The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    Theodore Roosevelt and the Original War on Terror

    By Michael Wolraich on Thu, 06/16/2016 - 12:46pm | Politics

    Some years ago, an unstable young man committed one of the most notorious terrorist acts in U.S. history. He was American-born, but his parents were immigrants, and his allegiance to a radical ideology with foreign origins terrified the public. “They and those like them should be kept out of this country,” railed Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States, “and if found here they should be promptly deported to the country whence they came.”

    The young man was Leon Czolgosz, a Polish-American anarchist. On August 31, 1901, he fatally shot President William McKinley in the abdomen with .32 caliber revolver. The nation reacted with shock and outrage. McKinley’s successor, President Theodore Roosevelt, denounced anarchy as “a crime against the whole human race” and demanded legislation to restrict immigration and deport suspected anarchists. Congress answered the call with the Anarchist Exclusion Act, which barred anyone “who disbelieves in or who is opposed to all organized government” from becoming citizens.

    Full story at The History Reader

    Topics: 
    Politics

    Comments

    This is a good reminder.

    I am watching a string of videos published at Washpo from Chris Cirrizza.

    As I attempt to spell out the name of one of my favorite journalist/cable tv guy, I have a part of me that wonders:

     

    WHERE THE HELL DID HE COME FROM.

    hahahahahaha

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/06/16/5-things-ive-learned-from-donald-trump-in-the-last-365-days/

    Teddy had his own political reasons, obviously, which you well know. I mean he came into office randomly and he had to underline that his new office was not gotten surreptitiously. hahhha

    ​Id, ego and superego.

    The lizard brain will always be with us.

    Oh and I like your blog.

    I get so damned lost sometimes.

     

     


    by Richard Day on Thu, 06/16/2016 - 1:15pm

    Thanks for that Trump link, Dick. I feel so confident that he will get creamed in the general, but I'm scared of making the same mistakes that all the pundits made in the primary.

    PS Lizard brains, indeed


    by Michael Wolraich on Thu, 06/16/2016 - 1:32pm

    I'm scared of making the same mistakes that all the pundits made in the primary.

    I don't blame you, though I can't see Hillary Clinton making the mistakes Trump's primary opponents did. She takes every opponent seriously.

    Great piece on the anti-anarchist hysteria.  We could have listened more to Emma Goldman, though.


    by Michael Maiello on Thu, 06/16/2016 - 6:02pm

    In 1990, Czolgosz's story became part of a musical by Stephen Sondheim called "Assassins."  .

     

    History + Time + Music  = ?

     

    ..


    by MrSmith1 on Thu, 06/16/2016 - 4:06pm

    My favorite Broadway show of ever.


    by Michael Maiello on Thu, 06/16/2016 - 6:03pm

    I had no clue Mike, wow. It was an excellent read. Thanks for sharing it here. I love all things TR. But this is something I really had no clue about. I'm sharing this with every one I know. 


    by tmccarthy0 on Tue, 06/21/2016 - 7:59pm

    Thanks, tmc. I'm glad that you enjoyed it.


    by Michael Wolraich on Thu, 06/23/2016 - 10:23pm