Walter Coffey's Blog, page 178

Operation Paperclip

After destroying Nazism in World War II, the U.S. employed Nazis in a dubious secret project to destroy the Soviets.

The Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA) began working to obtain military and scientific information from German scientists after the fall of Nazi Germany in May 1945. The goals of this project were to learn about German scientific advancements, prevent post-war Germany from using these advancements, and prevent either Great Britain or the U.S.S.R. from obtaining them.[1]

In August 1945, President Harry Truman approved the project as long as no scientist had been “a member of the Nazi Party, and more than a nominal participant in its activities, or an active supporter of Nazi militarism.” But since this would disqualify most of Germany’s top scientists, the JIOA dodged Truman’s order by falsifying the Germans’ biographies to make them appear to have been less involved in Nazism. In this way, Operation Paperclip was born.[2]

Operation Paperclip

Over 100 Nazis agreed to surrender their scientific information in exchange for free passage to the U.S. and clearance as “U.S. Government Scientists” in secret research facilities funded by U.S. taxpayers. Since U.S. officials were especially interested in rocket technology, the émigrés included top rocket scientists Kurt H. Debus, Arthur Rudolph, and Werner von Braun, who had all been labeled a “menace to the security of the Allied Forces” during World War II.[3]

Rudolph was deported to West Germany in 1984 but never charged with any crime. Von Braun claimed he had been forced to join the Nazi Party, but it was later revealed that he had actively taken membership in a Nazi-controlled trade union, welfare organization, air raid protection corps, and other Nazi-related activities. Von Braun was initially housed in a secret military prison in Virginia, violating the Geneva Convention of 1929 (which the U.S. ratified) because the prison was unknown to the international community.[4]

The German V-2 rocket that had been developed by von Braun during World War II provided the basis for U.S. rocket experimentation, and von Braun and other scientists later helped NASA develop the U.S. space program. Von Braun claimed he knew nothing about how the rockets were manufactured by slave laborers, thousands of whom were worked to death. But his brother Marcus regularly provided von Braun with reports on plant production.[5]

Von Braun and other German scientists with problematic Nazi ties were soon employed on U.S. bases at Fort Bliss, Texas and White Sands Proving Grounds, New Mexico as “War Department Special Employees.” Within five years, many scientists were granted U.S. residency through the U.S. consulate in Mexico. Some 1,600 men were recruited from 1945 until the project was finally discontinued in 1990.[6]

The former Nazis were eager to emigrate to the U.S. to avoid reprisals from Soviet troops occupying East Germany. U.S. officials reasoned that had the German scientists not been recruited, they would have either been liquidated or employed by the Soviets, which could have shifted the balance of technological power in the Cold War to the U.S.S.R. Without the expertise of rocket scientists such as Werner von Braun, the U.S. moon landing in 1969 would not have been possible.[7]

Nevertheless, critics have charged that many of the German scientists should not have been eligible to work for the U.S. because they had allegedly participated in war crimes that resulted in many other high-ranking Nazis being put to death. Georg Rickhey was working in the U.S. when he was tried for war crimes in 1947; he was acquitted and allowed to return to his work. Hubertus Strughold was also allowed to work in the U.S. despite evidence that he had conducted medical experiments on inmates at the Dachau death camp.[8]

U.S. employment of Nazis was intended to gain an advantage on the U.S.S.R. in the Cold War. But concealing aspects of these scientists’ past just so they could benefit U.S. technology made Operation Paperclip a questionable project that enabled former Nazis to dubiously participate in the U.S. space program.[9]

[1] http://www.operationpaperclip.info/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip; http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/operation_paperclip.htm

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip; http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/operation_paperclip.htm; Gerard J. DeGroot, Dark Side of the Moon: The Magnificent Madness of the American Lunar Quest (New York: New York University Press, 2006), p. 24-26

[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip; http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/operation_paperclip.htm; Gerald J. DeGroot, Dark Side of the Moon, p. 15

[5] Michael J. Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007), p. 175-80; Gerald J. DeGroot, Dark Side of the Moon, p. 24-26

[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip

[7] Gerald J. DeGroot, Dark Side of the Moon, p. 24-26; http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/operation_paperclip.htm

[8] http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/operation_paperclip.htm

[9] Jonathan Leaf, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2009), p. 123

The Civil War This Week: Feb 10-16, 1864

Wednesday, February 10

In Washington this evening, a fire broke out in the presidential stables between the White House and the Treasury building. President Abraham Lincoln tried rescuing the horses and ponies inside, but he was restrained by bodyguards. Among the seven animals killed was a pony that had belonged to Lincoln’s son Willie, who had died in 1862. A coachman who had been fired by Mrs. Lincoln was charged with arson. Lincoln requested that Congress appropriate funds to rebuild the stable.

Federal forces seized Confederate war supplies during their advance from Jacksonville to Lake City, Florida. The Confederate commerce raider C.S.S. Florida disembarked from Brest, France and eluded U.S.S. Kearsarge. U.S.S. Florida destroyed two blockade-runners off Masonborough Inlet, North Carolina.

General William T. Sherman’s 26,000 Federals skirmished at Hillsborough and Morton in their campaign to capture Meridian, Mississippi. Other skirmishing occurred in Arkansas.

