(3) The
Fall of the
Old Guard, 1909-1910
1909
Pacific Coast.Technology.
==Jan.01 > An engineering school
opens
in San Jose, California, which soon begins operating what is arguably
the
world’s oldest radio station - ~the origins of radio broadcasting
West.Politics.
==Jan.01 > Barry Goldwater is
born in
Phoenix
Military.
==Jan.05 > The US Navy asks for
funding
for battleships with 14-inch guns
Pacific Coast.Ethnic.
==Jan.19 > Roosevelt publicly
attacks
anti-Japanese legislation in California - the state legislature
overturns
the bill on Feb.10
Technology.
==Jan.23 > The first instance of
a radio
call for help at sea saves the passengers and crew of the Republic,
sunk off Massachusetts
Government.Poverty.
==late.Jan > The White House
Conference
on Dependent Children focuses public attention on needy children -
~social
work is gaining increasing prestige
Latin American Relations.
==Jan.28 > The US returns the
administration
of Cuba to local authorities
Drugs and Alcohol.Law.
==Feb.09 > Spurred on by the
impending
international drug conference in Shanghai, Congress bans the importing
of opium for smoking - the first federal antidrug law
Military.
==Mar.03 > Roosevelt advises Taft
to “under
no circumstances divide the battleship fleet... prior to the finishing
of the Panama Canal.”
Government.
==Mar.04 > William Howard
Taft is inaugurated
as President during a violent snowstorm - on the same day, Congress
raises the President’s salary to $75,000
Enviromental.Government.
==Mar.04 > Congress cuts off
funds to
the Conservation Commission
Pacific Coast.Labor.Far
Left.
==Mar.04 > The IWW launches a
civil disobedience
campaign in Spokane after the city restricts freedom of speech - mass
arrests
of Wobblies to Mar.1910 (see Mar.03.1910)
Politics.
==Mar.09 > Republican
conservatives convince
Taft to end his opposition to Speaker Cannon in return for their pledge
to support tariff reform
==Mar.15 > Congressional special
session
on tariff revision - after being abandoned by Taft, insurgents largely
fail in an attempt to restrict Speaker Cannon’s powers
Politics.Finance.
The failure of tariff reform:
==Mar.17-Apr.09 > Tariff reform
easily
passes in the House
==Apr.12 > The arch-conservative
Aldrich
introduces an amended, very high tariff bill in the Senate (though
false
teeth and hog bristles are left free) - Taft is appalled
==May.04 > Reformist Republican
Senators
are in open revolt against Aldrich’s tariff bill, and call for support
from Taft - the word ‘progressive’ is in use
==Jul.08 > The Senate passes
Aldrich’s
protectionist tariff bill after weeks of dramatic debate between
conservatives
and progressives
==Jul.31 > The House passes a
conservative
tariff bill (see Aug.05)
Politics.
==Mar.23-Mar.14.1910 >
Ex-President Roosevelt
sails from New York on a hunting expedition to east Africa
Latin American Relations.
==early spring > Cooperation
between Mexico
and the US on Central American policy breaks down - ~Taft begins to
move
toward more active interventionism
Film.
==Apr.20 > Mary Pickford begins
her film
career at age 15, acting for D. W. Griffith
European Relations.
==Apr.24 > Admiral Mahan predicts
in Collier’s
that a German-American war is “almost sure to arise.”
Government.Law.Business.
==May.03 > The Supreme Court
emasculates
the commodities clause of the Hepburn Act of 1906 in United States
v
Delaware and Hudson Co.
Ethnic.
==May.30-Jun.01 > Large-scale New
York
conference on civil rights - the de facto establishment of
the
NAACP
Military.
==Jun.11 > George Patton
graduates from
West Point and enters the US Army
Politics.Finance.
==Jun.16 > Taft proposes an
income tax
amendment in attempt to forestall the progressives’ pending income tax
bill, since it is generally assumed that such an amendment will never
be
ratified - on Jul.12, the Senate submits the 16th Amendment to the
states
for ratification
Aviation.
==Jun.26 > Glenn Curtiss makes
the first
commercial sale of an airplane, provoking patent infringement suits
from
the Wright brothers - ~American aviation development is stalled until
the
First World War

Gifford Pinchot
Enviromental.Politics.
