That American Century

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 Mi...

The conflict between striking mineworkers and the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company comes to a deadly climax on April 20, 1914. Two women and 11 children will suffocate to death in a cellar dug underneath a tent in the colony where striking mineworkers and their families had been living for over six months. When details of the Ludlow Massacre come to light, the nation reacts with horror and outrage...

“This is the right place” declared Brigham Young as he entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847.  Persecuted and harassed in every place they had tried to make a home, the Latter-Day Saints, the Mormons, establish Zion in the Great Salt Lake Valley. Ten years later, however, in 1857, rumors abound that President James Buchanan is sending someone new to replace Brigham Young as Governor of the...

On the anniversary of the Battle of Chapultepec (September 13, 1847), the President of Mexico recites the names of eight Los Niños Héroes (boy heroes) during the annual ceremony commemorating the young boy's ultimate act of patriotism and sacrifice. Six of the eight Los Niños Héroes die during the Battle of Chapultepec (1847), and two die during the American Invasion of Veracruz in 1914.  Pri...

The President of the United States has refused to recognize the leader of a sovereign nation, US oil interests are in danger, and the use of military force has been authorized. It’s April 1914, and Woodrow Wilson has sent battleships to the port of Veracruz, Mexico. The invasion plan is set. Smedley D. Butler will lead his marines ashore, take the Customs House, then take the city.  Smedley D. But...

The Bombardment of Greytown, Durand v. Hollins, and Executive military power | The power of the President has expanded over the last 200 years. Is the President allowed to declare war? No. The President is allowed to use the military and authorize force but under what circumstances? In 1854, the murder of Antonio Palladino, a Nicaraguan fisherman, would lead to a court case whose ruling would stat...

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 authori...

Mexico's Oil and the Incident at Tampico |  Two months before Franz Ferdinand is shot and three months before the Great War begins, an incident in the port city of Tampico causes Woodrow Wilson to seriously consider “intervention” in Mexico.  The Mexican Revolution has been underway since 1910, and the Wilson Administration has refused to recognize to its new leader - Victoriano Huerta. An Am...

The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand |  On what day did the 20th century begin? Franz Ferdinand is shot in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914 by South Slav nationalist Gavrilo Princip, and the world changes forever. Americans read the shocking details the following morning, June 29, and wonder if there will be another war in the Balkans. Could an even greater conflict erupt in Europe?  When the Great War b...