The Story of The American Legion / Wheat, George SeayThe Story of The American Legion / Wheat, George Seay| Author: | Wheat, George Seay |
| Title: | The Story of The American Legion |
| Date: | 2004-12-26 |
| Contributor(s): | Smith, Caroline F. [Translator] |
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Title: The Story of The American Legion
Author: George Seay Wheat
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*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN LEGION ***
Produced by Curtis Weyant, Asad Razzaki and the Online Distributed
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The Story of The American Legion
By
George Seay Wheat
The Birth of the Legion
The first of a series to be issued after each
Annual National Convention
_Illustrated_
[Illustration: The St. Louis Caucus]
G.P. Putnam's Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1919
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
FOREWORD
The American Legion was conceived by practically the entire personnel
of the army, navy, and marine corps! Every man in the military and
naval establishment did not think of it in just such terms, but most
of them knew that there would be a veterans' organization of some
tremendous import, and here it is!
"A veterans' organization of some kind will be formed." I heard that
identical remark not once, but a dozen times on board a transport en
route to France as early as September, 1918. In fact, one night in the
war zone a group of officers were huddled around a small piano trying
to make the best of a lightless evening, and, having sung every song
from _Keep the Home Fires Burning_ to _You're in the Army Now_,
paused, longingly toyed cigarettes which were taboo by ship's order,
and then began to spin yarns.
"Reminds me of a G.A.R. reunion," one second lieutenant from Maine
remarked, after a particularly daring training camp adventure had been
recounted.
"Just think of the lying we'll all do at our reunions when this war is
over," chirped a youngster from South Carolina. And then spoke a tall
major from Illinois:
"The organization which you young fellows will join won't be any
_liefest_--at least not for forty years. Don't forget there's some
saving to do for the United States when this European mess is over. Us
fellows won't ever get out of Uncle Sam's service."
How well the Illinois major hit the nail on the head! The incident on
the transport seems worth recording not only because of the major but
because it shows the general anticipation of what is now the American
Legion. Perhaps it was this general anticipation which is responsible
for the cordial reception that the Legion has had ever since its very
inception in Paris.
No one can lay claim to originating the idea of a veterans'
association, because it was a consensus among the men of the armed
forces of our nation. A certain group of men can take unto themselves
the credit for starting it, for getting the ball rolling, aiding its
momentum, and, what is more important, for guiding it in the right
direction, but no one man or group of men "thought up" the American
Legion. It was the result of what might be called the "spontaneous
opinion" of the army, navy, and marine corps caused by a fusing
together in a common bond of the various elements of the service, just
as spontaneous combustion is brought about by the joint action of
certain chemical elements.
Spontaneous opinion, like spontaneous combustion, is dangerous when
improperly handled and beneficient when rightly directed. That's what
the organizers of the Legion have been and will be mostly concerned
with. They have their elements--these men of the army, navy, and
marine corps, and the organizers mean to direct this united and
organized patriotism into such channels as will make for the welfare
of the United States of America primarily, and, secondarily, for the
welfare of the service men themselves.
Just how much attention this Legion with four million potential
members intends to pay to the United States of America, and just how
much to themselves _per se_, is basicly important and pertinent as a
question, nowadays when the Legion is being tried and is on the
witness stand before public opinion. The answer is most clearly
indicated by the preamble to the proposed constitution printed
elsewhere.
This preamble stresses _Americanism, individual obligation_ to the
_community, state_, and _nation; battling with autocracy_ both of the
_classes_ and _masses; right_ the _master_ of _might; peace_ and
_good will_ on _earth; justice, freedom_, and _democracy_! Only in the
last two words of the preamble is mention made of the welfare of the
men themselves. These two words are _mutual helpfulness_. But be sure
and understand the connection in which they are used.
"... _we associate ourselves together ... to consecrate and sanctify
our comradeship by our devotion to mutual helpfulness_."
This is the way the last purpose of the preamble reads.
The men who framed this constitution certainly did not believe that
comradeship would be consecrated and sanctified by anything of a
selfish character under the guise of mutual helpfulness. Certainly not
the _comradeship_ that made bearable the zero hour in the trenches or
the watch in a submarine infested sea.
To go a little in advance of the story and speak practically, mutual
helpfulness has meant so far voting down a pay grab from Congress; a
get-together spirit to foster the growth of the Legion; a purpose to
aid in the work of getting jobs for returning soldiers, and the
establishment of legal departments throughout the country to help
service men get back pay and allotments. Mutual helpfulness in this
case would seem to make Uncle Sam as much a partner in it as are the
Legion members. Because, for every job the Legion gets an unemployed
man, and for every dollar Legion lawyers help collect for back pay and
allotments, a better citizen is made. And better citizenship is what
the Legion most wants.
So here seems to be the place to make the patent observation that
_mutual helpfulness_ will in future years mean just what it means
to-day--doing something for the United States of America.
At the present time the Legion might be compared to a two-headed
American eagle--one looking towards France and the A.E.F., and the
other homewards to the service men here. The two are a single body
borne on the same wings and nourished of the same strength. They are
the same in ideal and purpose but directed for the moment by two
different committees working together. One committee is the result of
the caucus at Paris in March, when the A.E.F. started the
organization, while the other was born this month in St. Louis, Mo.,
for the men here.
GEORGE S. WHEAT.
NEW YORK May, 1919.
CONTENTS
I.--LATTER WAR DAYS IN FRANCE
II.--THE PARIS CAUCUS, MARCH 15-17, 1919
III.--PRE-CAUCUS DAYS IN AMERICA
IV.--THE ADVANCE COMMITTEE
V.--THE ST. Louis CAUCUS, MAY 8, 9, and 10
VI.--THE LEGION AND THE BOLSHEVIKI
VII.--THE LEGION WON'T MEET AT CHICAGO
VIII.--THE SILVER LINING
IX.--OBJECTORS--CONSCIENTIOUS AND OTHERWISE
X.--THE REEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM
XI.--THE DISREGARD OF SELF
XII.--THE CLOSING HOURS
XIII.--WHY THE AMERICAN LEGION?
THE AMERICAN LEGION
CONSTITUTION OF THE AMERICAN LEGION
RESOLUTIONS
LEGION FACTS
WHAT THE PUBLIC PRESS THINKS
COMMITTEES
ROSTER
ILLUSTRATIONS
THE ST. LOUIS CAUCUS
HENRY D. LINDSLEY
THE PARIS CAUCUS
THEODORE ROOSEVELT, JR.
GROUP AT ST. LOUIS CAUCUS
BENNETT C. CLARK
ERIC FISHER WOOD
CASPAR BACON
STATE CHAIRMEN HERBERT,[A] MATHEWSON, AND WICKERSHAM
"JACK" SULLIVAN
CHAPLAIN J.W. INZER
FRED HUMPHREY
P.C. CALHOUN
[Footnote A: Photo by Gray, Worcester, Mass.]
THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN LEGION
CHAPTER I
LATTER WAR DAYS IN FRANCE
I believe that the army of to-day, when it goes back to citizen
thinking and citizen acting, will be capable of so contributing
to the commonwealth of the United States as to change the
character of the whole country and lift it up to a higher plane.
BISHOP BRENT, _Senior Chaplain, A.E.F_.
Paris, March, 1919.
On a midsummer morning in 1918, ambulance after ambulance unloaded its
cargo of wounded humanity at a base hospital in Paris. The wounded
were being conveyed rapidly from the front and the entire hospital was
astir with nurses, surgeons, and orderlies. A major, surgeon, almost
staggered out of an operating room where he had been on duty for
twenty-two hours and started for his quarters when a colonel arrived
on an inspection trip.
"Pretty busy," remarked the colonel as he acknowledged the major's
salute.
"Busy? Busy!" replied the major. "Good Lord, the only people about
here that aren't busy are the dead ones. Even the wounded are busy
planning to hobble around at conventions when the Big Show is over.
Already they are talking about how they intend to take a hand in
things after the war when they get home."
Over across the street a sergeant, limping slightly, stopped under a
shade tree and leaned against it to rest. He was almost well of his
wound and eagerly awaited the word that would send him to join his
regiment, the Twenty-sixth United States Infantry. As he paused under
the tree another soldier with a mending wound in the knee and just
able to be about stopped to speak to him. The sergeant's hand rose in
quick salute for the newcomer was an officer.
"Expect to get back soon, sergeant?" said the officer.
"Yes sir," he replied. "Anxious to go back and get the whole job over,
sir."
"So am I," responded the officer. "But what will we all do when the
Germans really are licked?"
"Go home and start a veterans' association for the good of the
country, sir," the sergeant answered.
Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, then major, was the officer,
and Sergeant William Patterson, later killed in action, was the
enlisted man, and the institution was Base Hospital No. 2.
Colonel Roosevelt, who was in the hospital convalescing from a wound
in his knee caused by a machine gun bullet, told me the story and said
it was the first time that he had heard the subject of a veterans'
association mentioned, although he had thought of it frequently
himself as an organization with boundless possibilities for good. He
found later that it was being very generally discussed by men in Base
Hospital No. 2, particularly those who were so badly wounded that they
could not be sent to the front again and who knew they must further
serve their country along peaceful lines at home.
This was during war time, remember!
Then came the armistice!
When our victorious armies were wending their way towards the Rhine,
when men of the navy and the marine corps realized that peace had come
and that home was again within reach, this thought of a veterans'
band, which had slumbered far back in the subconscious thoughts of all
of them, burst into objectivity. An association of some sort was
widely discussed not only by the men but by the officers as well. But
how could even the start of it be begun? Those who considered the
project most seriously were confronted with a difficulty which seemed
at first to be almost insurmountable: that was the difficulty of
assembling at one time and in one place a gathering which might at
least approximately represent the whole army, navy, marine corps, or
even the A.E.F.
This difficulty tended to narrow what is believed to have been the
wish of everyone when he first thought of the matter, that is the hope
that it would be another Grand Army of the Republic, another United
Confederate Veterans, but greater than either because representative
of a United Country. Talk started then about all sorts of imagined and
fancied veteran organizations. Some advocated an officers'
association. This was believed to be possible because officers had
more freedom and more financial ability to attend a convention. Others
thought the enlisted men should perfect organizations by regiments
first, then divisions, and finally form one great united body.
The present leaders in the movement have since said that they realized
that all of these schemes must come to naught because no organization
except one on the broadest possible lines could be effective. They
believed that all officers and men of the three branches of the
service and all enlisted women, whether they served at home or abroad,
should be eligible and urged to join one thoroughly democratic and
comprehensive organization. They knew that any organization leaving
out one or more elements composing the military service of the United
States would be forced to compete constantly with the organization or
association so discarded. In short, they knew that in union there is
strength. And they believed, and still believe, that the problems of
peace after a catastrophe such as was never before witnessed in
history are so grave that they can be met with safety only by a
national bulwark composed of the men who won the war, so closely knit,
so tightly welded together in a common organization for the common
good of all that no power of external or internal evil or aggression,
no matter how allied or augmented, could hope even so much as to
threaten our national existence, ambitions, aspirations, and pursuit
of happiness, much less aim to destroy them.
Don't forget that the leaders of the movement realized all this, and
also remember that they include among their number the enlisted man of
the A.E.F. and home army and the sailor in a shore station and on
board a destroyer. The realization may not have been in so many words,
but each knew he wanted to "make the world safe for democracy"--he had
fought to do that and had thought out carefully what it meant, that
is, that it didn't mean anything selfish--and each knew enough of the
principle of union and strength to embrace the idea when "organize"
first began to be mentioned.
But how to do it, that was the problem.
Then kind Fate in the shape of G.H.Q. came to the rescue with what
proved to be the solution.
G.H.Q. didn't mean to find the solution. There had been a deal of
dissatisfaction with the way certain things were going in the A.E.F.
and on February 15, 1919, twenty National Guard and Reserve officers
serving in the A.E.F., representing the S.O.S., ten infantry
divisions, and several other organizations, were ordered to report in
Paris. The purpose of this gathering was to have these officers confer
with certain others of the Regular Army, including the heads of train
supply and Intelligence Sections of the General Staff of G.H.Q., in
regard to the betterment of conditions and development of contentment
in the army in France.
Included in this number were Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt,
Jr., of the First Division, Lieutenant Colonel Franklin D'Olier of the
S.O.S., and Lieutenant Colonel Eric Fisher Wood of the 88th Division.
All of these officers have since told me that when they left their
divisions they were distinctively permeated with the desire to form a
veterans' organization of some comprehensive kind. When they got to
Paris they immediately went into conference with the other officers
on the questions involved in their official trip, details of which do
not concern this story.
What is important is the fact that Colonel Roosevelt, Colonel D'Olier,
and Colonel Wood each discovered that all of the officers in this
representative gathering shared with the thousands of other soldiers
of the American forces the hope and desire that the officers and men
who were about to return to civilian life, after serving in the great
war, whether at home or with the combat units or in the S.O.S., might
sooner or later be united into one permanent national organization,
similar in certain respects to the Grand Army of the Republic or the
United Confederate Veterans and composed of all parties, all creeds,
and all ranks, who wished to perpetuate American ideals and the
relationship formed while in the military and national service.
When these officers realized what each was thinking they promptly set
about with the "let's go" spirit of the A.E.F. to avail themselves of
a God-given opportunity. A dinner was spread in the Allied Officers'
Club, Rue Faubourg St. Honore, on the night of February 16th and
covers were laid for the following:
Lt. Col. Francis R. Appleton, Jr., 2d Army.
