Colonel Edward House | Ep 3

Colonel Edward House: The Man Behind Woodrow Wilson's Throne | 

In April 1914, Woodrow Wilson calls on his most trusted advisor, Colonel Edward House after luncheon. He is seeking counsel on what he should do about the "Mexican Situation." President Huerta has refused to give the American Flag a 21-gun salute after the Tampico Incident, and Wilson feels the U.S. cannot bear this insult. Should he authorize invasion? 

A savvy Politico from Texas, Colonel Edward House (who isn't really a Colonel but granted this honorific title by Governor Jim Hogg) has big foreign policy ideas for Wilson and his administration, and one of those ideas is restoring law and order in Mexico via U.S. intervention. 

Wilson sends battleships to the East Coast and the West Coast of Mexico and talk of WAR is all over the papers. Is the United States on the edge of an armed conflict? Will the U.S. get the regime change they're looking for, or will Wilson's cooler head and pacific nature prevail?

Music from Epidemic Sound.

Sources for this episode include:

• Colonel House by Charles E. Neu
• War on the Border by Jeff Guinn
• William F. Buckley Sr by John A. Adams Jr.
• Buckley by Sam Tanenhaus

Transcript

Shannon 0:13

In April nineteen fourteen, President Woodrow Wilson sends an invitation to his most trusted advisor, Colonel Edward House. President Wilson fears that U.S. intervention in Mexico may be necessary, and he's interested in counsel from Colonel House regarding what he should do following the incident at Tampico. Tampico sits on Mexico's Faja de Oro, Mexico's Golden Lane, which stretches from Tampico to Veracruz on Mexico's Gulf Coast. Competing British and American oil interests are set up in this region in Mexico. But Mexico is in the midst of a complicated and violent revolution. And the country has become unsafe for the Americans living and working there. About a week before Wilson calls this meeting with his advisor, soldiers from an American gunboat are arrested and detained in Tampico when they went ashore to gather supplies. Mexican President Huerta has been given the deadline of April 16th to meet the U.S. demand. Or else. The or else has not been made clear yet. But it can be assumed that it involves invasion. Or rather, intervention. An American intervention in Mexico could make Tampico safe again. Safe for U.S. citizens and safe for U.S. oil interests. On April 15th, one day before the deadline, Colonel Edward House writes the following in his diary about his meeting with Wilson. Quote, the president telephoned me after luncheon and asked if he might not send a motor for us at once and bring us to the White House. This was done. The president was in his study when I arrived, and we began at once on the Mexican question. He told the details of recent happenings, and we discussed what had been done and what should be done. I encouraged him by saying that, in the end, good would come out of it all. I advised him to stand firm and to blaze the way for a new and better international code of morals than the world had yet seen. And it should be the same with nations. If Mexico understood that our motives were unselfish, she should not object to our helping adjust her unruly household. The deadline passes without a 21-gun salute to the American flag. Wilson believes that the U.S. cannot bear this insult. And he authorizes intervention. America's gunboat diplomacy that was then rebranded as dollar diplomacy will now henceforth under Wilson be known as moral diplomacy. I'm Shannon. And I'm Bobby. And this is that American Century. Colonel Edward House was Wilson's campaign manager for the 1912 election. And now he is Wilson's chief advisor. He believes that the U.S. is a moral arbiter. In his diary entry, we see a bit of his worldview. When we seek to intervene in another nation's business or politics, it's purely in an altruistic manner. It's for unselfish reasons.

Bobby 5:22

That's good to know. That that should inspire a lot of competence whenever we intervene.

Shannon 5:27

I guess it's just not being said.

Bobby 5:29

Hmm. Because that would kind of smooth everything over, I think.

Shannon 5:31

I think so too.

Bobby 5:32

Yeah.

Shannon 5:34

By April 1914, Huerta had been president for a little more than a year. He's really more of a dictator. Because he came to be president via a bloody coup. He overthrew the rightfully elected president, Madero. Then he had him murdered. Wilson refers to Huerta's government as the de facto government. And he refuses to legitimize his presidency. Wilson has not been wanting to intervene in Mexico. He's been watching and waiting. He's a pacifist. But he also doesn't appreciate these insults from Mexico. He thinks who is Mexico to insult us? The United States of America, a world of power. House, in his diary about his meeting with Wilson, said, We discussed what had been done and what should be done. I encouraged him by saying that perhaps, in the end, good would come of it all. If Mexico understood that our motives were unselfish, she should not object to our helping adjust her unruly household.

