Remember Ludlow! | Ep 9

In April 1914, two weeks before the Ludlow Massacre, John D. Rockefeller Jr. testifies before Congress about the ongoing Coal Miner's strike in Southern Colorado. 

The Rockefellers have a controlling interest in the company that owns the mines, the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. Rockefeller Jr. claims the striking mineworkers are being forced to strike. They are being pressured by the United Mineworkers of America and have received threatening letters from "The Black Hand." Rockefeller Jr. and the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. refuse to hear the mineworkers demands for reform. They're not interested in treating these men with any dignity.

It's the same stance his son, Governor of New York Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller, will take when it came to rioting prisoners at Attica in 1971. He refuses to hear demands for reform. He is not interested in treating these men with any dignity.

Music from Epidemic Sound.

Sources for this episode include:

• Titan by Ron Chernow
• democracynow.org
• The United Labor Bulletin (April 11, 1914)
• A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
• historycolorado.org

Transcript

Shannon 0:08

I'm Shannon. And I'm Bobby. And this is that American Century.

Sonny 0:27

Let's go come out and take a look, all right? What a hobby you got, huh? Come on, put what you're ahead. All you got is attempted robbery. I'm robbery. I know I'm dead. Nobody's been hurt. Release the hostages. Nobody's gonna worry over kidnapping charges. The most you're gonna get is five years. You can have one year, huh? You're a city come up, right?

Cop 0:47

Robin the bank's a federal offense. They got me on kidnapping, I'm robbery. They're gonna bury me, man. I don't wanna talk to somebody who's trying to calm me. Get somebody in charge here. I don't want to talk to some funky pig trying to calm me. So look at me, kid tell me.

Shannon 1:29

You've seen this?

Bobby 1:30

I have seen it a long time ago.

Shannon 1:32

Yeah.

Bobby 1:32

Classic.

Shannon 1:33

Classic. The film came out in 1975 and it was based on a real life event. Al Pacino plays Sonny Warzick, who stages a bank robbery in order to fund his partner's gender-affirming surgery. At the end of the movie, he comes out of the bank that he's held up. The police are pointing their guns at him, and a huge crowd has gathered that you hear in the clip. Sonny starts shouting, Attica! Attica! And the crowd joins in, they start booing the cop, and it's like a big F you to the police and to institutions at large. We have been in 1914. So what am I doing talking about Attica in 1971?

Bobby 2:22

I have no idea.

Shannon 2:24

How am I gonna get us back to 1914, Bobby?

Bobby 2:27

I have no idea. Okay.

Shannon 2:35

Do you know much about the Attica prison riot in 1971?

Bobby 2:41

I don't. I I'm I know there was a riot. It's it's I think it's a New York prison, if memory serves. And I'm assuming I'm assuming the police maybe uh came in and or the prison guards, killed people, killed rioting prisoners, and maybe it was seen as a excessive use of force.

Shannon 3:01

Is that Yeah, that's that's that's pretty spot on.

Bobby 3:06

Okay.

Shannon 3:13

I think I knew when I saw 20 years ago that there had been a a riot at Attica. So I think I sort of got the reference, but probably not really, because I was younger. I was just a young Shannon.

Bobby 3:30

Yeah, I think I look I had to look it up, and I was maybe one of the first people to look something up on Wikipedia, I think, back at that point in time.

Shannon 3:38

Twenty 20 years ago?

Bobby 3:40

Probably even more for me. Yeah.

Shannon 3:42

Are you thinking Incarta? CD-ROM?

Bobby 3:45

Incarta, yeah, yeah. Maybe I had like the end of the alphabet disc in, and then I had to take that out and put in the A through M or whatever. Yeah. Might have been Incarta, yeah.

Shannon 3:58

Probably, probably. So, yes, Bobby, Attica is a prison in Attica, New York, near Buffalo. In 1971, there is a four-day riot, revolt, uprising, standoff that takes place at the prison. So a little background. The prison is overcrowded. It's built for 1600, and it housed almost 2300 in 1971. The prisoner population is 55% African American, 10% Hispanic, 35% white, and the guards are all white. And the prisoners are subject to random beatings, racist remarks. They are only allowed to take one shower per week. They don't get enough food, they don't get proper medical care. And basically, they want they just want adequate living conditions. They want education programs and re-rehabilitation programs. In July 1971, before the riot, the prisoners had sent a list of 27 demands to the Corrections Commissioner and to the governor of New York. So they're trying to go through proper channels.

