Admiral
Sir Rosslyn Wemyss, First Sea Lord, and Marshal Ferdinand Foch
(standing), the French leader of the Allied forces, accept the German
surrender ending fighting in the Great War.Note: A
return of a semi-regular post. But it
will be new and news to some of you.
11/11/11. That’s how Americans remembered the Armistice
that went into effect on November
11, 1918 at 11 a.m. local
time in France ending hostilities
on the Western Front in what was up to that time the most catastrophically
bloody war in history. The German
High Command signed the armistice just two days after revolutionaries in Berlin overthrew Kaiser Wilhelm
and proclaimed a Republic. The shooting
part of the Great War was over.
It would not officially end until
the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919.
President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation
declaring the day as Armistice Day, an occasion for national Thanksgiving and prayer.
Americans and the world were thankful, but they were more in the mood for wild celebration that day than for sober reflection and prayer. From
the great cities of Europe to the simplest of rural American villages spontaneous celebrations erupted in the streets.
These
Doughboys may never have made it to the Front, but had plenty to
celebrate in an impromptu New York City parade celebrating the Armistice
on November 11, 1918.By the time of the first anniversary most Allied nations
had officially adopted November 11 as a holiday.
In Britain, Canada, and other Commonwealth Countries it is called Remembrance Day or Poppy Day for the red paper
flowers almost universally worn
on that day. In the United States,
where holiday proclamations were
traditionally left to the states, only a handful had yet designated a formal holiday.
But with troops only recently come home, cities and towns
across the country marked the day with parades
and speeches.
Colonel
Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. issued the call for the Paris Caucus where
Officers and enlisted men still in France in May 1919 laid the
groundwork for the establishment of the American Legion.
The spread of the day as an official
holiday was promoted by veterans’
organizations. One such organization was envisioned by Colonel
Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. as a group analogous to the Grand Army of the Republic, the
organization of Civil War Veterans which dominated American public life for more than 50 years. Within
days of the Armistice Roosevelt gathered officers
in Paris to plan for the organization. In March 1919 the Paris
Caucus of over 1000 officers and enlisted
men adopted a temporary constitution
and the name American Legion. Congress granted the Legion a
charter in September and a founding
convention was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota over three days
that coincided with the 1919 Armistice celebrations.
Unlike the Veterans of Foreign
Wars (VFW), an existing organization of Spanish Civil War,
Philippine Insurrection, Boxer Rebellion, and Mexican
Expeditionary veterans which began accepting Great War veterans into their existing network of Posts, the American Legion had a distinct ideological tone. From the beginning, its leadership was in ultra-conservative hands, and some were eager to mobilize the ranks in campaigns against the Red Menace
of the post war period. Legion
officers often encouraged their
members to act as organized strike
breakers.
On that same Armistice Day in 1919,
an American Legion parade in Centralia, Washington, the heart of lumber country and long running labor strife, broke ranks on a pre-arranged
signal and attacked the local hall of the Industrial Workers of
the World (IWW).
The
American Legion in Centralia, Washington parading on Armistice Day
1919 moments before they broke ranks to attack the IWW Hall.Wobblies in the hall opened
fire in self defense as the
Legionaries tried to charge up the
stairs. Four Legionaries were killed in the attack and several others
were wounded inside the hall in a confusing
melee before most of the union men were disarmed. Wesley Everest, himself a veteran and in uniform, escaped although wounded
and was chased down to the river where
he shot two or more of his pursuers
before being overwhelmed.
That night a mob of Legionaries, with the complicity
of authorities, seized the
wounded Everest from his jail cell, dragged him behind an automobile, castrated him, and hung him
from a railroad bridge.
Several IWW members including those captured in the hall and others tracked down by posses in a massive man hunt were put on trial. Eight
Wobblies were convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to long prison terms. No Legionnaires were charged in the initial
assault.
President
Warren G. Harding, standing left at the entombment of the Unknown
Soldier on Armistice Day 1921. He also proclaimed a one-time Federal
Holiday for the occasion.When the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier was dedicated on Armistice Day 1921, a onetime Federal Holiday was declared. In 1926 a Congressional Resolution proclaimed the
“recurring anniversary of should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer
and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual
understanding between nations” and that the President should issue an annual proclamation calling for the
observance of Armistice Day. It still fell short of the declaration of a
Federal holiday. At the time 27 states had official observances.
Spread of the holiday, although popular with the public, was strongly opposed by business interests.
Although the rival veterans’ organizations both campaigned for the establishment of Armistice Day as an official
Holliday and supported wounded veterans,
their emphasis, and political agenda, was clearly
different. The VFW was more interested in obtaining benefits and support for veterans while the Legion
promoted respect for the military and patriotism. The VFW spearheaded
the campaigns that resulted in the first Veterans medical benefits, vocational
training for wounded veterans, the establishment of the Veteran’s
Bureau, and an act of Congress to pay Great War veterans a Bonus in
1942.