Thursday, February 11

Confederate President Jefferson Davis notified General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Confederate Army of Tennessee, that William T. Sherman’s Federal advance “should be met before he reaches the Gulf and establishes a base to which supplies and reinforcements may be sent by sea.” Davis was unaware that Sherman had no plans to advance to the Gulf of Mexico.

Major H.W. Gilmor’s Confederate raiders attacked the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad near Kearneysville, West Virginia, throwing a train off the tracks and robbing the passengers and crew. Skirmishing occurred in Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.

Friday, February 12

A Federal expedition began from Batesville, Arkansas. Skirmishing occurred in Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas.

Saturday, February 13

Federal expeditions began from Knoxville, Tennessee and Helena, Arkansas. Skirmishing occurred in Florida, Tennessee, and Mississippi.

Sunday, February 14

General Sherman’s Federals captured Meridian, as General Leonidas Polk’s Confederates withdrew without a fight. As the Federals destroyed the area, Sherman reported, “For five days 10,000 men worked hard and with a will in that work of destruction… Meridian, with its depots, store-houses, arsenals, hospitals, offices, hotels and cantonments no longer exists.” Sherman’s brutal expedition included the destruction of 115 miles of railroad, 61 bridges, and 20 locomotives while encountering minimal opposition from Confederate cavalry.

President Lincoln met with General Judson Kilpatrick to discuss potential operations in Virginia. Federals captured Gainesville, Florida after a skirmish. Skirmishing also occurred in Virginia, Alabama, and Arkansas.

Monday, February 15

President Davis expressed concern that General Sherman’s Federals might next advance on either Mobile or Montgomery. However, Sherman had no plans to advance further than Meridian.

Federal expeditions began from Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Fernandina, Florida. Skirmishing occurred in West Virginia, Missouri, and Arkansas.

Tuesday, February 16

President Davis requested advice on how to address military shortages. Federal naval forces bombarded Fort Powell at Mobile Bay, Alabama; this increased Confederate fears of an attack there. Federals stopped two blockade-runners near Wilmington, North Carolina.

Federal troops operated against Indians in the Washington Territory. Skirmishing occurred in North Carolina, Mississippi, and Arkansas.

—–

Primary Source: E.B. Long and Barbara Long, The Civil War Day by Day (New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971)

Escape from Libby Prison

On this night 150 years ago, Federal officers tunneled out of a Confederate prison in one of the most daring and sensational escapes of the Civil War.

Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia

The building that was Libby Prison had once been property of L. Libby & Son, a ship supply company in Richmond, Virginia. The Confederate government seized the building and used it to house captured Federal officers. Confederate officials considered the facility to be inescapable, and thus paid little attention to security.[1]

The four floors held 1,200 prisoners that were rarely allowed outdoors. Prisoners were subjected to drafts through broken windows, lack of fire in the stoves, and rampant vermin. Prison officials were detested, with one prisoner describing a guard as “the greatest scoundrel that ever went unhung.” Another inmate wrote, “We fumed and fretted, and our restraint grew more and more irksome. At last we settled down to the conviction that we were in for the war, unless we effected escape.”[2]

From the day he arrived at Libby, Colonel Thomas Rose plotted to escape. After surveying the compound, Rose devised a plan to dig a tunnel from the prison basement, beyond the 50-foot fence to an adjacent shed. However, the Confederates had closed off the basement due to rat infestation and flooding. Rose solved that problem by cutting a hole behind the fireplace on the main floor, enabling men to get into the wall, work their way to a chimney on the eastern part of the building, then drop 10 feet into the basement.[3]

The basement was completely dark, and its flooring was covered with straw. The darkness provided cover for the tunneling prisoners, and the straw enabled them to hide the dirt. But the straw also provided shelter for hundreds of rats. Lieutenant Charles H. Moran wrote, “No tongue can tell… how the poor fellow(s) passed among the squealing rats,–enduring the sickening air, the deathly chill, the horrible interminable darkness.” Major Andrew G. Hamilton stated, “The only difficulties experienced (were lack of proper tools) and the unpleasant feature of having to hear hundreds of rats squeal all the time, while they ran over the diggers almost without a sign of fear.”[4]

Colonel Harrison Hobart wrote that “two persons could work at the same time. One would enter the hole with his tools and a small tallow candle, dragging the spittoon after him attached to a string. The other would fan air into the passage with his hat, and with another string would draw out the novel dirt cart when loaded, concealing its contents beneath the straw and rubbish of the cellar.”[5]

When the tunnel was determined to be ready, Colonel Abel D. Streight, the senior Federal officer in the prison, insisted on going first. But when he tunneled out, he was still within the 50-foot fence. Before the guards could see him, Streight quickly plugged the hole with a shirt and the prisoners continued tunneling. On the night of February 9, some prisoners conducted a loud music show while the others began moving out.[6]

Rose and Hamilton went first. They emerged just where Rose figured—in the tobacco shed outside the 50-foot perimeter. The shed was on the fenced property of an abandoned warehouse. Others followed Rose and Hamilton in groups of two and three, and after they collected in the warehouse yard, they casually walked out the front gate undetected.[7]