Bobby 5:19

Mm-hmm. Official channels.

Shannon 5:20

Yeah, to have their demands heard. But that correspondence, it goes unanswered. And a couple months later, in September, two inmates are sparring in the yard, and a guard mistakes it for a real fight. He intervenes and he gets hit. And the prisoners are beaten by guards and they're sent to solitary confinement. Now, this really pisses off the prison population. And the next day, after breakfast, some prisoners find themselves in a tunnel, and some sort of security protocol fails, and the prisoners are able to break through various barriers, and about 1,300 inmates take control of the prison, and they take 39 prison guards hostage. Now, as you could imagine, this is this is big news. The big news.

Bobby 6:16

Yeah.

Shannon 6:18

A negotiating committee forms. The prisoners' demands are communicated to the Commissioner of Corrections and to the Governor of New York. And over the next few days, roughly 1,000 law enforcement officers descend onto the prison. State troopers, corrections officers, local police. 1,000 to uh there's about 1,300 prisoners. 1,300 prisoners that are part of this riot.

Bobby 6:54

Riot. So maybe half of the a little bit more than half of the population is part of the riot.

Shannon 7:03

Now the commissioner and the governor on day three deliver an ultimatum and tell the prisoners that there will be no more negotiations. The prisoners reject that ultimatum, and they take eight blindfolded hostages up to a catwalk on the prison wall, and they hold knives to their throats. Fifteen minutes later, a helicopter drops tear gas onto the prison yard, and the police and corrections officers storm the prison and start firing. Twenty-nine inmates and ten hostages would die. All from police gunfire. And the attack lasted less than three minutes. The governor of New York in 1971 would blame all the deaths on the inmates. He said that they had rejected all offers of a peaceful settlement and that there was no other choice but to force violent confrontation. Richard Nixon would back the governor to the hilt. Now I have some audio of Nixon and the governor of New York speaking after the Attica prison riot uh concludes.

Bobby 8:31

Okay.

Shannon 8:32

Now, one of the inmates' demands was for amnesty, freedom from prosecution after this was all over. But this was not granted. You will hear Nixon address that. Nixon will also ask the governor if this was, quote, a black thing. And I want to reiterate that the inmates had brought the hostages up to the catwalk and held knives at their throats shortly thereafter, is when law enforcement rushes in. The autopsies of all 39 individuals who died would reveal that all 39 had died from police gunfire. And this was 29 inmates and 10 hostages.

Richard Nixon 11:15

Only one trooper was wounded. Really was a beautiful operation.

Shannon 11:21

He calls the governor of New York, he calls it a beautiful operation at the end, if you heard that.

Bobby 11:26

I didn't, but uh I didn't clock that.

Shannon 11:29

The governor of New York in 1971 is back.

Speaker 8 11:34

Today we're analyzing some of the work Okay.

Bobby 11:39

YouTube wants me to watch more content.

Shannon 11:42

The governor of New York in 1971 is Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller. He considered these inmates to be animals. In Rockefeller's view, the inmates deserve no dignity. He refuses to treat them like human beings. He will not hear their arguments for reform. This was the same stance his father, John D. Rockefeller Jr. took when he refused to meet with striking mineworkers in Ludlow, Colorado in 1914. The striking mine workers deserve no dignity. He refuses to treat them like human beings. He will not hear their arguments for reform. So as promised, Bobby, I brought us to 1914.

Bobby 12:39

You did.

Shannon 12:41

I'm good for it.

Bobby 12:42

Yeah. I I didn't think you were gonna be able to do it.

Shannon 12:45

You didn't.

Bobby 12:46

But you did.

Shannon 12:47

Were you scared? Were you getting nervous?

Bobby 12:49

Yeah, a little bit.

Shannon 12:50

Yeah. Last episode, we talked about the Ludlow massacre when a militia made up of soldiers from the Colorado National Guard and the Baldwin Feltz detective agency rained down machine gun fire on striking mine workers and their families in the Ludlow tent colony. They had an armored truck with machine guns mounted to it, and they called it the Death Special. During the six months from when the strike started to the massacre, the militia would sporadically shoot into the camp or above the camp to terrorize the striking men and their families. On the day of the massacre, the militia starts firing into the camp. The striking mine workers are shooting back. People don't want to run through the gunfire, so some women and children they take refuge in these cellars that they had dug underneath their tents. And after hours and hours of fighting, the militia sets fire to the tent colony, but some of the women and children are still in these cellars. And two women and eleven children end up suffocating to death. A ten-day war follows after that. Woodrow Wilson will end up sending in federal troops, martial laws declared. But Junior, he remains obstinate. He will not yield to the strikers' demands. Rockefeller Sr. hated unions, and so does Peter. That's yes, that is putting it mildly.

