CHAPTER III PRE-CAUCUS DAYS IN AMERICA ONCE home again it didn't take a Solomon to tell Colonel Roosevelt that he had a man's size job on his hands in starting the American Legion on its way in the United States. Dispatches more or less accurate had told the service men on this side something about the Legion activities of the A. E. F. in France. As late as mid-April, however, a great many men in this country knew nothing whatever about the American Legion, while the majority of those who did were not at all sure it was to be The Veteran's Organization. What I have said previously about the "spontaneous opinion of the men in France on the question of a veteran's organization proved to be equally true among service men on this side of the water. Consequently, it wasn't long after the armistice before several veteran's organizations and associations were in the process of formation. As it was a pertinent news topic, the newspapers gave a great deal of prominence in their columns to several of these organizations. They were of various types and characters. One was for enlisted men only. Another was for officers only. There was an organization for officers who had fought in France, Italy, or Russia and there was one or more organizations which had the breadth of vision to see that men of all ranks and all branches of the military and naval establishments must be eligible. Such was the situation confronting Colonel Roosevelt when he arrived home to help start the American Legion in its own country. The fact of his arrival and his announced intention to aid in the organization of the Legion was duly heralded in the press of the United States. At first the army and navy men were inclined to say, "Here is another of those mushroom Veteran's Associations bobbing up." In fact I heard one officer make just that remark, but another was quick to correct him by saying, "Its bound to be a straight and honest organization or a Roosevelt wouldn't stand for it." That was the crux of the initial success of the Legion, because just that was true. Every man who wore the uniform had known Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., and although he may not have agreed with him in all of his political opinions still he knew that neither he nor any member of his family would back any organization or proposition that was not morally sterling. There were those who did not like the American Legion. There were those who were willing to let a past political prejudice deter them from aiding in the most important movement in American life to-day. There were those who stated that Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., was prominent in organizing the American Legion for his own political advancement. The answer to that misapprehension will develop later and will prove one of the most striking incidents in this story. Colonel Roosevelt has a peculiarly happy faculty of keeping those who work with him cheerful and optimistic. He gathered around him, to launch the movement in America, a set of cheerful, competent optimists, prominent among whom were Colonel Richard Derby, Colonel Franklin D'Olier, who figured in the Paris Caucus, Major Cornelius W. Wickersham, Assistant Chief of Staff of the Twenty-seventh Division, Captain Henry Fairfield Osborne, Lieutenant Colonel Granville Clark, Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Kincaide, Lieutenant Colonel Eric Fisher Wood and Captain H. B. Beers. One of Colonel Roosevelt's first duties as temporary chairman of the Legion over here was to create the nation wide organization. He needed committeemen in every State to work the State organization up, and to start the machinery for the election of delegates to the St. Louis Caucus, for it had been decided that the representation in St. Louis must be by duly elected representatives from congressional districts in so far as that was possible. Each such district was awarded double its congressional representation, in addition to the delegates at large. It was no easy task to pick these committeemen. The decision of the Paris gathering that the organization must be non-partisan and non-political had to be adhered to in its fullest sense. There were soldiers and sailors enough in all the States who would have been willing to have started the organization in their respective localities, but how not to get politicians of the lower order, men who would gladly prostitute the Legion, its aims and ambitions to their own selfish advantage that was the problem which faced the temporary committee in America. ¡About three weeks before the St. Louis Caucus the following names were chosen from the various States as committeemen: OFFICERS Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., New York, Chairman Lt. Col. Bennett Clark, Missouri, Vice-Chairman Lt. Col. Eric Fisher Wood, Pennsylvania, Secretary. ALABAMA Lt. H. M. Badham, Jr., Birmingham Birmingham Birmingham |