The escapees quickly scattered into the dark Richmond streets. The prisoners conducting the music show saw the escape from their upper-floor window and rushed to join in. The guards hardly noticed the noise, with one telling another, “Halloa, Bill—there’s somebody’s coffeepot upset, sure!” Escapees included six colonels, six lieutenant colonels, seven majors, 32 captains, and 58 lieutenants.[8]

The Confederates suspected nothing until morning roll call. When the roll came up short, the guards counted several more times because the prisoners often pulled in and out of the line to confuse the count. A prisoner who stayed behind wrote, “When the rebel officers counted the men they found one hundred and nine too few. In a twinkling, church bells were ringing, cavalrymen were out with horns blaring, and all hounds obtainable were yelping.”[9]

Seventeen hours had passed before the escape was discovered. According to the Richmond Examiner, “It is feared that (the fugitives) have gotten rather too much the start of the pursuers to admit anything like the recapture of them all.” Nevertheless, 48 escapees were ultimately recaptured, including Rose. Two others drowned while trying to cross high streams. The remaining 59 made it back to Federal lines, making this the most successful escape of the war.[10]

Fearing that he would inspire another escape attempt, Rose spent several days in solitary confinement before he was quickly traded for a Confederate prisoner and paroled. Partly because of the Libby escape, concerned Confederate officials began creating prisons deeper within the Confederacy, away from Federal occupation forces. One of these prisons was opened in Georgia less than a month after the Libby escape. Initially named Camp Sumter, it became notorious for its horrible living conditions under the new name of Andersonville.[11]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libby_Prison_Escape

[2] James I. Robertson, Jr., Tenting Tonight: A Soldier’s Life (Time-Life Books, Inc., 1984), p. 116, 119, 124

[3] Robertson, Jr., Tenting Tonight: A Soldier’s Life, p. 116, 119, 124

[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libby_Prison_Escape

[5] Robertson, Jr., Tenting Tonight: A Soldier’s Life, p. 124

[6] Robertson, Jr., Tenting Tonight: A Soldier’s Life, p. 125

[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libby_Prison_Escape; Robertson, Jr., Tenting Tonight: A Soldier’s Life, p. 125-28

[8] Robertson, Jr., Tenting Tonight: A Soldier’s Life, p. 125-28; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libby_Prison_Escape

[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libby_Prison_Escape; Robertson, Jr., Tenting Tonight: A Soldier’s Life, p. 128

[10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libby_Prison_Escape

[11] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libby_Prison_Escape; Robertson, Jr., Tenting Tonight: A Soldier’s Life, p. 128; Clifford L. Linedecker (ed.), Civil War A to Z (New York: Ballantine Books, 2002), p. 164

The Modoc Suppression

The once-peaceful Modoc Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest were decimated and exiled after rebelling against U.S. encroachment on their land.

The Modoc tribe was residing in northern California when the U.S. acquired the region from Mexico in 1848. Because California Indians were generally peaceful, they were highly vulnerable to exploitation by the thousands of white settlers joining in on the California Gold Rush.[1]

Refusing to submit, the Modocs along the Oregon border resisted white encroachment on their land. Whites responded by lobbying the U.S. government to get rid of the Modocs. Modoc Chief Kintpuash, whom white settlers called Captain Jack, reluctantly agreed to settle his tribe at the Klamath Reservation to avoid war with the U.S. But when the Modocs clashed with the Klamath Indians already residing there in 1870, Captain Jack led his tribe off the reservation.[2]

Modoc Indians, courtesy ushistoryimages.com

The Modocs tried returning to their traditional land, but whites had already settled there. Captain Jack refused U.S. requests to return to the reservation. When the U.S. applied military force, Captain Jack responded by withdrawing his Modocs into the California Lava Beds south of Tule Lake. This was a virtually impregnable fortress of hills and caves that enabled the Modocs to repel U.S. attacks for several months.[3]

Meanwhile, a rogue band of Modocs under Hooker Jim killed over a dozen white settlers in the region before joining Captain Jack’s tribe in the Lava Beds. The murders increased pressure on U.S. forces to suppress the Modocs. In early 1873, U.S. troops launched a frontal assault on the Lava Beds, but it was beaten back until the Modocs withdrew to an even stronger position.[4]

Of the 150 Modoc Indians in the Lava Beds, only 51 were warriors. Captain Jack urged surrender, but the warriors forced him to hold a council, which resulted in only 14 of the 51 warriors supporting surrender. On the U.S. side, officials recognized the futility of attacking the Lava Beds and began preparing to negotiate.[5]

The U.S. formed a four-man peace commission headed by General Edward R.S. Canby, commander of the Department of the Columbia. Negotiations lasted over two months. Captain Jack demanded that the U.S. 1) grant amnesty to all Modocs, 2) withdraw all troops, and 3) allow the Modocs to choose on which reservation to live.[6]

The commission refused to grant amnesty because of the murders committed by Hooker Jim’s rogue band. The commissioners proposed that the Modocs 1) move to a U.S.-selected reservation, and 2) surrender Hooker Jim’s rogue band to stand trial for murder. Captain Jack argued that if the rogue Modocs were tried in a U.S. court, then U.S. settlers who had committed crimes against the Modocs should be tried in Modoc courts. A U.S. official responded, “The white man’s law rules the country. The Indian law is dead.”[7]

