America, June 27, 1914

Does history teach us anything, or does it just rhyme?

Jun 23, 2024

June 27, 1914, was another hot day for families waking up across the country. All of June had been sweltering. The Midwest had suffered the highest temperatures on record with Indianapolis reporting a high of 108 degrees earlier in the month. People were dying from heat stroke. To escape the heat, families crowded into parks, little boys and girls ran around almost naked through puddles, and children across Chicago and other cities sought relief in the city’s pools and playgrounds. [1]

Some families responded to these stifling conditions by escaping their homes and driving into the countryside in their Model T Fords, stopping on the way for a cold Coca-Cola. [2] The year before, Ford began the mass production of automobiles and with the introduction of the assembly line, reduced the time to build a vehicle from 12.5 to 1.5 hours. In 1914, Ford reduced the work day from 9 hours to 8 and doubled the daily wages of workers to $5 per day. Now even its employees could afford to purchase the Model T.[3]

The American public was very well informed of the events in their community, across the nation, and internationally. There were 15,000 weekly and daily newspapers. [4]

Headlines in the New York Times that day included: “Woman on Hospital Staff,” which reported the appointment of Dr. Margaret N. Sullivan to be the first woman physician to serve on the staff of the Jersey City Hospital, “Overcoming Jersey City Prejudice.”[5]

“Favors Mixing Races,” was a story about Professor Franz Boas, of Columbia, giving a lecture at Berkley defending the intermarriage of whites with Japanese, Hindus, and other Orientals. [6]

On the front page of the NYT was a sports story, “Columbia Wins Big ‘Varsity Race,” reflecting national coverage of America’s then pastime, Crew. [7]

Americans had been suffering through a recession, although back then they called it a depression. Nevertheless, President Wilson insisted that business was normal. The President of the Bank of Buffalo disagreed and in a speech to the Credit Men’s Association said:

The President states that business is normal. Either this statement is true, or he, a man of education and ability, is honestly ignorant of what every businessman in the country knows: or he is guilty of a deliberate misstatement. That the President of the United States should be guilty of a deliberate misstatement is inconceivable.

This leaves two alternatives—either his statement is true or he is honestly ignorant. I leave the choice to you. [8]

Presidential mendacity was certainly not inconceivable to the American public, but putdowns were far more elegant and sophisticated back then.

On the international front, Americans were most concerned by the civil war in Mexico. “Carranza Agents Urge Conference.” At a conference in Washington to settle the conflict, it was reported that Capt. Alfredo Breceda gave the impression that the civil war could not be settled by diplomacy; and that the revolution would continue until the government’s army had taken Mexico City. [9]

No one was much concerned with events elsewhere in the world. There was gossip of course. In Paris, Mrs. David Stuart of Baltimore died suddenly on a honeymoon tour. The doctor who examined her body said she had been poisoned. Mr. Stuart replied that his wife took drugs for insomnia. The doctor was not satisfied with this explanation and called the police who seized the body for a post-mortem examination. [10]

That was Paris. The next day, in Sarajevo, Serbia, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne, was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian national, referred to by the Times as a 19-year-old “schoolboy.”[11]The importance of that event was not known for another 38 days. But even so, most Americans were not concerned about what was happening in Europe in July of 1914, or September 1939, or even now. Few thought it had anything to do with them—until it did.

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