The Supreme Court rules 6-3 in Duplex Printing Press Co. v. Deering that the Clayton Act’s supposed protections for labor organizing do not prevent federal courts from enjoining union boycotts. Justice Mahlon Pitney holds that Section 20 of the Clayton Act, which labor had celebrated in 1914 …
Mahlon PitneyU.S. Supreme CourtInternational Association of MachinistsDuplex Printing Press Companylabor-suppressionjudicial-captureantitrustsupreme-courtclayton-act
Business leaders including Henry Clay Frick, Judge Elbert Gary, and John D. Rockefeller Jr. launched a coordinated campaign to roll back labor gains by promoting the “open shop” as patriotic while branding union membership as “un-American.” Meeting in Chicago in 1921, …
National Association of ManufacturersChamber of CommerceU.S. SteelHenry Clay FrickElbert Gary+1 morelabor-suppressioncorporate-captureanti-unionsystematic-corruption
Italian immigrant anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are arrested in Brockton, Massachusetts, on streetcar robbery charges that will be escalated to murder charges in connection with a payroll robbery in South Braintree that left two men dead. The arrests occur at the height of the …
Nicola SaccoBartolomeo VanzettiFrederick KatzmannWebster ThayerDepartment of Justicecivil-libertieslabor-suppressionxenophobiajudicial-capturered-scare+1 more
On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment, providing the three-fourths majority of states required to add women’s suffrage to the U.S. Constitution. The decisive vote in the Tennessee House of Representatives came down to 24-year-old State Representative …
Harry T. BurnFebb E. BurnTennessee General AssemblyCarrie Chapman CattSue Shelton Whitewomens-suffrageconstitutional-amendmentdemocratic-expansioncorporate-oppositionhistoric-victory
President Woodrow Wilson signs the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, commonly known as the Jones Act after its sponsor Senator Wesley Jones of Washington, mandating that all goods shipped between U.S. ports must be transported on ships that are American-built, American-owned, and American-crewed. The law …
American agriculture enters a decade-long depression beginning in summer 1920 as commodity prices collapse following the end of wartime demand. Wheat prices fall from $2.50 per bushel to under $1.00; cotton drops from 35 cents per pound to 13 cents; corn collapses from $1.50 to 42 cents. Meanwhile, …
Andrew MellonFederal ReserveFarm BureauU.S. Congresseconomic-crisisregulatory-failurerural-americabankingagricultural-policy
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision written by Justice Joseph McKenna, dismissed the government’s antitrust case against U.S. Steel Corporation, the world’s first billion-dollar company created through J.P. Morgan’s 1901 merger. The Court ruled: “We must adhere to the …
U.S. Supreme CourtJustice Joseph McKennaJustice DayU.S. Steel CorporationElbert Henry Garyantitrustrule-of-reasoncorporate-powersupreme-courtenforcement-abandonment+1 more
On January 2, 1920, the Palmer Raids reached their peak with coordinated mass arrests in 33 cities across the United States, targeting alleged radicals, communists, and anarchists. Under the direction of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer and 24-year-old J. Edgar Hoover, who headed the Justice …
Attorney General A. Mitchell PalmerJ. Edgar HooverDepartment of JusticeActing Secretary of Labor Louis Postpolitical-repressioncivil-libertiesred-scaredeportation
William Randolph Hearst’s media empire reaches its peak expansion in the 1920s, controlling 28 major newspapers and 18 magazines that reach one in every four Americans (20 million readers by mid-1930s), representing the largest newspaper chain consolidation in American history and …
William Randolph HearstHearst Communicationsmedia-consolidationnewspaper-chainsyellow-journalismmonopolyhearst+1 more
The American Legion holds its founding convention in Minneapolis on Armistice Day 1919, emerging as a major force in the Red Scare and anti-labor campaigns of the 1920s. Founded by Army officers including Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and Hamilton Fish III in Paris earlier that year, the organization …
Theodore Roosevelt Jr.Hamilton Fish IIIGeorge WhiteAmerican Legionlabor-suppressioninstitutional-captureanti-communismcorporate-influenceveterans
