President Roosevelt signs the Home Owners’ Loan Act, creating the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) as an emergency response to the mortgage crisis of the Great Depression. Between 1933 and 1936, HOLC refinances approximately one million mortgages (one-tenth of all urban homes with …
Home Owners' Loan CorporationFranklin D. RooseveltFederal Home Loan Bank BoardReal estate appraisersinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policyeconomic-strategyhousing
The Federal Reserve Board issues a public warning that banks should not make loans for stock market speculation, expressing concern about the use of Federal Reserve credit to finance the securities boom. The announcement signals regulatory awareness that margin lending and speculative excess pose …
Federal Reserve BoardBenjamin StrongCharles MitchellAndrew MellonNational City Bankregulatory-failurefinancial-speculationbankinginstitutional-capture
Secretary of State Frank Kellogg and French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand sign the Kellogg-Briand Pact (officially the General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy) in Paris, eventually ratified by 62 nations. The treaty solemnly renounces war as an instrument of …
Frank KelloggAristide BriandCalvin CoolidgeU.S. Senateforeign-policyinstitutional-captureinternational-lawimperialism
The Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System (later CBS) is founded in New York, initially as a network of 16 radio stations, just months after the Radio Act of 1927 establishes federal licensing. William Paley’s family purchases controlling interest in 1928 for $400,000, and Paley transforms …
William PaleyColumbia Phonograph CompanyArthur JudsonParamount Picturesmedia-consolidationinstitutional-capturebroadcastingcorporate-consolidation
Major American corporations deployed company-sponsored unions, benefits programs, and internal grievance systems as sophisticated anti-union strategies during the peak of 1920s welfare capitalism. Rather than negotiating with outside union representatives, companies like Goodyear Tire and U.S. Steel …
Goodyear TireU.S. SteelNational Association of ManufacturersSamuel Gomperslabor-suppressioncorporate-captureanti-unioninstitutional-capture
Radio Corporation of America created the National Broadcasting Company through acquisition and merger of the WEAF and WJZ station chains, establishing the first major commercial radio broadcasting network in the United States. RCA owned 50 percent of NBC, with General Electric holding 30 percent and …
David SarnoffRadio Corporation of AmericaGeneral ElectricWestinghouseAT&Tmedia-consolidationmonopoly-powerinstitutional-capturecorporate-capture
President Calvin Coolidge signs the Revenue Act of 1926, the crowning achievement of Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon’s multi-year campaign to restructure federal taxation in favor of the wealthy. The act slashes the top marginal income tax rate from 46 percent to 25 percent on incomes over …
Andrew MellonCalvin CoolidgeU.S. CongressRepublican Partytax-policywealth-concentrationinstitutional-capturemellon-plan
D.C. Stephenson, Grand Dragon of the Indiana Ku Klux Klan and the most powerful Klan leader in America, is convicted of second-degree murder in the death of Madge Oberholtzer, a state education official. Oberholtzer died from infection after Stephenson abducted, raped, and brutally bit her during a …
D.C. StephensonMadge OberholtzerIndiana Ku Klux KlanEd Jacksonwhite-supremacypolitical-corruptioninstitutional-capturescandal
Between 25,000 and 40,000 Ku Klux Klan members march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., in a massive demonstration of the organization’s political power at its peak. Marchers wear white robes but not masks, proudly displaying their faces in an assertion of mainstream respectability. …
Ku Klux KlanHiram EvansD.C. KlanState Governmentsracisminstitutional-capturewhite-supremacypolitical-corruption
President Calvin Coolidge signs the Revenue Act of 1924, the second installment of Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon’s systematic campaign to slash taxes on the wealthy. The act reduces the maximum income tax rate from 58 percent to 46 percent on incomes over $500,000 (raised from the previous …
