Changes

Anti-Bryan conservatives controlled the convention in 1904, but they faced a [[Theodore Roosevelt]] landslide.  Bryan dropped his free silver and anti-[[imperialism]] rhetoric and supported mainstream [[progressive]] issues, such as the income tax, anti-trust, and direct election of Senators. He backed Woodrow Wilson in 1912, was rewarded with the State Department, then resigned in protest against Wilson's non-pacifistic policies in 1916. Northern Democrats were progressive on most issues, but generally opposed prohibition, were lukewarm regarding [[women's rights]], and were reluctant to undercut the "boss system" in the big cities.  

Anti-Bryan conservatives controlled the convention in 1904, but they faced a [[Theodore Roosevelt]] landslide.  Bryan dropped his free silver and anti-[[imperialism]] rhetoric and supported mainstream [[progressive]] issues, such as the income tax, anti-trust, and direct election of Senators. He backed Woodrow Wilson in 1912, was rewarded with the State Department, then resigned in protest against Wilson's non-pacifistic policies in 1916. Northern Democrats were progressive on most issues, but generally opposed prohibition, were lukewarm regarding [[women's rights]], and were reluctant to undercut the "boss system" in the big cities.  

[[File:320px-Birth of a Nation theatrical poster.jpg|left|200px|thumb|'''Birth of a Nation''' released in 1915 depicted the history of the Democratic Party after the Civil War. In 1992, the [[Library of Congress]] deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.]]

[[File:320px-Birth of a Nation theatrical poster.jpg|left|200px|thumb|'''Birth of a Nation''' released in 1915 depicted the history of the Democratic Party after the Civil War. In 1992, the [[Library of Congress]] deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.]]

Taking advantage of a deep split in the GOP, the Democrats took control of the House in 1910 and elected the Northern segregationist Woodrow Wilson as president in 1912 and 1916. In his first year in office, Wilson permitted his Treasury and the Post Office to begin efforts to [[segregate]] the federal workforce, particularly in the Columbia District. It was often carried out surreptitiously. Yet Wilson condoned it and tried to duck its implications in a manner we would describe today as slimy. He also curtailed minority appointments to executive, diplomatic, and judicial positions.  Those latter numbers weren’t large — about 30 — but they were posts traditionally reserved for black Americans. The signal was terrible, even if it’s unclear that those black appointments would have met approval from a Senate controlled by Southern Democrats. Estimates reckon that between 15,000 and 20,000 black civil service employees, 6% of the federal workforce, were impacted by the administration’s actions.<ref>https://www.nysun.com/national/princetons-purge-of-wilson-follows-a-change/91174/</ref>  Wilson successfully led Congress to a series of [[Progressive]] laws, including a reduced tariff, stronger antitrust laws, the [[Federal Reserve System]], hours-and-pay benefits for railroad workers, and outlawing of child labor, raising wages for adults. Furthermore, constitutional amendments for prohibition and woman suffrage were passed in his second term.  In effect, Wilson laid to rest the issues of tariffs, money and antitrust that had dominated politics for 40 years.   

Taking advantage of a deep split in the GOP, the Democrats took control of the House in 1910 and elected the Northern segregationist Woodrow Wilson as president in 1912 and 1916. In his first year in office, Wilson permitted his Treasury and the Post Office to begin efforts to [[segregate]] the federal workforce, particularly in the Columbia District. It was often carried out surreptitiously. Yet Wilson condoned it and tried to duck its implications in a manner we would describe today as slimy. Wilson ordered [[Jim Crow]] segregation in all federal government facilities in Washington DC, wiping out 50 years of social progress that African-Americans made under Republicans. No longer could blacks and whites work together in government offices, eat in the same cafeterias, our use the same bathrooms. The Wilson administration went a step further. Through the Treasury Department's Office of the Architect, the bureau charged with construction and maintenance of federal buildings, federal buildings throughout the nation were ordered to furnish segregated bathrooms, even in Northern states were practices as such were virtually unknown.<ref>''American Nightmare: The History of Jim Crow'', Jerrold M. Packard, St. Martin's Press, 2003, pp. 124-125</ref>

 