The Taft administration’s conservation policies fall into chaos:
==summer > Conservative
anti-conservation
organizations begin appearing in the west, with ties to the new
Interior
Secretary Richard Ballinger, who begins reversing conservation policies
==early.Aug > Secretary Ballinger
is publicly
criticized by Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot, the government's leading
conservationist and close friend of Theodore Roosevelt's
==late.Aug > ~Supported by
Pinchot, Investigator
Glavis accuses Ballinger of opening Alaskan public lands to the
Guggenheim-Morgan
interests
==Sep.13 > Taft angrily refutes
Glavis’
and Pinchot’s charges against Secretary Ballinger - ~conservation
disputes
divide the administration
==Nov.13 > Collier’s
publishes
Glavis’ accusations against Ballinger - Taft is mired in public
controversy
over conservation throughout his presidency
==Dec.--- > Congressional
progressives
launch an investigation of the Interior Department
1910
==Jan.05 > Chief Forester Pinchot
ensures
his own dismissal by publicizing his attacks on Interior Secretary
Ballinger
==Jan.07 > Gifford Pinchot is
fired by
Taft
==Jan.23 > Pinchot is elected
president
of the National Conservation Association
==Jan.26 > A Senate investigation
into
the conservation dispute opens - although Republicans eventually
exonerate
Secretary Ballinger, progressive attorney Louis Brandeis exposes a Taft
administration cover-up
==Feb.--- > Taft is compelled to
drop
a civil government bill for Alaska, which would have put coal resources
under Guggenhiem control (see Mar.07.1911)
Military.Aviation.
==Aug.02 > The US Army Signal
Corps buys
the world’s first military airplane from the Wright brothers
Politics.Finance.
==Aug.05 > The reactionary
Payne-Aldrich
Tariff is signed by Taft, provoking public outrage - definite
split
between Taft and progressive Republicans - increased power of the
Democrats
==Sep.17 > Speaking in Winona,
Minnesota,
Taft defends the Payne-Aldrich Tariff as “the best tariff law... the
country
ever had.” - ~the president is on a 13,000 mile speaking tour of the
Midwest,
lavishly praising conservative leaders and ignoring progressives - open
criticism of Taft begins
Enviromental.Government.
==Sep.27 > Taft sets aside three
million
acres of oil-rich land as a preserve
Politics.
==Oct.--- > Taft begins privately
criticizing
his old friend Theodore Roosevelt
Government.
==beginning.Nov > Croly’s
influential The
Promise of American Life urges progressives to use the government’s
power to achieve social and economic justice - ~the start of
liberal
support of strong government
East Asian Relations.
==Nov.06 > Secretary of State
Knox makes
a feeble proposal to ‘neutralize’ the Manchurian railroads under an
international
board until China can take control (see Jan.21.1910)
Northeast.Labor.Women.
Garment workers’ strike in New York City:
==Nov.22 > A mass meeting at
Cooper Union
declares a general garment workers’ strike: 70,000 women strike to
Feb.1910
- ~a judge tells arrested female garment workers “You are on strike
against
God.”
1910
==Feb.15 > The garment workers’
strike
officially ends - most of the affected shops have settled with the
union;
among the remaining holdouts is the Triangle Shirtwaist Company (see
Mar.25.1911)
Latin American Relations.Military.
The United States helps bring down Nicaraguan dictator Zelaya:
==Dec.01 > The US breaks
relations with
Zelaya - Secretary Of State Knox calls him “a blot on the history of
Nicaragua”
- a US Marine force is organized for the invasion of Nicaragua
==Dec.16 > Zelaya resigns and
flees -
~the Nicaraguan congress elects Madriz, with Mexican support and
despite
US opposition (see May.19.1910)
Politics.
==Dec.--- > Conservative Speaker
Cannon
strips the progressive Congressional Republican insurgents of their
choice
committee assignments
Law.
==1909 > The Criminal Division of
the
US Department of Justice is established
Military.
==1909 > Overtaken by the German
fleet,
the US Navy drops to third place
Military.
==1909 > The Secretary of the
Navy quietly
organizes the US Navy into four sections: fleet operations, personnel,
materials, and inspection
Military.
==1909 > Chester Nimitz enters
the submarine
service, eventually becoming the US Navy’s leading authority
Economy.
==1909 > The American economy is
recovering
from depression
Pacific Possessions.East
Asian Relations.
==1909 > One of several American
books
predicting a Japanese military victory over America, Homer Lea’s The
Valor of Ignorance prophesizes that Japan will launch a war with an
attack on Hawaii
1910
South.Politics.
==Jan.01 > The vigorous reformer
E. H.
Crump becomes Mayor of Memphis
East Asian Relations.
==Jan.21 > Japan and Russia
reject US
proposals for the neutralization of Manchurian railroads - the American
scheme has only drawn the other two powers closer together
Politics.