The Supreme Court upheld the Sedition Act convictions of five Russian Jewish immigrants who had distributed leaflets opposing U.S. military intervention against the Bolshevik Revolution. In a 7-2 decision, the majority found that criticizing American military policy and calling for a general strike …
Supreme Court of the United StatesJustice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.Justice Louis BrandeisJacob Abramsfree-speechjudicial-captureprogressive-erasedition-actfirst-amendment
The U.S. Department of Justice began a series of raids on November 7—a date selected to coincide with the anniversary of the Russian Revolution—to capture and arrest suspected socialists, especially anarchists and communists, and deport them from the United States. The Russian Revolution in 1917 and …
A. Mitchell PalmerJ. Edgar HooverU.S. Department of JusticeEmma GoldmanAlexander Berkman+1 morered-scarestate-repressionlabor-suppressionfbideportations
On September 22, 1919, the American Federation of Labor launched a massive strike against the U.S. steel industry after 98 percent of workers voted to walk out, shutting down half the industry including mills in Pueblo, Chicago, Wheeling, Johnstown, Cleveland, Lackawanna, and Youngstown. The AFL had …
American Federation of LaborUnited States Steel CorporationElbert H. GaryAttorney General A. Mitchell PalmerJ. Edgar Hooverlabor-suppressionstate-surveillancepropaganda
On July 27, 1919, the drowning of Black teenager Eugene Williams - who drifted into a white beach area on Lake Michigan and was stoned by white beachgoers - triggered eight days of racial violence in Chicago that killed 38 people (23 Black, 15 white), injured 537, and left over 1,000 Black families …
Chicago Police DepartmentIrish American athletic clubsBlack Great Migration communitiesGovernor Frank LowdenIllinois National Guardracial-violencecivil-rightsred-summerhousing-discriminationpolice-complicity
On June 4, 1919, the U.S. Senate voted in favor of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which stated that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” The Senate vote came nearly 18 months …
U.S. SenateU.S. House of RepresentativesWoodrow WilsonNational American Woman Suffrage AssociationNational Woman's Partywomens-suffrageconstitutional-amendmentdemocratic-expansioncongressional-action
The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the Espionage Act conviction of Socialist Party Secretary Charles Schenck for distributing leaflets urging draft resistance. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. authored the opinion, creating the “clear and present danger” test for restricting speech …
Supreme Court of the United StatesJustice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.Charles SchenckSocialist Party of Americajudicial-capturefree-speechworld-war-istate-repressionprogressive-era
Federal Judge David C. Westenhaver sentenced five-time Socialist Party presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs to ten years in federal prison for violating the Espionage Act by delivering an antiwar speech in Canton, Ohio on June 16, 1918. Before sentencing, Debs delivered his famous statement: …
Eugene V. DebsSocialist Party of AmericaPresident Woodrow WilsonJudge David C. Westenhaverfree-speechstate-repressionlabor-movementprogressive-eraespionage-act
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916 on June 3, 1918, in Hammer v. Dagenhart, ruling 5-4 that the federal law exceeded federal authority and represented an unwarranted encroachment on state powers to determine local labor conditions. Justice William R. …
U.S. Supreme CourtJustice William R. DayJustice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.supreme-courtchild-laborlabor-rightsjudicial-captureprogressive-era
Congress passed the Sedition Act on May 16, 1918, extending the Espionage Act of 1917 to cover a broader range of offenses, notably speech and expression of opinion that cast the government or war effort in a negative light or interfered with the sale of government bonds. The Act forbade the use of …
U.S. CongressPresident Woodrow WilsonU.S. Postmaster Generalcivil-libertiesfirst-amendmentpolitical-repressionprogressive-era
On January 9, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson announced his support for a women’s suffrage constitutional amendment, reversing years of opposition in the face of mounting public outrage over the treatment of suffragist prisoners. Wilson’s reversal came less than two months after the …
