Politics, 100 Years Ago
Posted on: June 23rd, 2008 by Matt Raymond
One of my favorite new RSS feeds or email subscriptions from the Library is put out by the folks who bring us “Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers.” (RSS here, email sign-up here.)
The feed gives a daily look at what was going on in the news 100 years ago — something I tried a couple of times on my own (here and here).
Apropos of the current election season, I recently received this link to a page from June 19, 1908, in the Washington Herald, which proclaims the nomination of William Howard Taft for president.
There is plenty to note on the front page alone, such as Theodore Roosevelt’s peculiar use of the word “peculiar” in his congratulatory statement. There is also this little un-PC observation from a raucous GOP convention in Chicago: “That great audience, numbering to-day nearly 20,000 persons, was in a grand swelter. The lean people liked it–rather enjoyed it–and the fat folks swore under their breath.”
Maybe our modern-day conventions are cheerier affairs because of something as simple as air conditioning?
“Chronicling America” is a terrific resource, and it’s wonderful to have gems like that coming daily (oops, I meant “weekly”) via email.
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June 24th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
lol @ the un-PC comment about the GOP convention. That would totally never fly in 2008 haha… actually, I’m quite confident that the official would be forced to resign after the ensuing scandal. lol, I love america! Its amazing how times do change though.
June 25th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Speaking of 100 years ago, it was in 1908 that the last Democratic National Convention took place in Denver, and now, 100 years later, it is again happening in Denver. We have some exciting things happening for educators and students, as you can see if you go to the “When History Happens” Web site: http://www.whenhistoryhappens.org/. If you click on Resources, you can view lots of primary sources related to 1908, including a few newspaper articles. Several organizations have helped put together the When History Happens program, including Teaching with Primary Sources–Colorado (an educational outreach program of the Library of Congress) and the Denver Newspaper Agency, among others.
June 28th, 2008 at 9:01 am
excellent post - I will be sharing this with my readers today!
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July 4th, 2008 at 8:32 am
A fantastic post, thanks for sharing it with us.
July 17th, 2008 at 6:50 am
100 years ago also politics as politics..
July 17th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Oh, that is so cool. I’m actually afraid that the Dow Jones Average might be the same as today.
July 19th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
[...] AND… According to this post on the Library of Congress blog, turning off the AC could trim fat in Washington in more ways than [...]
July 21st, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Very interesting. It’s good to gain a different perspective on politics 100 years ago
August 15th, 2008 at 7:29 am
lol @ the un-PC comment about the GOP convention. That would totally never fly in 2008 haha… actually, I’m quite confident that the official would be forced to resign after the ensuing scandal. lol, I love america! Its amazing how times do change though.