==Jan.--- > The Republican
Campaign Committee
announces it will try to unseat Republican progressives - Taft cuts
patronage
to progressives
Politics.Business.
==Jan-Jun. > Taft’s railroad
regulation
bill meets strong opposition in Congress
Politics.Business.
==Jan.--- > Speaking in the
Waldorf-Astoria,
Princeton University President Woodrow Wilson tells a group of bankers
“the country doesn’t trust you”, upsetting J. P. Morgan - without
Wilson’s
knowledge, his backer George Harvey cuts a deal securing the support of
New Jersey political boss ‘Sugar Jim’ Smith
South.Politics.
==Feb.16 > The ferocious South
Carolina
racist demagogue Senator ‘Pitchfork’ Ben Tillman has a stroke on the
steps
of the US Capitol, and never fully recovers
Politics.Press.
==Feb.--- > The Chicago
Tribune
announces that most Midwestern news editors favor Roosevelt over Taft
for
president - ~the start of open Republican support for Roosevelt’s
presidential
aspirations
Pacific Coast.Labor.Far
Left.
==Mar.03 > Spokane is compelled
to end
restrictions on free speech after a year-long IWW civil disobedience
campaign
Northeast.Politics.
==early.Mar > Woodrow Wilson
hints at
a run for the Governorship of New Jersey

Joe Cannon
Politics.
The sudden fall of the old guard in the House of Representatives:
==Mar.17 > Representative Norris
unexpectedly
makes a motion to curtail Speaker Cannon’s dictatorial control of the
Rules
Committee
==Mar.19 > Rebellious
Congressmen break
the power of reactionary Speaker of the House Joe Cannon, excluding
him from the Rules Committee and reducing his power to appoint
committee
members
Immigration.
==Mar.26 > America bans the
admission
of criminals, paupers, anarchists, and the diseased
Business.Film.
==Mar.--- > Carl Laemmle
initiates the
star system by promoting actress Florence Lawrence - the origins of
film
publicity
South.Politics.
==mid.Apr > The Mississippi
Senate censures
populist Vardaman supporter Theodore Bilbo for allegedly taking bribes
- Mississippi is roiled by fierce factionalism between patrician
conservatives
and redneck populists
Politics.
==Apr.16 > Woodrow Wilson’s angry
Pittsburg
speech to Princeton alumni gains him national attention
Military.
==Apr.22 > The ambitious Leonard
Wood
is appointed Army Chief of Staff - ~he popularizes ‘preparedness’ to
encourage
army reform and expansion
Ethnic.
==Apr.--- > The National Urban
League
(NUL) is established to aid black emigrants to northern cities
Drugs and Alcohol.Law.
==Apr.--- > Congressman David
Foster introduces
a tough bill restricting opium, cocaine, and cannabis in the first
attempt
to control narcotics via tax regulations, as proposed by the anti-drug
zealot Dr. Hamilton Wright - ~the bill is temporarily stalled by
opposition
from druggists
Midwest.Politics.
==spring-summer > Taft and the
conservatives
fail in an attempt to systematically defeat Republican insurgents in
Midwestern
primaries - Taft has completely alienated the Republican
progressives
Ethnic.
==May.01 > In a second civil
rights conference,
the NAACP is officially established as a permanent body
West. Enviromental.
==May.11 > Glacier National Park
is established
European Relations.
==mid.May > ~Theodore Roosevelt
meets
Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany: they get along surprisingly well
Latin American Relations.Military.
==May.19-Sep.04 > US Marines
intervene
at Bluefields on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, preventing
Nicaraguan
federal troops from controlling the area
Diplomacy.
==May.--- > Taft publicizes his
‘dollar
diplomacy’; an ineffective commercial foreign policy
Far Left.Immigration.
==May.--- > The Socialist Party
endorses
the exclusion of all Oriental immigrants
Government.Business.
==Jun.18 > The Mann-Elkins Act
expands
the authority of the Interstate Commerce Commission over rail and
communications
companies
Politics.
==Jun.18 > Theodore Roosevelt
returns
from abroad, and quickly becomes active in public life - friction
develops
between him and his former friend Taft
Press.Culture.
==Jun.24 > John Reed and T. S.
Eliot graduate
from Harvard - Walter Lippmann left a month earlier to begin his career
as a journalist
Government.Police.
==Jun.25 > The Mann Act: Congress
outlaws
interstate transportation of women for immoral purposes (or the White
Slave
Traffic Act) - the first major expansion in the jurisdiction of the
embryonic
FBI
Politics.Business.