The Supreme Court ruled that federal courts could issue injunctions against union organizing efforts at workplaces where employees had signed yellow-dog contracts, dramatically expanding the legal weapons available to employers. Justice Mahlon Pitney’s 6-3 majority opinion held that union …
Supreme Court of the United StatesJustice Mahlon PitneyUnited Mine Workers of AmericaHitchman Coal and Coke Companylabor-suppressionjudicial-captureprogressive-erayellow-dog-contractsinjunctions
On November 14, 1917, 33 suffragist prisoners at Occoquan Workhouse in Fairfax County, Virginia, endured a night of systematic torture and abuse that became known as the “Night of Terror.” On orders from prison warden W. H. Whittaker, workhouse guards brutalized the women in what …
Lucy BurnsDora LewisAlice CosuW. H. WhittakerAlice Paul+1 morewomens-suffragestate-violencetorturepolitical-prisonersinstitutional-brutality
The Supreme Court unanimously struck down a Louisville, Kentucky ordinance prohibiting Black residents from moving onto blocks where the majority of residents were white, and vice versa. While appearing to be a civil rights victory, the Court’s reasoning in Buchanan v. Warley rested entirely …
Supreme Court of the United StatesNAACPMoorfield StoreyLouisville, Kentuckyhousing-discriminationcivil-rightsprogressive-erajudicial-powersegregation
In the early morning hours of August 1, 1917, six masked men dragged IWW executive board member Frank Little from his Butte, Montana boarding house, tied him to the rear bumper of an automobile, dragged him through the streets, and hanged him from a railroad trestle. A note pinned to his body read …
Frank LittleIndustrial Workers of the World (IWW)Anaconda Copper Mining CompanyButte vigilanteslabor-suppressioncorporate-violenceiwwprogressive-eramining+1 more
The United States government established the War Industries Board (WIB) to coordinate the purchase of war supplies between the War Department and Navy Department during World War I. The WIB existed from July 1917 to December 1918 to coordinate and channel production by setting priorities, fixing …
Bernard BaruchPresident Woodrow WilsonWar DepartmentNavy Departmentworld-war-icorporate-powergovernment-industryrevolving-doorinstitutional-capture
At dawn on July 12, 1917, a sheriff’s posse organized by Phelps Dodge copper company rounded up approximately 1,300 striking miners, labor organizers, and bystanders in Bisbee, Arizona, loaded them into cattle cars, and deported them to the New Mexico desert without food or water. The mass …
Phelps Dodge CorporationWalter DouglasSheriff Harry WheelerIndustrial Workers of the World (IWW)Cochise County Loyalty Leaguelabor-suppressioncorporate-violenceiwwprogressive-eramining+1 more
On June 22, 1917, police arrested six suffragists for picketing the White House, initiating a campaign of state repression against the Silent Sentinels that would eventually result in 168 National Woman’s Party members serving time in prison. The arrests came after the United States entered …
Alice PaulLucy BurnsNational Woman's PartyWoodrow WilsonWashington DC Policewomens-suffragestate-repressionpolitical-prisonerscivil-disobedienceselective-prosecution
President Woodrow Wilson signed the Espionage Act into law, prohibiting interference with military operations or recruitment, preventing insubordination in the military, and preventing support of U.S. enemies during wartime. The Wilson administration, knowing many Americans were conflicted about …
President Woodrow WilsonIndustrial Workers of the World (IWW)Eugene V. DebsVictor L. BergerEmma Goldman+1 morelabor-suppressionfree-speechworld-war-iiwwstate-repression
On June 8, 1917, a fire broke out 2,400 feet underground in Butte, Montana’s Speculator Mine when an assistant foreman’s carbide lamp ignited the frayed insulation on an electrical cable. The fire spread rapidly through the mine’s timber supports and ventilation system, trapping …
Anaconda Copper Mining CompanyIndustrial Workers of the World (IWW)Metal Mine Workers' UnionMontana National Guardlabor-suppressionmining-safetyiwwprogressive-eracorporate-negligence
One week after Congress declared war on Germany, President Woodrow Wilson created the Committee on Public Information (CPI) by executive order, establishing the first large-scale government propaganda apparatus in American history. Journalist George Creel was appointed chairman, heading a massive …
President Woodrow WilsonGeorge CreelSecretary of State Robert LansingSecretary of War Newton BakerSecretary of the Navy Josephus Danielspropagandaworld-war-istate-repressionprogressive-eramedia-manipulation