Bobby 14:35

Putting it very mildly, yeah.

Shannon 14:45

John D. Rockefeller Jr. was born in 1874. He was the fourth child and the only son of John D. Rockefeller Sr., co-founder of Standard Oil. Growing up, John D. Rockefeller Jr. was given few of the spoils of his family's great wealth. He wore hammy-downs until he was eight. His older siblings, though, were all girls. So he wore his sisters' old dresses until he was eight.

Bobby 15:18

That was sort of that era, though, right? Where the little boys were dressed in like the basically a dress. Yeah.

Shannon 15:24

And and curls.

Bobby 15:26

Mm-hmm.

Shannon 15:28

Rockefeller and his wife Seti were strict Baptists and would forego anything that might be considered indulgent. When his children were young and bicycles were the fashionable and exciting thing to have, Rockefeller suggested to his wife that they should get one for each of the children. And Seti replied, No, we will buy just one for all of them. And Rockefeller says, But my dear, they don't cost much. And she says, That is true. It is not the cost, but if they have just one, then they will learn to give up to one another. So the children shared a single bicycle. Here's a way where growing up with all that wealth shows itself. Junior only had one friend growing up, and it was the son of the Rockefeller's housekeeper. For college, John Jr. chooses Brown University in Rhode Island, which was the oldest and best endowed Baptist college in the country. He joined the Glee Club and a string quartet.

Bobby 16:44

So he was a cool guy. Big man on campus.

Shannon 16:50

He was the only male in the string quartet.

Bobby 16:52

They had females in the university at this time. Yeah. Oh, okay.

Shannon 16:57

About the Glee Club, he would write to his mother. It gives me confidence in myself and helps me become easy in public, which I always need. Junior was pretty shy, and he didn't he didn't really like being in front of people. But I think that's pretty uh it's pretty self-aware to say. It's it's bringing me confidence, and I need that.

Bobby 17:22

Yeah, I think that's that's a positive thing for him. I'm glad for him.

Shannon 17:28

I think they were always looking for a positive spin on things. He was pretty popular and well liked, but his frugality was a source of ribbing for his classmates. He pressed his own trousers, he sewed his own buttons, and he would record every expense in a little book that he carried around. When he would go on dates, he would buy a soda for a lady and then immediately write down the expense in his book. Rockefeller Sr. would allow him any money he needed so long as every penny was accounted for. But he was he was not a party boy flagrantly displaying any type of great wealth.

Bobby 18:14

Or like, yeah, drinking it away and gambling it away.

Shannon 18:17

Oh, certainly not. No, this is a Baptist college. I'm gonna read a passage from Ron Chernow's book on Rockefeller called Titan. And the chapter on young Junior is called The Dauphin.

Bobby 18:32

I know you love the Dauphin. I love the Dauphin. I love that term.

Shannon 18:36

Uh-huh. Okay, quote. At Brown, Junior learned to savor such illicit pleasures as theatre and dancing. Small triumphs for a Baptist boy bred with such unrelenting morality. After his sophomore year, he took a bicycle trip through England. In London, Junior saw his first plays, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Charlie's Aunt, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. He told his mother, I shouldn't have done it at home on account of the example, but thought it not harmful in London, where I knew no one and had an opportunity of seeing several Shakespeare's plays. Junior made it through his freshman year without dancing, then succumbed to this vice sophomore year by dancing all evening at a party thrown at the home of a university trustee. The whole evening, as he danced with a Miss Foster, she feared that he would crash to the floor. Holding on for dear life, he had the distinct impression that Miss Foster was propping him up. That evening, he met the vivacious Abby Aldrich, daughter of Rhode Island Senator Nelson Aldrich, but could not muster the courage to dance with her. By the time he graduated, Junior indulged this sinful passion two or three times a week.

Bobby 20:00

Mercy.