Andrew MellonCalvin CoolidgeU.S. CongressRepublican Partytax-policywealth-concentrationinstitutional-capturemellon-plan
President Calvin Coolidge signs the Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act), establishing the first permanent comprehensive restrictions on immigration in American history through a national origins quota system explicitly designed to preserve white racial dominance. The law reduces annual …
Calvin CoolidgeAlbert JohnsonDavid ReedMadison GrantHarry Laughlin+1 moreimmigration-policyracismeugenicsxenophobiainstitutional-capture+1 more
President Calvin Coolidge dismissed Attorney General Harry Daugherty after he refused to open Justice Department files to a congressional committee investigating charges of wrongdoing by Harding associates. Daugherty faced bitter public opposition when appointed attorney general and nearly faced …
Harry DaughertyCalvin CoolidgeWarren G. Hardingexecutive-corruptioninstitutional-captureaccountability-crisisobstruction
The National Industrial Conference Board (NICB), founded in 1916, reaches peak influence during the 1920s as the research and propaganda arm of corporate America’s campaign against labor organizing. Working alongside the National Association of Manufacturers and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the …
National Industrial Conference BoardNational Association of ManufacturersU.S. Chamber of CommerceAmerican Plan Associationpropagandalabor-suppressioncorporate-influenceinstitutional-capturepublic-relations
The Ku Klux Klan under Grand Dragon D.C. Stephenson completes its takeover of Indiana state government, controlling the Governor’s office, the state legislature, and numerous local governments. Stephenson, a charismatic organizer who built the Indiana Klan from a few thousand members to an …
Jesse W. Smith, Attorney General Harry Daugherty’s aide and key Ohio Gang operator within the Justice Department, died by suicide as scrutiny of Harding administration corruption intensified. Smith managed sensitive communications and facilitated illicit schemes including the sale of illegal …
Jesse SmithHarry DaughertyWarren G. Hardingexecutive-corruptioninstitutional-capturesystematic-corruptionjustice-department
Veterans Bureau Director Charles Forbes resigned from Paris after President Harding confronted him at the White House, allegedly grabbing him by the throat and shouting “You double-crossing bastard!” Forbes had embezzled money, accepted bribes, and sold nearly 7 million dollars of …
Charles ForbesWarren G. HardingCharles F. Cramerexecutive-corruptioninstitutional-capturefraudsystematic-corruption
Edward Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud and veteran propagandist for the Committee on Public Information during World War I, publishes “Crystallizing Public Opinion,” the first book to codify techniques for manipulating mass psychology in service of corporate and political interests. …
Edward BernaysAmerican Tobacco CompanySigmund Freudpropagandamedia-manipulationcorporate-influenceinstitutional-capturepublic-relations
Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon secured passage of the first Republican tax reduction following the 1920 landslide, dropping the top marginal rate from 73 to 58 percent while introducing preferential treatment for capital gains at 12.5 percent. The act repealed the excess profits tax imposed during …
Andrew MellonWarren G. HardingRepublican Partytax-policywealth-concentrationinstitutional-capturesystematic-corruption
Pierre du Pont assumes the presidency of General Motors in December 1920 and installs Alfred P. Sloan as operating head, consolidating DuPont family control over the nation’s largest automaker after DuPont Company acquires 23% of GM stock. The arrangement creates a paradigmatic example of …
Pierre du PontAlfred P. SloanJohn J. RaskobDuPont CompanyGeneral Motorscorporate-consolidationinstitutional-captureantitrust-evasioncorporate-governance
President Warren G. Harding signed Executive Order 3474 transferring control of naval petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk Hills and Buena Vista in California from the Navy Department to the Department of the Interior under Secretary Albert Fall. This transfer removed the reserves …