For the U.S., General Canby was pressured by his superior, U.S. General-in-Chief William T. Sherman, to attack the Modocs so “that no other reservation for them will be necessary except graves among their chosen Lava Beds.” For the Modocs, Captain Jack refused to give up Hooker Jim and his rogue band. At the same time, Hooker Jim was among the warriors pressuring Captain Jack to kill Canby and the peace commissioners if they did not accept the Modoc terms.[8]

When the Modoc demands were rejected on April 11, Captain Jack and fellow warriors killed Canby and another commissioner before fleeing the scene. Canby became the first and only general to be killed in U.S. conflicts with Native Americans. U.S. forces responded by storming the Lava Beds with artillery and infantry, but the Modocs had already escaped and scattered, eating their horses to survive.[9]

Hooker Jim and his rogue band, whom Captain Jack had refused to give up, surrendered to U.S. officials and agreed to help hunt down Captain Jack and his Modocs in exchange for amnesty. The new U.S. commander, General Jefferson C. Davis, reported that the pursuit was “more of a chase after wild beasts than war, each detachment vying with each other as to which should be the first in at the finish.”[10]

After alternating fight and flight for over a month, Captain Jack and three remaining warriors surrendered in June 1873. He told U.S. forces, “Jack’s legs gave out. I am ready to die.” The four Modocs were tried for murder. They had no legal representation, and their limited understanding of English made it difficult for them to cross-examine witnesses. Hooker Jim and his rogue followers testified against them. Soldiers constructed the gallows before the verdict was even decided. Captain Jack declared, “You white people conquered me not; my own men did.”[11]

The trial lasted four days. Captain Jack and six warriors were found guilty and sentenced to death. President Ulysses S. Grant commuted the sentences of three warriors to life imprisonment on Alcatraz. After Captain Jack and three warriors were hanged, Captain Jack’s body was exhumed to serve as a 10-cent carnival exhibit. The remaining 163 Modoc men, women, and children (including Hooker Jim) were exiled to the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). Only 51 Modocs were left in 1909, when the U.S. government allowed them to return to an Oregon reservation.[12]

[1] Dee Brown, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1970), p. 220

[2] Brown, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, p. 220, 221-222

[3] Brown, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, p. 222; John S. Bowman (ed.), Almanac of America’s Wars (Hong Kong: Bdd Promotional Book Co., 1989), p. 91

[4] Brown, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, p. 225; Bowman, Almanac of America’s Wars, p. 91

[5] Brown, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, p. 226; Bowman, Almanac of America’s Wars, p. 91

[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modoc_War

[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modoc_War; Brown, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, p. 232

[8] Brown, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, p. 229-30, 234-35, 236

[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modoc_War; Brown, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, p. 238

[10] Brown, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, p. 238-239

[11] Brown, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, p. 238-39, 240

[12] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modoc_War

The Civil War This Week: Feb 3-9, 1864

Wednesday, February 3

In Mississippi, Major General William T. Sherman led about 26,000 Federals out of Vicksburg to destroy railroads and attack the scattered 20,000-man Confederate Army of Mississippi under General Leonidas Polk around Meridian.

Confederate President Jefferson Davis requested legislation to address the “discontent, disaffection, and disloyalty” among those enjoying “quiet and safety at home.” He called suspending the writ of habeas corpus a “sharp remedy” needed to stop spying, deserting, associating with the enemy, and holding disloyal public assemblies. There was growing southern discontent with the Davis administration’s handling of the war effort.

Confederates captured the Federal steamer Levi on the Kanahwa River. A Federal expedition began from Brashear City, Louisiana.

Thursday, February 4

Skirmishing increased between Confederates and William T. Sherman’s advancing Federals in Mississippi. Skirmishing also occurred in West Virginia, Louisiana, and Arkansas. A Federal expedition began from Helena, Arkansas.

Friday, February 5

William T. Sherman’s Federals occupied the Mississippi capital at Jackson amidst heavy skirmishing. Federal expeditions began from Houston, Missouri into Arkansas; and from Hilton Head, South Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida. Skirmishing occurred in Virginia, Missouri, and Arkansas.

Saturday, February 6

Responding to public pressure, President Davis signed a bill into law prohibiting the importation of luxury goods. Blockade runners had tended to import luxury items such as gold and jewelry instead of wartime necessities because luxury items were more profitable. Davis ordered the seizure of half the cotton, tobacco, sugar, molasses, and rice leaving Confederate ports. These new regulations caused widespread protest and resentment, and due to lack of enforcement resources, they went largely ignored.

In Mississippi, William T. Sherman’s Federals left Jackson en route to Meridian. General Benjamin Butler authorized a Federal raid to free prisoners of war in Richmond, Virginia. Federals scouted John’s and James Islands in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Skirmishing occurred in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi.

Sunday, February 7

President Davis informed General Robert E. Lee that Federals were “in force” on the Chickahominy River. This news, coupled with Confederate General George Pickett’s failure to reclaim New Berne, caused temporary panic in Richmond that was ultimately unfounded.