Shannon 20:01

Unquote. He's addicted. Now, Rockefeller Jr. very much revered his father, and I'm sure he was in his head and insecure about living up to his father's expectations. For his 21st birthday, Sr. sends him $21. And his thank you note to his father, Junior wrote, People talk about sons being better than their fathers, but if I can be half as generous, half as unselfish, half as kindly affectionate to my fellow man as you have been, I shall not feel that my life has been in vain. Junior graduates from Brown and he goes to work for Standard Oil in 1897. Now by 1897, Rockefeller Sr. had pretty much retired. He spent the 1890s moving away from the day-to-day operations. And by 1897, when Junior joins the business, his his father has effectively retired. So Junior goes to work at Standard Oil's headquarters, located at 26 Broadway, across from Bowling Green, right where the Wall Street Bull is now. And on the site where Alexander Hamilton once lived. And you know Hamilton is buried just right up Broadway at Trinity Church.

Bobby 21:28

Yeah, I've seen I've seen that Edgeon.

Shannon 21:31

You sure have. Many a time. When he starts working at 26 Broadway, he's not working for Standard Oil. He's working for the Rockefeller Family Office. And he doesn't really know what he's supposed to do. He says, quote, Father never said a word to me about what I was to do in the office before I began work there, nor has he ever since. He did not say anything on the subject to anyone else. In the office.

Bobby 22:01

And this sounds to me like that's not a vote of competence from his father.

Shannon 22:06

I think he wants Junior to find his own way. And his father, if you worked for him, if you were part of Standard Oil, he was not this huge, angry figure that that you would maybe expect him to be. He was brutal in business because uh you know competition was ordained by God for him to crush.

Bobby 22:33

Mm-hmm.

Shannon 22:34

He wouldn't say a lot in the office. He listened mostly. He was always very calm. He never lost his temper. I don't think that Rockefeller Sr. is setting him up to fail or or testing him.

Bobby 22:47

Or like parking him somewhere where he's like, uh, you can't do any harm here.

Shannon 22:51

Right. I I think he is just hoping he finds his own way.

Bobby 22:55

Okay.

Shannon 22:55

He's not put on the board at Standard Oil at first. He refills inkwells. At first, like he doesn't he doesn't know what he's supposed to do. So I guess at the beginning he just putters around a bit. In 1901, he marries Abby Aldrich, who is the daughter of a powerful Republican senator from Rhode Island, Nelson Aldrich. So the Aldriches had the second best claim that an American can make. Abby Aldrich, her ancestor, came over on the Mayflower. She was described as a handsome woman. She was outgoing, and she liked to wear eccentric hats. So she was a good compliment for shy, reserved Junior. Junior said to his new bride, Abby, I think you should keep a weekly expense account. And she replied with, I won't. I won't.

Bobby 23:54

I like that. Very direct.

Shannon 23:56

Yes, and they were a wealthy family. I mean, the Rockefellers were the wealthiest, but they were a wealthy family, the Eldritches. As time goes on, Junior would serve on the board of some companies, but he didn't really like that so much, and he really wanted to focus on the family's philanthropy efforts. And in 1913, the Rockefeller Foundation is launched. Its mission is to promote human welfare around the world. That same year, in the fall, is when the Colorado mine workers, discontent with their terms of employment with the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, will go on strike. The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company is the one company that Junior was still a director of. And he will become the face of the company during the strike, the massacre, and the aftermath. He says in his testimony that he would rather see the company go under than to give in to the Ludlow strikers' demands. They wanted to unionize, they wanted freedom from the company town life. Basically, you you lived in company housing, your children went to company schools, you were paid in company script certificates that can only be used at the company store. They wanted to be paid in U.S. currency. They wanted an eight-hour day, which was the law in Colorado, but it was not being enforced. They want a 10% pay increase, they want uh an end to armed guards, don't want to work with armed guards.

Bobby 26:00

Yeah, under threat of being shot.

Shannon 26:03

Yeah.

Bobby 26:03

That sounds reasonable.

Shannon 26:04

And they wanted to get paid for non-tonnage work or dead work, which meant labor that didn't directly produce coal by the ton, because they get paid for what they produce and they weigh it, you know? Um, and this work would mean timbering, clearing rock, laying track, shoring up rooms, and other safety and prep work. Miners wanted to be paid for that work.

Bobby 26:31

Sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Shannon 26:34

By 1913-1914, the Rockefellers had given away between 150 and 200 million dollars. This is an enormous sum. This would be about five to seven billion 2026 dollars. That's huge. This included the Rockefeller Foundation, the University of Chicago, Spellman College, the General Education Board, money for medical research and public health campaigns. Uh they eradicated hookworm in the South. It's a lot of philanthropy.

Bobby 27:11

Yeah, it is.

