not respond at first, and arrived on the scene only after the Carpathia had rescued survivors. It appears that at least some of the lifeboats aboard the Titanic were lowered before they were filled, and that the capacity of the lifeboats was insufficient in any event.  This would have been less serious if the Californian had responded promptly and arrived while the Titanic was still afloat, enabling the lifeboats to ferry passengers and crew from the sinking ship.  As it was, the only survivors (about 700) were those who were in lifeboats when the Carpathia arrived, some two hours after the Titanic had disappeared beneath the surface of the North Atlantic.

 John Jacob Astor IV (left) waiting to board the train that will take him to the Titanic

Another prominent victim of the Titanic tragedy was New York millionaire John Jacob Astor IV, great grandson of the first John Jacob Astor and first cousin of William Waldorf Astor, who emigrated to England in 1891 and became a British subject in 1899.  The cousins' relationship was strained.  In 1890 William tore down his mansion at the corner of 33rd Street and Fifth Avenue, next to John's mother's house, and built a hotel, which he named the Waldorf.  John responded by persuading his mother to move uptown, then tearing down her house and building another, larger, hotel, which he called the Astoria.  The two hotels are now connected by a corridor called Peacock Alley and operated as a unit.

Senator Smith

The day after the Carpathia's arrival in New York, a Congressional hearing was convened to investigate the disaster.  It began, coincidentally, at the Waldorf-Astoria, and has since been moved to the Senate Office Building in Washington.  Senator William Alden Smith (Rep., Mich.), the chairman of the subcommittee conducting the hearing, issued subpoenas to ensure that testimony is obtained while survivors are still in the country and their memories fresh.  The senator has been accused of prolonging the hearings, and has drawn criticism for insensitivity in requiring survivors to remain in this country until the hearings are concluded.  By month's end his fellow committee members had prevailed on him to conclude the hearings in a day or two. The British inquiry, to be conducted by Lord Mersey, is scheduled to begin May 2.

J. Bruce Ismay

Among the survivors of the Titanic's sinking was J. Bruce Ismay, the chairman of the White Star Line, who was accompanying his firm's newest and largest vessel on her maiden voyage.  He testified that he stepped into the last lifeboat only when it was ready to be lowered away and he saw no women or children or other passengers on deck.

The Titanic and her sister ship, RMS Olympic, were launched about a year ago in the Belfast shipyards.  After fitting out, she conducted her sea trials on April 2, and departed April 4 for Southampton to board her first passengers.  Newsreel footage recorded the Titanic in Belfast before her departure for Southampton (click to play):

The Titanic's voyage was troubled from the beginning.  As she was getting under way at Southampton, she escaped a collision that could have brought her cruise to a premature end and thereby, ironically, have avoided her far more devastating collision with an iceberg a few days later.  On April 10, after she cast off from her berth in Southampton, the massive suction caused by her movement through the water put such a strain on the hawsers securing the nearby American liner New York to her berth that they parted, causing the New York to swing into the channel toward the Titanic.  A collision was narrowly averted as the Titanic rapidly reversed her engines and tugboats sprang into action to return the New York to her moorings.  The Titanic's ability to continue her voyage was greeted at the time with expressions of relief.

* * * * *

  

 The Greatest Show on Earth

While the Titanic disaster captured the headlines, the attention of the American political world remained fixed this month on the campaigns for the Republican and Democratic Parties' presidential nominations.  1912 is shaping up to be the most entertaining, though hardly the most edifying, political spectacle in many years.  An editorial cartoon in the Tacoma Ledger summed up the view of many.

 President Taft Speaking in Springfield, Massachusetts, April 25, 1912

After his primary defeat in New York, former President Roosevelt went on the offensive.  Charging that the state Republican machine had rigged the voting by leaving Roosevelt's name off ballots, not delivering ballots on time, barring Roosevelt's election inspectors from polling places, and other election chicanery, he denounced the results as "not only a farce, but a criminal farce."  This month, in the days before the Titanic drove politics off the front pages, Roosevelt swept primaries in Illinois and Pennsylvania, and the following week he added victories in Nebraska and Oregon.  Senator LaFollette, meanwhile, despite his apparent collapse in February, has apparently not abandoned the race after all.  Emboldened by last month's victory in North Dakota, he scored another victory on April 2 in his home state of Wisconsin.  President Taft's primary record has been less successful: he won the New Hampshire primary on April 23, but as the end of the month approached he was otherwise winless in primary contests.  In a major effort to win an important state, he traveled to Massachusetts several days before its April 30 primary, telling crowds he had come "to reply to an old and true friend of mine" and saying "I do not want to fight Theodore Roosevelt, but sometimes a man in a corner fights. I am going to fight."  He delivered a fighting speech in Boston, denying that he had abandoned his progressive principles and denouncing Roosevelt for abandoning his pledge not to seek a third term.  He pointed to his administration's enactment of federal employers liability and other progressive legislation and his strong record of enforcement of the Sherman Act, and criticized Roosevelt for his proposal to empower regulatory agencies to distinguish between "good trusts" and "bad trusts" rather than enforcing the Sherman Act against all "combinations in restraint of trade."