Brigadier General Truman Seymour’s Federals occupied Jacksonville, Florida and prepared to advance inland. In Mississippi, William T. Sherman’s Federals continued advancing toward Meridian amidst skirmishing. Skirmishing also occurred in North Carolina, Louisiana, and Texas.

Monday, February 8

Truman Seymour’s Federals advanced from Jacksonville amidst skirmishing. William T. Sherman’s Federals also skirmished as their advance on Meridian continued. Skirmishing also occurred in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Louisiana.

Tuesday, February 9

This evening, a loud music show covered the escape of six colonels, six lieutenant colonels, seven majors, 32 captains, and 58 lieutenants from Libby Prison in Richmond. Colonel Thomas Rose of the 77th Pennsylvania had cut a hole in the prison floor and tunneled beneath the prison grounds to beyond the prison fence. Rose and 47 others were eventually recaptured, and two others died while trying to cross waterways. But 59 reached Federal lines, making this the largest and most sensational prison escape of the war.

Major General John M. Schofield, former commander in Missouri, superseded Major General John G. Foster in command of the Federal Department of the Ohio. President Abraham Lincoln posed for photographs, one of which was later used for the five-dollar bill.

In Florida, Truman Seymour’s Federals continued their inland advance from Jacksonville amidst skirmishing. In Mississippi, William T. Sherman’s Federals occupied Yazoo City. Federal expeditions began from Fernandina, Florida; John’s Island, South Carolina; and Swansborough, North Carolina. Skirmishing occurred in Tennessee, Louisiana, and Arkansas.

Primary Source: The Civil War Day By Day by E.B. Long and Barbara Long (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971)

FDR and the Farmer

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s efforts to organize agriculture did more harm than good and actually helped prolong the Great Depression.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

By the time Roosevelt became president in 1933, farm profits had been declining for nearly 15 years. This was mainly because demand for farm products had been artificially inflated to supply troops during World War I (1914-18). Demand dropped when the war ended, but farmers continued overproducing, which forced prices down.

In an effort to raise farm prices, Roosevelt’s predecessor Herbert Hoover had initiated a Federal Farm Board, but it was ineffective. Roosevelt could have tried a new approach when he became president, but instead he merely expanded Hoover’s failed program by approving creation of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA).

The AAA was designed by Agriculture Secretary Henry Wallace, a far-left Progressive who declared that the agency would conduct “a cleaning up of the wreckage from the old days of unbalanced production.” It was inspired by the business/government syndicates then being created by Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Party in Italy. The AAA sought to drive up farm prices by restricting farm output, but the means used to attain that goal were seriously flawed.

The AAA actually paid farmers to not produce. Even worse, since the AAA was created after the year’s harvest began, it was decided to pay farmers to destroy their crops and livestock in the hope that decreased supply would mean increased demand. Cotton farmers were paid $100 million to destroy 10 million acres of crops, and hog farmers were paid to slaughter over six million hogs at a time when millions of Americans were going hungry. The AAA succeeded in raising prices, but the many unemployed Americans couldn’t afford them.

Farm income rose as intended, but only because farmers often took the government welfare while maintaining their normal production levels. The extra income was used to buy even more farm equipment and expand acreage, which defeated the AAA’s strategy of limiting production. Moreover, the program favored large farms and corporations that could afford to reduce production without risking bankruptcy. One large sugar company was paid $1 million in taxpayer money to not produce sugar.

The AAA was funded partly by imposing new taxes on corporations, and partly by imposing a new processing tax on food and clothing. Corporations and processers naturally passed the tax onto consumers in the form of higher prices, which affected the poorest Americans the most. Even Agriculture Secretary Wallace admitted that “the most serious objections to the processing tax” was “that the greatest burden falls on the poorest people.”

The government cartelization of farming meant that it was vulnerable to party politics. The Roosevelt administration was sure to allocate AAA funds to states and districts most supportive of the president. After Roosevelt was overwhelmingly reelected in 1936, author and editor David Lawrence studied voting trends. He concluded that most of Roosevelt’s votes came from counties that received the most AAA money, and he actually lost the few counties that received no funding.

Farmers may have benefited from the AAA in the short term, but consumers suffered from decreased supply, resulting in less food and higher prices during the Depression. A study by the Department of Agriculture in the 1930s revealed that the U.S. was not producing enough food to sustain its population at the minimum level. The Roosevelt administration’s curious answer to this problem was to make food even more expensive and scarce.

Attempts to raise farm prices were offset by similar attempts from other Roosevelt administration bureaucracies, such as the National Recovery Administration, to drive up prices in other sectors of the economy. Historian Jim Powell noted that farmers “actually found themselves worse off because FDR’s National Recovery Administration had been even more successful in forcing up the prices that consumers, including farmers, had to pay for manufactured goods.”

Perhaps the most damaging impact that the AAA had on the economy was the mass unemployment it caused among tenant farmers and sharecroppers. Since the AAA was paying farmers not to farm, the laborers were no longer needed. Minorities were especially hard hit because they comprised most of the farm labor force.