Wilson also curtailed minority appointments to executive, diplomatic, and judicial positions.  Those latter numbers weren’t large — about 30 — but they were posts traditionally reserved for black Americans. The signal was terrible, even if it’s unclear that those black appointments would have met approval from a Senate controlled by Southern Democrats. Estimates reckon that between 15,000 and 20,000 black civil service employees, 6% of the federal workforce, were impacted by the administration’s actions.<ref>https://www.nysun.com/national/princetons-purge-of-wilson-follows-a-change/91174/</ref>  Wilson successfully led Congress to a series of [[Progressive]] laws, including a reduced tariff, stronger antitrust laws, the [[Federal Reserve System]], hours-and-pay benefits for railroad workers, and outlawing of child labor, raising wages for adults. Furthermore, constitutional amendments for prohibition and woman suffrage were passed in his second term.  In effect, Wilson laid to rest the issues of tariffs, money and antitrust that had dominated politics for 40 years.   

   

   

In 1915 the epic [[Hollywood]] film, ''Birth of a Nation'' was released with its portrayal of black men, many played by white actors in blackface, as unintelligent and sexually aggressive towards white women, and the portrayal of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] (KKK) as an heroic force.<ref>[http://www.moviejustice.com/vault/index.php?p=getitem&db_id=4&item_id=27 MJ Movie Reviews – Birth of a Nation, The (1915) by Dan DeVore]  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090707194449/http://www.moviejustice.com/vault/index.php?p=getitem&db_id=4&item_id=27 |date=July 7, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://themovingarts.com/revered-and-reviled-d-w-griffiths-the-birth-of-a-nation/|first=Eric M.|last=Armstrong|title=Revered and Reviled: D.W. Griffith's 'The Birth of a Nation'|work=The Moving Arts Film Journal|date=February 26, 2010|accessdate=|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529224316/http://themovingarts.com/revered-and-reviled-d-w-griffiths-the-birth-of-a-nation/|archivedate=2019-01-31|df=mdy-all}}</ref> It was the first American motion picture to be screened inside the [[White House]], viewed there by President [[Woodrow Wilson]], members of his cabinet, and their families.<ref>{{harvnb|Stokes|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=fGJFpiTjbKwC&pg=PA111&lpg=PA111&dq=%22operators+wearing+full+evening+dress+utilized%22&source=bl&ots=AOFjf60Rc_&sig=GJ-f9FVH8MfOtgnzIJLQV_3l-DU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_m5hUMf9JI-whAfz6oCQAg&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22operators%20wearing%20full%20evening%20dress%20utilized%22&f=false 111]}}</ref> In a letter to the White House press secretary the author of ''The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan'' which the film is based,<ref name="Franklin pages 417-434">Franklin, John Hope "''The Birth of a Nation'': Propaganda as History" pages 417–434 from ''The Massachusetts Review'' Volume 20, No. 3, Autumn 1979 page 421.</ref> wrote: {{cquote|"The real purpose of my film was to revolutionize Northern sentiments by a presentation of history that would transform every man in the audience into a good Democrat...Every man who comes out of the theater is a Southern partisan for life!"<ref name="Franklin_430">Franklin, John Hope "''The Birth of a Nation'': Propaganda as History" pages 417–434 from ''The Massachusetts Review'' Volume 20, No. 3, Autumn 1979 page 430.</ref>}} In a letter to President Wilson, Thomas Dixon Jr., who authored the book and screenplay, boasted: {{cquote|"This play is transforming the entire population of the North and the West into sympathetic Southern voters. There will never be an issue of your segregation policy".<ref name="Franklin_430"/>}} Dixon was alluding to the fact that Wilson upon becoming president in 1913 had imposed segregation on federal workplaces in Washington D.C. while reducing the number of black employees through demotion or dismissal.<ref>Yellin, Eric S. (2013). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Mx-NiOJ3n-AC&pg=PA127&lpg=PA127 Racism in the Nation's Service: Government Workers and the Color Line in Woodrow Wilson's America] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207065000/https://books.google.com/books?id=Mx-NiOJ3n-AC&pg=PA127&lpg=PA127 |date=February 7, 2018 }}''. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina. p. 127. {{ISBN|9781469607207}}</ref>