Because of his primary victories, Roosevelt now leads Taft in the number of committed delegates.  Primaries, however, will not be the deciding factor in either party's nominating contest this year because relatively few states have enacted the legislation necessary to conduct them.  Most states, including some that have primaries, ultimately choose their delegates by state conventions.  Many of those states will send uninstructed delegations to the national convention, and most will probably cast their votes for the president.  In New York, for example, last month's primary was followed this month by a state Republican convention, which left the delegation technically uninstructed but consisting mostly of machine-selected delegates who support Taft.  Roosevelt forces have mounted challenges to the party establishment in other state conventions, but the power of presidential incumbency has been difficult to overcome.  Through their control of federal patronage, Taft supporters have been able in most states to control the party machinery and thus the selection of delegates to the state conventions, which in turn select Taft delegates to the national convention.  Presidential control over the party is, ironically, a legacy of Roosevelt's presidency, established by Roosevelt himself and used effectively by him to secure Taft's nomination four years ago.  Roosevelt's attempts to counter Taft's organizational advantage this year have resulted in party turmoil and bitter disputes that will remain unresolved until the national convention in Chicago.  In Michigan, for example, where primary legislation was proposed but blocked by the party establishment, rival sets of delegates appeared at the state convention in Bay City and came to blows until order was restored by local police and the state militia.  Unable to resolve their differences, the opposing factions selected separate delegations to the national convention, where their competing claims to represent Michigan Republicans will be examined by the Credentials Committee.

Looking for a Reliable Driver

The increasingly bitter contest between Taft and Roosevelt for the Republican nomination has caused some to wonder if the party would be better off with another nominee.  The most frequently mentioned alternative is Supreme Court Justice and former New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes.  An editorial cartoon in the Globe and Commercial Advertiser captured the mood of many Republicans.

The struggle between Taft and Roosevelt supporters in state Republican conventions has been repeated in many states, particularly in the South.  In the states of the former Confederacy, where the Republicans are a small minority of voters, the Republican Party establishment has long been dominated by Negroes, federal office holders and seekers of federal patronage.  These "black and tan" Republicans have been challenged in several southern states by insurgent "lily-white" factions who claim to represent the majority of actual Republican voters.  This claim has validity only because Negroes in those states are denied access to the ballot under state laws that, by various means, limit the franchise to whites.  Because whites in those states vote overwhelmingly Democratic, the disfranchisement laws have the effect of solidifying the Democratic Party's control.  Despite the tiny number of Republican voters, southern states are fully represented in Republican conventions, with the result that their delegations wield influence far out of proportion to the number of voters they represent.  It has been estimated that, depending on the state, the convention vote of a southern Republican is equal to between ten and fifty northern Republicans' votes.  For example, Mississippi, which cast only 4,360 votes for Taft in the 1908 general election, will have twenty delegates at the 1912 convention (one for every 218 Republican voters), while Nebraska, which cast 127,000 votes for Taft in 1908, will have only sixteen delegates (approximately one for every 7,938 Republican voters).  For another example, each of the recent primary states of Illinois and Pennsylvania had more Republican voters in 1908 than all the states of the "Solid South" combined, but will have only a fraction of the convention votes.  Republicans, of course, deplore the southern states' denial of the vote to Negroes, but recognize there is little or nothing they can do about it: voting qualifications are essentially determined by state law, and it has been remarkably easy for state laws to circumvent the Fifteenth Amendment's prohibition of denial of the vote on the basis of race.  Some northern Republicans do, however, suggest that the convention representation of southern states should be reduced to reflect the small number of actual Republican voters.  Southern Republicans, of course, object to that proposal, but those who represent the "lily-white" factions argue that they simply recognize the reality that the Republicans who vote in their states, few as they are, are as white as the Democrats.  This year, as in prior election years, the Republican establishment in most southern states will support "black and tan" delegations that are expected to vote for the president's renomination.  Roosevelt's only hope of securing the nomination is to mount successful challenges in those states by supporting the insurgent "lily-white" delegations.  Those competing claims, like those in other states like Michigan, will be resolved by the Credentials Committee, where the outcome of the Republican convention is likely to be decided.

Representative George H. White

In Democratic conventions, as in Republican, the South exercises disproportionate control, though for a different reason.  The Democratic Party in the South openly advocates a policy of white supremacy, a policy that is supported by the vast majority of white southerners, to whom the idea of social, economic and political equality of former slaves and their descendants is unacceptable.  White men are, for all practical purposes, the only voters in the South.  State legislation with the avowed purpose and effect of denying the vote to Negroes (though stopping short of expressly targeting the Negro race in violation of the Fifteenth Amendment) was enacted in most southern states in the 1890's by Democratic legislatures and governors in response to the threat posed by Populist-Republican coalitions.  The result has been to eliminate the Negro vote and solidify Democratic Party control, control that is reflected not only in presidential elections but also in the make-up of Congress.  Between the Civil War and the turn of the century, twenty-three Negroes served as members of Congress, all from southern states and all Republicans.  The last one, George H. White (Rep., N.C.), was defeated in 1900 after North Carolina disfranchised its Negroes in 1899.  Because similar scenarios have played out in virtually every state with a substantial Negro population, it is unlikely that there will be another Negro in Congress in the foreseeable future.