When the Depression hit veterans
especially hard, the VFW endorsed
efforts to get Congress to authorize an early payment of the promised Bonus. Although not officially supporters of the Bonus
March on Washington in 1932, they were outraged when troops under General
Douglas MacArthur violently dispersed
the demonstrators and destroyed their
camp. The Legion, on the other
hand, supported the Army and painted the Bonus Marchers as Communists.
Retired
Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler, twice a Medal of Honor winner, was
recruited by business leaders and high American Legion officials to be
the "Man on a White Horse" to front a coup d'etat overthrowing Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. Instead, he exposed the plot to Congress.In the early days of the Franklin
Roosevelt administration some
Legion leaders were involved in the aborted
plot to stage a military coup
against the President and replace him with a military Man on a White
Horse. They planned to use legion members as Italian Fasciitis
and German Nazis had used their Black and Brown Shirts, largely drawn from the ranks of their own
veterans. The plot was exposed
when an officer who was offered the titular role military savior, Marine
Corps General Smedley Butler publicly exposed the cabal. The
plot was averted but its leaders were so powerful that none were ever charged
or tried for treason.
On May 13, 1938 Congress finally approved of a Federal Holiday on
November 11 “dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter
celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day.’”
By then another world catastrophe
was on the horizon. After World War II veterans organizations and
the public were both divided between
creating a new public holiday making
the end of that war, mostly likely on V-J (Victory over Japan) Day,
or if Armistice Day should be renamed to
include the new wave of veterans. Veterans of World War I, as the
first conflict was now called, were united
in their desire to keep Armistice Day for themselves. The huge wave of
young vets was split. Whatever happened, business interests were strongly
opposed to the creation of any more Federal holidays for any reason.
After
signing legislation creating the official new Federal Veteran's Day
holiday, President Dwight D. Eisenhower posed with leaders of the
American Legion, left, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, right.
Representative Edwin Rees of Kansas, the sponsor of the legislation is
to the immediate left of Ike.
Finally, the issue was settled when
on June 4, 1954 with a whole new crop of veterans from the Korean War
already coming home, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Act of Congress that transformed Armistice Day into Veterans Day.
Traditionalists still grumbled.
But they were really given something to complain about in 1968 when Congress
passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which sought to ensure three-day weekends for federal employees and to encourage tourism and travel by celebrating four national
holidays, Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans
Day, and Columbus Day on Mondays.
Federal Veterans Day was moved to the last
Monday in October.
When the first observance under the new scheme was held on October 21, 1971 the
public was outraged and most states refused to go along, maintaining November
11 as state holidays. In many
states that meant two observances—and competing
claims for paid holidays by
workers in private industry covered
by labor contracts. Businesses
hated that.
Bowing to public pressure, President
Gerald Ford signed a new law returning the observation of
Veterans Day to November 11th beginning in 1978. If November 11 falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the Federal government observes the holiday on the previous Friday or following Monday. This year the original date can be observed and preserve the long weekend.
In recent years mid-week observance of Veterans Day has lowered its public profile.
Fewer and fewer cities and towns held Veterans Day parades. Participation
in local commemorations faded as first the World War I veterans
passed and then the ranks of World War II and Korean Veterans shrank.
Veterans of the unpopular Vietnam War often felt unwelcome in Legion and VFW posts and were stigmatized by the public as troubled
and possibly dangerous.
Veterans organizations became
outraged as a wide-spread movement to keep
kids in school resulted in Veterans Day being dropped as a school holiday
in many places. Ironically, with schools
in session and many state legislatures mandating veteran curricula on that day, the holiday may have
gotten a boost in interest among students
who previously would have just enjoyed a day away from studies.
The long, lingering wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
produced new rounds of veterans, many of them National Guardsmen and
Reservists, older soldiers with deep
roots in their home communities.
They are giving the day new meaning.
Younger
Vets have replaced aging World War II, Korean, and Vietnam vets in
parades like this pre-pandemic one in New York City.
Both pro and anti-war people have
used the day to advance their causes. Despite the predictably bellicose stance of the
national leadership of the American Legion and to a lesser extent the VFW,
most of these new veterans adamantly
refuse to allow the holiday to
be politicized. They want to honor the service of all
veterans regardless of opinions on
the wars by the public—or by veterans themselves.
Unfortunately, that determination
was ignored by Donald Trump who
famously yearned to stage an epic military
parade including tanks and missiles to roll by a reviewing stand like observances in France—and Russia. That wild dream was hosed down by the almost unanimous opposition of military leaders, technical difficulties, and the enormous expense.