Shannon 27:12

But they are not really beloved by the public in spite of those efforts. In 1904, there was a serialized expose written by a woman named Ida Tarbell, who was a writer for McClure's magazine. The articles would then be compiled into a book called The History of the Standard Oil Company. It detailed Rockefeller's ruthless business practices and his predatory tactics. The series of articles, and then the book exposed, you know, how this huge monopoly happened and contributed to the eventual breakup of Standard Oil, which happens in 1911. Standard Oil, when it's broken up, then becomes the Standard Oil of New Jersey, which then becomes Exxon, Standard Oil of New York, which then becomes mobil, Standard Oil of California, which then becomes Chevron, the South Penn Oil Company, which then becomes Penn's Oil, many more. And the breaking up of Standard Oil actually made the Rockefellers richer. Because now their Standard Oil shares are shares in many different companies, and these shares appreciate. That was not entirely correct. So I wanted to amend my statement, and I take full responsibility.

Bobby 28:53

I'm glad that you are getting on ahead of this.

Shannon 28:56

I feel terrible. I just imagine should. I imagine hundreds of thousands of people repeating that information that I delivered.

Bobby 29:06

They have.

Shannon 29:07

And it was wrong. So the Rockefellers owned about 40% of the shares. This gave them a controlling interest.

Bobby 29:19

Because no one else had a majority interest.

Shannon 29:21

Yes, yes. Rockefeller Jr. was on the board of directors, but he was an absentee director, and he would receive reports from the directors, the officers in Colorado. The contradictions that exist inside these Rockefeller men seem clear to me, probably clear to you, these great efforts at philanthropy, and yet they hate unions. They don't want to honor a 10% increase. John D. Rockefeller Jr. believes that the United Mine Workers of America are forcing the Southern Colorado mine workers to join their union. He was probably told this by the officers and the directors that are sending him updates from Colorado. And in April 1914, he is called to testify in front of Congress. Representative Martin D. Foster, a Democrat from Illinois. And when Junior is called to testify in 1914, he's about 40 years old. I would love if you would play the role of Rockefeller Jr. I will be Representative Foster and we will read Rockefeller's testimony.

Bobby 30:46

Let's do it. I'm honored.

Shannon 30:48

I'm honored that you're honored. Let me give you, um, let me just remind you of sort of Junior's personality. He's naturally shy. He's working on that though. And I'm sure he's gotten better from the age of 20 to 40. I'm sure he's gotten better over the past 20 years. He probably is nervous. He hasn't been to Colorado in 10 years. So he doesn't really know what the heck is going on. He he probably thinks he does, but this this has become a moral issue for Junior, which once we read this this uh testimony, you'll you'll see what I mean by that.

Bobby 31:31

Okay. And like you said, this is two weeks before the massacre, right? But that's right. But the strike has been going on for six months or so, and and they've been they have been like the goons have been shooting at the camp, right? Or shooting above the tents and stuff, like terrorizing them.

Shannon 31:46

Correct. Yeah. Yes.

Bobby 31:47

But they have not yet murdered people.

Shannon 31:50

Incorrect.

Bobby 31:51

Oh.

Shannon 31:51

People have died.

Bobby 31:53

Okay. But the what becomes the the massacre the larger massacre has not happened.

Shannon 31:58

It has not happened yet. Even though the mine workers and their families have been shot at over the past six months, industrial violence is nothing new to the public in 1914. And I think after the massacre happens, this image of this cellar dug in the dirt, and two women and eleven children lying there dead really horrifies the public. Alright, I am Representative Foster from Illinois. Are you ready?

Bobby 32:37

I'm ready.

Shannon 32:38

Okay. Mr. Rockefeller. Do you not think you might have paid some attention to these bloody strike conditions out in Colorado, where you have 1,000 employees in whose welfare you seem not to have taken any deep personal interest?

Bobby 33:01

I have done what I regard as the very best thing in the interest of these employees and the large investment I represent. We follow the very same policy in philanthropic and social work that we are following in business. We put the best men in charge.

Shannon 33:17

So Bobby, I want it, I want to hear a little more indignation.

Bobby 33:20

Okay, okay. Okay.

Shannon 33:22

Like I was I I thought, you know, he was being shy and kind of like yes, he's shy, but I think that he is indignant.

Bobby 33:31

Okay.

Shannon 33:32

Okay. You are affiliated with certain philanthropic and sociological organizations, including the Rockefeller Foundation.

Bobby 33:42

I contribute to them.

Shannon 33:43

With 10,000 striking minors in Colorado, what have you done to look after them?