The same history dictates the make-up of the Democratic convention.  The Democrats, unlike the Republicans, confront no racial divide when it comes to choosing delegates.  Although they do not use the expression, it is virtually certain that every delegation to the Baltimore convention this year, without exception, will be "lily-white," just as they have been in every other Democratic convention in history.

The Last Democratic Nominee from the South

The principal source of the power of southern states in Democratic conventions is the party's two-thirds rule.  By requiring a two-thirds vote of the delegates to select a presidential nominee, the party ensures that no nominee can be selected who is unacceptable to the South.  No Southerner since Tennessean James K. Polk in 1844 has actually received the party's nomination, but because of the two-thirds rule the South has always held effective veto power.  That this power is increasing rather than waning is shown by the fact that this year, for the first time since the Civil War, a Southerner is a serious candidate for the nomination: House Majority Leader Oscar W. Underwood is supported not only by his home state of Alabama but also by several other southern states.  And Woodrow Wilson, although he governs a northern state, was born in Virginia, spent his formative years in Georgia and South Carolina, and has much support in the South.  This support may be important or even decisive if no candidate secures the nomination in the early voting and Underwood fails to gain momentum.

The Democratic primaries this month have delivered a split verdict.  Underwood, who is not competing outside the South, carried his own state of Alabama on April 2.  Also on April 2, Governor Wilson scored a victory in Wisconsin, but a week later, in a surprising and impressive show of strength in Illinois, Champ Clark defeated Wilson in a landslide.  Wilson won Pennsylvania later that week, but at month's end Clark appears to be the leading candidate.  Three-time nominee William Jennings Bryan, who says he is not a candidate this year, has not endorsed anyone, but is said to be favorably disposed toward both Clark and Wilson.  He has been critical of Underwood, and is openly opposed to Ohio's conservative governor, Judson Harmon.

*****

Clara Barton

Three famous Americans other than the victims of the Titanic sinking died this month.  Clara Barton is known for her heroic work nursing soldiers during the Civil War and for founding the American Red Cross after the war.  She died on April 12 at the age of 90.  General Frederick Dent Grant, who also died April 12, was the son of Civil War hero General Ulysses S. Grant.  He was graduated from West Point in 1871 and served in the U.S. Army during the Indian and Spanish-American Wars and the Philippine Insurrection.  From 1889 to 1893 he was the United States Minister to Austria-Hungary.  Finally, Calbraith Perry Rodgers, who achieved fame last year as the first person to cross the United States by air, was killed April 3 when his aeroplane flew into a flock of seagulls and crashed off the California coast near Long Beach. Rodgers was a member of a distinguished naval family, one of whom was his ancestor and namesake Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, who led the squadron that opened Japan to American trade in 1853.

On April 3, shortly after becoming the 48th state, Arizona ratified the proposed sixteenth amendment to the Constitution authorizing Congress to assess and collect a tax on incomes.  Arizona is the 32nd state to do so; thirty-six are required to complete ratification.

Al Jolson

The latest Broadway sensation is a singer, comedian and all-around entertainer named Al Jolson, who opened at the new Winter Garden Theater last year and has played there since to sell-out crowds.  He performs most of his routines in blackface, a vaudeville convention that is a carry-over from the popular minstrel shows of the last century.  Jolson's first recording for RCA Victor was released this month (click to play):

"Snap Your Fingers"
(sung by Al Jolson)

*****

Lord Randolph Churchill

British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith introduced the Government of Ireland Act on April 11, and it passed its first reading in the House of Commons on April 16.  The bill, the third legislative attempt since the 1880's to achieve home rule for Ireland, would establish a separate two-house legislature in Dublin with power to legislate for the island, but with a number of exceptions.  The parliament in Westminster would retain control of the army and navy and all imperial affairs as well as matters relating to Irish land tenure and old age pensions and national insurance.  Control of the Irish Constabulary would be transferred to Ireland after six years.  The Irish parliament would have no authority to enact legislation establishing or preventing the free exercise of religion or giving preference to any religion.  Collection of taxes and customs duties would remain an imperial function and be paid into the imperial exchequer.  Ulster would have 59 of the 164 members of the new Irish House of Commons, and the number of Irish members in the imperial parliament would be reduced from 103 to 42.  As with earlier attempts to enact home rule for Ireland, this bill has excited strong feelings on both sides of the issue.  After 100,000 people demonstrated in support of the bill in Dublin on March 31, another 100,000 demonstrated against it in Belfast on April 9.  As he introduced the bill, the Prime Minister defended it from its Unionist detractors, arguing that many comparable examples were to be found in the British Empire:  "There are between twenty and thirty self-governing legislatures under allegiance to the Crown which have solved the problem of reconciliation and local autonomy.  Are we going to break up the empire by adding one more?"  The bill's second reading was moved on April 30.  In a touch of historical irony, the motion came from First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, whose father, Lord Randolph Churchill, led the fight against the first home rule bill in the 1880's with the warning "Ulster will fight, and Ulster will be right!"