Lt. Col. G. Edward Buxton, 82d Div.
Lt. Col. Bennett C. Clark, ex 35th Div., now with 88th Div.
Lt. Col. Ralph D. Cole, 37th Div.
Lt. Col. D.J. Davis, ex 28th Div., now att. G.H.Q.
Lt. Col. Franklin D'Olier, Q.M., S.O.S.
Col. W.J. Donovan, Rainbow Div.
Lt. Col. David M. Goodrich, G.H.Q.
Maj. T.E. Gowenlock, ex 1st Div., now with 1st A.C.
Col. Thorndike Howe, A.P.O. Dept.
Lt. Col. John Price Jackson, Peace Commission
Maj. DeLancey Kountze, G.H.Q.
Lt. Col. R.W. Llewellen, 28th Div.
Capt. Ogden Mills, ex 6th Div., now att. G.-2, S.O.S.
Lt. Col. Benjamin Moore, 82d Div.
Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., 1st Div.
Lt. Col. R.C. Stebbins, 3d A.C.
Maj. R.C. Stewart, 1st Div.
Lt. Col. George A. White, ex 41st Div., now att. G.H.Q.
Lt. Col. Eric Fisher Wood, ex 83d Div., now with 88th Div.
At that dinner the American Legion was born.
Why not let this gathering--the most representative in the history of
the A.E.F.--consider itself as a temporary committee to launch the
movement? Why not? everyone asked himself and his neighbor over the
coffee. All felt that their presence in Paris presented an unusual
opportunity to initiate the first steps of such a movement, an
opportunity unlikely to be repeated and one they ought not to let
slip. Another meeting was suggested to consider the matter. It was
held. The result was that there were several more conferences and
every such gathering was more enthusiastic than its predecessor. At
each of these informal conferences, some one was careful to emphasize
that these self-appointed committeemen were by no means
representative enough of the army or navy, nor sufficiently numerous
to warrant their actually effecting an organization of any character
whatsoever. Yet it was believed that, nevertheless, the gathering was
representative enough to act as a temporary committee so functioning
as to get together from the whole army and navy two caucuses--one to
represent the troops in France, and the other those who had remained
in America and who, through no fault of their own, had been denied the
privilege of making history on a European battlefield. The temporary
committee realized that due care must be exercised in getting these
caucuses started. Every unit in the A.E.F. should be represented, if
possible, at the Paris caucus, while to the one in the States,
preferably to be held at St. Louis because of its central location,
delegates must come from every Congressional District in the Union.
Thereby would be avoided, it was urged, the mistake of giving the
impression that it was a small gathering of men, unrepresentative or
serving some special and selfish end.
This was unanimously agreed upon and the temporary committee elected
Lt. Col. Roosevelt, temporary chairman, Lt. Col. Bennett C. Clark,
temporary vice-chairman, Lt. Col. Wood, temporary secretary.
A sub-committee was appointed to receive from all the members of the
temporary committee the names of such individuals of combat divisions
and each section of the S.O.S. of the A.E.F., who were eligible and
suitable to be delegates to a caucus scheduled for March
15th-16th-17th in Paris. A similar sub-committee was appointed to
ascertain the names of men of the home forces in order that they might
be urged to attend a caucus in America on or about May 8th-9th-10th.
The work of the sub-committee of the A.E.F. was much more difficult
than would appear at first glance. It was easy enough to get the names
of leaders in the various outfits, both of officers and men, but to
get them to Paris! That was the job. Of course it was the ardent
desire of everyone that the new organization should eventually become
a society principally devoted to the interests of those who served as
enlisted men, for they bore the brunt of the fighting and the work and
were fundamentally responsible for the splendid victory.
But once the names of such men were in the committee's hands the real
work had not begun. There were mechanical difficulties in securing for
enlisted men in active duty leave to attend a caucus in Paris. In the
first place the enlisted men themselves, as indicated by several who
were consulted, were very diffident about accepting an invitation to
attend a caucus where they would be required to sit beside and debate
with and against generals and field officers to whom they owed
military obedience. Then again, there was the expense of travel in
France, as well as the high cost of living in Paris. At the outset
this raised the expense of a trip to the French capital to a sum
amounting to many months of an enlisted man's pay. Furthermore, the
sub-committee was face to face with the A.E.F. regulations providing
that except in the most unusual circumstances an enlisted man would
not be granted leave except in company with a trainload of his
fellows, and to a certain specified leave area.
But as has been said before the conclusion had been reached that if
the organization was really to become preeminently an enlisted man's
outfit, it would be absolutely necessary to overcome these
difficulties and by hook or crook to obtain the attendance of as many
privates and noncommissioned officers as possible who were leaders.
So, scarcely had seventeen of the twenty officers returned to their
commands before they received an urgent appeal to help out the
sub-committee of three. They were told to get enlisted delegates to
Paris, never mind how, the method being of small importance provided
the men were there.
CHAPTER II
THE PARIS CAUCUS, MARCH 15-17, 1919
The first delegates began to arrive for the caucus on March 14th.
After-the-war good fellowship between those who had been commissioned
officers on the one hand, and enlisted men on the other, was
foreshadowed in a most interesting and striking manner when they began
to come into the hotels. A dozen or more officer delegates brought
with them as orderlies an equal number of delegates from the ranks.
Thus enlisted personnel, by devious means, were ordered to Paris under
one guise or another. One sergeant came under orders which stated that
he was the bearer of important documents. He carried a despatch case
wadded with waste paper. Another non-com., from a distant S.O.S.
sector, had orders to report to Paris and obtain a supply of rat
poison. Several wagoners, farriers, and buck privates acquired
diseases of so peculiar a character that only Parisian physicians
could treat them. As one of them said, he hadn't had so much fun since
his office-boy days when a grandmother made a convenient demise every
time Mathewson pitched. The expense of the trip was gathered in
diverse ways. In some divisions the officer delegates took up
collections to defray the expense of enlisted delegates.
In numerous instances, enlisted men refused such assistance and took
up their own collections. One amusing story was told by an enlisted
man. He said that the "buddies" in his regiment had deliberately lost
money to him in gambling games when he refused to be a delegate
because he couldn't pay his own expenses. So by various means nearly
two hundred enlisted delegates were in Paris by late afternoon on
March 14th. It must not be imagined from the foregoing that all the
officers arrived on special trains and were themselves in the lap of
luxury. One second lieutenant who attended has since confided that he
sold his safety razor and two five-pound boxes of fudge sent from home
in order to get carfare to Paris.
Practically all of the self-appointed, temporary committee, with the
exception of Colonel Roosevelt, was present. He was Chairman of the
American Committee and had left France for the purpose of organizing
that part of the army and navy which did not get abroad or which had
returned home.
The Paris caucus convened at the American Club near the Place de la
Concorde on the afternoon of March 15th, Colonel Wood presiding.
Lieutenant Colonel Bennett C. Clark of the 88th Division was selected
Chairman of the caucus and Lt. Col. T.W. Miller of Pennsylvania, and
serving in the 79th Division, was elected Vice-Chairman. When Colonel
Wood called the meeting to order nearly one thousand delegates
answered the roll-call and these were of all ranks from private to
brigadier general; and every combat division and all sections of the
S.O.S., were represented. Colonel Wood briefly reviewed the
self-appointment of the temporary committee during the previous month
and outlined the purposes of the caucus.
A few minutes after Colonel Clark had taken the chair an officer of
high rank, a colonel to be exact, moved that while in the convention
hall, the after-war status as fellow civilians be forecast and that
the stations of rank would there cease to exist. It was agreed that
they would be resumed with full force and full discipline as soon as
the delegates crossed the threshold of the convention hall and
regained the street.
It was the ability of the American officer to do this--to be friendly
to a certain extent with his men and yet at the same time to keep them
perfectly disciplined--which amazed the officers of the armies of our
Allies. No more striking example of this was ever given than within
the confines of the American Club on that 15th day of March. The
Colonel's motion was unanimously carried and the work of the
organization began. Then generals forgot their rank, corporals engaged
in hot debates with colonels, sergeants argued with majors and
everybody talked with everybody else in a most boylike spirit of
fraternity and equality.
Captain Ogden Mills of G.H.Q. moved that four caucus committees be
appointed to draft suggestions and submit them to the caucus, one
committee to design machinery for convening the winter convention; one
committee to submit suggestions as to a permanent organization; one
committee on tentative constitution; and one committee on name. Each
committee consisted of fifteen members, and was appointed by the
Chairman.
Here are the committees, appointed by the chair:
COMMITTEE ON CONVENTION
Brig. Gen. Sherburne, 26th Div., Chairman
Wagoner Shaw, 88th Div., Vice-Chairman
Capt. Ogden Mills, G.H.Q.
Colonel Graham, S.O.S.
Prvt. C.W. Ney, 1st Army Troops
Captain Mahon, 77th Div.
Sgt. Obrecht, 1st Army
Capt. Kipling, Troops serving with French
Sgt. J.C. Hendler, Paris Command
Lt. Col. Appleton, 2d Army Hq.
Major Gordon, 36th Div.
Field Clerk Sowers, Press Section G.H.Q.
Major Hungerford, 3rd Army Hq.
Cpl. J.H. Anderson, Paris Command
Lt. Col. Wren, 36th Division
COMMITTEE OF PERMANENT ORGANIZATION
Colonel Donovan, 42d Div., Chairman
Lt. Col. Graham, 88th Div., Vice-Chairman
Capt. Boyd, 29th Division
Sgt. Tip Bliss, _Stars and Stripes_
Lt. Col. Fitzpatrick, 35th Division
Sgt. Rollo S. Thorpe, 88th Div.
Lt. Col. Crosby, S.O.S.
Pvt. W.L. Thompson, 11th R.R. Engineers
Major Graff, 28th Division
Major Barry Wright, 79th Division
Sgt. Rommel, Paris Command
Sgt. V.V. Trout, Paris Command
Capt. Carlstrom, S.O.S.
Major R.C. Patterson, Peace Commission
Lt. Col. Smith, 89th Division
COMMITTEE ON NAME
Lt. Col. Robbins, 2d Army Hq. Chairman
Lt. Col. Goodrich, G.H.Q., Vice-Chairman
Sgt. Dolan, 89th Division
Lt. Col. Stebbins, 3rd Army Corps
Sgt. H.E. Fleming, 35th Division
Major E.S. Haile, 77th Div.
Colonel Gibbs, S.O.S.
Sgt. McElow, Paris Command
Major Horace Rumsey, 35th Division
Sgt. C.E. Sommers, Paris Command
Major D.D. Drain, 3d Army
Sgt. G.F. Fleming, Paris Command
Lt. Markoe, 2d Army
Major Dwight, S.O.S.
Sgt. Barnard, Paris Command
The names of these committees are given because they are more than
just names. They show the first bubbles of the melting pot into which
all rank and titles in the American Army have been cast and out of
which comes the one word "Comrade."
There were three outstanding features of the Paris caucus which were
evident by midnight of March 15th. The first was the desire to get
together and form an organization quickly and a willingness to forego
personal prejudice and opinion to arrive at that end. The second was
the determination to make the man who didn't get across as much a
component part of the legion as his more fortunate brother-in-arms;
while the third was the avowed intention to take no action at the
caucus which could be deferred until the winter convention in America,
when the home brother and the navy could be jointly represented and a
permanent organization could be effected. I say that these things were
evident by midnight of March 15th for those who have attended many
conventions know that from the casual word heard here and there, the
whispered conference of a few leaders, and from the general tenor of
discussions carried on by delegates gathered together in little
groups, the spirit of the body politic is most perceptible.
After the adjournment of the afternoon session on that day, members
of the committees closeted themselves and started work on their
special functions, while those who were to pass on the committee's
actions, the "hoi polloi" were here and there in groups, in the "Y"
huts or in boulevard cafes discussing the real meaning of the
gathering. A colonel in the Officers' Club said there must be no
disagreement on this or that question; a private in the Bal Tabarin
told his buddies the same thing.
And so it came to pass that on the following day in the Cirque de
Paris, where the final meetings were held, the delegates formally
gathered, sensed the gossip of the clubs and boulevards, and acted
accordingly. One of the things done was to endorse the action of the
temporary committee in appointing itself and in calling the caucus.
Another was to adopt a tentative constitution. It is in reality little
more than a preamble, but it gave a working basis, expressing enough
and yet not too much.
Newspaper men have told me that the Sermon on the Mount is the finest
bit of reporting in the history of writing because it tells a long
story succinctly. Lieutenant Colonel Buxton and his committee on
constitutions are certainly entitled to credit of the same type--for
they tell a great deal in a few lines.
[Illustration: Henry D. Lindsley
Temporary Chairman, who presided at St. Louis]
[Illustration: The Paris Caucus
This gathering had no time for official photographers. A half hour
before a session began one slipped in and took this picture with more
than half the caucus delegates absent]
Here's the tentative constitution under which the Legion worked--it
was read by Lieutenant Colonel Bolles:
"We, the members of the Military and Naval Service of the United
States of America in the great war, desiring to perpetuate the
principles of Justice, Freedom, and Democracy for which we have
fought, to inculcate the duty and obligation of the citizen to the
State; to preserve the history and incidents of our participation in
the war; and to cement the ties of comradeship formed in service, do
propose to found and establish an association for the furtherance of
the foregoing purposes:
"Those eligible to membership shall be: All officers and enlisted
personnel in the Military and Naval Services of the United States of
America at any time during the period from April 6, 1917, to November
11, 1918, inclusive; excepting however, persons leaving the service
without an honorable discharge or persons who having been called into
the service refused, failed, or attempted to evade the full
performance of such service.