On January 10, 1917, Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party (NWP) became the first people ever to picket the White House, initiating an 18-month campaign of nonviolent protest that would eventually involve over 2,000 women. The “Silent Sentinels,” as they became known, stood …
Alice PaulLucy BurnsNational Woman's PartyWoodrow Wilsonwomens-suffragecivil-disobediencemilitant-tacticsdemocratic-expansionwilson-administration
On November 14, 1916, Inez Milholland collapsed and died at age 30 during a western suffrage lecture tour, making her a martyr for the women’s suffrage movement. Milholland, the glamorous lawyer and activist who had led the March 3, 1913 suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. astride a white …
On November 5, 1916, an armed posse of business owners and deputized vigilantes opened fire on a boatload of IWW members attempting to land at Everett, Washington’s city dock, killing at least five Wobblies and two deputies in what became known as the Everett Massacre or “Bloody …
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)Everett Commercial ClubSheriff Donald McRaeWeyerhaeuser Companylabor-suppressioncorporate-violenceiwwprogressive-eralumber-industry
Congress passed the Adamson Act on September 2, 1916, and President Woodrow Wilson signed it the following day, establishing a standard eight-hour workday with additional pay for overtime for interstate railroad workers. Named for Georgia Representative William C. Adamson, this was the first federal …
President Woodrow WilsonRepresentative William C. AdamsonRailroad Labor BrotherhoodsAustin B. GarretsonU.S. Congresslabor-rightsprogressive-eraworker-protectionregulatory-enforcement
Congress passed the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act in September 1916, the first federal statute to impose restrictions on child labor. Also known as Wick’s Bill, the law prohibited the sale in interstate commerce of goods produced by factories that employed children under 14, mines that employed …
U.S. CongressPresident Woodrow Wilsonlabor-rightschild-laborprogressive-eraregulatory-enforcement
Throughout the 1910s, as women’s suffrage gained momentum following state victories in the West and increasing militant activism in the East, multiple corporate interests mobilized systematic opposition to protect their economic interests from potential voter-supported reforms. The liquor …
Liquor IndustryTextile ManufacturersRailroad CompaniesNational Association Opposed to Woman Suffragewomens-suffragecorporate-oppositioninstitutional-resistanceeconomic-interestsanti-democratic-forces
William J. Simmons, a preacher and promoter of fraternal orders, led a group up Stone Mountain outside Atlanta and burned a large cross, marking the official rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan and beginning a new era of organized white supremacist terrorism. Simmons carefully coordinated the KKK revival …
William J. SimmonsKu Klux KlanD.W. Griffithracial-politicswhite-supremacykkkdomestic-terrorismcultural-capture
Thirty-one-year-old Leo Frank, a Jewish factory superintendent, was kidnapped from prison in Milledgeville, Georgia, and lynched by an antisemitic mob calling themselves “The Knights of Mary Phagan”—the only Jewish lynching in U.S. history. In spring 1913, thirteen-year-old Mary Phagan, …
Leo FrankWilliam J. SimmonsKnights of Mary PhaganGeorgia Governorracial-politicsantisemitismmob-violencekkkjustice-system-failure
The Supreme Court unanimously struck down Oklahoma’s grandfather clause in Guinn v. United States, marking the first time the Court invalidated a state voting restriction as a Fifteenth Amendment violation since Reconstruction. Chief Justice Edward White, himself a former Confederate soldier …
Supreme CourtChief Justice Edward WhiteOklahoma LegislatureNAACPvoting-rightssupreme-courtgrandfather-clausefifteenth-amendmentcivil-rights
A German U-boat torpedoed the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania about 11 nautical miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, sinking the ship in just 18 minutes and killing approximately 1,200 of nearly 2,000 passengers and crew, including 128 Americans. The Germans had circulated warnings that the …
RMS LusitaniaGerman NavyBritish GovernmentJP Morgan & Co.American passengerswar-profiteeringworld-war-ijp-morganpropagandacorporate-negligence