Robert Falcon Scott

The Terra Nova, Captain Robert Falcon Scott's polar exploration ship, has arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand carrying a report from his expedition to the South Pole.  In a message sent back to McMurdo Sound on January 3, Captain Scott reported that he and his party were within 150 miles of the Pole and still advancing, and that he had decided to remain in Antarctica over another winter "in order to continue and complete my work."  It now appears certain that Captain Scott did not achieve his goal of reaching the South Pole before Norwegian Captain Roald Amundsen, who arrived last month in Hobart, Tasmania, reporting that he had successfully reached the Pole and returned, and that he had seen no sign of the Scott expedition.

 Italian forces landing in Rhodes

The Italian fleet has taken an increasingly active role in the war between Italy and the Ottoman Empire.  This month it seized a number of Turkish islands in the eastern Mediterranean, including the symbolically important island of Rhodes.  The captured islands are near enough to Turkey to pose a threat to the mainland, and on April 18, the opening day of the Turkish parliament, Italian ships shelled the entrance to the Dardanelles.  In response, Turkey closed the Dardanelles, increasing international pressure on the warring nations to reach a settlement.  The main obstacle to negotiation may be the recent Italian annexation of Tripoli, which has angered Arab Muslims.

*****

 

April 1912 – Selected Sources and Recommended Reading

Contemporary Periodicals:
American Review of Reviews, May and June 1912
Literary Digest, April 1912

New York Times, April 1912

Books and Articles:
James Chace, 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft & Debs -- the Election That Changed the Country
Randolph S. Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Youth 1874-1900

Randolph S. Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Young Statesman 1901-1914
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
Lewis L. Gould, Grand Old Party, A History of the Republicans
Sherwood Harris, Coast to Coast in 12 Crashes, American Heritage, Vol. XV, No. 6 (Oct. 1964)
John A Kouwenhoven, The Columbia Historical Portrait of New York
Edmund Morris, Colonel Roosevelt
Patricia O'Toole, When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt After the White House
Michael Perman, Struggle for Mastery: Disfranchisement in the South 1888-1908
Henry F. Pringle, The Life and Times of William Howard Taft
Richard B. Sherman, The Republican Party and Black America from McKinley to Hoover 1896-1933

Hanes Walton, Jr. and C. Vernon Gray, Black Politics at the National Republican and Democratic Conventions, 1868-1972, Phylon (1960-), Vol. 36, No. 3 (3d Qtr. 1975)

March 1912

Roosevelt in Columbus (not yet stripped to the buff)

Battle has been joined between President Taft and former President Roosevelt for the Republican Party nomination.  Last month, as he was responding to the plea of progressive Republican governors to make his intentions known, Roosevelt told reporters “My hat is in the ring.  The fight is on and I am stripped to the buff.”  Addressing a constitutional convention in Columbus, Ohio, he took on a subject he knew would draw fire from the president.  In a speech he labeled "A Charter of Democracy," he advocated the recall, not only of elected officials but also of judicial decisions and, “as a last resort,” of judges who have “grown so out of touch with social needs and facts” that they are “unfit to render good service on the bench.”  He made it clear that he does not regard the traditional remedies, legislation in the case of bad decisions and impeachment in the case of bad judges, sufficient for the modern age.

The reaction to Roosevelt’s speech has been swift.  Speaking at the same venue on March 8, Taft made clear his strong opposition to recall as applied to the judicial branch of government.  Without mentioning Roosevelt by name, he said that recall of judicial decisions by popular vote “lays the axe at the foot of the tree of well-ordered freedom and subjects the guarantees of life, liberty and property without remedy to the fitful impulse of a temporary majority of an electorate.”  Roosevelt replied in a speech at Carnegie Hall on March 20, arguing that the country is “today suffering from the tyranny of minorities” and that “[t]he great fundamental issue now before the Republican Party and before our people is, are the American people fit to govern themselves?  I believe they are.  My opponents do not.”

Roosevelt’s advocacy of judicial recall has cost him the support of his long-time friend and ally, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge.  In a statement to the press, Lodge said “I am opposed to the constitutional changes advocated by Colonel Roosevelt in his recent speech in Columbus … but I cannot personally oppose him who has been my lifelong friend, and for this reason I can take no part whatever in the campaign for the political nomination.”  In response to a reporter’s question, he said “The Colonel and I have long since agreed to disagree on a number of points.”

The Secretary of War

Not all Republicans, even those who consider themselves progressive, think Taft is a conservative.  One such progressive is Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, who told a crowd in Chicago that the president is the true progressive in the race, and contrasted his policies with Roosevelt’s “fantastic radicalism.”  Meanwhile, Roosevelt has again challenged Taft to meet him in primary contests, and announced his intention to stump the country in support of his campaign.

The New Supreme Court (front row left to right: Justices Day and McKenna, Chief Justice White, Justices Holmes and Lurton; back row left to right: Justices Lamar, Hughes, Van Devanter and Pitney)

On March 13 the Senate confirmed Mahlon Pitney’s nomination to the Supreme Court by a vote of 50-26.  Taft’s five previous appointments (including the promotion of Justice Edward White to Chief Justice) were confirmed without opposition.  The unusual opposition to Pitney’s nomination came from Democrats and a few progressive Republicans.  Taft’s appointment of five new justices to the Supreme Court in a single term (not counting Justice White’s promotion to Chief Justice) is the most since the beginning of the Republic, when George Washington, starting with an empty bench, appointed eight justices in his first term.  It is perhaps appropriate that Taft should have a large role in shaping the Court.  As a former federal judge, he has taken a greater personal interest in the judiciary than any president in history.  Some suspect, indeed, that his ambition to lead the Supreme Court himself one day may not have vanished with his election to the presidency.  After Chief Justice Melville Fuller’s death in 1910, Taft appointed White, a 65 year old southern Democrat, to the post, rather than the much younger Charles Evans Hughes, a popular former Republican governor of New York whose appointment as an associate justice had just been confirmed by the Senate.  Taft’s choice of the older White over the younger Hughes may have been motivated in part by the thought that he himself might be in line for the post of Chief Justice should it become vacant in a future Republican administration.