"The society shall consist of a national organization with subsidiary
branches; one for each State, territory, and foreign possession of the
United States as well as one in each foreign country where members of
the national society may be resident and who desire to associate
themselves together.
"The officers of the society shall be a President, one or more
Vice-Presidents, a Secretary, a Treasurer and a Board of Directors,
which shall consist of the President, the Vice-Presidents, together
with the chief executive of each subsidiary branch.
"The subsidiary branches shall organize and govern themselves in such
manner as the membership of such subsidiary organizations shall
determine upon except that the requirements and purposes of the
permanent national constitution as adopted shall be complied with.
"The representation shall be on the basis of the actual enrollment in
the subsidiary branches at all conventions after the adoption of a
permanent constitution.
"Members present at the meeting of this committee as follows:
"Lt. Col. G. Edward Buxton, Jr., Chairman
"Lt. Col. T.W. Miller, Secretary
"Major Redmond C. Stewart
"Col. E.A. Gibbs
"Lt. Col. W.H. Curtiss
"Major J. Hall
"Col. C.L. Ristine."
There were many, many men in the A.E.F. respected and beloved, but
none perhaps more than he who seconded a motion made by a private from
S.O.S. base section, No. 4, that the constitution be adopted. The
seconder asked to speak on the question. When he began he got the rapt
attention which Bishop Brent, Senior Chaplain of the A.E.F., always
won whether he talked to buck privates knee deep in trench water or
the King in Buckingham Palace.
"It was a great soldier who said that the army has not merely a body
but a soul and a conscience as well," he began. "I believe the
conscience of the army is speaking in this committee's report. I
believe the army's soul is speaking in it. I was present on Saturday,
at the beginning of this caucus and I will tell you frankly that I was
fearful at that moment lest you should create a great mechanism
without adequate purposes. My fears have been wholly allayed and I see
in the report of your committee the ideals not only of the army but of
the nation adequately expressed and I wish to tell you gentlemen that
so far as I have any ability to promote this great movement I give you
my most hearty support. I believe that the army of to-day, when it
goes back to citizen thinking and citizen acting, will be capable of
contributing to the commonwealth of the United States so as to change
the character of the whole country and lift it up to a higher plane
of political, industrial, and religious life. I happen to be at this
moment leading in a movement in the army to promote the various ends
that are so well expressed in the committee's report, in what is known
as the 'Comrades in Service.' There are two ways of creating an
organization; one is by forming the principles and leaving the body to
take its own shape; the other by creating a machinery without stating
your end and reach that end through the machinery. According to our
democratic conception we have adopted the former or idealistic method.
We are prepared to contribute to this army wide organization which is
now brought into existence, all that we have to contribute. We are
entirely loyal to your principles and methods of approach and we are
quite willing to forego any attempt to make an organization which
might become a rival to you. Between now and the time of
demobilization there is a great opportunity for us to promote the
principles which actuate you. We have already a temporary and
provisional organization for the promotion of such principles; the
creation of better citizenship along the lines so well expressed. We
would like everyone who can to give support to that which we are
endeavoring to do, while we ask all who come in with us to be prepared
to throw in their lot with this organization when it is perfected in
the United States."
"The creation of better citizenship," Bishop Brent says. He wants
every one who can, to give support to that; to "what we are trying to
do."
If everyone could see just that in the Legion, if everyone will work
for just that--better citizenship--the Legion's aim will be realized
in its deepest and truest sense. Bishop Brent has a knack of hitting
the nail on the head with such force that the sparks fly and by their
light comes insight--ask anyone from out Manila-way if it isn't so.
The short address was greeted with thunderous applause. The newly born
Legion knew it had a champion and a worker in the Bishop.
Col. Wm. J. Donovan of the 165th Infantry, Forty-second Division
headed the committee of fifteen which gave the final report on
resolutions and organization. This report is reproduced here in full
because it presaged the action of the American caucus and brought
about the form of the Legion Government until November.
"RESOLVED: That an Executive Committee shall be selected, two
(2) from each unit (as recognized in this caucus) and eight (8)
to be selected by the Executive Committee; the two members, one
officer and one enlisted man, to be selected from each unit to
be named by the respective delegations attending this caucus.
Each unit shall present the names of committeemen who shall as
far as possible represent, in point of residence, each State,
Territory and possession of the United States and the District
of Columbia.
"This Executive Committee shall have general power to represent
the units now in foreign service, to determine its own quorum,
to confer with committees from a similar caucus in the United
States, to secure one general convention of persons entitled to
membership under the tentative constitution, to elect its
officers and appoint such sub-committees and give them such
powers as may be proper and necessary.
"This Executive Committee acting in conjunction with the
committee of the United States is specifically charged with the
duty of fixing a date and place for holding a national
convention, issuing a call for the holding of county and State
conventions and providing a unit of representation and method of
selection of delegates to the national convention, by the State
conventions.
"The powers of this committee shall expire upon the organization
of the permanent national convention.
"The committee is further charged with the duty of making known
the existence and purpose of this organization, of stimulating
interest in it, and of inviting the support of all those
entitled to membership.
"No policy except in furtherance of the creation of a permanent
organization having in mind the desirability of unity of action
in organizing all the American forces shall be adopted or
carried out by the committees.
A meeting for the temporary and preliminary organization of the
Executive Committee shall be held at this place immediately upon
the adjournment of this caucus.
The Executive Committee may receive and add to its number two
representatives from any division or equivalent unit not
represented at this caucus."
As the result of the passage of this report it is interesting to note
the personnel of the Executive Committee which the delegates selected
and which is controlling the American Legion of the A.E.F., observing
especially the large number of enlisted men; large in view of the
difficulties experienced in getting such men to Paris.
1st Div., Capt. Arthur S. Hyde
2d Div., Lt. Col Harold C. Snyder
26th Div., Sgt. Wheaton Freeman
26th Div., Lt. Col. Wm. J. Keville
27th Div., Lt. Col. Edward E. Gauche, N.Y.
27th Div., Reg. Sgt. Mjr. Samuel A. Ritchie, N.Y.
28th Div., Brig Gen. Wm. G. Brice, Jr., Penn.
28th Div., Sgt. Ted Myers, Penn.
29th Div., Lt. Col. Orison M. Hurd, N.J.
29th Div., Color Sgt. Andreas Z. Holley, Maryland
31st Div., Captain Leon Schwarz, Ala.
33d Div., Col. Milton A. Foreman, Ill.
35th Div., Lt. Col. B.C. Clark, Mo.
35th Div., Sgt. Fred Heney, Kans.
36th Div., Col. Chas. W. Nimon, Texas
36th Div., Sgt. Mjr. L.H. Evridge, Texas
41st Div., Col. Frank White, N. Dak.
42d Div., Col. Henry J. Reilly, Ill.
42d Div., Sgt. Rowe, Iowa
77th Div., Major Duncan Harris
77th Div., Sgt. Lawrence Miller, N.Y.
79th Div., Lt. Col. Stuart S. Janney, Md.
79th Div., Sgt. Benjamin R. Kauffman, Pa.
80th Div., Capt. Arthur F. Shaw, Mich.
81st Div., Major Theodore G. Tilghman, N.C.
81st Div., Reg. Sgt. Mjr. Wm. S. Beam, N.C.
82d Div., Capt. Frank S. Williams, Fla.
82d Div., Sgt. Alvin T. York, Tenn.
83d Div., Lt. Col. Wayman C. Lawrence, Jr., W. Va.
83d Div., Cpl. Thoyer
86th Div., Major John H. Smale, Ill.
88th Div., Lt. Col. George C. Parsons, Minn.
88th Div., Wagoner Dale J. Shaw, Iowa.
89th Div., Lt. Col. Frank Wilbur Smith, Pa.
91st Div., Lt. Col. John Guy Strohm, Oregon
91st Div., Sgt. Mjr. Hercovitz, Calif.
S.O.S. Hq., Col. James H. Graham, Conn.
Adv. Sec., S.O.S. Capt. David A. Uaurier, Wash.
Base Sec. No. 1, S.O.S., Pvt. W.L. Thompson, N.Y.
Base Sec. No. 3, S.O.S., Lt. Col. Carle Abrams, Oregon
Base Sec. No. 5, S.O.S., Major Orlin Hudson, Kans.
Base Sec. No. 6, S.O.S., Major Arthur S. Dwight, N.Y.
Troops with French, Sgt. L.K. Flynt, Mass.
Troops with French, Capt. A.W. Kipling, Paris, France
Paris Command, Pvt. Harold W. Ross, Calif.
Paris Command, Lt. Col. John Price Jackson
G.H.Q., Bishop Charles H. Brent, N.Y.
1st Army Corps, Lt. Col. Lemuel L. Bolles, Wash.
1st Army Corps, Sgt. Mjr. Race
2d Army Hq., Lt. Col. Burke H. Sinclair, Colo.
The tentative name of this organization was not adopted without a
great deal of discussion. All sorts of titles were suggested to the
committee which considered the matter. Some of them were:
Comrades of the Great War
Veterans of the Great War
Liberty League
Army of the Great War
Legion of the Great War
Great War Legion
The Legion
The American Comrades of the Great War
The Great Legion
The American Legion
The last was tentatively decided upon as the best name although there
was considerable discussion on it. This discussion waxed particularly
warm between a colonel and a corporal and it came to an end only when
some hungry enlisted delegate braved the officer's rising ire to move
an adjournment for lunch. The motion carried immediately and, true to
the understanding made at the outset in regard to rank, the corporal
clicked his heels together, stood at attention and saluted the
colonel, when the latter passed him on the sidewalk exactly five
minutes after he had been telling the colonel precisely what he
thought of him and his opinions--at least as far as the name of the
Veteran's Organization was concerned. I might add that this colonel
was well under thirty-five years of age and that the corporal was only
twenty-one.
And this brings to mind another striking feature of this most unusual
gathering, which was the comparative youth of its membership. For
instance the two individuals who have taken from the beginning the
leading parts in the movement, Bennett Clark, son of Champ Clark and a
Lieutenant Colonel of infantry, and Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., son of
the ex-president and also a Colonel of infantry. They are respectively
twenty-nine and thirty-one years of age, and one of the most brilliant
speeches in the caucus was made by a captain of twenty-six.
It must not be understood from this rather dry recital of what took
place at the Paris Caucus, this record of minutes and resolutions,
that it was an entirely sedate and dignified gathering. On the
contrary, Young America was there and quite often the impression which
one gathered was that a dozen or so Big Brothers had been turned loose
at once. A great many wild speeches were made and all sorts of
ticklish questions were brought up. Chairman Clark broke two gavels
and three times overturned his table. Everyone there was young. Peace
was young. Few knew exactly, like Bishop Brent, just what was wanted.
The whole project was new. Dozens of delegates wanted to speak; it was
their first chance since April 6, 1917. In fact one man made two very
violent speeches on the same subject, one in direct opposition to the
other. He realized he was making a heated argument for both sides and
finally sat down laughing about it. Who was he? Who was the colonel
who got wrought up over the proposed name? Who were the lieutenants,
and who were any of these privates, captains, and sergeants?
"I don't know." Nobody knows.
Doubtless they have themselves forgotten what they said. No verbatim
records are available now. In fact I am told that no record could have
been kept, for many times two or three were speaking at once and the
chairman was breaking the third commandment with his gavel. But this
much everyone wanted, "A Veteran's Organization." This much everyone
swore he would have, one that was neither political nor partisan, one
that would perpetuate righteousness, insure "honor, faith, and a sure
intent," and despite whatever bickering there might have been, despite
whatever differences of opinion arose, when, with a tremendous "Aye,"
the motion to adjourn was carried, this Paris Caucus had accomplished
a body politic and a soul of the type which Bishop Brent so clearly
described.
To resume the story of actual accomplishment. The Executive Committee
was given general power to represent the units in France, to confer
with committees or representatives of the American Caucus as soon as
these should be appointed, and, in conjunction with the latter, to
issue a call for the holding of county and State conventions and
providing a unit of representation and method of selection of
delegates to one general convention for the autumn of 1919, preferably
November 11th, or Armistice Day.
The Executive Committee met immediately after the adjournment of the
caucus and elected Colonel Foreman of the Thirty-third Division,
Chairman; Lt. Colonel George A. White, Forty-first Division, Secretary
and Major R.C. Patterson, Paris Command, Assistant Secretary. Lt. Col.
White, Col. Wood, Major R.C. Patterson, and Lt. L.R. Farrell were
elected permanent members at large of the Executive Committee.
Then from this executive committee a committee of fifteen was chosen
for the purpose of expediting the work which had been assigned to the
larger committee, it being easier to assemble fifteen men than the
larger number. The committee of fifteen elected Col. Bennett Clark as
its chairman.
At the first meeting of the committee of fifteen a hope was expressed
that the caucus in America would take similar action in the
appointment of an executive committee, which would in turn delegate
its authority to a smaller committee for working purposes. Just
exactly how this worked out, is later described.
CHAPTER III.
PRE-CAUCUS DAYS IN AMERICA.