D.W. Griffith’s silent film “The Birth of a Nation” premiered in Los Angeles, becoming the longest and most profitable film produced to that date while securing the future of feature-length films and establishing cinema as a serious artistic medium. With assistance from …
D.W. GriffithWoodrow WilsonWilliam J. SimmonsKu Klux Klanracial-politicswhite-supremacykkkmedia-manipulationcultural-capture
John D. Rockefeller Jr. endured three days of grueling public testimony before the U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations, chaired by Progressive lawyer Frank Walsh, regarding the April 1914 Ludlow Massacre in which Colorado National Guard troops and private guards employed by Rockefeller’s …
John D. Rockefeller Jr.Frank WalshCommission on Industrial RelationsColorado Fuel and Iron Companylabor-rightscorporate-violencecongressional-investigationprogressive-erarockefeller
President Woodrow Wilson signed the Clayton Antitrust Act, enhancing previous antitrust legislation and explicitly exempting labor unions from antitrust laws. Alabama Democrat Henry De Lamar Clayton Jr. introduced the legislation in anticipation of the Commission on Industrial Relations report. The …
President Woodrow WilsonHenry De Lamar Clayton Jr.Samuel GompersAmerican Federation of LaborE. Y. Webbprogressive-eraantitrustlabor-organizingregulatory-reform
President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Trade Commission Act into law, establishing the FTC as an independent federal agency to prevent ‘unfair methods of competition’ and protect consumers from deceptive business practices. The Act fulfilled Wilson’s ‘New Freedom’ …
In August 1914, as World War I erupted in Europe, JP Morgan & Co. approached the U.S. government about making loans to the French Government and the Rothschilds. Despite Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan’s principled position that “loans by American bankers to any foreign …
JP Morgan & Co.British GovernmentFrench GovernmentThomas LamontPresident Woodrow Wilson+1 morewar-profiteeringbanking-consolidationjp-morganworld-war-ifinancial-capture
Soldiers from the Colorado National Guard and private guards employed by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I) attacked a tent colony of approximately 1,200 striking coal miners and their families in Ludlow, Colorado, on April 20, 1914, killing approximately 21 people, primarily …
Colorado National GuardColorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I)United Mine Workers of AmericaJohn D. Rockefeller Jr.Governor Elias M. Ammons+1 morelabor-rightscorporate-violencestate-repressionprogressive-eraworker-organizing
President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act at 6:00 p.m., creating the Federal Reserve System as the central banking system of the United States. The need for a central bank became evident during the Panic of 1907, when the federal government lacked tools to respond and had to depend on …
President Woodrow WilsonCarter GlassRobert Latham OwenJP MorganWilliam Jennings Bryanbanking-consolidationprogressive-erafinancial-regulationfederal-reservejp-morgan
President Woodrow Wilson signed the Revenue Act of 1913, also known as the Underwood Tariff or Underwood-Simmons Act, slashing average tariff rates from 40 percent to 27 percent and establishing the modern federal income tax for the first time since 1872. Wilson made tariff reduction his first …
President Woodrow WilsonOscar UnderwoodDemocratic Partyprogressive-eratax-policytariff-policyincome-taxcorporate-power
On August 3, 1913, a confrontation between migrant hop pickers and armed deputies at the Durst Ranch in Wheatland, California left four people dead and triggered a massive crackdown on the IWW across California. The violence erupted after workers organized to protest abysmal conditions: no drinking …
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)Blackie FordHerman SuhrRalph DurstCalifornia National Guardlabor-suppressioniwwprogressive-eraagricultural-labormigrant-workers
Within months of taking office, President Woodrow Wilson’s administration began systematically segregating the federal government, reversing decades of relative integration in civil service employment. Postmaster General Albert Burleson proposed segregation at an April 11, 1913 cabinet …
President Woodrow WilsonPostmaster General Albert BurlesonTreasury Secretary William McAdooNAACPBooker T. Washington+1 morecivil-rightssegregationprogressive-erafederal-governmentinstitutional-racism