Governor Burke

In an increasing number of states this year, convention delegates will be chosen, directly or indirectly, by primaries, the first of which was held March 19 in North Dakota.  The Democratic primary there was won by Governor John Burke, who will go to the convention as a favorite son but is known to be a supporter of Governor Wilson.  Senator LaFollette was the winner on the Republican side, despite having suspended his campaign last month.  In New York, primaries were held on March 26 in the first test of that state's new primary law.  Democrats chose delegates to their state convention, which will in turn select the state's delegates to the national convention, and where the principal concern is likely to be less the identity of the presidential nominee than the perennial fight for control of the party between Tammany Hall and upstate anti-Tammany Democrats.  In the Republican primary, in which voters selected delegates directly for the national convention, they dealt former president Roosevelt a stunning defeat in his home state: only seven of New York's 90 convention delegates will be for Roosevelt.  More primary elections are scheduled for April, beginning with Alabama and Wisconsin on April 2.

Champ Clark on the hustings

Campaign songs are hardly a new phenomenon.  Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” are examples of successful presidential campaigns that have had rousing musical accompaniments.  Seldom, however, has the country been treated to a campaign ditty quite like this popular song, recently adopted as the campaign song of House Speaker Champ Clark (click to play):

The Missouri Dawg Song

(They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dawg Aroun')
(sung by Byron Harlan)

*****

Henry Cabot Lodge

The general arbitration treaties with Great Britain and France, which were negotiated and submitted to the Senate last year, reflect the president’s firm belief in the efficacy of judicial-type process, even in the context of international disputes.  They ran into opposition, however, not only from Democrats but also from the president’s own party, which still controls the Senate.  The Senate ratified the treaties on March 7, but only after attaching reservations that render them little different from existing treaties.  The treaties establish a Joint High Commission of Inquiry, but as limited by the reservations they deny the Commission final power to decide whether particular disputes involving the United States are arbitrable, subjecting that decision to the Senate’s power of advice and consent.  The reservations also remove from the treaty’s scope all questions regarding immigration and the application of the Monroe Doctrine.  Almost all Senate Democrats supported the reservations, as did Republican followers of former President Roosevelt, who has been critical of the treaties from the beginning.  On this subject, Roosevelt and Lodge are in agreement.  As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Lodge led Republican support for the reservations.

Albert Berry (right) with His Parachute

The aeroplane continues to demonstrate its potential.  On March 1, in France, Jules Vedrine broke his own speed record by flying his monoplane 101 2/3 miles in an hour.  On the same day, at the Jefferson Barracks Army Depot near St. Louis, U.S. Army Captain Albert Berry made what is believed to be the first parachute jump from an aeroplane.  After the machine had reached a level altitude of about 1,500 feet, Berry climbed out of his seat and suspended himself from a trapeze bar mounted underneath the aircraft.  The parachute, stowed in a conical container also attached to the bottom of the aeroplane, deployed behind Berry as he released himself from the bar and plunged earthward. 

U.S.S. Florida

Advancements in design and technology also continue in surface warfare.  On March 25, a new addition to the United States Navy, the U.S.S. Florida (BB-30), set a speed record for battleships by traveling 22.54 knots.  The Florida and her sister ship U.S.S. Utah (BB-31) are the new "Dreadnought" type battleships, named after the Royal Navy's H.M.S. Dreadnought, launched in 1906.  Dreadnoughts are characterized by their larger size, heavier armament, steam turbine propulsion, and more and larger guns (ten 12-inch guns in the case of the Florida).

U.S.S. Maine

An older and more famous veteran of the U.S. Navy, the U.S.S. Maine (ACR-1), whose destruction by a mysterious explosion in Havana Harbor in 1898 triggered the Spanish-American War, has finally been laid to rest.  Sometimes called a battleship, the Maine was officially classified as an armored cruiser.  On March 16 she was refloated, towed to the open sea, and sunk with appropriate ceremony.  The remains of the officers and men who went down with the ship were recovered and interred at Arlington National Cemetery on March 23.

Pascual Orozco

In Mexico, another former supporter of President Francisco Madero has mounted a revolutionary challenge to the government.  Pascual Orozco was a commander of the forces that toppled the government of Porfirio Diaz last year.  Disappointed by the new government’s failure to adopt the reforms he advocated, and perhaps even more disappointed by Madero's refusal to appoint him to an important position, Orozco declared his uprising on March 3.  President Taft has banned the shipment of war supplies to Mexico and is considering sending warships to Mexican ports to protect American citizens.