Once home again it didn't take a Solomon to tell Colonel Roosevelt
that he had a man's size job on his hands in starting the American
Legion on its way in the United States. Dispatches more or less
accurate had told the service men on this side something about the
Legion activities of the A.E.F. in France. As late as mid-April,
however, a great many men in this country knew nothing whatever about
the American Legion, while the majority of those who did were not at
all sure it was to be _The Veteran's Organization_. What I have said
previously about the "spontaneous opinion" of the men in France on the
question of a veteran's organization proved to be equally true among
service men on this side of the water. Consequently, it wasn't long
after the armistice before several veteran's organizations and
associations were in the process of formation. As it was a pertinent
news topic, the newspapers gave a great deal of prominence in their
columns to several of these organizations. They were of various types
and characters. One was for enlisted men only. Another was for
officers only. There was an organization for officers who had fought
in France, Italy, or Russia and there was one or more organizations
which had the breadth of vision to see that men of all ranks and all
branches of the military and naval establishments must be eligible.
Such was the situation confronting Colonel Roosevelt when he arrived
home to help start the American Legion in its own country. The fact of
his arrival and his announced intention to aid in the organization of
the Legion was duly heralded in the press of the United States.
At first the army and navy men were inclined to say, "Here is another
of those mushroom Veteran's Associations bobbing up." In fact I heard
one officer make just that remark, but another was quick to correct
him by saying, "Its bound to be a straight and honest organization or
a Roosevelt wouldn't stand for it." That was the crux of the initial
success of the Legion, because just that was true. Every man who wore
the uniform had known Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., and although he may not
have agreed with him in all of his political opinions still he knew
that neither he nor any member of his family would back any
organization or proposition that was not morally sterling.
There were those who did not like the American Legion. There were
those who were willing to let a past political prejudice deter them
from aiding in the most important movement in American life to-day.
There were those who stated that Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., was
prominent in organizing the American Legion for his own political
advancement. The answer to that misapprehension will develop later and
will prove one of the most striking incidents in this story.
Colonel Roosevelt has a peculiarly happy faculty of keeping those who
work with him cheerful and optimistic. He gathered around him, to
launch the movement in America, a set of cheerful, competent
optimists, prominent among whom were Colonel Richard Derby, Colonel
Franklin D'Olier, who figured in the Paris Caucus, Major Cornelius W.
Wickersham, Assistant Chief of Staff of the Twenty-seventh Division,
Captain Henry Fairfield Osborne, Lieutenant Colonel Granville Clark,
Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Kincaide, Lieutenant Colonel Eric Fisher
Wood and Captain H.B. Beers. One of Colonel Roosevelt's first duties
as temporary chairman of the Legion over here was to create the nation
wide organization. He needed committeemen in every State to work the
State organization up, and to start the machinery for the election of
delegates to the St. Louis Caucus, for it had been decided that the
representation in St. Louis must be by duly elected representatives
from congressional districts in so far as that was possible. Each such
district was awarded double its congressional representation, in
addition to the delegates at large. It was no easy task to pick these
committeemen. The decision of the Paris gathering that the
organization must be non-partisan and non-political had to be adhered
to in its fullest sense. There were soldiers and sailors enough in all
the States who would have been willing to have started the
organization in their respective localities, but how _not_ to get
politicians of the lower order, men who would gladly prostitute the
Legion, its aims and ambitions to their own selfish advantage--that
was the problem which faced the temporary committee in America.
About three weeks before the St. Louis Caucus the following names were
chosen from the various States as committeemen:
OFFICERS
Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., New York, Chairman
Lt. Col. Bennett Clark, Missouri, Vice-Chairman
Lt. Col. Eric Fisher Wood, Pennsylvania, Secretary.
ALABAMA
Lt. H.M. Badham, Jr., Birmingham
Pvt. W.M. Cosby, Jr., Birmingham
Sgt. Edwin Robertson, Birmingham
ARIZONA
Pvt. Ned Bernard, Tucson
Lt. Col. J.C. Greenway, Bisbee
ARKANSAS
Pvt. P.R. Graybill, Democ. Pub. Co. Little Rock
Major J.J. Harrison, Little Rock
Pvt. Walter J. Wilkins, Pine Bluff
CALIFORNIA
Sgt. L.P. Adams, San Francisco
Corp. Chas. A. Beck, San Francisco
Lt. Col. Benjamin H. Dibblee, San Francisco
Chaplain Joseph D. McQuade, San Francisco
Major Stewart Edward White, Santa Barbara
COLORADO
Lt. G.W. Cutting, Florence
Sgt. C.C. Neil, Greeley
Major H.A. Saidy, Colorado Springs
Sgt. Phil. G. Thompson, Denver
CONNECTICUT
Maj. Morgan G. Bulkeley, Hartford
Lt. Col. Jas. L. Howard, Hartford
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Pvt. L. Clarkson Hines, Washington
Col. E. Lester Jones, Washington
DELAWARE
Major Thomas W. Miller, Wilmington
Capt. John P. Nields, Wilmington
FLORIDA
Brig Gen A.H. Blanding, Bartow
GEORGIA
Col. Alexander R. Lawton, Jr., Savannah
Capt. Landon Thomas, Augusta
IDAHO
Major C.M. Booth, Pocatello
Pvt. John Green, Twin Falls
Major Hawley, Jr., Boise
Pvt. D.H. Holt, Caldwell
ILLINOIS
Chf. Petty Officer B.J. Goldberg, Chicago
Maj. Owsley Brown, Springfield
Rear Admiral Frederick B. Bassett, Great Lakes
1st Cl. Pvt. Edw. J. Czuj, Chicago
Maj. Thomas Gowenlock, Chicago
1st Cl. Pvt. Hy. Hickman Harris, Champaign
1st Cl. Pvt. Geo. Kendall Hooton, Danville
Ensign Allen M. Loeb, Chicago
Capt. Clark Nixon, East St. Louis
Maj. John Callan O'Laughlin, Chicago
Capt. Joseph Medill Patterson, Chicago
1st Cl. Pvt. C.J. Schatz, Wheaton
Brig. Gen. Robt. E. Wood, Chicago
Sgt. David S. Wright, Oak Park
INDIANA
Col. Solon J. Carter, Indianapolis
Ensign Win. L. Hutcheson, Indianapolis
Sgt. R.J. Leeds, Richmond
IOWA
Sgt. Chas. A. Doxsee, Monticello
Major H.H. Polk, Des Moines
KANSAS
Gen. Chas. I. Martin, Topeka
Gen. Wilder S. Metcalf, Lawrence
Sgt. Fred C. Stanford, Independence
Sgt. Mahlon S. Weed, Lawrence
KENTUCKY
Pvt. Samuel J. Culbertson, Louisville
Lt. W.C. Dabney, Louisville
Capt. Shelby Harbison, Lexington
Major James Wheeler, Paducah
LOUISIANA
Capt. Allen Cook, New Orleans
Lt. John M. Parker, Jr., New Orleans
MAINE
Lt. Col. Arthur Ashworth, Bangor
Col. Frank W. Hume, 103d Inf.
Capt. A.L. Robinson, Portland
Pvt. Daniel J. Smart,
Sgt. Wm. H. Whalen, 103d Inf.
Sgt. Freeman Wheaton, 107th Inf.
MARYLAND
Lt. James A. Gary, Jr. Baltimore
Sgt. Alexander Randall, Baltimore
Major Redmond Stewart, Baltimore
Brig. Gen. W.S. Thayer, Baltimore
MASSACHUSETTS
Brig. Gen. Charles H. Cole, Boston
Sgt. Edw. J. Creed, 101st Inf.
Sgt. Ernest H. Eastman, 104th Inf.
Major J.W. Farley, Boston
Lt. Col. Louis Frothingham, Boston
Sgt. Geo. Gilbody, 101st Inf.
Sgt. Daniel J. Nolan,
MICHIGAN
Lt. Col. Fredk. M. Alger, Detroit
Sgt. Rand F. English, Detroit
1st Sgt. Wm. King, Detroit
Lt. Commander Truman H. Newberry, Detroit
MINNESOTA
Pvt. Gordon Clark, Duluth
Major Paul B. Cook, St. Paul
Pvt. Wm. D. Mitchell, St. Paul
Pvt. W. Bissell Thomas, Minneapolis
MISSISSIPPI
Lt. John N. Alexander, Jackson
Sgt. Maj. C.J. Craggs, Greenville
Major Alex. Fitzhugh, Vicksburg
Corp. Isador A. Frank, Clarksdale
Sgt. Elmer Price, McComb
MISSOURI
Brig. Gen. H.C. Clarke, Jefferson City
Pvt. David R. Francis, Jr., St. Louis
Corp. Sestus J. Wade, Jr., St. Louis
MONTANA
Col. J.J. McGuiness, Helena
Corp. Chas. S. Pew, Helena
NEBRASKA
Major P.F. Cosgrove, Lincoln
Pvt. T.T. McGuire, Omaha
Sgt. R. Scott, Imperial
Lt. Allan A. Tukey, Omaha
NEVADA
Sgt. E.L. Malsbary, Reno
Lt. Col. Jas. G. Scrugham, Reno
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Sgt. Herve L'Heureaux, Manchester
Major Frank Knox, Manchester
NEW JERSEY
Col. Hobart Brown, Newark
Sgt. Allan Eggers, Summit
1st Lt. Geo. W.C. McCarter, Newark
Corp. Roger Young, Newark
NEW MEXICO
Capt. Bronson M. Cutting, Santa Fe
Col. Debjemond, Roswell
Pvt. Canuto Trujillo, Chimayo
NEW YORK
Lt. Col. Robert Bacon, New York
Lt. Col. Grenville Clark, New York
Brig. Gen. Chas. I. Debevoise, Brooklyn
Pvt. Meade C. Dobson, New York
Col. Wm. J. Donovan, New York
Lt. Samuel Gompers, Jr., New York
Seaman Jos. F. Healey, New York
Chaplain Francis A. Kelley, Albany
Lt. Col. J. Leslie Kincaid, Syracuse
Ensign Jerome H. Larger, Brooklyn
Ensign W.G. McAdoo, Jr., New York
Sgt. Major Howard H. McLellan, Yonkers
Ensign R.H. Mitchell, New York
Major General John F. O'Ryan, New York
Lt. D. Lincoln Reed, New York
Col. Henry L. Stimson, New York
Lt. Col. Chas. W. Whittlesey, New York
Major Cornelius W. Wickersham, New York
Sgt. Clarence E. Williams, New York
NORTH CAROLINA
Lt. R.W. Glenn, Greensboro
Lt. Cyrus D. Hogue, Wilmington
NORTH DAKOTA
Capt. Matthew Murphy, Fargo
OHIO
Sgt. Jas. K. Campbell, Shreve
Lt. Col. Jas. R. Cochran, Columbus
Lt. Col. Ralph D. Cole, Columbus or Findlay
Lt. Col. Isadore H. Duke, Cincinnati
OKLAHOMA
Sgt. Eugene Atkins, Muskogee
Brig. Gen. Roy Hoffman, Oklahoma City
OREGON
Pvt. Harry Critchlow, Portland
Sgt. Carl B. Fenton, Dallas
Lt. Col. Geo. Kelley, Portland
Col. F.W. Leadbetter, Portland
Lt. Col. Geo. A. White, Portland
PENNSYLVANIA
Major Chas. J. Biddle, Philadelphia
Lt. Joseph F. Frayne, Scranton
Lt. Col. Robt. E. Glendinning, Philadelphia
Lt. Col. John Price Jackson, Harrisburg
Pvt. George Jones, Scranton
Maj. Alexander Laughlin, Jr., Pittsburg
Col. Asher Miner, Wilkes-Barre
Lt. John R. Sproul, Chester
Lt. Bernard J. Voll, Philadelphia
RHODE ISLAND
Major Geo. E. Buxton, Jr., Providence
Col. Everitte St. J. Chaffee, Providence
Sgt. W.C. Kendrick, Pawtucket
SOUTH CAROLINA
Sgt. W.C. Coward, Cheraw
Lt. Chas. C. Pinckney, Charleston
C.T. Trenholm, Charleston
Major W.D. Workman, Greenville
SOUTH DAKOTA
Capt. Lawrence R. Bates, Sioux Falls
Capt. Royal C. Johnson, Aberdeen
Sgt. Ruble Lavery, Vermilion
Sgt. Jos. F. Pfeiffer, Rapid City
TENNESSEE
Col. James A. Gleason, Knoxville
Sgt. Major Keith J. Harris, Chattanooga
Sgt. John Hays, Memphis
Col. Luke Lea, Nashville
Major T.C. Thompson, Jr. Chattanooga
Pvt. C.W. Tomlinson, Chattanooga
TEXAS
Capt. Stanley E. Kempner, Galveston
Col. H.D. Lindsley, Dallas
Col. H.B. Moore, Texas City
UTAH
Sgt. Maj. H.H. McCartney, Salt Lake City
Gen. R.W. Young, Salt Lake City
VIRGINIA
Pvt. Frank G. Christian, Richmond
Lt. C. Francis Cocke, Roanoke
Col. Stuart McGuire, Richmond
VERMONT
Pvt. Donald J. Emery, Newport
Sgt. Eugene V. Finn, St. Albans
Major H. Nelson Jackson, Burlington
Capt. Redfield Proctor, Burlington
WASHINGTON
Lt. Col. R.W. Llewellen, Seattle
Major P.P. Marion, Seattle
Brig. Gen. Harvey J. Moss, Seattle
Sgt. John J. Sullivan, N. Seattle
Sgt. Major R.H. Winsor, Tacoma
WEST VIRGINIA
Capt. Fleming W. Alderson, Charleston
Sgt. Walter S. Moore, Huntington
Sgt. Thomas Schofield, Wheeling
Lt. Col. Jackson A. Weston, Charleston
WISCONSIN
Edward F. Ackley, Milwaukee
Pvt. David Bloodgood, Milwaukee
Sgt. Elmer S. Owens, Milwaukee
Col. Gilbert E. Seaman, Milwaukee
Pvt. John P. Szulcek, Milwaukee
WYOMING
Major A.S. Beach, Lusk
Sgt. Morris A. Dinneen, Cheyenne
Pvt. I.H. Larom, Valley Ranch
United American War Veterans, Warren S. Fischer, Commander-in-Chief
Comrades in Service, Bishop Brent, President,
National Legion of America, Major Elihu Church,
American Army Association, Lt. Haywood Hillyer, General Secretary.