Bobby 6:52

Right. That sounds perfectly reasonable.

Shannon 6:56

And this has been the argument since the Spanish-American War. These countries in the Western Hemisphere, the Caribbean, Central America, also the Philippines, they are, and this is a quote from House's diary. He calls these countries waste places of the world. Ouch. Ouch.

Bobby 7:19

It's not very, not very nice.

Shannon 7:21

But that yeah, this was his this was his diary. This was his private Oh, okay, okay.

Bobby 7:26

Yeah. But still. Reveals his opinions, of course.

Shannon 7:29

Well, and also he gave his people know that their diaries are going to be held and kept by a university.

Bobby 7:37

Hmm.

Shannon 7:38

Which lucky university are receiving your papers?

Bobby 7:42

I guess the best one.

Shannon 7:45

Turn of the century, there has been a colonization race amongst the world powers. House has this great idea that Western powers should work together on developing these places. And this will help alleviate tension amongst European nations. He writes in his diary in 1913. I want Wilson to let me bring about an understanding between Great Britain, the US, and Germany in regard to the Monroe Doctrine. It is my endeavor to bring about a better understanding between England and Germany. That if England were less intolerant of Germany's aspirations for expansion, good feeling could be brought about between them. I thought we could encourage Germany to exploit South America in a legitimate way, that is, by development of its resources and by sending her surplus population there. That such a move would be good for South America and would have a beneficial result generally. House also thinks that the US, England, and Germany can work together in developing China. It is a capitalist mentality plus a missionary mentality. Now, Colonel House, he has no official appointment in Wilson's cabinet because he refused any appointment that Wilson wanted to offer him. House thought he could be more effective as simply chief advisor, which is not a cabinet position, it's not a staff position. President Wilson just calls on him for advice, sends a motor for him after luncheon. And House is instrumental in Wilson's foreign policy outlook and ideas. House's diary entry from the same day as this afternoon meeting about Mexico goes on to say the following about Wilson. We motored for an hour and a half and had a delightful talk. I asked whom he considered the greatest man in the early days of the Republic. He thought Alexander Hamilton was easily the ablest. We spoke of Washington and how much he depended on Hamilton's advice. I thought this, in itself, indicated Washington's greatness. The fact that he was able to pick out Hamilton from among his associates as his guiding mind, and that he used him in this way showed a breadth of view that was remarkable. I told him that all the really big men I had known had taken advice from others, while the little men refused to take it. The fact that a man took advice did not lessen his greatness because, after all, he had to judge for himself finally as to what was good and what was bad. He agreed to this. Yes, and this this has been House's MO his whole political career. He never wanted to be a candidate. He always wanted to be the guy behind the scenes in the candidate's ear.

Bobby 11:35

Right.

Shannon 11:36

He never wants to be the bride. He only wants to be the bridesmaid. The diary entry continues. Wilson remarked that he always sought advice. I almost laughed at this statement. For McAdoo, the Treasury Secretary, had just been telling me today that he was at White Sulfur with the President. Remember, we talked about this last time they're at the Green Briar, White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia.

Bobby 12:04

Right, right.

Shannon 12:05

So McAdoo had just been telling me today that he was at White Sulfur with the President and his family when the dispatch came from Admiral Mayo concerning his demand of Huerta to salute our flag. And he, McAdoo, said the president never even mentioned the matter to him. House finds this funny that he didn't tell the Treasury Secretary. That he's I I think he thinks Wilson's waiting to just tell him.

Bobby 12:33

Yeah, because he's not as as close to him as I.

Shannon 12:36

Is that how you're interpreting it?

Bobby 12:37

That's how I'm interpreting it, yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Shannon 12:40

The diary entry. Miss Bones, this is Woodrow Wilson's cousin, who's um helping out Mrs. Wilson. Okay. Works for them. Miss Bones may have let out the secret when she told Lulie, this is Edward House's wife, quote, When Uncle Woodrow and the Colonel are together, the family feel the country is safe, and that nothing can happen. End of diary entry. When Uncle Woodrow and the Colonel are together, the family feel the country is safe. So after the meeting, where they discuss what Wilson should do about Mexico, they keep the party going. They dine together with House's wife and Wilson's cousin, Miss Helen Bones. Because remember, Wilson's wife has been sick. And then they all took in a show. They went and saw the pirates of Penzance.