Bobby 33:50

I have done what I regard as the best thing I could have done in the interest of the employees and the large amount we have invested. I do not know what else I might have done.

Shannon 34:02

I think what I'm what I'm looking for, Bobby, is a little smugness and some a little a little condescension. Like like this representative knows nothing of the ways of business.

Bobby 34:19

Okay.

Shannon 34:20

So a little more like collected. Mm-hmm.

Bobby 34:23

But in in indignant, too?

Shannon 34:26

Because you don't think you've done anything wrong. And this is just the ways of business. Maybe indignant w wasn't the right word. Okay. Steely measured.

Bobby 34:38

Mm-hmm. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Shannon 34:40

Okay. Do you think the fact that the government is taking some interest in this strike ought to be a hint to you to take at least a passing interest in the affairs at your mines?

Bobby 34:58

We have placed a man in charge. We trust him. And I didn't think it was necessary to see about the welfare of the men working in these mines.

Shannon 35:08

Well, should should men be able to get together and talk over their own interests?

Bobby 35:13

They have every right to do that, but the mine workers have not expressed any dissatisfaction in their conditions. They've gone on strike. A strike has been imposed on them from the outside.

Shannon 35:24

How can you have a strike without dissatisfaction?

Bobby 35:29

I think you do not have as much knowledge of the conditions as I have. The working men of the mines received letters from the Black Hand. The letters threatened violence against their wives and children if they did not walk off the job.

Shannon 35:46

This is the way the strike was brought on?

Bobby 35:49

Yes.

Shannon 35:52

Mr. Rockefeller, do you know anything about an automobile being protected by armor plate at your company?

Bobby 36:00

It sounds very interesting, but I have not heard of it.

Shannon 36:04

It was built in the shops of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. They put machine guns on it, Mr. Rockefeller. The killing of people and the shooting of children. Has that not been of enough importance to you to communicate with the directors and to see an end to this thing?

Bobby 36:24

We believe this is not just a local issue. We believe it's a national issue, and we propose to support the officers in their course, which is in support of the workmen themselves and their right to work for whom they please and how they please.

Shannon 36:39

And you will do that if it costs you all your property and kills all your employees? You would rather do that than recognize the right of men in collective bargaining?

Bobby 36:50

No, sir, rather than allow outside people to come in and interfere with employees who are thoroughly satisfied with their labor conditions. It was upon a similar principle that the War of the Revolution was carried on. It is a great national issue of the most vital kind.

Shannon 37:09

End scene. Excellent, Bobby. Oh, did you like that? Yeah, that's that's what I was that's what I was looking for.

Bobby 37:16

Okay, good.

Shannon 37:22

Junior testified for more than four hours. He was praised by business leaders, and his father liked his testimony so much that he gifted him 10,000 Colorado Fuel and Iron Company shares. Rockefeller Jr. was excoriated by pro-labor publications, and an editorial in a pro-union publication called The Labor Bulletin will take aim at Jr.'s testimony and at the Rockefeller's Baptist faith. Quote, the utterances of young John will do more to make socialists and anarchists than the talks and writings of a hundred street corner people. The Christianity the Savior taught and died for was not of the Rockefeller brand. He asked us to love our fellow man and lift him up when he was down, not give him the heel of the boot. I would rather take the chance of going to a heaven that is possessed by those in the employ of the Rockefellers, unlearned, unlettered, poor, and deprived of the comforts of life, than that of young John. Unquote. The Ludlow massacre will take place two weeks after Junior's testimony to Congress. Mother Jones, a famous American labor organizer, will say about the massacre. No one listened. No one cared. Then came Ludlow, and the nation heard. And this PR nightmare in our next episode, Bobby. And we will be moving into May 1914. It has taken me eight episodes to get through one week in April. I'm I'm you know, I'm setting the stage for what's going on before the Great War begins and what it felt like to be an American before the Great War begins. I'm not going, you know, week by week. I'm pulling out what I think is important. Right. So we're gonna be taking a look at May Day, 1914, International Workers' Day. And this is a day that cities around the U.S. brace themselves for the possibility of violence from anarchists and other radicals. This was this was a big deal in 1914, and and you know, people would get nervous that unrest would unfold.

Bobby 40:25

Mm-hmm. The rebel.

Shannon 40:27

Mm-hmm. All this and more next time. On that American Century. Sources for today's episode include Titan by Ron Chernow and DemocracyNow dot org. For a list of all sources, please see the show notes in this episode.