* * * * *
Just about this time it became most necessary to properly present the
Legion to those men who had remained at home and who had gotten out of
the Service, and to those who were incoming from France and rapidily
being demobilized, as it was upon them that the success of the Legion
depended. Furthermore, their opinions were the soil upon which the
various State organizations had to work, and at that particular time
it was vital that the Legion should be widely known and thoroughly
understood; that its aims and ambitions should not be misconstrued
either willfully or unintentionally, nor its precepts perverted. To
this end the temporary Chairman proceeded to publicize it in the most
thorough fashion. One-page bulletins briefly outlining the Legion's
aims and ambitions were distributed in every center where soldiers and
seamen gathered. Such places as Y.M.C.A. and K. of C. huts and War
Camp Community recreation centers were thoroughly informed, and
bulletins also were sent to every ship in the navy with the request
that they be placed on the ship's bulletin board.
Literature about the Legion was placed on transports when they left
empty for France so that the men might read it in their leisure hours
returning home. In order to make sure that every soldier and sailor
would have the opportunity to know about the Legion this literature
was again placed on the transports as they arrived in New York harbor.
Various demobilization camps throughout the country were widely
placarded and in each instance the names of the Temporary State
Secretaries were given, and service men were invited to write to the
Secretaries in their particular States. Camp publications, newspapers,
and periodicals published for service men throughout the country were
bountifully supplied with Legion information and scores of them
carried special stories in regard to it. Bulletins and pamphlets were
distributed in hospitals, placed on bulletin boards, and given to the
patients. Every mayor of a town or city with a population above nine
hundred got a letter containing literature about the Legion with a
request that it be given publicity in the local press and then turned
over to the Chairman of the Welcome Home Committee. Certain national
magazines devoted a great deal of space to special articles explaining
the Legion.
Three or four times a week the Foreign Press Bureau of the United
States Government sent stories about the Legion and its activities by
wireless to the ships on sea and to the men of the A.E.F. in
connection with its "Home News Service." In addition to the foregoing,
articles appeared almost daily in the press throughout the entire
country, and by the time the convention was ready to meet those who
ran and cared to read were fully informed that the American Legion was
an organization for veterans of the army, navy, and marine corp; that
it was non-partisan and non-political; that it stood for law and
order, decent living, decent thinking, and true Americanism.
The wide publicity given to the Legion and its aims brought into the
Temporary Committee many amusing letters. Scores of them complained of
the published statement that it was non-partisan and non-political.
"Damn it all, we want it to be political and partisan," one angry
Westerner wrote. Another correspondent insisted that in view of the
fact that sons of Theodore Roosevelt, and Speaker Champ Clark were
interested, the Legion must be bi-partisan and bi-political. But most
of the letters were of a highly commendatory character, expressing the
deepest and widest possible interest. I recall that one of them came
from Junction City, Kansas, another from Old Town, Maine; one from
Delray, Texas, and others from Wolf Creek, Montana, Orlando, Florida,
and Ray's Crossing, Indiana, while a postal card making frantic
inquiries was dated Nome, Alaska, and arrived a week after the caucus
at St. Louis. I have mentioned these towns and localities because they
indicate how widespread and deep is the interest in the Legion. No
matter where a man came from to go into the army, the Legion will go
to him in his home now. Its members will range from fishermen on the
Florida Keys to the mail carriers on the Tanana in Alaska, from the
mill hands of New England to the cotton planters of the Mississippi
delta. All who wore the uniform may enroll just so long as the word
_Americanism_ was inscribed in their hearts between April 6, 1917, and
November 11, 1918.
CHAPTER IV
THE ADVANCE COMMITTEE
When the St. Louisian puffed its way into the big smoke-begrimed
station in Missouri's largest city I looked about me for Bill, who was
going to meet me at the station. We had not met since our prep. school
and college days when Bill had been a thin, wizened little fellow, so
hollow-chested that he had to be sent to Colorado for almost two years
for his health. He came back to school looking better but before his
diploma was handed to him announcing to the world that he was a
full-fledged Bachelor of Arts, he had fallen apparently permanently
into the rut of ill-health. In fact I wondered, when we all sang _Auld
Lang Syne_ in the fraternity house at the close of college, if I'd
ever see Bill again.
From time to time I had heard from him in the years that followed, and
one day in the summer of 1917 he wrote me that he was on the way to
France.
While I gazed up and down the smoke-laden platform, I got a slap on
the shoulder that sent me spinning, and there was the once emaciated
Bill, who seemed to have grown three inches and to have put on
seventy-five pounds.
As we walked toward the taxicab stand I began to realize that instead
of an old friend, a stranger was beside me. True enough, he had the
same name and the same colored eyes, and his hair hadn't changed. But
the rather dreamy eye had cleared, the pale face of old was tanned,
and Bill's chest--the one he had gone to Colorado for--was bulging out
as he carried my two heavy suit cases like a pouter pigeon's at a
poultry show.
What had happened to Bill? The little, quiet, timid youth of the past
was now a big, burly, strong-bodied, clear-minded man. As we entered
the taxi he was telling me that he "intended to raise hell if they
didn't take some action against this blank Bolshevism, and furthermore
that this new Legion was going to be the most tremendous organization
that the U.S.A. had ever seen." If he had told me that Swinburne's
_Faustine_ was written in iambic hexameter it would have sounded more
like old times. But here was a new man, strong and virile, intensely
interested in the future of his nation.
What had happened to Bill? Eighteen months in the army was the answer.
The advanced delegation began to arrive in St. Louis, the afternoon of
May 5th. The Statler and Jefferson Hotels were packed because there
were two other conventions in progress. But our delegates needed no
badge to be distinguished from the others; there was a difference
between them and the other conventionites. There was the same
difference between the two as between the old Bill and the new Bill.
They too had had eighteen months in the army, and a coat of tan on
each one's face, his ruddy frame, and general atmosphere of a healthy
mind and a healthy body were unmistakable emblems.
This advanced delegation, two from each State, had been requested to
come beforehand to meet on the morning of Tuesday, May 6th, so as to
formulate a working order of business on which the caucus might
proceed as soon as it assembled. There was another reason for this
meeting also. The temporary committee wanted to avoid any appearance
of having "framed up the caucus." By this it is meant that the
committee wanted to be able to say to the caucus that its working
procedure had been determined by a thoroughly representative body, a
democratic, advanced delegation composed of men from every State in
the Union. There were those critics of the Legion, who, had the
temporary committee formulated the caucus procedure, would have been
only too glad to have attempted to make trouble by saying it was a
controlled and made-to-order caucus--controlled and made-to-order by
the men who had taken the lead in it. In fact, during the early
morning of the first day the advanced committee met one delegation
arrived with blood in its eyes determined to wage a fight against
universal military training. One of the stories circulated at the time
was to the effect that the entire Legion was nothing but a blind
whereby a mysterious "Military Clique" was to gain supreme power over
the Legion's policies. It took but a very short while to convince the
would-be obstreperous delegation that the caucus was not the
convention and was empowered solely to organize a veterans'
association and not to adopt policies.
The temporary committee in America determined at the very beginning
that no policies would be adopted at the caucus, that the Legion at
this time should follow in the footsteps of its comrades abroad in
stating that neither the men here nor the men there could, as
different units, adopt broad policies until a convention could be held
truly representing all men who had fought in the Great War.
Colonel Roosevelt called the advanced committee to order a little
after two o'clock in the afternoon, in a small and very noisy parlor
in the Hotel Statler. The gavel which he used was made from wood from
the rudder of Admiral Peary's North Pole steamship _The Roosevelt_,
which had been presented to him by Colonel E. Lester Jones of
Washington, D.C.
"The idea underlying the formation of the American Legion is the
feeling among the great mass of the men who served in the forces of
this country during the war, that the impulse of patriotism which
prompted their efforts and sacrifices should be so preserved that it
might become a strong force in the future for true Americanism and
better citizenship," Colonel Roosevelt said. He spoke very slowly and
measured his words carefully but emphasized them in a tone of deepest
conviction. "We will be facing troublous times in the coming years,"
he continued "and to my mind no greater safeguard could be devised
than those soldiers, sailors, and marines formed in their own
association, in such manner that they could make themselves felt for
law and order, decent living and thinking, and truer 'nationalism.'"
In this opening sentence, Colonel Roosevelt foreshadowed the spirit of
the entire caucus. These service men wanted an organization not for
their own special benefit, not that they might obtain pensions or
offices, but that they might become a power for truer Americanism and
better citizenship!
Colonel Wood, the secretary, explained in greater detail the purpose
of the proposed Legion. He broached the subject of the reemployment
for soldiers, a legal department for the handling of insurance claims,
allotments, etc., and sketched the fundamental principles of the
organization as follows:
First, its non-partisanship.
Second, that this society should be equally for those whose duty
called them overseas and for those who were held by circumstances on
this side.
Third, that it is fundamentally a civilian organization, one in which
all ranks, be they private or general, admiral or seaman, should have
an equal share and participation.
Then the advance committeemen began themselves to talk. Each one, no
matter on what subject and regardless of the side he took upon it, was
permitted to air his feelings to the full satisfaction of himself at
least. Like the Paris Caucus, the discussion grew heated at times and
every now and then the chair was forced to remind overly fervid
orators that this was an advanced meeting of the caucus and not the
convention. There were those present who wanted to obligate the caucus
to go on record for or against universal military training, woman
suffrage, prohibition, permanent headquarters, and to elect permanent
officers, and each of these had to be shown that it would be unfair to
the men still in the A.E.F. to take such preeminently vital steps
without consulting them. Then there were those present who wanted to
exclude members of the regular army and navy from the Legion; that is,
to limit eligibility in the organization to those who could show
discharge papers from either the army, navy, or marine corps. This
measure was voted down and it was given as the sense of the advanced
committee meeting that those who served in the Great War would have
perfect liberty to join regardless of whether their service continued
in the military establishment after the armistice or after peace was
formally declared.
The advanced committee outlined the order of business upon which the
caucus could proceed, named the various committees to be organized,
and discussed the resolutions which were deemed wise and expedient
topics for discussion.
On Wednesday afternoon, delegates from every district in the country
began to arrive, almost one thousand new Bills, husky of frame, some
still in uniform with the red discharge chevron on their left sleeves;
others who had manifestly tried to get the new Bill into the old
Bill's 1916 suit of clothes, and still others in new bib and tucker,
looking exceedingly comfortable after almost two years in putties,
heavy shoes, and tight blouses.
Every man came with one deep-rooted determination and that was to see
that no one "put anything over" which might make an organization so
embryonically useful take a fatal or selfish step. Each came, perhaps
imbued to a certain extent with his own particular ideas on how
everything should be conducted; but the radicalism, sectionalism, and
partisanship which would have marked a gathering of these same men
three years before was not present. The men who had thought that
nothing good could come except from south of the Mason and Dixon line
had fought side by side with woodsmen from Maine. The man who had
thought the East effete had done duty on a destroyer with a boy from
Harlem. Everybody realized full well that sectionalism must be
abandoned whenever it clashed with nationalism; and abandoned it was,
with right good will.
The meeting of the advance committeemen justified itself as a very
wise and judicious action on the part of the temporary committee. Any
suspicion of a particular delegation that anything was "framed" was
quickly allayed after a conference with its advance committeemen. If a
man from Pennsylvania suspected that anything was on foot not to the
liking of the Keystone State he had only to ask his advance
committeeman, Colonel D'Olier, about it. Incidentally the personnel of
the advance committee was not so numerous that everybody couldn't know
what everybody else was doing. As a matter of fact, everybody did know
what everybody else was doing. One of the most peculiar facts of this
most interesting caucus was that when it came to "_pussy footing_"
pussy seemed to foot it on piano keys so far as secrecy was concerned
and in such a fashion that usually the _Star Spangled Banner_ was
played. I know that the night and the morning before the caucus met
that there were many and various powwows and conferences, a great many
of which I attended, but there wasn't a one that I knew of or ever
heard about, the full details of which could not have been printed in
bold-faced type on the front page of every St. Louis newspaper and
have reflected credit on the powwowers as well as on the American
Legion.
CHAPTER V
THE ST. LOUIS CAUCUS, MAY 8, 9, AND 10
All during the morning of May 8th that delegation was constantly
getting together with this delegation; this leader conferring with
that one; was this question going to come up, and what would be done
if that question was tabled? Everybody interested, everybody excited,
everybody waiting to see the other fellow's hand at the show-down,
which was scheduled for the Shubert-Jefferson Theater at half-past two
o'clock in the afternoon. Of course, everybody had found out the
previous evening that every card in the pack was red, white, and blue,
and that, from the very beginning of the game, an attempt had been
made to keep the knaves out. As a matter of fact, they'd never been
in, but the new Bills who made up the delegations to this caucus were
going to look everybody over mighty carefully before any serious
playing was done.