Bobby 13:42

Oh, wonderful.

Pirates of Penzance 13:42

I am the very model of a modern major general life. Information, vegetable, animal, and mineral. And over the kings of England, I can put the physicist article from a marathon to waterlow in order categorical. I'm very well acquainted to it, matters mathematical. I understand equations, both simple and quadratical. About binomial freedom, I am teeming with a lot of news. Oh, a lot of news, a lot of news. Ah, with the miniature facts about the square of the hypotenuse.

Shannon 14:09

So who is this Colonel House? How did he come to be Wilson's most trusted advisor? His silent partner. The man behind Woodrow Wilson's throne. Where does a guy like this come from? He comes from Texas. And this is where his road to the White House begins. Practicing progressive politics in Texas. And you know what? Colonel Edward House. He isn't even really a colonel. Never served in the military. It was an honorific title by a man he helped get elected governor. A man named Big Jim Hogg. Now we're gonna find out a little bit about Big Jim Hogg. I hope so. Big Jim Hogg was a legend in Texas. 6'3, nearly 300 pounds, and in 1890, he became the first governor of Texas to be born in the state of Texas. Born in 1851 on a 2,500-acre plantation in Cherokee County, Texas, Jim Hogg was Texas tough. He had to be. Both his parents were dead by the time he was 12. And he would have to help support the family. Jim Hogg's father, a Confederate general, died in battle in 1862 when Jim was just 11. And his mother would die a year later. This left Jim, two of his brothers, and two older sisters to run the plantation. And after receiving a basic education, Jim had to go find work. He walked three days from Cherokee County, Texas, to Cleburne, Texas, where he found work at a newspaper, the Cleburne Chronicle. Not long after arriving though, their offices burned down. And he had to walk back to Cherokee County. I just wanted that little drum. He probably had some money at this point and was able to buy a drink. Maybe, yeah. In the coming years, Jim Hogg would find work as a typesetter at other Texas newspapers while studying law on the side. He would take a job at the Quitman Clipper newspaper. And it was while working in Quitman and helping the local sheriff that Jim Hogg nearly met his maker. He had crossed an outlaw. And the outlaw managed to lure him over the county line. And then he shot Jim Hogg in the back. Six times. Six shots to the back in 1870s, Texas, and he survives.

Bobby 18:31

That's crazy.

Shannon 18:32

He gets married, has three boys, and one girl, and he just adores his little girl. She could do no wrong, and he thought she was just pure sunshine. Her name was Ima. I'ma hog.

Bobby 18:54

Really? That is true. So his surname isn't actually Hog, is it? Yeah. It really is? Yes. Like H-O-G. Double G. Okay. Okay. I thought that was just his his chosen nickname.

Shannon 19:06

Nah. Nah.

Bobby 19:07

I'm a hog.

Shannon 19:10

I'ma hog was beloved in Texas. She was a huge patron of the arts. She sets up a mental health foundation in honor of her brother. She serves on the Houston School Board. She founded the Houston Symphony. She restored several historic Texas buildings. People loved her. And she was named Ima because Jim Hogg's brother wrote a poem where the female character is named Ima.

Bobby 19:42

Hmm. I was wondering if it was like a boy named Sue sort of situation where, you know, she was named that to toughen her up.