==Jun.25 > Congressmen are
required
to report campaign contributions
Government.Business.
==Jun.25 > Congress establishes a
Postal
Savings Bank system
Northeast.Politics.
==Jun.26 > Woodrow Wilson and
Boss Smith
of New Jersey have a wary meeting - Wilson is offered the gubernatorial
nomination and a later shot at the presidency
Government.Business.
==Jun.--- > Taft reverses himself
and
orders an antitrust investigation of US Steel after urgings from
Congress
Pacific Coast.Politics.
==Jun.--- > Hiram Johnson leads
progressives
in breaking the Southern Pacific Railroad’s hold on the California
Republican
Party - ~the progressive insurgency is spreading throughout the
United
States
Sports.Ethnic.
==Jul.04 > Black fighter Jack
Johnson
beats ‘great white hope’ Jim Jeffries in Reno and retains the
heavyweight
boxing title - widespread race riots
Northeast.Politics.
==Jul.12 > Princeton President
Woodrow
Wilson enters politics, announcing his bid for the Governorship of New
Jersey
Pacific Coast.Labor.
==Jul.16 > The Los Angeles City
Council
bans picketing in a crackdown on a metalworkers’ strike - severe labor
unrest in Los Angeles to 1911 (see Oct.01)
Politics.
==summer > Taft is openly
campaigning
against Congressional Republican progressives, who begin to consider
forming
a third party in 1912 if Taft captures the Republican nomination
South.Politics.
==Jul.--- > Sixteen-year-old Huey
P. Long
begins a career as a traveling salesman in northern Louisiana

Hiram Johnson
Pacific Coast.Politics.Press.
==Aug.08 > Progressive California
gubernatorial
candidate Hiram Johnson calls the ultra-conservative Los Angeles
Times
President Otis “vile, infamous, degraded and putrescence [sic]”
with “senile dementia, gangrened heart and rotting brain.” - Johnson
does
not receive the Times’ endorsement
Northeast.Politics.
==Aug.09 > Capable New York City
Mayor
Gaynor is wounded in an assassination attempt and grows unstable
Politics.
==Aug.31 > Theodore Roosevelt
is re-entering
politics - he advocates the ‘New Nationalism’ in a speech in
Ossawatomie,
Kansas, advocating tariff revision, increased Federal control of
working
conditions, subordination of the Federal courts to the President and
Congress
- ~his efforts to heal the split in the Republican Party fail
Northeast.Labor.
==Aug.--- > US Steel defeats the
longest
strike in the history of the steel industry - ~Bethlehem Steel
announces
that it will no longer deal with unions - ~the steelworkers' unions are
effectively destroyed for years to come
South.Religion.
==Aug.--- > The former Georgia
populist
Tom Watson begins a concerted campaign against Catholicism to 1917,
declining
into paranoid demagoguery
West.Ethnic.
==Aug.--- > A grandfather clause
amended
to the Oklahoma constitution disenfranchises black voters
Sports.
==late summer > Attendance at the
World
Series is double that of 1908 - ~American mass enthusiasm for sports is
rapidly rising
Northeast.Politics.
==Sep.15 > Woodrow Wilson is
nominated
for Governor of New Jersey with the support of the Democratic Party
bosses
- he reconciles progressives with a dynamic acceptance speech and
launches
a spirited campaign
Pacific Coast.Labor.Far
Left.
==early fall > The radical IWW
launches
its second free speech civil disobedience campaign in Fresno - mass
arrests
to Mar.1911 (see Mar.06.1911)
Pacific Coast.Labor.Press.
==Oct.01 > Union supporters bomb
the conservative Los
Angeles Times, killing 21 - the reaction to the bombing
consolidates
the conservative grip on Los Angeles; the power of local unions is
broken
for decades (see Dec.01.1911)
Law.
==Oct.10 > Progressive Republican
Charles
Evans Hughes is sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice
Northeast.Politics.
==fall > John Fitzgerald, the
grandfather
of future president John F. Kennedy, is elected Mayor of Boston
Northeast.Politics.
==fall > Fiorella La Guardia
begins practicing
law among the impoverished immigrants of the Lower East Side of New
York
City
Politics.