Warren G. HardingAlbert FallEdwin Denbyinstitutional-captureexecutive-corruptionresource-extractionregulatory-capture
President Warren G. Harding signs the Emergency Quota Act (also called the Emergency Immigration Act or Johnson Quota Act), establishing for the first time numerical limits on immigration to the United States based on national origin. The law restricts annual immigration from any country to 3% of …
Warren G. HardingAlbert JohnsonU.S. CongressImmigration Restriction Leagueimmigration-policyxenophobiainstitutional-capturelabor-suppressionnativism
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 …
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 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
The Amalgamated Copper Company (later Anaconda Copper Mining Company) executed an extraordinary act of corporate extortion by shutting down all mining operations across Montana, deliberately putting 15,000 workers out of work to force the state legislature to pass laws favorable to the company. This …
Amalgamated Copper CompanyAnaconda Copper Mining CompanyF. Augustus HeinzeJudge William ClancyGovernor Joseph Toole+1 morecorporate-powerinstitutional-captureeconomic-extortionlegislative-corruptioncorporate-personhood+2 more
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Giles v. Harris that federal courts cannot enforce Black voting rights under the Fifteenth Amendment, effectively sanctioning the wave of disenfranchisement sweeping the South. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., writing for the majority, acknowledged that …
Supreme CourtOliver Wendell Holmes Jr.Jackson GilesAlabama LegislatureBooker T. Washingtonvoting-rightssupreme-courtracial-discriminationinstitutional-capturedisenfranchisement
On January 16, 1893, U.S. Minister to Hawaii John L. Stevens orders 162 U.S. sailors and marines from the USS Boston to land in Honolulu under the pretense of protecting American lives and property. The following day, January 17, a Committee of Safety consisting of thirteen men—seven foreign …
Queen LiliuokalaniJohn L. StevensCommittee of SafetySanford B. DoleLorrin Thurston+4 moreinstitutional-capturesystematic-corruptionindigenous-rightsmilitary-interventionsovereignty-theft+2 more
Pennsylvania coal companies established hundreds of “patch towns” where corporations owned all housing, stores, and infrastructure, creating systems of debt peonage that trapped workers through company scrip and inflated prices. Coal operators “controlled employment, housing, local …
Coal Mining CompaniesCoal and Iron PolicePennsylvania Coal Operatorslabor-suppressioncorporate-powereconomic-coerciongilded-ageinstitutional-capture
On July 6, 1887, the Hawaiian League—a secret organization of white American and European businessmen, lawyers, sugar planters, and missionary descendants—backed by the armed Honolulu Rifles militia, forces King Kalakaua at gunpoint to sign a new constitution that radically restructures the Hawaiian …
King KalakauaHawaiian LeagueSanford B. DoleLorrin ThurstonHonolulu Rifles+4 moreinstitutional-capturesystematic-corruptionindigenous-rightsvoter-suppressioncolonial-exploitation+1 more
On October 25, 1886, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Co. v. Illinois (118 U.S. 557) in a 6-3 ruling that severely limited states’ power to regulate interstate commerce, effectively shielding railroad monopolies from state-level oversight. The case arose …
U.S. Supreme CourtWabash RailroadIllinois LegislatureInterstate Commerceregulatory-erosionsupreme-courtcorporate-powerinstitutional-capturestates-rights
Grover Cleveland’s narrow victory over James G. Blaine in the 1884 presidential election occurs during a pivotal transition in American campaign finance, as the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883 reduces party organizations’ reliance on government employee contributions and shifts the …
Grover ClevelandJames G. BlaineU.S. Congresscampaign-financecorporate-influencesystematic-corruptioninstitutional-capture
On January 2, 1882, John D. Rockefeller and 40 other investors signed the Standard Oil Trust Agreement, creating the first modern corporate monopoly structure that controlled 90% of American oil refining. The trust pooled securities from 40 companies under nine trustees—John and William Rockefeller, …