Three years after the AAA was created, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional because taxing corporations to subsidize small farmers violated the federal government’s taxing powers. However, Roosevelt pushed another law through Congress that resurrected the agency under the guise of a soil conservation program. Many subsidies begun under the AAA were not removed until the 1990s, over 60 years after the bureaucracy was created.

Overall, the AAA and other interventionist policies in agriculture initiated by Herbert Hoover and accelerated by Franklin D. Roosevelt set a trend for massive government intrusion into private farming that continues today.

Sources:

How Capitalism Saved America by Thomas J. DiLorenzo (Three Rivers Press, 2005)
New Deal or Raw Deal? How FDR’s Economic Legacy Has Damaged America by Burton Folsom (Threshold Editions, 2009)
The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal by Thomas Murphy (Regnery Publishing Inc., 2009)
FDR’s Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression by Jim Powell (Three Rivers Press, 2003)
A Patriot’s History of the United States by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen (Penguin Publishing, 2004)
The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History by Thomas E. Woods, Jr. (Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2004)
A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn (Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2005)

The Civil War This Week: Jan 27-Feb 2, 1864

Wednesday, January 27

President Abraham Lincoln authorized Major General Frederick Steele, commanding the Federal Department of Arkansas, to work with civil officials to create a new Arkansas state government as long as the abolition of slavery remained part of the new state constitution.

Confederate President Jefferson Davis asked General Braxton Bragg to come to Richmond from Montgomery, Alabama if his health permitted. Skirmishing occurred in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Thursday, January 28

Skirmishing occurred in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas.

Friday, January 29

Federal forces fired 583 rounds into Confederate defenses in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Confederates attacked the Federal steamer Sir William Wallace on the Mississippi River as part of continuous attacks on Federal shipping. The Confederate ironclad Charleston was launched.

A Federal expedition began from Vicksburg, Mississippi. Skirmishing occurred in Virginia, West Virginia, and Alabama.

Saturday, January 30

Major General William S. Rosecrans replaced Major General John M. Schofield as commander of the Federal Department of the Missouri. General Frederick Steele assumed full command of the Federal Department of Arkansas.

A Federal expedition began from Batesville, Arkansas. Skirmishing occurred in West Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia.

Sunday, January 31

President Lincoln told General Nathaniel Banks, commander of the Federal Department of the Gulf in Louisiana, that Banks was “at liberty to adopt any rule which shall admit to vote any unquestionably loyal free state men and none others. And yet I do wish they would all take the oath (of allegiance to the Union).” Federal expeditions began from Madison Court House and Maryville, Tennessee. Skirmishing occurred in Virginia.

Monday, February 1

In accordance with the Enrollment Act of 1863, President Lincoln ordered a military draft of 500,000 men to begin on March 10. The draftees were to serve for three years or the war’s duration, whichever was shorter. Lincoln also directed Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to retrieve black colonists from San Domingo if they wished to return to the U.S.; this indicated that Lincoln’s plan to deport blacks from the U.S. was failing.

The Federal House of Representatives passed a bill reviving the military rank of lieutenant general, with the obvious intention to fill the post with General Ulysses S. Grant.

Confederate forces under Major General George Pickett left Kinston, North Carolina to reclaim the important Federal base at New Berne. When the Federals fell back into strong inner defenses, Pickett decided against an attack and withdrew.

Federal expeditions began from Madisonville, Louisiana; the Indian Territory; the New Mexico and Arizona territories; Rolla, Missouri; and Maryville and Knoxville, Tennessee. Federal troops began operating against Indians in California’s Humboldt Military District. Skirmishing occurred in Virginia and Arkansas.

Tuesday, February 2

Confederate forces captured the Federal gunboat Underwriter on the Neuse River in North Carolina; pursuing Federals chased them off after they set the ship on fire. 129 Confederate deserters swore allegiance to the U.S. in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A British blockade-runner was destroyed by the Federal naval fleet off Charleston, South Carolina. Skirmishing occurred in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and Missouri.

Primary Source: The Civil War Day-by-Day by E.B. Long and Barbara Long (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971)

Tragedy at Washita

U.S. forces laid waste to a Cheyenne Indian camp on the Washita River in late 1868. This was part of the ongoing U.S. effort to subjugate Native Americans on the Great Plains.

In the fall of 1867, the Treaty of Medicine Lodge stipulated that Native American tribes surrender vast tracts of land and remain south of the Arkansas River in exchange for government welfare. Although several chiefs of the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, and Kiowa tribes signed this treaty, it was never ratified by three-fourths of all adult men in each tribe as sanctioned by tribal law.

U.S. General Philip H. Sheridan

By the spring of 1868, food was running low, U.S. handouts were scarce, and there was little ammunition for hunting. Thus, Indians began moving north for subsistence. Some Indians raided white settlements and killed white settlers. The settlers appealed to General Philip H. Sheridan, commander of the Department of the Missouri, to provide military protection. Sheridan had gained fame during the Civil War for ravaging civilian property and destroying Virginia’s once fertile Shenandoah Valley. He dispatched scouting parties to hunt the raiding Indians.