Turkish Photograph of Attack by Italian Airships

In Italy’s war with Turkey, the Italian government reports that 536 Italian soldiers have been killed and 324 are missing as of the end of February.  On March 4, in another demonstration of Italy’s naval superiority, an Italian cruiser bombarded the Arabian town of Dubab.  In the land war, a dirigible balloon was used as a weapon for the first time on March 6 when two Italian airships dropped bombs onto a Turkish camp at Zanzur.  Ten days later, Turks and Arabs attacked Italian positions in Tobruk, killing thirteen Italians and injuring seventy-three.  On the same day, back in Rome, three shots were fired at King Victor Emmanuel III as he rode through the streets.  The would-be assassin, a young anarchist, was arrested.  None of his shots found their mark.

 Damaged Shop Windows in London

English coal miners are on strike for a minimum daily wage, causing business disruptions and slowdowns throughout Britain.  Campaigners for woman suffrage have announced that they will follow the miners' example and call attention to their grievances by injuring business interests.  On March 1, they took their campaign to the streets, smashing shop windows around Trafalgar Square and along the Strand, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Oxford Street, where a number of fashionable jewelry and dry goods stores are located.  The demonstration was highly organized.  Well-dressed women arrived in cabs, from which in some cases they were assisted by the stores’ unwitting porters.  The damage was done and the women had melted into the crowds before the stores’ employees or the police were able to react.

Winston Churchill

In a speech to the House of Commons on March 18, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill announced that British policy is to maintain 60 percent superiority over Germany in battleships and battle cruisers of the Dreadnought type.  This replaces the previous policy of ensuring that British strength matches or exceeds that of the next two largest naval powers.  Responding to the German naval plan of building three Dreadnoughts a year, Churchill proposed the construction of twenty-one new Dreadnoughts in the next six years, alternating four one year and three the next.  He said the British building programme could be reduced if Germany reduces hers, adding that removing those ships from the Royal Navy by simply not building them would be as effective from Germany's point of view as sinking them in battle, and far more economical.  Despite the unassailable logic of Churchill's argument, most observers think Germany is unlikely to be persuaded.

Amundsen and His Crew in Tasmania

Roald Amundsen appeared in Hobart, Tasmania on March 7, announcing that his expedition had succeeded in reaching the South Pole.  There has been no word of the British expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott, which set out for the Pole at about the same time.

March 1912 – Selected Sources and Recommended Reading

Contemporary Periodicals:
American Review of Reviews, April and May 1912
The Literary Digest, April 1912

New York Times, March 1912

Books and Articles:
James Chace, 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft & Debs -- the Election That Changed the Country

Randolph S. Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Young Statesman 1901-1914
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
Stephen Howarth, To Shining Sea, A History of the United States Navy

Kermit L. Hall ed., The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States

Robert K. Massie, Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War
Edmund Morris, Colonel Roosevelt
Patricia O'Toole, When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt After the White House
Henry F. Pringle, The Life and Times of William Howard Taft

February 1912

 Senator LaFollette

The campaign for the Republican nomination took a major turn this month.  On Friday, February 2, Senator Robert LaFollette, the leading progressive candidate, appeared to suffer a nervous breakdown during a speech to magazine publishers in Philadelphia.  His speech became a wild-eyed rant, in which he accused the publishers in his audience of being tools of the interests.  As the moderator tried to calm him down and his audience began to leave the room, his attacks became more violent.  The speech continued for two and a half hours and appears to have done serious harm to his public image and, of course, to his candidacy.  The following Monday his campaign office announced that his active campaign to win delegates to the convention will cease, and that his efforts will now concentrate on promoting “the thoroughgoing and definite principles which he has advocated.”

Theodore Roosevelt

LaFollette’s apparent collapse left the field open for another candidate to claim leadership of Republican progressives.  Former President Theodore Roosevelt has been the subject of intense speculation since his triumphant return from Africa on June 18, 1910 (the coincidence of the date being the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo led to references in the press to his "return from Elba").  Roosevelt has now announced his availability, if not his active candidacy, for the nomination.  Less than a week after LaFollette’s withdrawal, seven progressive Republican governors wrote to Roosevelt saying that they believed most Republicans favored his nomination and most Americans favored his election as the next president, and asked him to “declare whether, if the nomination for the presidency comes to you unsolicited and unsought, you will accept it.”  Roosevelt replied in a letter dated February 24, saying he “will accept the Republican nomination if it is tendered to me.”  He added a word in favor of primaries, expressing the hope that “so far as possible the people may be given the chance, through direct primaries, to express their preference.”  Apart from principle, Roosevelt’s support of primaries is self-serving.  Given the regulars' control of the party machinery in most states, state party conventions are likely to favor the president’s renomination.  Primaries, therefore, offer Roosevelt the most promising route to the nomination.  Despite his challenge to the president, Roosevelt insists that he remains loyal to his party.  Asked whether he will support the Republican nominee “whoever he may be,” Roosevelt replied “Of course I shall.”

The day after Roosevelt’s letter appeared in the newspapers, nine other Republican governors issued a joint statement in support of Taft’s nomination.