In 1915 the epic [[Hollywood]] film, ''Birth of a Nation'' was released with its portrayal of black men, many played by white actors in blackface, as unintelligent and sexually aggressive towards white women, and the portrayal of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] (KKK) as an heroic force.<ref>[http://www.moviejustice.com/vault/index.php?p=getitem&db_id=4&item_id=27 MJ Movie Reviews – Birth of a Nation, The (1915) by Dan DeVore]  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090707194449/http://www.moviejustice.com/vault/index.php?p=getitem&db_id=4&item_id=27 |date=July 7, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://themovingarts.com/revered-and-reviled-d-w-griffiths-the-birth-of-a-nation/|first=Eric M.|last=Armstrong|title=Revered and Reviled: D.W. Griffith's 'The Birth of a Nation'|work=The Moving Arts Film Journal|date=February 26, 2010|accessdate=|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529224316/http://themovingarts.com/revered-and-reviled-d-w-griffiths-the-birth-of-a-nation/|archivedate=2019-01-31|df=mdy-all}}</ref> It was the first American motion picture to be screened inside the [[White House]], viewed there by President [[Woodrow Wilson]], members of his cabinet, and their families.<ref>{{harvnb|Stokes|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=fGJFpiTjbKwC&pg=PA111&lpg=PA111&dq=%22operators+wearing+full+evening+dress+utilized%22&source=bl&ots=AOFjf60Rc_&sig=GJ-f9FVH8MfOtgnzIJLQV_3l-DU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_m5hUMf9JI-whAfz6oCQAg&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22operators%20wearing%20full%20evening%20dress%20utilized%22&f=false 111]}}</ref> In a letter to the White House press secretary the author of ''The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan'' which the film is based,<ref name="Franklin pages 417-434">Franklin, John Hope "''The Birth of a Nation'': Propaganda as History" pages 417–434 from ''The Massachusetts Review'' Volume 20, No. 3, Autumn 1979 page 421.</ref> wrote: {{cquote|"The real purpose of my film was to revolutionize Northern sentiments by a presentation of history that would transform every man in the audience into a good Democrat...Every man who comes out of the theater is a Southern partisan for life!"<ref name="Franklin_430">Franklin, John Hope "''The Birth of a Nation'': Propaganda as History" pages 417–434 from ''The Massachusetts Review'' Volume 20, No. 3, Autumn 1979 page 430.</ref>}} In a letter to President Wilson, Thomas Dixon Jr., who authored the book and screenplay, boasted: {{cquote|"This play is transforming the entire population of the North and the West into sympathetic Southern voters. There will never be an issue of your segregation policy".<ref name="Franklin_430"/>}} Dixon was alluding to the fact that Wilson upon becoming president in 1913 had imposed segregation on federal workplaces in Washington D.C. while reducing the number of black employees through demotion or dismissal.<ref>Yellin, Eric S. (2013). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Mx-NiOJ3n-AC&pg=PA127&lpg=PA127 Racism in the Nation's Service: Government Workers and the Color Line in Woodrow Wilson's America] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207065000/https://books.google.com/books?id=Mx-NiOJ3n-AC&pg=PA127&lpg=PA127 |date=February 7, 2018 }}''. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina. p. 127. {{ISBN|9781469607207}}</ref>

[[File:1924 DNC convention.jpg|right|250px|thumb|1924 Democratic Convention.]]

[[File:1924 DNC convention.jpg|right|250px|thumb|1924 Democratic Convention.]]

Wilson was re-elected in 1916 on the slogan, "He kept us out of war!", the caldron that was inflaming Europe since 1914. Upon inauguration, Wilson promptly took the United States to war to save [[British]] [[Imperialism]]. Great Britain had been the United States principal foreign enemy since its founding, in the [[Revolutionary War]] and [[War of 1812]]; the Confederacy could not have fought without the assistance of British arms. Many Americans could not understand how the United States could come to the aid of Great Britain, which had tried to destroy the Union three times since its inception.

Wilson was re-elected in 1916 on the slogan, "He kept us out of war!", the caldron that was inflaming Europe since 1914. Upon inauguration, Wilson promptly took the United States to war to save [[British]] [[Imperialism]]. Great Britain had been the United States principal foreign enemy since its founding, in the [[Revolutionary War]] and [[War of 1812]]; the Confederacy could not have fought without the assistance of British arms. Many Americans could not understand how the United States could come to the aid of Great Britain, which had tried to destroy the Union three times since its inception.