In September 1868, a band of Sioux and Cheyennes attacked U.S. scouts and pinned them to a sandbar in the Arikaree River (near present-day Wray, Colorado). The scouts were pinned down for eight days, drinking river water and eating horse flesh, until U.S. reinforcements drove the Indians off. To U.S. forces, this became known as the Battle of Beecher’s Island, named for Lieutenant Frederick H. Beecher, who was killed in the battle. Also killed was Cheyenne leader Roman Nose, and to the Indians, this became known as the Fight When Roman Nose Was Killed.

Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer called this “… the greatest battle on the plains.” But in terms of casualties, this was a minor skirmish. Nevertheless, Custer worked with his superior, General Sheridan, to invade Indian lands south of the Arkansas River and wipe out Indian hostility once and for all.

The Cheyennes established a winter camp on the Washita River near present-day Cheyenne, Oklahoma. Chief Black Kettle admonished his fellow Cheyennes for defying U.S. orders by going north, and he asked U.S. General William B. Hazen at Fort Cobb for protection from U.S. reprisals. Hazen refused because the Cheyennes and Arapahos were considered “hostiles,” and their presence at Fort Cobb could jeopardize the safety of Indians already there.

Meanwhile, Sheridan ordered Custer “to proceed south in the direction of the Antelope Hills, thence toward the Washita River, the supposed winter seat of the hostile tribes; to destroy their villages and ponies, to kill or hang all warriors, and bring back all women and children.” Sheridan intended to make “all segments of Indian society experience the horrors of war as fully as the warriors.”

Heavy snow concealed the advance of Custer’s 7th Cavalry on November 27. Advancing from four directions while a military band played “Garryowen,” Custer’s men moved too fast to separate warriors from women and children. Custer later reported, “In the excitement of the fight, as well as in self-defence, it so happened that some of the squaws and a few of the children were killed and wounded…”

Benjamin Clark, guide for the 7th Cavalry, reported that U.S. troopers “galloped through the tepees… firing indiscriminately and killing men and women alike.” Original estimates listed 103 Cheyennes killed, among them 92 women, children, and old men. Black Kettle was gunned down while pleading for peace. The U.S. forces took 53 women and children as prisoners to be used as hostages or shields in later engagements. The troopers killed nearly 1,000 ponies and destroyed every lodge.

A U.S. detachment of 20 men veered away from the main force and was wiped out by Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Kiowa warriors attempting to join the fight. Custer withdrew without inquiring about the detachment’s fate, which caused resentment within the 7th Cavalry. Nevertheless, Custer’s men returned to their supply camp in the Indian Territory with the scalps of Black Kettle and other warriors.

Sheridan congratulated Custer for “efficient and gallant services rendered,” and celebrated the victory over the “savage bands of cruel marauders.” He reported that he had “wiped out Black Kettle… a worn-out and worthless old cypher.” Sheridan also claimed that Black Kettle would have been given protection if he had gone to a U.S. fort, even though Black Kettle had been turned away from Fort Cobb.

The Indian Bureau condemned the Washita attack as a “massacre of innocent Indians.” However, Sheridan was supported by his superior, General William T. Sherman, who had gained prominence during the Civil War by waging war on civilians and laying waste to many southern towns.

Survivors of the Washita massacre began trickling into Fort Cobb seeking food and shelter. They were forced to walk since their ponies had been destroyed. When the Arapahos agreed to surrender at Fort Cobb, Chief Tosawi met with Sheridan and announced, “Tosawi, good Indian.” Sheridan replied, “The only good Indians I ever saw were dead.” This was changed in time to the legendary phrase, “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.”

Many Indians were forced onto reservations as a result of the Washita attack, but the struggle between U.S. forces and Indians on the Plains would continue.

Sources:

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown (New York, NY: Henry Holt and Co., 1970)
Almanac of America’s Wars, edited by John S. Bowman (Mallard Press, 1990)
Battle of Washita River – Wikipedia

The Civil War This Week: Jan 20-26, 1864

Wednesday, January 20

President Abraham Lincoln informed General Frederick Steele, commanding the Federal Department of Arkansas, that the pro-Union convention’s approval of abolishing slavery meant that a state election should be held immediately. Steele scheduled the elections to be conducted in the spring.

Lincoln suspended five army executions. Federal naval vessels reconnoitered the mouth of Mobile Bay, Alabama; General Ulysses S. Grant had been urging a Federal attack on the port city. Skirmishing occurred in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Island No. 76 on the Mississippi River.

Thursday, January 21

In Tennessee, pro-Union citizens assembled at Nashville and proposed creating a new state constitution that included the abolition of slavery. In the military Department of the Ohio, whiskey distilling was prohibited due to the scarcity of grain; necessities were dwindling in the North.

Federal expeditions began from Chattanooga, Tennessee; Rossville, Georgia; Matagorda Peninsula, Texas; and Waldron, Arkansas. Skirmishing occurred in Tennessee.

Friday, January 22

Isaac Murphy became the provisional governor of the restored pro-Union Arkansas government, pending the upcoming elections. In Washington, President Lincoln informed an Arkansas delegation that he would not appoint a separate military governor in the state but would instead permit General Steele to supervise proceedings until the new state constitution and government were established.

Major General William S. Rosecrans was given command of the Federal Department of Missouri. He replaced Major General John Schofield, who had been accused by Radical Republicans of supporting the conservative wing of the party in Missouri. Schofield was given command of the Department of the Ohio.

