Update: We've gotten donations trickling in the past few hours and I can't tell you how much they are appreciated and needed. Keep up the incredible response. We're almost half-way there, but we still have a way to go. With your help, and your donations - no matter how much, we can do it. Please donate what you can and help save Newstalgia.

A voice from the deep-distant past. Teddy Roosevelt was considered to be the first Progressive President of the United States. During his time in office from 1901, (following the assassination of William McKinley) until 1908, he Created the National Park Service as we know it today. He signed into law the Pure Food and Drug Act, Child Labor laws, campaigned for a Healthcare System (which just goes to show you how long that argument's been going on), and introduced sweeping Anti-Trust legislation.

In 1912, after unsuccessfully attempting a nomination via the Republican Party, he formed his own Bullmoose Party and ran on a third-party ticket, against Woodrow Wilson.

Here is an address he made during that campaign, recorded on September 22, 1912 - the title of the address is "Liberty Of The People." Since the sound is a little rough (recording was in its infancy at the time), here is a transcript of that address:

Continue reading »

It should be remembered that the concept of affordable Healthcare for everyone isn't a new concept. It's history goes back as far as 1909 as an idea hatched by Teddy Roosevelt. It was re-introduced during the FDR years, first as a possible adjunct to Social Security, but shelved temporarily, and was in the midst of being introduced again, when World War 2 broke out in December of 1941. It was again introduced by Harry Truman as a continuation of the legacy of FDR. It was bandied about during the Eisenhower years and it was again introduced in 1962 by President Kennedy.

Here is an address made by JFK at a rally in Madison Square Garden on May 20, 1960. Promoted as Medical Care for the Aged, Kennedy hoped for a plan that would insure decent medical care to those over the age of 65 and those who couldn't afford it. The bill was introduced and shelved, but was re-introduced and finally passed during the Johnson Administration in 1964 as a legacy to President Kennedy.

Here is that complete address.

(William Howard Taft - One term President - rumored to be a 1908 version of a RINO)

Continuing our look at people whose names may sound familiar but whose voices don't - William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States. One term Republican who was thought to be a shoe-in for Trusts, Big Business and Wall Street but later instituted anti-Trust laws (not the mention the 16th Amendment which gave us Income Tax) and essentially bit the hand that fed him. Subsequently he tossed the Republicans into a state of disarray which made it possible for Woodrow Wilson to assume the office after the election of 1912.

Aside from his massive girth (over 350 pounds and why oversized bathtubs were named after him) and being the last President to sport facial hair, Taft signaled a wave of anti Big Business feeling that was slowly overtaking the country just prior to World War 1. Monopolies were putting a stranglehold on free enterprise and Taft sought to break that lock.

Here is a speech he recorded in 1909 titled "What Constitutes an Unlawful Trust".

William Howard Taft: “In the proper operation of competition, the public will soon share with the manufacturer the advantage in economy of operation and lower prices. When however, such combinations are not based on any economic principle, but are made merely for the purpose of controlling the market, to maintain or raise prices, restrict output and drive out competitors, the public derives no benefit and we have a monopoly”.

Needless to say, it didn't endear him to the Old Guard Republicans (the base of 1908). And when re-election came in 1912, his old friend Teddy Roosevelt broke ranks and formed the infamous Bullmoose Party which splintered the Republicans even further. Out of the wreckage emerged Woodrow Wilson.

Has a familiar ring to it, doesn't it?

Aside from receiving accolades by Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003 for his introduction of Recall legislation in California during his term as Governor in 1911, not a whole lot is remembered about Hiram Johnson, whose career in the Senate extended some 30 years and whose position went from Progressive to Bullmoose to Liberal Republican to New Dealer to Isolationist over that period of time. His political career went from 1910 until his death on August 6, 1945. While Governor of California he was also responsible for introducing the Alien Land Law of 1913 which prohibited "aliens ineligible for citizenship" the right to own land or property in California, aimed primarily at immigrant farmers (it was overturned in 1952 so don't go racing to the books, touting this one). Johnson was also the only Senator voting against the League of Nations and the United Nations. At least he was consistent in that area.

With war looming for U.S. involvement in 1941 Johnson, as a staunch isolationist, embraced the America First Committee and delivered many impassioned addresses on behalf of the group, including this one, delivered in May of 1941.