Shannon 19:51

There were rumors as part of this of Jim Hogg's legend that there was an another daughter named Ura. That was just a schoolyard joke. So Jim Hogg's political career begins when he is elected Wood County Attorney in 1878. And he goes on to serve as district attorney, and then he becomes Texas Attorney General. And in 1890, he becomes the governor of Texas. He has very progressive policies. He supports public schools and state universities. He sets up a Texas Railroad Commission to regulate the railroad industry. And during his tenure, the state of Texas sues Standard Oil, accusing them of price fixing. He's dubbed the people's governor. But a man can't get to the governor's mansion without a little help from his friends. And one of those friends is a mover and shaker in Texas politics. A small man with a soft voice. The exact physical opposite of Big Jim Hogg. Edward House. As I mentioned, Edward House never served in the military. And it is Big Jim Hogg, who in 1893 gives House as a token of gratitude, the honorific title of Colonel. And he used it for the rest of his career. And he will go to Europe and meet with the Kaiser. And because he's called Colonel Edward House, they think he's really a military man. Colonel House is an ambitious man. And he wants to bring the progressive policies that Jim Hogg implemented in Texas to the rest of the nation. He's looking to extend his reach out of Texas. And he's thinking bigger off. Offices than governorships. In 1912, this savvy politico helps another man win a political office. The highest office in the land. The presidency. And this is where Woodrow Wilson and Edward House. This is where their lives intersect. Woodrow Wilson was president of Princeton University for almost eight years before becoming governor of New Jersey in 1910. And Edward House likes Wilson's policies. And in the fall of 1911, they meet. Wilson really likes Colonel House when he needs him. He's not some bombastic fat cat party boss. Small, soft-spoken, well-trimmed white mustache. And House thinks Woodrow Wilson should be president. Wilson wins the Democratic nomination. House becomes his campaign manager. And in 1912, Wilson wins the presidency. Please. Fall of 1910, he's elected governor of New Jersey. Fall of 1911, he meets Edward House. Fall of 1912, he's elected president. Wow. Now, the 1912 election, you may remember, has a third party that splits the Republican vote. Teddy Roosevelt was upset that Taft didn't really continue on Roosevelt policies in the way Roosevelt liked. Right. So he's challenging Taft for the Republican nomination. He doesn't get it. Roosevelt establishes the Progressive Party, also called the Bull Moose Party. And this splits the Republican vote. Woodrow Wilson gets elected. Yep. After Wilson wins the White House, House, after after Wilson wins the White House, Colonel Edward House will advise him on nearly every cabinet appointment. When Wilson takes office in March 1913, because the inaugurations were in March back in these days, House begins urging Wilson to take care of the Mexican situation. House has friends who are doing business in Mexico, and he thinks the U.S. should intervene somehow. But Wilson doesn't immediately take House's advice on this. He decides to watch and wait. Then, in November 1913, House receives a letter from an old friend that he knew back in his Austin, Texas days. So now we're roughly four months before the incident at Tampico in April 1914. Colonel House's friend, who's writing him, he's been living in Mexico for about five years since 1908. And he has offices and apartments in Mexico City and in Tampico. He's a lawyer and sort of a liaison between the Mexican government and foreign business interests. And one of his clients is the Texas Company, which would later become.

Bobby 25:58

Can I guess?

Shannon 25:59

You can guess. Texaco very good.

Bobby 26:02

That was pretty easy.

Shannon 26:05

The Texas Company was founded in 1901 with the help of a charismatic investor, Big Jim Hogg. After Jim Hogg retires in politics, he makes some of that Texas oil money. So Hausel's friend is in the midst of a lot of conflict in Mexico, and he's worried about the continuous violence that is that has been happening. This is the Mexican Revolution. Also a series of revolutions. People also say you can think of it as a civil war. It's all those things. So the friend is worried about the continuous violence that is happening between President Huerta's federal soldiers and the rebel troops opposed to Huerta, the constitutionalists. In his letter, he tells Colonel House that things are getting bad. American property is being destroyed. Mines are being destroyed. Americans living and working in Mexico do not feel safe. And the US must do something about it. And they must do something about it before some European power decides to do something about it. Remember, we talked about this last episode. We have competing British oil interests and U.S. oil interests.

Bobby 27:39

And the U.S. is the smaller share of the companies, actually.

Shannon 27:43

Yes, they are a smaller share of the crude at this time. So the friend writes to Colonel House. He says, we all believe here that there is but one solution of this difficulty, and that is American intervention. I venture to say that when the first revolution broke out, 90% of the American residents in Mexico were opposed to intervention in any form. They have been converted. Not because they desire to see a conflict between the United States and Mexico, but because they believe it is the only solution to the problem. And that it will be necessary to conserve American prestige in this country and prevent the domination here of European influence. The old friend from Texas, writing to Colonel House, asking for law and order to be restored via intervention and brute force is William F. Buckley Sr. Oh. Father to William F. Buckley Jr., author, columnist, debater, founder of National Review in 1955, host of firing line.

William F. Buckley Jr. 29:02

I rejoice over the influence of the people over their elected leaders, since by and large I think that they show more wisdom than their leaders or than their intellectuals. I've often been quoted as saying I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the Boston Telephone Directory than by the 2,000 people on the faculty of Harvard University.