==Nov.08 > US midterm
elections: Democratic
landslide resulting in the first Democratic House since 1894;
Democrats
and progressive Republicans dominate the Senate - a Democratic Party
revival
is underway; Bryan’s influence is beginning to decline - the first
Socialist
is elected to Congress (Berger from Wisconsin) - arch-conservative
Senator
Nelson Aldrich retires - Woodrow Wilson is elected Governor of New
Jersey
- Henry Stimson is defeated in the race for Governor of New York,
despite
Theodore Roosevelt’s support - progressives Hiram Johnson and West are
elected Governors of California and Oregon - the young Franklin Delano
Roosevelt is elected to the New York State Senate - Oregon adopts a
presidential
primary - Washington state grants women the vote - Socialists gain
control
of Milwaukee and clean up the municipal government
Latin American Relations.
==Nov.20 > Madero revolts against
the
Díaz regime: revolution in Mexico to 1920
European Relations.Military.
==Nov.--- > The US Fleet visits
Britain
for three weeks - the influential American Admiral William Sims
publicly
states that if Britain is attacked, “its people may count upon every
man,
every dollar, every ship and every drop of blood of their kinsmen
across
the ocean.” - ~Taft later publicly rebukes Sims for the unauthorized
comments
Government.Finance.
==Nov.--- > Morgan and other
leading bankers
secretly meet at Jekyll Island, Georgia, to formulate plans for a
privately
controlled US central bank
Far Right.Far
Left.
==Nov.--- > A lecture by
anti-porn crusader
and arch-prude Anthony Comstock is cleverly heckled by Emma Goldman and
her fellow anarchists - Comstock is stumped when asked if children
should
visit art museums
Government.Immigration.
==Dec.05 > After four years of
work, the
Immigration Commission submits a 41-volume report recommending
restrictions,
especially on unskilled laborers
Northeast.Politics.
==Dec.09 > Woodrow Wilson
publicly comes
out against the New Jersey Democratic Party machine, vigorously
opposing
his former ally ‘Sugar Jim’ Smith’s bid for the US Senate
Pacific Coast.Labor.
==Dec.25 > The strike-plagued
Llewellyn
Ironworks in Los Angeles is damaged by a bomb
Politics.
==late.Dec > The start of a
movement to
gain the Republican nomination for the progressive Robert LaFollette
West.Politics.
==1910 > The reformer Shafroth is
elected
Governor of Colorado
Midwest.Politics.
==1910 > The durable political
boss Tom
Pendergast begins his political career by securing election to the
Kansas
City council, taking over his dying brother’s seat and political
faction
South.Politics.
==1910-1914 > The disreputable,
ultra-racist,
anti-reform demagogue Coleman Blease becomes Governor of South Carolina
Military.
==1910-1914 > Hunter Liggett
heads the
US Army War College, where he transforms and modernizes officers’
education
Military.
==1910 > The US Marines organize
a force
to seize and defend advanced naval bases
Economy.
==1910 > America is in recession
to 1911
Business.Transportation.
==1910 > America is making as
many cars
as all the rest of the world combined
Pacific Coast.Business.
==1910 > California produces 73
million
barrels of oil, more than any foreign nation and 22% of the world’s
total
production
Northeast.Labor.
==1910 > New York passes an
employer liability
act - other states soon follow
Labor.
==1910 > 8.3 million Americans
are employed
in manufacturing - 40% more than in 1900 - the average American worker
earns under $15 for a 54-60 hour week
Midwest.Women.
==1910 > The Attorney General of
Kansas
decrees that women may wear trousers
Northeast.Urban.
==1910 > New York City’s
population has
increased 66% in ten years, to almost five million.
South.Ethnic.
==1910 > ~The great migration
of blacks
from the south begins: by 1930 over a million will have moved to
northern
cities
Education.
==1910 > Less than half the adult
American
population has had a grade-school education - only 4% have college
degrees
Culture.
==1910 > ~Bohemianism begins to
appear
in some large American cities, including New York, Chicago, San
Francisco,
and St. Louis
Popular Culture.
==1910 > The word ‘blues’ is in
fairly
common use, as the musical form begins to crystallize
Crime.
==1910 > A survey of 72 American
cities
finds that 33 have distinct red-light districts - ~the rise of vice
commissions
and red-light abatement campaigns; many red light districts are closed
down by 1917 - ~the decline of brothels; increased street-walking
Drugs and Alcohol.Law.
==1910 > New York City passes the
first
law against drunk driving
Drugs and Alcohol.
==1910 > ~Cigarettes rapidly
replace chewing
tobacco and cigars as the most popular way for Americans to consume
tobacco
Drugs and Alcohol.
==1910 > ~The first reports of
marijuana
use in America: it appears in border towns in Texas and New Mexico and
among blacks in New Orleans
Enviromental.
==1910 > Steinmetz warns of the
dangers
of air pollution from burning coal and of water pollution from sewage
discharges
into rivers
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