Meanwhile, Roosevelt has come out in favor of woman suffrage, but with important qualifications.  In an editorial this month in the Outlook, he says "I heartily believe in equality of rights as between man and woman, but also in full and emphatic recognition of the fact that normally there cannot be identity of function," adding that "the effort to ignore this patent fact is silly."  Specifically addressing the issue of suffrage, he says "I believe in woman suffrage wherever the women want it.  Where they do not want it, the suffrage should not be forced upon them."  He advocates special elections in which women would "vote ... as to whether they do or do not wish the vote as a permanent possession."  He cites as an example a recent referendum on the subject in Massachusetts, in which only women were allowed to vote.  A majority of those voting voted in favor of suffrage, but only about five percent of the eligible women voted.  In these circumstances, Roosevelt says, "those not voting should be held to have voted no."  He does not seem to have considered the possibility of letting women who want to vote do so, while letting those who don't want to vote stay home, a system that seems to work well enough when applied to the other sex.

President Taft signing the proclamation admitting the 48th state

On February 14, Arizona was admitted to the Union as the 48^th state.  The country has now filled in the last blank space on the map, extending, in the words of a recently published song, “from sea to shining sea.”

In a message to Congress on February 2, President Taft noted the rising cost of living, and advocated proposing to other nations "the appointment of an international commission to look into the cause for the high prices of the necessities of life."  He also addressed the growing militancy of labor, urging the appointment of a federal commission to make "searching inquiry into the subject of industrial relations."  While noting that "some of the remedies will lie with the separate States, or even entirely outside the sphere of Governmental activity," the President asserted that "the time is now ripe for a searching inquiry into the subject of industrial relations which shall be official, authoritative, balanced, and well-rounded, such as only the federal government can successfully undertake."

Woodrow Wilson

On February 12, in a speech in Chicago, Woodrow Wilson formally announced his candidacy for president.  His principal rival for the Democratic Party’s nomination, Speaker of the House Champ Clark, enjoys strong support among party leaders in the Midwest and West, including in his home state of Missouri.  Clark has been a long-time supporter of William Jennings Bryan but has tried to remain on good terms with all factions of the party.  Other candidates with substantial support include House Majority Leader Oscar W. Underwood of Alabama, the favorite of southern Democrats, and Governor Judson Harmon of Ohio, who is supported by northern conservatives, a faction of the party represented in the past by nominees Samuel J. Tilden, Grover Cleveland and Alton B. Parker.

 Representative Underwood

A proposed investigation of the so-called “money trust," sparked by the  recent submission of the report of the National Monetary Commission, has divided the Democrats in the House of Representatives.  The Bryan men want an all-out investigation of the banks, while the conservative Democrats, led by majority leader Underwood, are opposed.  Speaker Clark is trying to avoid antagonizing either faction.  Talk of compromise is focused on the creation of a special committee, the membership of which would be subject to negotiation.

 Representative Albert S. Burleson

The Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee have voted in their caucus to reject funding for two additional “Dreadnought” battleships requested by the Taft administration. Committee member Albert S. Burleson (Dem., Texas), defended the Democrats’ action, arguing that the United States should maintain a navy for defensive purposes only.  Further reflecting the prevailing resistance to military expenditures, the House of Representatives on February 9 adopted an amendment to the army appropriations bill reducing the number of cavalry regiments from 15 to 10.

 Chancellor Mahlon Pitney

For weeks it has been taken for granted that President Taft would appoint Kansan William C. Hook to the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy created by the death of Justice John Marshall Harlan.  Judge Hook is a respected judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which encompasses a vast territory from Missouri to Utah and New Mexico to North Dakota.  At the last minute, however, opposition surfaced from Negro organizations, including the recently organized National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, who objected to a recent Eighth Circuit decision in which Judge Hook participated that upheld the constitutionality of a “Jim Crow” law in Oklahoma.  The Negro vote, though severely restricted by local laws and customs in the South, comprises an important part of the Republican Party's support, so President Taft is sensitive to its concerns.  On February 19, therefore, he passed over Judge Hook and appointed Mahlon Pitney, Chancellor of New Jersey, to the vacant seat.

 Chief Justice White

Oregon adopted the initiative and referendum in 1902, and in 1906 Oregon voters employed it to impose a tax on telephone and telegraph companies in the state.  One of the companies challenged the initiative and referendum as a violation of Article IV, Section 4, of the United States Constitution, which guarantees the states a republican form of government.  On February 19, in a brief order signed by Chief Justice Edward D. White, the Supreme Court unanimously refused to consider the challenge, ruling that it presented a political question for Congress, not the Court, to decide.

Baden-Powell, Taft and Lord Bryce Reviewing the Boy Scouts

(Major Butt in dress uniform on the left)

On February 3, President Taft reviewed some 400 Boy Scouts from the front portico of the White House.  He was accompanied by Lieutenant General Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouting movement in Great Britain, and Lord Bryce, the British Ambassador.  The Boy Scouts of America, modeled on the British organization, was founded in 1910.