Suppressed excitement doesn't describe at all the half-hour preceding
the opening of the caucus, because the excitement was not suppressed
in the least. Eager, shining, tanned faces, eyes alert, heads erect,
straight-bodied and straight-talking men one by one took seats which
were assigned to them by delegations.
A flashlight photograph of the gathering was made, but this caucus was
not one that could be pictured by the camera at all accurately. The
outstanding feature of this great get together was the spirit of the
men, and that no camera could catch.
Three large wooden tiers of seats, the kind the circus has under
canvas, were built in a sort of semicircular fashion around the large
stage. The New York delegation occupied one of these tiers; the
Ohioans another, while the third was built for distinguished guests.
If any distinguished guests came they were entirely put out of the
limelight by the audience, for this was one show which was enacted
before the footlights rather than behind them, and, with one or two
exceptions the star performing took place where the spectators usually
sit. In fact, the only spectators that I saw were the newspaper men,
seated at tables within the corral formed by the tiers. All of them
had been in the army or navy or had seen the big show abroad as war
correspondents.
When Theodore Roosevelt, as temporary chairman jammed that gaveled
bit of the rudder of the North Pole ship down hard on the table and
called the meeting to order he got what he had never received while in
the army: that is, direct disobedience. He commanded order, and there
was utter disorder. It was rank insubordination, distinctly requiring
court-martial of everyone present, from a military point of view--but
the American Legion isn't military! And so the delegates howled
joyously. Roosevelt, demanding order at this time, had just about as
much chance of getting it as the Kaiser has of making Prince Joachim
King of the Bronx. Somebody started a cheer, and the crowd didn't stop
yelling for two minutes and a half.
"Young Teddy," as they called him, was manifestly surprised at the
ovation and tried repeatedly to get the crowd quiet. He wanted to be
pleasant and yet he wanted order and so between knocks with his gavel
he smiled. And a very engaging smile it was, too.
"Gentlemen," he pleaded. "Gentlemen, a little order." Finally there
was comparative quiet. "Now let's proceed to the business of the
meeting. The floor is open for nominations for permanent chairman of
this caucus."
Sergeant Jack Sullivan of the State of Washington got the floor.
Sergeant Jack is a husky northwesterner who did his bit in the
intelligence section in Seattle and has seen a lot of the Bolsheviki
out there.
"In behalf of the State of Washington and representing the men of the
rank and file of the Pacific Northwest, it gives me pleasure at this
time to place for your consideration the name of a sterling patriot,"
he shouted. "The man I am going to place in nomination proved himself
to be a one hundred per cent. true blooded American when his country's
honor was assailed. He was among the first who placed himself in the
front-line trenches, he was wounded twice, he was ready and willing to
make the supreme sacrifice in order that this world might be made safe
for democracy. I deem it an honor and a privilege, and the Pacific
Northwest deems it an honor and a privilege to place in nomination the
worthy son of a worthy sire--Theodore Roosevelt."
The crowd seemed to know all along who Jack meant and it held its
enthusiasm in tether as best it could. But when Sullivan got to the
word Theodore, the Roosevelt was drowned out in the mightiest cheer
that is possible for eight or nine hundred throats to utter. The
second to the motion, made by Colonel Luke Lea of Tennessee, wasn't
heard at all. This time it took Colonel Roosevelt more than two
minutes to get order.
"Gentlemen, I want to speak on that now," he shouted and during a
lull in the cheering managed to make himself heard. "I wish to say
that I want to withdraw my name from nomination--"
But the "gang wouldn't hear to it." Somebody raised the old cry:
"We want Teddy!" "We want Teddy!" "We want Teddy!" they chanted in
unison. Bedlam broke loose at that. Men stood on their seats and waved
their hats and handkerchiefs; some took their collars and neckties
off; some wept, some cursed for sheer joy and others--I believe that
when Gabriel blows his horn and all the dead arise that some of the
men who attended that caucus will try to make a speech! These speeches
were going on four and five at a time during the entire hullabaloo. It
didn't seem to matter in the least to the speakers that they weren't
being heard. They couldn't hear themselves. They added a little to the
noise and that satisfied the crowd and seemed to satisfy them.
"Please, please let me talk," pleaded Colonel Roosevelt. He finally
got his plea over by means of the sign language.
"I want to withdraw my name for a number of reasons," he continued.
"The first is that I want the country at large to get the correct
impression of this meeting here. We are gathered together for a very
high purpose. I want every American through the length and breadth of
this land to realize that there isn't a man in this convention who is
seeking anything for himself personally; that all of us are working
simply for the good of the entire country. I believe, furthermore,
that what we want here is someone who has been connected with the
movement only since it started on this side of the water, someone who
originates from the convention."
The din started again.
"No, no, gentlemen," shouted the Colonel. "I want to withdraw. It is
my earnest wish. It is my absolute determination."
But the caucus seemed equally determined. "We want Teddy!" "We're
going to have Teddy!" "You got this thing going, you ought to run it."
Colonel Roosevelt paced up and down the stage, trying his best to
silence them. Then, during the din, one by one some of his oldest
friends went to him and begged him to accede to the crowd's wish.
"Take it Ted," they urged. "Take it." That underslung jaw of the young
Colonel's became rigid.
"I won't do it. I can't do it," he answered.
Then someone managed to make a motion that the nomination of Colonel
Roosevelt be made unanimous. It was seconded and made extremely
_unanimous_.
[Illustration: Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.]
[Illustration: Group on the Stage at St. Louis Caucus]
"Then, gentlemen, I accept and I resign," Colonel Roosevelt said. "I
want quiet for a moment here on this situation. This is something that
I have thought about and have given my most earnest consideration. I
am positive I am right on it. We must not have creep into this
situation, in which we all believe from the bottom of our hearts, the
slightest suspicion in the country at large. I don't think there is
any suspicion among us that anyone is trying to use it for his
personal advancement. But it is absolutely essential that this spirit
be proven. I am going to stick by this from the beginning down to the
very end because, in my opinion, we have got to create to-day the
impression all over the country on which this organization will carry
on and serve a great purpose for years to come."
Again there were outbursts of applause for the Colonel. "We want
Teddy!" "We want Teddy!" the crowd cried again and again. Men ran to
the stage from the orchestra seats and even from the second balcony.
"Take it, Colonel. You ought to take it," they urged.
What the Colonel answered couldn't be heard but the jaw was working
and the head was shaking vigorously.
A couple of newspaper men dashed up to him.
"You oughtn't to take it, Colonel," one of them whispered. "If you
don't, it will give the lie to those who are saying the Legion is
being conducted for your special political benefit."
"I haven't the slightest intention of taking it," he answered back.
He didn't take it and he nailed the lie that the Legion was started to
further his own selfish ends.
On motion of Colonel E. Lester Jones of the District of Columbia the
nominations were reopened again.
Sergeant Haines of Maine put up the name of Colonel Henry D. Lindsley,
a banker of Dallas, Texas, and a prominent Southern Democrat, for
permanent chairman. Think of it! A man from Maine nominating a
Southern Democrat! One of the Ohio delegation seconded the nomination.
Think of that too! Colonel Claud Birkhead of San Antonio, Texas,
leader of the Texas delegation "thirded" the nomination. He told
Colonel Lindsley's record. The Colonel had been Mayor of his home
city, and during the war had served his country so well in France that
he had been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. He and Major
Willard Straight, now dead, had started the War Risk Insurance Bureau
abroad and, at the time of the caucus, Colonel Lindsley was the head
of the Bureau under the Treasury Department in Washington.
Minutes of a meeting usually are dry but here I am going to quote
directly from them because they tell the story in the most vivid way.
Fancy between the lines, please, dozens of cheers, a couple of rebel
yells, a great deal of talking and shouting for "T.R.!" "T.R.!" and a
Babelous babble that ebbed or flowed according to the strength Colonel
Roosevelt used in wielding his gavel.
COLONEL JONES (of Washington, D.C.): "Mr. Chairman, I personally feel,
and I think I voice the unanimous sentiment of this organization, that
your withdrawal is a mistake. We are not only sincere, but we are
telling you what is in the bottom of our hearts. We are weighing also
the sincerity which you have expressed, and in deference to your
wishes, which I know have not arisen spontaneously but which you have
talked about for some time, regarding the chairmanship of this
committee, I think we should not embarrass you further. I have one in
mind who I feel is going to be a man who will do credit to this
organization--"
MR. ABBOTT (of Ohio): "Gentlemen of the caucus, I think we are wasting
time around here. I can't see why we can't have for the permanent
chairman of this convention the man who will be elected in November."
THE CHAIRMAN: "Gentlemen, can't you see how it is? I can't possibly
change my convictions. I can't go back on what I have told you without
everybody, who doesn't understand the situation here, feeling that I
have just come out here to make a grandstand play. I am right. I am
absolutely sincere and right."
A motion was made that Colonel Theodore Roosevelt temporarily yield
the chair to Colonel Bennett Clark.
COLONEL BENNETT CLARK: "It is very evident what the desire of this
convention is. I know that Colonel Lindsley of Texas was only put in
nomination in response to the express wishes and repeated
determination of Colonel Roosevelt. I think that that explanation
should be made in justice to Colonel Lindsley. I think that Colonel
Roosevelt should take this chairmanship or if he doesn't want to take
it he should be made to take it. (Applause.) The chair will recognize
a motion to that effect."
CAPTAIN BOYCE (of New York shouting to a yelling audience): "What is
the use of our acting like a lot of kids? Just one minute; only one
man can talk at a time and get anywhere. Colonel Roosevelt will not
take it."
COLONEL BENNETT CLARK: "The chair will recognize nobody until the
convention is in order. It has been moved and seconded that Colonel
Roosevelt be elected chairman of this convention by acclamation."
Cries of approval from the audience and a request for the question.
COLONEL BENNETT CLARK: "On that the chair will take the responsibility
of ordering a roll call. (Applause.) The Secretary will call the
roll."
SECRETARY WOOD: "The motion is that Colonel Roosevelt be nominated by
acclamation. The chairman has directed me to call the roll by States.
Alabama--"
A call for a point of order.
DELEGATE: "After nominations have been made and closed a roll call
cannot be taken."
COLONEL CLARK: "The chair was fully aware that he was proceeding
outside of parliamentary law because it was the unanimous wish of the
convention."
MR. SULLIVAN: "I move that a roll call be made on the original
nominations."
COLONEL CLARK: "Colonel Roosevelt has expressed to me his absolute
desire that that not be done. He refuses to enter into a contest with
Colonel Lindsley in any way."
COLONEL JONES (Washington, D.C.): "Mr. Chairman, the nominations were
reopened."
COLONEL CLARK: "The chair is informed that while he was on the way up
here a motion was carried to reopen nominations after the resignation
of Colonel Roosevelt. Now nominations are again in order."
MAJOR SAMUEL D. ROYCE (Indiana): "On behalf of the State of Indiana, I
nominate Colonel Theodore Roosevelt."
The motion was seconded.
COLONEL CLARK: "The gentleman from the District of Columbia has the
floor. Others please be quiet."
Here I must inject my story into the minutes again. Colonel Roosevelt
saw the convention was "getting away to a Roosevelt finish" again, to
use a racing term, and he sent a hurry call to the Arizona delegation
for Colonel Jack Greenway.
Jack Greenway followed the elder Roosevelt up San Juan hill. He wears
underneath his civilian coat to-day, but right over his heart, a
Distinguished Service Cross won at Cantigny.
"Jack, for Heaven's sake, tell them I won't take it," Colonel
Roosevelt plead.
It was just at this moment that Colonel Clark, the acting chairman,
was saying: "The gentleman from the District of Columbia has the
floor. Others please be quiet...."
Colonel Jack waving one arm at the chairman and another at the
audience strode to the center of the stage.
The minutes read:
COLONEL JACK GREENWAY: "Will you give me the floor? I won't keep you
five minutes.
"My name is Greenway but that doesn't mean anything to you. Gentlemen,
Colonel Roosevelt has said that he is not going to take the nomination
of the caucus and you can take it from me that he is not going to do
it. Now wait a minute. Whoa! Quit yelling! I know this Roosevelt
outfit and when they say something they mean it. I followed his daddy
through Cuba and I know. I saw this boy in the first division at
Cantigny and on the Toul Front and I know that he means he is not
going to take the chairmanship of this temporary caucus. There is a
big misunderstanding about what you are trying to do. I have just
talked to Colonel Roosevelt and he says that he will not be a
candidate for the temporary caucus, but if, after all the boys come
home at the convention in November, it is still the desire of that
body as a whole, he will give the matter reconsideration." (Applause.)
Colonel Roosevelt resumes the chairmanship.
THE CHAIRMAN: "Mr. Lindsley, the gentleman of Texas is in nomination
for chairman. I mean absolutely what I say. I can't do it. I won't
serve if elected. What you have done will always be a great memory to
my family. (Applause.) I mean that, gentlemen! I mean that! Now is
there anybody else you want to put in nomination? I absolutely mean
that for the good of the cause; you have got to do what I say on that.
"Gentlemen, I believe the nominations were reopened."