John D. RockefellerStandard Oil CompanyHenry FlaglerSamuel C. T. DoddWilliam Rockefellercorporate-powermonopolytrust-formationgilded-ageinstitutional-capture
Charles J. Guiteau shoots President James A. Garfield at 9:30 AM on July 2, 1881, at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C., less than four months into Garfield’s presidency. Guiteau, a disappointed and delusional office-seeker who distributed copies of a speech …
James A. GarfieldCharles J. GuiteauChester A. ArthurJames Blainesystematic-corruptionpatronage-systempolitical-violenceinstitutional-capture
Samuel C. T. Dodd, chief attorney for Standard Oil Company, developed a revolutionary legal structure in 1879 that adapted the common law instrument of a trust to create the modern business trust, circumventing Ohio’s anti-trust laws and state restrictions on interstate corporate ownership. …
Samuel C. T. DoddJohn D. RockefellerStandard Oil Companycorporate-powerlegal-innovationregulatory-evasioninstitutional-capturetrust-formation
President Rutherford B. Hayes signs the Posse Comitatus Act into law on June 18, 1878, restricting the use of federal military personnel to enforce domestic law. Passed as an amendment to an army appropriations bill following the end of Reconstruction, the Act prohibits using the Army, Navy, Marine …
Rutherford B. HayesU.S. Congressreconstruction-sabotagemilitary-policycivil-rights-destructioninstitutional-capture
Ten Irish-American coal miners were hanged in Pennsylvania on “Black Thursday,” the first mass execution in a coordinated corporate-state campaign against labor organizing. In 1873, Reading Railroad President Franklin B. Gowen hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to infiltrate the Molly …
Pinkerton Detective AgencyFranklin B. GowenPhiladelphia & Reading RailroadJames McParlanPennsylvania Courtslabor-suppressioncorporate-powerjudicial-corruptiongilded-ageinstitutional-capture
Northern Republicans and Southern Democrats meet secretly at Wormley’s Hotel in Washington to negotiate the Compromise of 1877—an unwritten political deal settling the disputed 1876 presidential election by abandoning federal protection of Black civil rights. Southern Democrats agree to accept …
Rutherford B. Hayes (President-elect)Southern DemocratsNorthern RepublicansDisenfranchised Black Americansdemocratic-erosioninstitutional-captureracial-injusticepolitical-corruption
The Supreme Court unanimously overturns the federal convictions of Colfax Massacre perpetrators in United States v. Cruikshank, ruling that the Bill of Rights does not limit private actors or state governments despite the Fourteenth Amendment—effectively destroying federal power to protect Black …
U.S. Supreme CourtJoseph P. BradleyColfax Massacre Perpetratorsjudicial-capturereconstruction-sabotagecivil-rights-destructionwhite-supremacyinstitutional-capture
The House of Representatives votes to impeach Secretary of War William W. Belknap on March 2, 1876—just minutes after he races to the White House, hands President Grant his resignation, and bursts into tears. Belknap becomes the first cabinet secretary in U.S. history to be impeached for his role in …
William W. BelknapUlysses S. GrantCaleb MarshHiester ClymerU.S. House of Representativessystematic-corruptionexecutive-branch-corruptioninstitutional-captureelite-impunity
On May 10, 1875, Treasury Secretary Benjamin H. Bristow conducted coordinated raids across the nation that exposed the Whiskey Ring—a massive conspiracy involving whiskey distillers, Treasury Department officials, and politicians who had been systematically defrauding the federal government of tax …
Benjamin H. BristowOrville BabcockUlysses S. GrantTreasury DepartmentWhiskey Distillerssystematic-corruptiontax-evasioninstitutional-captureexecutive-branch-corruption
The White League stages an armed insurrection against Louisiana’s Reconstruction government on September 14, 1874, in New Orleans. Five thousand White League members—Confederate veterans organized as “the military arm of the Democratic Party”—overwhelm 3,500 state police and …