 

 The 1911 Carlisle Football Team

(Jim Thorpe in the backfield on the right)

The Football Rules Committee of the National Collegiate Athletic Association has adopted major changes to the rules governing the game of football.  The Association's predecessor organization adopted major changes in 1906, including an increase from five to ten of the number of yards a team must gain (in three plays) to retain possession of the ball.  The 1906 rules also legalized the forward pass.  The forward pass has proven popular with fans and has been used effectively by coaches such as Glenn (“Pop”) Warner of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, but it has labored under a number of restrictions that reduce its effectiveness.  For example, if a pass crosses the goal line, or if it crosses the line of scrimmage less than five yards from center, possession is awarded to the other team.  The passing team also loses possession if a pass hits the ground without being touched.  The changes going into effect this year will remove these and other restrictions on the forward pass.  Other changes include shortening the field from 110 to 100 yards, adding 10-yard end zones, increasing from three to four the number of downs allowed to gain ten yards, and increasing from five to six the number of points awarded for a touchdown.  Perhaps the new rules will last longer than the old ones did.

Jumping from the Statue of Liberty

On February 2, steeplejack Frederick R. Law jumped from the torch of the Statue of Liberty and landed safely thanks to a parachute that followed him over the parapet as he leapt.  He chose the Statue of Liberty for his jump after considering and rejecting the two tallest buildings in New York, the Singer Building on lower Broadway and the Metropolitan Life Tower on Madison Square, because of the danger of interfering with traffic, and possibly causing runaway horses, on the streets below.

 

Franz Reichelt modeling his new invention

In a less successful attempt two days later, Franz Reichelt fell to his death from the Eiffel Tower in his first and only demonstration of his “parachute suit” (click to play):

Reichelt on the Eiffel Tower, newsreel cameras rolling

*****

Irish Party leader John Redmond

In Great Britain, the government has announced its plan for Irish Home Rule.  While Ireland would remain part of the British Empire, the plan proposes the creation of an Irish legislature with full power to legislate for Ireland.  It would include the power to control Irish trade and tariffs, with one important exception: there is to be free trade between Ireland and Britain.  This exception would seem to render the new legislature’s trade powers largely meaningless (goods could escape Irish tariffs by being shipped through British intermediaries) and may be unacceptable to Irish nationalists.  The plan also provides for greatly reduced Irish representation in the British Imperial Parliament, another point of possible disagreement.  Despite these potential issues, it appears almost certain that Home Rule in some form will be passed this year in the House of Commons.  On February 17, 15,000 people demonstrated in Trafalgar Square in support of Home Rule.

Support for Home Rule was the price of the Irish Party’s support of the Government last year in the battle over the Parliament Bill, which reduced the power of the House of Lords to block most legislation.  Because the Lords are strongly opposed to Home Rule, the reduction of their power was necessary, not only to pass the Liberal Government's social legislative agenda, but also to the ultimate adoption of Home Rule itself.  Before the Parliament Bill became law, the Lords could have exercised their veto to prevent Home Rule from becoming law indefinitely.  Now it can do so for only two years.  Barring unforeseen circumstances, therefore, the Irish dream of self-government for their island will become a reality in 1914.

Italian Armored Cruiser Garibaldi

The war between Italy and the Ottoman Empire continues, with military operations now ranging beyond North Africa to other parts of the Ottoman Empire that are accessible from the sea and thus exposed to Italy's superior naval power.  On February 5, an Italian fleet bombarded the Ottoman city of Hodeida on the Red Sea, and on February 24 an Italian naval force including the armored cruiser Garibaldi attacked Turkish naval vessels in Beirut, sinking several ships.  There also appears to have been extensive damage to buildings in Beirut, but Italy denies bombarding the city.  On land, the Turkish forces that control most of the Libyan interior attacked Italian defenses near the port city of Derna, but were repulsed, and at month’s end the Italian army claimed to have defeated Turkish forces near the town of Homs on the African coast.  On February 22, as the Italian Parliament reconvened, King Victor Emmanuel III issued a royal decree proclaiming the annexation of Tripoli and Cyrenaica.  At month's end, reports surfaced that Italy and Turkey may be looking to resolve their conflict through mediation. 

President Yuan Shih-Kai

There is a new government in China.  On February 12 the six-year-old Emperor Pu-Yi abdicated, ending over 250 years of rule by the Qing, or Manchu, Dynasty.   Within the week, Sun Yat-Sen requested that his rival Yuan Shih-Kai accept the post of president of the Chinese Republic, and the National Assembly followed promptly with a vote electing Yuan Shih-Kai president.  On February 27 Yuan Shih-Kai accepted the presidency, with General Li Yuan Hung, military leader of the revolutionary forces, as vice-president.

Emilio Vasquez Gomez

The situation in Mexico is dangerous and confusing, with every month seeming to bring another revolutionary challenge to Francisco Madero's government.  At the end of January, revolutionaries in Ciudad Juarez seized the city and proclaimed Emilio Vasquez Gomez, Madero's former Minister of the Interior, president.  The United States has denied the Mexican government’s request for permission to send Mexican troops through American territory to reach Juarez, and the revolutionary activity on the border has caused the United States to send additional forces to El Paso to protect American interests.



 

February 1912 – Selected Sources and Recommended Reading

Contemporary Periodicals:
American Review of Reviews, March and April 1912
Current Literature, March 1912

New York Times, February 1912

The Outlook, February 3, 1912

Books and Articles:
James Chace, 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft & Debs -- the Election That Changed the Country

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
Patricia O'Toole, When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt After the White House
Henry F. Pringle, The Life and Times of William Howard Taft

John Sayle Watterson, College Football: History, Spectacle, Controversy