Now I must again put the minutes by for a moment, for Bill has come to
the stage and what he says doesn't get into the minutes, although I
wish his remarks were there:
"That was pretty fine in him," Bill said, pointing to Colonel
Roosevelt. I nodded only, for somehow this whole thing had got to me
pretty strong and I felt like crying for some unaccountable reason.
"And then he gives his family the credit for all this yelling," Bill
was saying. "We like his family all right, but say, this wasn't to
compliment his family, not by a darn sight. Why, you know that young
Colonel's got a h---- of a fine record himself--"
But somebody within an inch of my ear was letting out a warwhoop for
Jack Sullivan who had just been nominated for permanent chairman and
I didn't hear the last of Bill's remark.
Sergeant Sullivan got up and tried to withdraw in favor of Colonel
Lindsley, and Colonel Lindsley did the same thing and each was refused
the opportunity. Colonel Lindsley then took the floor. "Comrades," he
said, "I want you to know that I came here for one man for the
chairman of this caucus, and that man was Theodore Roosevelt. He has
refused it absolutely. I appreciate the support that has been given to
my name. If honored with the chairmanship I shall be glad to serve,
but it is important that we get to business immediately. I am certain
that Mr. Sullivan will make an excellent presiding officer. If I had
the right, I should be glad to withdraw my name in his favor. But the
point is, gentlemen, let's get to business. This is the greatest
meeting that has ever gathered in the United States, and it is not so
material who is chairman of the meeting as it is to proceed to
business."
While the roll is being called let's glance around the theater again.
Most of the men in uniform are enlisted men. It is difficult to tell
at a glance just what rank or rating the majority of those present
held in the army or navy because in civilian clothing the officer and
the man are indistinguishable. I mean to say that our army was
different from most other military establishments. Being primarily a
citizen affair it was really representative. It was the desire of the
temporary committee that sixty per cent. of the delegates should be
enlisted men and when the call for the caucus was issued that was set
forth most plainly. No one seems to have taken the trouble to check
the thing up at the caucus. Anyone desiring to do so can find the
information in this volume. I was interested at the opening of the
caucus to know just what the percentage was, but after it got into
swing it didn't make any difference. No one cared. There was talk
(among officers) of making an enlisted man permanent chairman. The
only persons that I heard objecting to such a procedure were the
enlisted men themselves.
"We've forgotten all that stuff about rank. If the officers insist on
an enlisted man they'll make a mistake. We want the best man and
because we're in the majority in the organization we don't want to
discriminate against the officer. Taken as a whole, he was a mighty
fine sort."
This from Sergeant Laverne Collier of the Idaho delegation when I
asked him what he thought of the enlisted man idea. While we were
talking about it the vote was being cast on Lindsley and Sullivan. As
if to reecho Collier's sentiments, Sullivan got up and demanded that
Lindsley's election should be made unanimous, and so it was.
Colonel Roosevelt promptly put Sullivan's name in nomination for
vice-chairman. Mr. Abbott of Ohio seconded it and further moved that
the sergeant's election be made unanimous. Sergeant Jack Sullivan was
elected by acclamation. Then Colonel Wood was chosen secretary, the
rules of the House of Representatives were decided upon to govern the
procedure, and debate was limited to five minutes.
Insistence on that point was unnecessary. Our new American back from
the wars has been too accustomed to action to like words that aren't
concise and aimed right at the heart of the point. There was a good
deal of noise and talk at this particular juncture and someone moved
the appointment of a sergeant at arms. Captain A.L. Boyce of Boyce's
Tigers (those young men who drilled so persistently in Central Park in
New York preparing for the war) was picked. While this guardian of the
peace was being appointed at least five gentlemen from as many
delegations started to speak at once, perhaps against the five-minute
debate rule, and in the confusion a delegate, whom Checkers might have
described as carrying a load he should have made three trips with,
took the platform and began something that sounded about as
intelligible as Cicero's oration against Catiline in the original.
"Do I understand, Mr. Chairman, that a sergeant at arms has been
appointed?" shouted Mr. J.L. Walsh of the Pennsylvania delegation.
"That's right," answered the chairman.
"Then let's have him get busy," rejoined Mr. Walsh. "We didn't come
down here for a vaudeville show or to be entertained by some boob,
because we've got boobs back home."
After this remark, the minutes read "Laughter and applause" but that
doesn't half describe it.
Captain Boyce "got busy" and if the minutes could record the result of
his actions they would probably read "Order restored--almost. Quieter,
for a time."
Colonel Lindsley made a splendid presiding officer. None could have
done better, but as the stenographer who took the minutes remarked
(and she was convention-worn because she had attended so many): "This
is the funnest meeting I ever wrote up." Right. It was the funniest
meeting--funny being used in the sense of unusual as the stenographer
meant it--that anyone ever saw. In fact it was unique; absolutely the
only one of its kind. Because the delegates were unique. There never
was anything like them in all the history of the country. They had
gone into training camps like Bill, very tired, anaemic, with a shop
and office pallor; and they came out of the war like Bill,--new,
virile, interested, placing a value on themselves which would have
been unthinkable prior to April 6, 1917.
But they placed a greater value on this organization which was so near
the heart of all of them. No better proof of it can be shown than the
incident which has just been described, viz., the refusal of Theodore
Roosevelt to be the permanent chairman. Although I do not pretend to
be able to explain the processes of thought and reasoning which led
Colonel Roosevelt to take the action he did, still I do know this
much! There are very few young men who would have been so deaf to the
plaudits of the multitude, to the advice of old friends and to the
still small voice of personal ambition as he was in refusing. I
maintain that this refusal was by no means altogether prompted by
anything of an hereditary nature but, rather, by the experiences and
environment which had been Colonel Roosevelt's during the war. It took
more than an under-slung jaw and a rugged Rooseveltian determination
to refuse this great honor. It took _discipline_, and Colonel
Roosevelt knew how to inflict that upon himself just as he did upon
his troops whenever it was wise and necessary.
In much smaller, but no less important matters, did I see other men
practice discipline upon themselves. I saw men forego the discussion
of subjects in which they believed with all their hearts and with all
their minds solely for the purpose of doing nothing that would tend to
disrupt the Caucus or give the impression throughout the United States
that the men who had stuck together so closely in times of daring and
danger could not still stick and face, as a band of brothers in the
American Legion, any perils or pitfalls which peace might hold for
this country. Therefore, it seems to me that Colonel Roosevelt's
action was more than a manifestation of his own sterling determination
to do nothing which might hurt the Legion. It was archtypical.
Major Hamilton Fish of New York called attention to the fact that the
navy was unrepresented in the offices of the caucus and moved that a
second vice-chairman should be appointed from that branch of the
service. A delegate from Missouri seconded the motion and amended it
to read that a third vice-chairman should be appointed from the marine
corps.
During the election of these officers enthusiasm reached a high pitch
and in no more striking manner did the new American reveal his new
character.
"Gentlemen," said one dignified delegate (I don't know who let him in,
because just from the way he said "gentlemen" we all knew that once in
his life he had practiced oratory before the bureau mirror), "I want
to place in nomination the name of a man who is true blue--"
"Name him," shouted the crowd.
"He is not only true blue but he is thoroughly everything he ought to
be in addition--" continued the orator, coldly trying to squelch the
crowd.
"Name him." "Shut up." "Aw, sit down." "Who wants to listen to such
'bull' as that?"
Each of those sentences was roared by a different man.
"This gentleman is one of whom I am sure you will be proud--"
persisted the orator, but at this direct violation of its edict the
crowd began to scream its maledictions and Captain Boyce could not
have stopped them with all his Tigers if the gentleman orator hadn't
taken his seat in a most dignified manner, never to rise
again--doubtless as a rebuke for the gang, but one which was
thoroughly appreciated.
Thus the way of orators in the caucus!
The navy men who were nominated consisted of Goerke of New York;
Goldberg, Illinois; Chenoweth, Alabama; Almon, Montana; Humphrey, New
Mexico; McGrath, New Jersey; and Evans of Kentucky. The secretary took
the vote by delegations. When Goerke got a vote the New York crowd
yelled itself hoarse; New Mexico did the same for Humphrey; Alabama
cheered like mad for Chenoweth and it wasn't long before everybody
picked out his candidate and yelled furiously every time he got a
vote. The New Mexico delegation occupied a proscenium box but Humphrey
wasn't prominent enough there to suit his delegation. Before anyone
thoroughly realized what was happening, Seaman Humphrey appeared on
the stage, borne on the shoulders of two colonels! Two men who had
eagles on their shoulders, U.S. on their collars, and gold chevrons on
their left sleeves carried on their shoulders a "gob," a sailorman, a
deck-swabbing bluejacket, as he called himself.
It was the beginning of a cavalcade of noise that fairly made ear
drums ache, and, incidentally, proved a signal for the backers of
other candidates. Goerke soon was lifted aloft by a half dozen New
Yorkers; Chenoweth was exhibited to the general view from the section
of the orchestra occupied by his delegation, while Illinois paraded
up and down the aisles with Goldberg. Colonel Lindsley hammered the
speaker's table almost to pieces in an attempt to get order and then
gave it up for a few minutes as a bad job. Captain Boyce succeeded in
getting a semblance of it, when everybody got tired of carrying the
candidates and of shouting. Then the secretary again started taking
the vote by delegations. No one of the candidates received a majority
of the votes which was necessary under the procedure adopted at the
beginning of the caucus. Then began the withdrawals. This State
withdrew its vote from Goerke and cast it for Humphrey; Chenoweth
withdrew from the race and his vote went to Goerke, et cetera. A
similar situation resulted on the second count and finally Goerke
withdrew in favor of Humphrey. When Evans took the same action,
Humphrey (first name Fred), described as the "rough-riding sailor from
New Mexico," was elected.
Humphrey's speech of acceptance delighted the hearts of those who had
forced the would-be orator to sit down at the beginning of the
nominations.
"Mr. Chairman, gobs, soldiers, and marines," Humphrey said: "I am most
glad and gracious to accept this honorary position and I will do
everything that a deck-swabbing sailorman can do to fill it."
The first day's session closed with the appointment by the various
States of representatives on the following committees: Executive
Committee; Credentials; Temporary Name of Organization; Organization;
Resolutions; Constitution and By-Laws and Declaration of Principles;
Next Meeting Place and Time; Publication; Emblem; Permanent
Headquarters, and Finance.
The personnel of these committees will be found elsewhere.
Thursday evening and Friday morning were devoted largely to committee
meetings and different sections of the country came together to
discuss matters of particular interest to special localities. For
instance, the Western delegations discussed the question of
Bolshevism, because the symptoms of this mad disease had been more
apparent in that section of the country than in any other. The
question of color was practically decided in a meeting of the
Executive Committee and was ratified later by various delegations
representing the Southern States. Everybody was pleased. An attempt
was made by the leaders of each delegation to keep such questions as
might be "_loaded with dynamite_" off the actual floor of the caucus
so that those lacking in discretion might not have the opportunity to
throw the caucus into an uproar.
In fact it was this spirit--the desire on everybody's part to give in
to a certain extent on any mooted question for the sake of general
harmony that was a marked feature of the gathering. In the committee
meetings were found delegates with radically different opinions on
almost every question. It was not an uncommon thing, however, to see a
delegate very heatedly advocate a certain side of an issue; listen to
the opposing side, rise, and with equal heat and fervency advocate the
opposite point of view.
This spirit is highly significant. It will be one of the Legion's
greatest powers. It was and is due to the fact that these new
Americans are not cursed with fixed ideas. They have seen too much,
lived through too much in their comparatively short lives to be
narrow-minded. Over in the A.E.F. the former hod-carrier often turned
out to be too good as a construction manager for any officer to
despise his opinions. One noticeable characteristic of the American
Legion delegate was the respect which he had for the other man's views
and his willingness to admit outright that he was wrong in a thing or
to go at least halfway with the opponent of his particular ideas. This
was the saving grace of the caucus and this will be the saving grace
of the Legion for the spirit which was manifested there is the spirit
which will prevail at Minneapolis, and for always, because the
American sailor and soldier will not change.
It was interesting to see these modern American soldiers side by side
with the veterans of the Civil War. The Grand Army of the Republic
Post, the local Bivouac of the United Confederate Veterans, and the
Spanish War Veterans gave a joint reception for the delegates at the
Missouri Athletic Club which included a smoker and a vaudeville
entertainment furnished by the War Camp Community Service.
CHAPTER VI
THE LEGION AND THE BOLSHEVIKI
The second session of the caucus began at half past two o'clock Friday
afternoon. Like its predecessor it started with a bang. Nominations
were made for the third vice-chairman who was to be selected from the
marine corps. The first nomination was a wounded man, at the time in
the Walter Reed Hospital at Washington and who had won the
Distinguished Service Cross at Chateau-Thierry. Then came the name of
Sergeant Woolley of Utah, quickly followed by the name of P.C. Calhoun
of Connecticut, put up by Mr. Black of Louisiana; the name of Major
Leonard of the District of Columbia also was put in nomination and
then the slate was closed.
True to the spirit of the previous meeting the caucus was soon in an
uproar of applause for each of the four candidates, three of whom were
marched to the stage. Calhoun was elected, with the result that his
ardent brother delegates from Connecticut treated him like a football
hero by placing him on their shoulders and performing a snake dance.