Federal forage wagons were captured near Wilsonville, Tennessee. Skirmishing occurred in Virginia, Georgia, and Arkansas.

Saturday, January 23

President Lincoln approved a policy allowing slaveholders “to re-commence the cultivation of their plantations” by offering labor contracts to their former slaves if the slaveholders accepted the abolition of slavery. Lincoln urged Federal military authorities in conquered southern territory to administer this policy.

The Treasury Department ended most restrictions on trade in Kentucky and Missouri. Federal expeditions began from La Grange, Tennessee; Patterson, Missouri; and Charles Town, West Virginia. Skirmishing occurred in Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, and the Indian Territory.

Sunday, January 24

Federal pickets were captured at Love’s Hill near Knoxville, Tennessee. A Federal expedition began up the James River in Virginia. Skirmishing occurred in Tennessee and Mississippi.

Monday, January 25

Federal forces evacuated Corinth, Mississippi in an effort to strengthen their occupation points west of the Mississippi River. The Charleston Courier reported on the continued Federal shelling of the forts in Charleston Harbor: “The whizzing of shells overhead has become a matter of so little interest as to excite scarcely any attention from passers-by.” Confederate hospital buildings near Richmond were destroyed by fire.

A Federal expedition began from Scottsborough, Alabama. Skirmishing occurred in Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas.

Tuesday, January 26

President Lincoln officially approved new trade regulations with former Confederate territory and rules for “trading with the enemy.” Lincoln suspended nine army executions. Skirmishing occurred in Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, and the New Mexico Territory.

Primary Source: The Civil War Day-by-Day by E.B. Long and Barbara Long (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971)

President Grant’s Awkward Start

Ulysses S. Grant’s inept presidency began when he announced questionable and even bizarre appointments to his cabinet.

18th U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant

President Grant’s appointments were announced in the Senate on March 5, 1869, the day after his inauguration. Nobody had known who Grant would select prior to the announcements, and Grant’s fellow Republicans in Congress expressed resentment that they had not been consulted beforehand. Nevertheless, the Senate deferred to Grant out of respect for his Civil War accomplishments. But the senators were alarmed by the names that Grant submitted.

Congressman Elihu B. Washburne of Illinois, a man with no significant diplomatic experience, was nominated for Secretary of State. Some guessed that Washburne was being rewarded for having supported Grant since the beginning of the Civil War. The complaints were so loud that Grant instead made Washburne minister to France, then nominated Hamilton Fish of New York to head the State Department. Unlike Washburne, Fish was considered an excellent choice because of his expert foreign policy credentials.

Prominent businessman Alexander T. Stewart, the nation’s largest importer, was nominated for Treasury secretary. Stewart regularly did business with the Treasury, prompting senators to cite a 1789 law prohibiting any Treasury official from being “engaged… in any trade or commerce.” Grant boldly asked the Senate to waive the law but the senators refused, partly because Stewart had pledged to replace all New York Custom House officials, most of whom were Republicans. Grant then toed the party line by replacing Stewart with Radical Republican George S. Boutwell of Massachusetts.

General John A. Rawlins was nominated for Secretary of War. As Grant’s closest adviser throughout the war, this was generally considered a good appointment. But Rawlins was dying of tuberculosis, and his death in September 1869 was considered “an irreparable loss” to the administration. With no political experience, Grant was even more vulnerable to government malfeasance after Rawlins’s death.

The nominations of Jacob Cox for Interior Secretary and Ebenezer R. Hoar for Attorney General were largely commended. So was the nomination of John A.J. Creswell for Postmaster General, as Creswell was the only Radical Republican who was initially appointed.

The most bizarre appointment was Adolph E. Borie for Secretary of the Navy. Borie was so unknown that “Who’s Borie?” became a catchphrase on Capitol Hill. He was found to be a wealthy Philadelphia businessman, causing speculation that Grant nominated him simply because he needed a Pennsylvanian in his cabinet. Rumors circulated that the nominations of both Stewart and Borie were merely rewards for having generously contributed to Grant’s election. This was evidenced by revelations that Grant had been entertained at Borie’s Delaware River estate. Borie withdrew under pressure, and Grant instead nominated New Jersey lawyer George M. Robeson, who was confirmed.

In all, Grant’s cabinet contained more supporters of outgoing President (and Democrat) Andrew Johnson than the Republicans (particularly the Radicals) that helped elect him. According to the pro-Democrat New York World, Grant  “deviated into absolute oddity (with) such a Cabinet as no politician would have advised.” The Nation guessed that the nominations disappointed “probably his friends and admirers rather than his enemies.”

Some newspapers praised Grant for nominating men without political considerations; the Philadelphia Enquirer called Grant “the possessor of those analytical powers which enable men to judge character with close and correct appreciation.”

However, most condemned Grant’s picks. Radical Congressman George W. Julian of Indiana said that “the disappointment was deep and universal among Republicans… every one thinks that Grant has made a serious blunder” regarding his nominations. Henry Adams said, “Grant’s nominations had the singular effect of making the hearer ashamed, not so much of Grant, as of himself.”