Shannon 29:22

Huge part of the American century. His father grew up poor, but became a lawyer and an oil man, and had a front row seat to the Mexican Revolution. How's that for a fun fact?

Bobby 29:38

It's fun. It's very fun.

Shannon 29:39

You you'd think, based on William F. Buckley Jr.'s very distinct and famous manner of speaking, his famous transatlantic or mid-Atlantic accent, which it really isn't even, it's his own thing. Old money.

Bobby 29:59

Boston Brahmins.

Shannon 30:01

Wasps. Mm-hmm. But they're not. Ship-in magnates. They're Catholic. And Buckley Sr. is from South Texas.

Bobby 30:09

Never would have guessed.

Shannon 30:10

And Buckley Jr.'s first language was Spanish. And he didn't even learn English till the age of seven. And here in 1913, we see Buckley Sr. asking for a hard military hand to restore law and order in the streets of Mexico. If you think about Buckley's views, his influence on Reagan, his influence on Nixon, these are law and order candidates.

Bobby 30:41

Yeah, you can see where this came from.

Shannon 30:43

Yeah. Colonel House had been suggesting intervention in Mexico to President Wilson even before he receives this letter from William F. Buckley Sr., because House has a lot of wealthy, powerful friends who are also worried about their business interests in Mexico. So you can just imagine House gets this letter from William F. Buckley Sr., and then he probably even more so is in Wilson's ear saying, we have to, we have to intervene. It's like it's like Wilson's being worked up and he just needs an incident, like the Tampico incident, to give him that little nudge.

William F. Buckley Jr. 31:27

Right.

Shannon 31:31

On April 15th, the same day as the meeting between House and Wilson, and when they see the Pirates of Panzance. This is what in the news. The New York Times publishes a letter that Mrs. A.D. White had written to President Wilson. Her name is actually Helen McGill, and she was the first woman in the United States to earn a PhD in 1877. But none of that is mentioned. What is mentioned is Mrs. A.D. White protests. She telegraphs President that the day of the national duello is past. Ithaca, New York, April 14th. I have just sent the following telegram to President Wilson, and I would be glad to have you publish it, she writes to the New York Times. I would urge all truly patriotic Americans to telegraph Washington without delay. Surely the day of the national duello is past. Does an American gentleman shoot the man who insults him? Not usually, in this generation, much less his wife and family? Shall we destroy many innocent Mexicans by bombarding Tampico because an official bandit insults our flag? Nothing he can do, only what we do, can dishonor the American flag and nation. Helen McGill White, in parentheses, Mrs. Andrew D. White. And she's writing from Ithaca, New York, because her husband, A. D. White, founded Cornell University. Oh. And Edward House went to Cornell University. Interesting. I don't know if Wilson read that letter, but it would not have mattered much. Because Wilson has made up his mind. And U.S. battleships in the Atlantic and U.S. battleships in the Pacific are already en route to Mexico. The U.S. will be ready to occupy ports and prevent railroad access on both Mexican coasts, preventing commerce, seizing customs receipts, and denying Britain's government from collecting any trade revenue. And this is no secret. It's written about in the papers. The Morning Post in London writes, quote, The president may be glad trouble occurred, since it gives him the opportunity of showing that his patience is not inexhaustible, and that he won't hesitate to act when he holds that action is justified by circumstances. Now, interesting to think about that sentence. But of course he does when it comes to World War I.

Bobby 34:42

Right.

Shannon 34:43

An editorial in the Daily Mail says, quote, the dispatch of the American fleet to Tampico is a sign that the relations between President Wilson and General Huerta are approaching the inevitable climax, and that the United States is on the very edge of armed intervention with all its incalculable consequences. Incalculable consequences indeed, Bobby. Because a week later, the fighting will begin. And the New York Times will print headline Marines ready to seize road to Mexico City. Major Smedley D. Butler's Marines to rescue Americans if they are in peril. And this is an all-cap. All eyes on German ship. Who is Smedley D. Butler? And what is this German ship? On our next episode, we will take a look at the murder of a fisherman in 1854 and what it has to do with the power of the president to authorize military action without the approval of Congress. All this and more next time on That American Century. Sources for today's episode include Colonel House, a biography of Woodrow Wilson's Silent Partner by Charles E. Newt, War on the Border by Jeff Gwynn, William F. Buckley Sr. by John A. Adams Jr. Buckley by Sam Tannenhouse. For a list of all sources, please see the show notes for this episode.