Marines are no more garrulous than sailor men, for Calhoun's speech of
acceptance was just about as long as Humphrey's. While Calhoun was
being bombed by flashlight cameras Mr. Smoot of Utah moved that a vote
of thanks should be tendered to Colonel Roosevelt and other Legion
members who had been active in the preliminary work which insured the
success of the caucus and this was seconded by Major Wickersham of New
York. One of the most rousing ayes of the entire caucus carried the
motion.
Cries of "speech" brought Colonel Roosevelt before the footlights. His
remarks were just about as long as Humphrey's and Calhoun's. To be
specific he said: "Gentlemen, it is going to be a short speech because
I think we have got a lot of business to do. Thank you."
Just about this time the committee reports began to come in, the first
of which, that of the Credential Committee, brought the question of
Bolshevism to the floor of the caucus. The report read as follows:
"We recommend that all delegates to the American Legion selected and
now functioning from the various States, districts, and territories,
be seated and accredited with full vote, and that all organizations
organized and having delegates here be allowed one vote with the
exception of the Soldiers and Sailors Council, which delegation the
Credential Committee recommends shall be excluded from the caucus."
S.H. Curtin, the representative of the Soldiers and Sailors Council of
Seattle, pending the action of the Credential Committee, had been
accorded a vote at the previous session on all questions that came up
before it. The fact that Colonel Wood, the Secretary, took this action
was in line with the general spirit of fair play, which was the
keynote of the caucus. The Credential Committee's report elicited
shouts of approval. Chairman Lindsley after bringing the house to
order again said:
"I understand that the delegate from the Soldiers and Sailors Council
is here and asks to be heard. Gentlemen, the members of the Committee,
I assume, had full knowledge of facts which warranted that report, but
there are men here who have not that knowledge. Shall we hear him?"
This statement aroused mixed emotions but Mr. Curtin came to the
platform. Word having spread through the theater that he represented
the "real Bolshevik outfit" in Seattle, a great many of the delegates
began to hoot, jeer, and make cat calls.
"Give me a square deal, give me a hearing," Curtin shouted.
"Give the man a hearing," echoed Colonel Roosevelt, who sat with the
New York delegation. "Yes, give him a hearing." shouted the majority
of the delegates and when the chair had procured order, Curtin made
his plea.
"I wish to say, by way of introduction, that though I come from the
State of Washington, I am not a member of the Washington Delegation,"
he said, "I say that out of deference to the members from that State
for the reason that I wish to prejudice nobody here against the
Washington Delegation. I am not an I.W.W. I never have been and I
never intend to be I never have shown any Bolshevik tendency and I
defy any man present to prove to the contrary. If you've got proof
that Sherman H. Curtin ever was an I.W.W. or made a Bolshevik
statement, say so?" He paused here but none answered him to the
contrary
"It is true that the organization which I represent has had in the
past some I.W.W.'s, and it is true that there are some I.W.W.'s in it
now," he continued; "but I am in that organization for the purpose of
throwing those I.W.W.'s out. I got in there for the purpose of kicking
them out and I want your help."
Here he was interrupted by applause.
"At the present time, we (when I say we, I mean the particular
conservative element which I represent in that organization) have
control of the Board and practically all except one office of the
organization. We are doing everything in our power to make that a one
hundred per cent. American organization, and one of the things that I
came down here for was to see that the Legion had in its constitution
as a preamble that we pledge ourselves to the principles of democracy
as set forth in the constitution of the United States of America.
"I, personally, was the man who rewrote the constitution of the
Soldiers and Sailors Council. It was written wrong when I got in there
so I changed it. I want you men to stand behind me and help me make
this fight. My organization did not give me permission to come here
and join this, just as I presume some of your organizations did not
give you permission, for the reason that they did not know what this
was going to be; but I can see from the spirit that this organization
has, that so far, it is on the right path and I am with it and I want
you with me.
"I am already only and wholly for the purpose of doing what good we
can for the elimination of I.W.W.'s and Bolsheviki. If you are
against that, I am with you and if you are with me, I am with you.
George Pratt of Louisiana rose.
"With your permission," he said to the chairman, "I would like to ask
the gentleman one question." "Sir," turning to Curtin, "is it or is it
not true that you re-wrote the constitution now in effect for your
organization, and is it not true that it is so worded that American
Army and Naval officers or former army and navy and marine officers of
the United States are not eligible? Is that true?"
"I will answer that question and I will answer it in a fair way," Mr.
Curtin replied.
"Say yes or no. Is it true?" Mr. Pratt demanded.
"Yes," shouted the crowd. "Say yes or no. Is it true?"
Then pandemonium broke loose in the meeting. The cat calls and boos
were renewed. "Put him out!" "Put him out!" "Shut him up!" the crowd
demanded. And here I want to pause a moment to say that the enlisted
men present gave a mighty concrete sign of the approval of their
officers by this denunciation of the constitution of Curtin's outfit.
"I am not here for the purpose of being persecuted," Mr. Curtin
shouted. "I am not asking no or yes to anything. But I will say to the
gentleman who questioned me that while it is true in letter it is not
true in spirit."
At this juncture Mr. Simon, of the Washington delegation, said that in
all fairness to Sergeant Curtin he wanted to say that during the
recent demonstration of Bolshevism in Seattle, Curtin commanded a
machine gun company on the side of right and law and order.
"I do not speak for his organization," Simon said, "but I speak for a
clique in it, headed by Sergeant Curtin, who went into that
organization to clean it up, to make it a fair and square one hundred
per cent. American organization." The applause of Simon's remarks had
scarcely died down when General Moss succeeded in gaining the floor.
"I want to say to the members of this delegation," he said, "that I
led the fight against the soldiers' and sailors' organization before
the Credential Committee, and I want to say to you gentlemen that we
didn't lead a fight personally against this man, but against his
organization.' We know the outfit in our country and we do not want
that organization in unless the Americans in it come in as
individuals. I want to say that we are to be organized here on a basis
of one hundred per cent, true Americanism.
"I asked Curtin in the presence of the committee if he represented a
minority or a majority in his outfit and he admitted that he
represented the minority."
"But we can lick a majority," Curtin shouted back. "I want Captain
McDonald who had charge of the Intelligence Department at Camp Lewis
to say a word on this subject. He knows the history of my organization
and I would like to have him give it to you." But if Curtin counted on
McDonald to help him he reckoned without his host.
Captain McDonald rose and speaking with great deliberation said:
"I have been an American soldier for thirty years. I was a regular
telegraph officer at the time of the Bolshevik trouble. I established
stations at Seattle and Camp Lewis and this man represents the real
element that we are all working against. Personally he is all right
but he is backing that organization because he wants to represent it.
If he desires to be admitted into the Legion let him get loose from
that outfit and come in by himself."
Captain McDonald's statement was greeted with enthusiasm.
"Are you ready for the question?" demanded the chairman.
The caucus certainly was.
"Those favoring the adoption of the credentials report vote aye," he
cried.
That aye could almost have been heard in Seattle itself.
That aye answered the question of what the American soldier thinks of
Bolshevism or anything tainted with it. That aye answered the lying
statement that our troops abroad had been inoculated with the germ of
the world's greatest mental madness.
That aye marked the distinction between a grouch caused by a
cootie-lined bunk and a desire to place a bomb under the Capitol at
Washington.
I have intimated that the chief aim of each delegate was to see that
no one "put anything over" at this caucus. I think that the only other
determination which might rival that in intensity was most apparent at
the mention of anything that pertained to or bordered on Bolshevism.
This incident of ousting Curtin's organization was not the only
manifestation of it by any means, although it was perhaps the most
striking on the floor of the caucus. But, outside the caucus, in the
hotel lobbies, and in the various committee rooms, whenever the
subject came up these soldier and sailor men, in almost every
instance, got mad--damn mad.
"The trouble with these people who talk Bolshevism is that they don't
know anything about our country," I heard one of them say.
Another quickly interrupted him with, "The big thing the Legion's got
to teach is Americanism and let those crack-brained fools know just
what this country stands for." While still another injected, "The
average 'long-beard' has been so crazed by persecution in Russia that
he would mistake Peacock Alley in the Waldorf-Astoria in New York for
a Siberian coal mine."
This last remark brought forth a laugh, and though it was whimsically
made it illuminated the matter under discussion very well, I thought.
In fact, the whole conversation made clear to me one of the
fundamental missions the Legion must perform.
The seeds of Americanism which Legion members sow to-day will be
reaped, not only to-day but in the generations of to-morrow. The
Soldiers and Sailors Council, Seattle, was thrown out and its
representative knew why. But, if Jack Sullivan and his red, white, and
blue colleagues in the State of Washington preach in the future what
they did at this caucus, the children of those northwestern Bolsheviki
will not only salute the Stars and Stripes, but will know _why_ they
do so. They will know what their fathers don't--that the constitution
means Americanism and that Americanism means "life, liberty, and
pursuit of happiness."
In most conventions the reports of committees are invariably adopted.
There are many reasons for this, the particular one being the theory
that when a set of men are placed on a task they will study the
situation in all its angles, in all its ramifications, in all its
different phases and that its report should therefore be adopted
because of this expert thought and study on the matters under
consideration. I say that most conventions do this. Once as a
newspaper man, I attended an undertakers' convention. It always did
so. And at another time I attended a manufacturers' gathering where
this procedure was invariably followed out. But how about at St.
Louis? Not on your life! The delegates of the American Legion were
neither like undertakers nor manufacturers nor like any-other business
men that I ever saw during ten years on a Metropolitan newspaper. The
new American doesn't do business that way.
Witness the report of the Committee on Name. This report read:
"We, your Committee on Name, unanimously make the following
recommendation--that the name of this organization be the American
Legion of World War Veterans." The chairman had scarcely finished
asking: "What is your pleasure gentlemen" when Major Wickersham got
the floor and moved an amendment that the name be "The American
Legion." This was seconded by Mr. Cochrane of Ohio and then came the
argument about it.
Mr. Shank of Ohio, thought that the American Legion did not convey a
sufficient meaning to the average civilians. "The American Legion
might be an organization of street cleaners, it doesn't signify
soldiers. It isn't comprehensive enough," he said. Mr. Larry of
Florida countered with, "Go ahead and call it American Legion, we will
soon show them what it means."
Mr. Walsh of Pennsylvania, suggested that the A.E.F. knew what it was
doing when they called it the American Legion. "Let us honor them and
respect them by calling it the American Legion," he urged. Colonel E.
Lester Jones, of Washington, stated the name had been considered by
the committee most carefully and--
But why go into all the arguments. The motion to call it the American
Legion was carried amid cheering and as such the name will go down
into the history of things well done for America.
CHAPTER VII
THE LEGION WON'T MEET AT CHICAGO
We have arrived at what is the most significant event of this session
of the caucus, if not of the entire gathering. The caucus has already
shown its spirit in ousting the Soldiers and Sailors Council because,
in its opinion, it could not measure up to one hundred per cent.
Americanism, and now we shall see what the same simon-pure brand of
red, white, and blueism is demanded of the second largest city in the
United States.
It came about in the most dry, matter-of-fact way. Let the minutes of
the meeting form the introduction for it.
THE CHAIRMAN: "Next is the report of the Committee on the Next Meeting
Place and Time."
SECRETARY WOOD (reading): "From the Committee on Next Meeting Place
and Time, to the Chairman of the American Legion; action of the
Committee.
"Meeting called to order at 10:30 A.M. this day at the Shubert
Jefferson Theater.
"Charles S. Caldwell, of New Mexico, unanimously elected chairman.
"Frank M. Ladd, Jr., of Alabama, Secretary.
"The majority of the States being represented as per attached list
voted unanimously for Chicago as next meeting place. Date being set as
November 10, 11, and 12, 1919.
"Respectfully submitted,
"CHARLES S. CALDWELL, _Chairman_,
"FRANK M. LADD, JR., _Secretary_."
MR. SEXTON (of Illinois): "When you consider your place for your next
convention tell Chicago what you want, and in response to that Chicago
will answer you. 'We will give you whatever you want.'"
Then the excitement started. Mr. Dietrick of Pennsylvania moved to
amend the report of the committee. "By striking out the word Chicago
and substituting therefore the city from the State which furnished
more soldiers than another state--the city of Pittsburgh."
This elicited great applause--especially from the Pennsylvania
delegation. Mr. Stems of Louisiana got the floor--
"I want to tell you what took place in that committee," he said. "The
committee selected a place to the best interest of this organization
and not to the best interest of any one specific locality, and the
question was argued in a very quiet, organized, gentlemanly manner. A
number of the delegates put up towns that did not get enough support
to get the meeting, so they withdrew their names. It was all to the
interest of the organization so it was unanimously adopted by that
committee, without any dissenting vote, that Chicago be unanimously
adopted as the place for the next convention for the best of all
interests concerned. I am from New Orleans, Louisiana, which is a
convention city and I will not offer my city to you as a convention
city at this time because I do not think it is to the best interest of
your country."
[Illustration: Bennett C. Clark
Who presided at the Paris Caucus]
[Illustration: Eric Fisher Wood Secretary]
When Mr. Stem took his seat at least a dozen delegates clamored for
recognition from the chair. Colonel J.F.J. Herbert succeeded in
getting it. It was he who then fired the gun which, if not heard
around the world at least made Chicago's ear drums rattle.
"Mr. Chairman," he began--
Colonel Lindsley rapped for order.
A man near me whispered, "There's Herbert of Massachusetts. I think
Boston is too far east for this convention, at least for the first
one."
Colonel Lindsley got order, and you