Sen. Hiram Johnson: “In his speech on Tuesday night the President, in my opinion, first himself declared war, and told the terms on which he would wage it. Secondly, he agreed he would convoy, or otherwise take to Britain the goods ammunition and guns intended for them. Again, he revived what he himself eliminated; the Doctrine of the Freedom of the Seas. And lastly, he went blithely on his way with his Four Freedoms, and is going to enthrone them upon the whole world. How he’s going to do it is a deep dark mystery. But he speaks as if it were easy of accomplishment. And gives never a thought to the agony and the anguish and the blood letting that’ll have to accomplish it.”

Ironically, this came from a man who crossed party lines to support FDR in both the 1932 and 1936 elections. He agreed with Roosevelt in domestic matters (as a vigorous New Deal supporter), but it didn't extend to Foreign Policy. He also broke with FDR during the Supreme Court episode.

But it is interesting to note how politics in history have become distorted in retrospect. That it was possible to be a Liberal Republican, cross party lines on occasion, vote with your conscience and not be hung in effigy as the result.

Times have changed.

(Upton Sinclair - did not endear himself to corporate interests)

Probably the most famous (or infamous, depending on which side of the fence you're on) muckrakers and whistle blowers of the late 19th and early 20th century was Upton Sinclair. His books, exposing conditions in the Meat Packing industry and corruption in other parts of society did much to change the kind of lives most Americans led during those years. It was his novel The Jungle that brought about the introduction of the Pure Food and Drug Act and established the FDA during the Teddy Roosevelt administration.

Sinclair was active all the way until his death in 1968 at the age of 90. He railed against the Corporate takeover of America and how Big Business had influenced much of what was going on with society for the worst. This interview, given in 1962, Sinclair is asked about the current state of Newspaper publishing in America and how it changed from the way it was in the early part of the 20th Century.

Upton Sinclair: “When I went out to Colorado during the Colorado coal strike . . I’ve forgotten the year, I called up the Denver Post, published some perfectly . . .fantastic falsehoods about me, made up out of the whole cloth. And I called up one of the proprietors and protested. And he cursed me, and he said “we say what we . .’ and I won’t repeat his language but ‘we are gonna say what we please about you and we don’t care a blankety-blank-blank what you think about us or what you say about us’ and that’s the way they talked.”

Even in 1962 Sinclair was wary of the amount of influence corporate interests were holding over America. It would be fascinating to get his take on how much it's changed today. And how much it's gone back to the late 19th Century.

(Teddy Roosevelt - aside from National Parks, also attributed to coining the phrases: Speak Softly and Carry A Big Stick and Good To The Last Drop)

Continuing with the other Nobel Peace Prize recipient who was also a sitting President, Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt (1901, assuming office on the assassination of William McKinley - 1908) received his prize in 1906.

During the election of 1912 he ran as a third party candidate of the Bull Moose Party, losing to Woodrow Wilson (the other Nobel recipient).

Here is a campaign speech he recorded during the 1912 campaign.

Teddy Roosevelt: “The other day in a speech at Sioux Falls, Mister Wilson stated his position when he said the history of government, the history of liberty was the history of the limitation of governmental power. This is true as an academic stigma of history in the past. It is not true as a statement affecting the present.”

(Woodrow Wilson - Last sitting President to get the Peace Prize)

When the Nobel Peace Prize was recently announced, and the recipient was none other than President Obama, people ran to their history books trying to figure out who was the last sitting President to receive such an honor.

It was Woodrow Wilson, 27th President (even though Wikipedia says 28) (1913-1920), oversaw our involvement in World War 1 and championed The League Of Nations.

If you've never heard him speak (and I suspect a lot of you haven't), here is a campaign address from the 1912 election, when he ran against the third party candidate Teddy Roosevelt (the other Peace Prize recipient - coming up shortly). He's speaking about the role of Labor.

Now you know.

I've been reading a lot lately about this latest Salmonella scare, turning the somewhat sublime peanut into a thing of fear. It occurred to me that these scares, this tainted food seems to be something of a new plague in recent years.

And then I started thinking about Upton Sinclair, the eminent Muckraker of the early 20th Century, whose book "The Jungle" exposed the entire meat packing industry as a cesspool of filth, disease and corruption.

The fact that this iconoclast, this thorn in the side of Business, this pain in the ass of corrupt government was able to get the likes of President Roosevelt to establish The Food and Drug Administration as a legitimate watchdog for consumers as early as 1906 speaks volumes over the power of the press and progressive ideals and giving useful information to a receptive public.

Then as now, the power of the uncensored voice can still bring about change. Back in the early 20th century it was the unbiased and free press (a minority even then). Today it's the blogosphere. The forum has changed but the message is still the same.

So here is a clip of Upton Sinclair, talking about his early days and his run for Governor of California as a reminder of where we all came from.