White LeagueJames LongstreetWilliam Pitt KelloggUlysses S. GrantJohn McEnerywhite-supremacyreconstruction-sabotagepolitical-violenceinstitutional-captureelite-impunity
On August 30, 1874, the White League—a paramilitary organization of Confederate veterans described as “the military arm of the Democratic Party”—completes a weeklong campaign of terror in Red River Parish, Louisiana, by assassinating six white Republican officeholders and five to twenty …
White LeagueDick ColemanThomas FloydMarshall TwitchellLouisiana Board of Tradewhite-supremacyreconstruction-sabotagepolitical-violenceinstitutional-captureelite-impunity
The Supreme Court issues a 5-4 decision in the Slaughterhouse Cases, its first major interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, drastically narrowing the Privileges or Immunities Clause to exclude most individual rights. The ruling upholds Louisiana’s grant of a slaughterhouse monopoly to one …
U.S. Supreme CourtLouisiana LegislatureCrescent City Livestock CompanyNew Orleans Butchersinstitutional-capturelegal-system-weaponizationcorporate-influencedemocratic-erosion
The U.S. House of Representatives launches an investigation into the Credit Mobilier scandal following the September 1872 New York Sun exposé revealing systematic bribery of congressmen with railroad company stock. The investigation examines how Congressman Oakes Ames distributed discounted Credit …
U.S. House of RepresentativesOakes Ames (Congressman)James Brooks (Congressman)Poland Committeesystematic-corruptioninstitutional-capturepolitical-briberyweak-accountability
On September 4, 1872, the New York Sun published a blockbuster exposé under the headline “The King of Frauds,” revealing a massive corruption scheme involving Union Pacific Railroad executives, a dummy construction company called Credit Mobilier of America, and approximately one dozen …
Oakes AmesSchuyler ColfaxUnion Pacific RailroadCredit Mobilier of AmericaUlysses S. Grant Administrationsystematic-corruptioninstitutional-captureinfrastructure-profiteeringcongressional-bribery
The New York Times publishes its first article with documented proof of the Tweed Ring’s massive corruption, headlined “MORE RING VILLIANY.” Publisher George Jones obtains incriminating receipts and accounting records stolen by a disgruntled Tammany functionary denied his expected …
New York TimesGeorge Jones (Publisher)William "Boss" TweedTammany Hallsystematic-corruptioninstitutional-capturepolitical-machineswhistleblower-retaliation
John D. Rockefeller incorporated the Standard Oil Company in Ohio with $1 million in capital, transforming an 1863 partnership into what would become America’s most powerful monopoly. The company was formed with Rockefeller, his brother William, Henry Flagler, Samuel Andrews, and other …
John D. RockefellerStandard Oil CompanyHenry FlaglerSamuel AndrewsWilliam Rockefellercorporate-powermonopolygilded-ageoil-industryinstitutional-capture
The Fourteenth Amendment is ratified after Louisiana and South Carolina provide the necessary three-fourths majority, extending citizenship and equal protection rights to formerly enslaved people. While designed to guarantee civil rights to Black Americans, the amendment’s broad …
U.S. CongressLouisiana LegislatureSouth Carolina LegislatureReconstruction Governmentsinstitutional-capturelegal-system-weaponizationcorporate-influencedemocratic-erosion
The House of Representatives votes 126-47 to impeach President Andrew Johnson on February 24, 1868—the first presidential impeachment in American history. The precipitating event is Johnson’s February 21 attempt to fire Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and replace him with Lorenzo Thomas in …
Andrew JohnsonEdwin StantonU.S. House of RepresentativesRadical RepublicansLorenzo Thomas+1 morereconstruction-sabotagepresidential-corruptioninstitutional-capturedemocratic-erosion
President Andrew Johnson vetoes legislation to extend and expand the Freedmen’s Bureau, shocking Republican supporters and demonstrating his commitment to sabotaging Reconstruction. Illinois Senator Lyman Trumbull introduced the bill on January 5, 1866, to expand the Bureau’s power to …
Andrew JohnsonLyman TrumbullRepublican CongressFreedmen's Bureaureconstruction-sabotagepresidential-corruptioninstitutional-captureracial-injustice