1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,680 Speaker 1: Hey, y'all, were rerunning two episodes today, which means that 2 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: you'll hear two hosts me and Tracy V. Wilson enjoy 3 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:13,360 Speaker 1: the show. Welcome to this day in History class. It's 4 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:18,960 Speaker 1: July twelve today in the Bisbee deportation started in Arizona. 5 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:22,759 Speaker 1: So the Bisbee deportation seems really straightforward on its surface. 6 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:25,880 Speaker 1: There were workers at a collection of copper mines in 7 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:28,800 Speaker 1: and around Bisbee, and they went on strike and fed 8 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: up with all of these workers who were on strike, 9 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:33,599 Speaker 1: the sheriff and a posse of more than a thousand 10 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:38,599 Speaker 1: temporarily deputized civilians rounded them all up and put them 11 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 1: on a train and drove that train out of town. 12 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:45,839 Speaker 1: So that's weird. It seems like a bizarre overreaction to 13 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:49,240 Speaker 1: a labor dispute and a very strange way to handle one. 14 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 1: But what actually was going on was a lot more 15 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: complicated than that. This had happened before. Earlier in the week, 16 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:00,600 Speaker 1: a much smaller deportation happened in Jerome, Arizona, also in 17 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:02,880 Speaker 1: response to a strike, and then there had been other 18 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 1: incidents in the American Southwest as well, with people being 19 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:08,600 Speaker 1: run out of town in the wake of labor disputes. 20 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 1: One thing all of these deportations had in common besides 21 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: workers going on strike, was the involvement of the Industrial 22 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 1: Workers of the World, also known as the Wobblies. The 23 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:22,119 Speaker 1: Industrial Workers of the World was possibly the most reviled 24 00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 1: labor organization in the United States at the time. All 25 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:27,920 Speaker 1: this was going on during World War One, and this 26 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:31,919 Speaker 1: was the only major labor union to speak out against 27 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:34,920 Speaker 1: the war. They were also against conscription. They didn't think 28 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: people should be drafted into the military, and their leadership 29 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:41,759 Speaker 1: was also full of socialists. A lot of the other 30 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:45,560 Speaker 1: unions in existence at the time, we're really about working 31 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: within capitalism to try to get the best working conditions 32 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 1: and pay and benefits for the workers. That's not really 33 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:58,080 Speaker 1: what the Wobblies were doing. They were speaking against capitalism 34 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: a lot. They were talking more about dismantling a capitalist 35 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:06,480 Speaker 1: system because it was damaging. So it was very easy 36 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: for their critics to paint their work as anti American, 37 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:14,120 Speaker 1: and in the context of World War One, as pro German. 38 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,520 Speaker 1: They were so hated that even today it's kind of 39 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:20,360 Speaker 1: hard to pick it apart to figure out what the 40 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: legitimate criticisms were and which things were completely made up, 41 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: so to get back to Bisbee. The key issues for 42 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:33,120 Speaker 1: the workers in this in the minds in Bisbee was 43 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: not their pay. Their pay changed based on how much 44 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 1: copper was selling for, which wasn't ideal, but they were 45 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:43,839 Speaker 1: actually more concerned about their safety and their working conditions. 46 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 1: And when the Wobblies arrived in town, which was actually 47 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:50,640 Speaker 1: not that long before this strike happened, they took a 48 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:54,720 Speaker 1: set of demands to mind management that were mostly related 49 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:58,960 Speaker 1: to safety and working conditions. And other industries, managers had 50 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:02,079 Speaker 1: made some concession to labor because they wanted to keep 51 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: things going during the war, but that was not what 52 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: happened in the mine industry in Bisbee. They rejected all 53 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:12,639 Speaker 1: of the demands completely. The Industrial Workers of the World 54 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:16,200 Speaker 1: called for a strike on June six. Now these were 55 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:19,359 Speaker 1: legitimate issues. The issues that had been presented to management 56 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:23,200 Speaker 1: were legitimate. The frustration over all of those demands being 57 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: just completely refused also legitimate. But this wasn't the sort 58 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 1: of thing that would normally lead people to strike. Even so, 59 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: the strike went on for a couple of weeks without 60 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: any violence, until the town suddenly crossed a sort of 61 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:41,840 Speaker 1: mental threshold. They became convinced that these striking workers and 62 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: the unions themselves had been infiltrated by Germans. Suddenly this 63 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 1: became a huge threat. They were frightened by the idea 64 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: that there was a German element that was deeply embedded 65 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:58,080 Speaker 1: in all of these unions. This was mostly just a 66 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: wartime anti immigrant pan and it was also being fueled 67 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:05,240 Speaker 1: by the local newspapers which were owned by one of 68 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:08,760 Speaker 1: the mining companies. The sheriff and mine officials acted on 69 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 1: their own and what they did. They didn't go to 70 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 1: the army, they didn't go to federal authorities. They just 71 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 1: decided they were going to round everybody up and take 72 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:21,279 Speaker 1: them out of town. So on the morning of the twelve, 73 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:23,840 Speaker 1: they moved through the town and they rounded people up 74 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:27,720 Speaker 1: at gunpoint. They forced people to go to Warren Ballpark 75 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 1: and to wait in the stands there until a train 76 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: got there, and then once the train was there, they 77 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: forced everyone to either denounced the strike or to get 78 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 1: on a manure incrusted cattle car. Most of the people 79 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:43,719 Speaker 1: who decided to denounce the strike didn't actually work in 80 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 1: the behinds. A lot of the people who had been 81 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:49,359 Speaker 1: rounded up in all of this were basically bystanders. The 82 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:54,039 Speaker 1: train traveled sixteen hours east to Columbus, New Mexico, where 83 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 1: the people who had thought up this whole plan to 84 00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:58,120 Speaker 1: just drop them off at camp for long But they 85 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 1: hadn't really thought all that through very well. Can't Furlong 86 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 1: didn't really have the facilities to just absorb a giant 87 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:09,360 Speaker 1: group of miners, so they backtracked to Harmonus, New Mexico, 88 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: where these men spent the night in the desert. Eventually 89 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:16,320 Speaker 1: the army came back, escorted them back to Columbus, provided 90 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 1: them with rations, and assigned them to dig latrines. At 91 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: this point, these men were all technically free to go, 92 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: but where they wanted to go was home to Bisbee, 93 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:29,720 Speaker 1: and Bisbee was not going to have them back. Bisbee 94 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:33,040 Speaker 1: had posted guards at all the roads to keep people 95 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:35,640 Speaker 1: from coming back into town, and they also established a 96 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 1: kangaroo court where they tried people on just completely made 97 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:41,440 Speaker 1: up charges and then had them evicted from town. Also, 98 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 1: most of the people who were out there were out 99 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:46,560 Speaker 1: there for weeks or months, and they never got to 100 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:49,360 Speaker 1: go back home. Maybe they met their families somewhere else, 101 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:52,280 Speaker 1: maybe they found work in another town, but their rights 102 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 1: were never restored, and as is so often the case 103 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:58,760 Speaker 1: in these kinds of stories, there was an investigation, but 104 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 1: nobody who arrayed or participated in this deportation was ever 105 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:05,800 Speaker 1: convicted of any crime. There is so much more to 106 00:06:05,839 --> 00:06:07,520 Speaker 1: say about this, and you can hear it in the 107 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 1: May second episode of Stuff You Miss in History Class, 108 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:14,159 Speaker 1: called the Busbee Deportation. You can subscribe to This Day 109 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 1: in History Class on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and wherever 110 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:22,040 Speaker 1: else you get your podcasts. Tomorrow's story also connects to labor, 111 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:34,120 Speaker 1: but it takes place during the American Civil War. Welcome 112 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:37,120 Speaker 1: to This Day in History Class, where we bring you 113 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:47,840 Speaker 1: a new tidbit from history every day. The day was 114 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 1: duly eighteen fifty six, American filibuster William Walker was inaugurated 115 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 1: as President of Nicaragua. Walker was born in Nashville, Tennessee, 116 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 1: in eighteen four. He went on to study medicine in law, 117 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 1: and later he became the co owner and editor of 118 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:08,599 Speaker 1: the New Orleans Crescent. Walker was an adherent of the 119 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:12,720 Speaker 1: philosophy of manifest destiny, a nineteenth century belief that US 120 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:17,080 Speaker 1: territorial expansion across the North American continent was inevitable and 121 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: destined by God. It was a belief that encouraged the 122 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: displacement and persecution of many Indigenous people and people of 123 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:27,960 Speaker 1: color on the continent. After moving to San Francisco, then 124 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:32,280 Speaker 1: Marysville near Sacramento, Walker began devising a scheme to conquer 125 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 1: parts of Latin America to create new slave states to 126 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 1: add to the United States. This was not a new 127 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 1: idea filibustering or freebooting, but the practice of engaging in 128 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 1: unauthorized warfare against countries that the US was at peace with, 129 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 1: the government did not approve these armed expeditions, and they 130 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:53,800 Speaker 1: were a violation of federal law that said it was 131 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:56,320 Speaker 1: illegal to wage war against countries that were at peace 132 00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: with the US. In the years before the Civil War, 133 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:03,280 Speaker 1: many fool hardy Americans set out to seize territory in 134 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:08,200 Speaker 1: Central and South America. Walker made his motivations clear, saying 135 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:12,360 Speaker 1: the following that which you ignorantly call filibusterism is not 136 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:16,160 Speaker 1: the offspring of hasty passion or ill regulated desire. It 137 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:19,400 Speaker 1: is the fruit of the shore unerring instincts, which act 138 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:22,960 Speaker 1: in accordance with laws as old as the creation. They 139 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 1: are but drivelers who speak of establishing sixed relations between 140 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 1: the pure white American race as it exists in the 141 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 1: United States and the mixed Hispano Indian race as it 142 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,800 Speaker 1: exists in Mexico and Central America. Without the employment of force, 143 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:41,600 Speaker 1: Walker first looked towards Mexico. He tried to get permission 144 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:44,200 Speaker 1: from Mexico to create a colony there under the guy 145 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:47,640 Speaker 1: said it would serve as a fortified frontier, but when 146 00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:51,080 Speaker 1: Mexico said no, Walker decided to just plan an invasion. 147 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:54,720 Speaker 1: He went back to San Francisco and began recruiting people 148 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:58,360 Speaker 1: for the invasion who supported slavery and manifest destiny and 149 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 1: who were looking for some sort of six est. In 150 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty three, he and his crew captured Lapace, the 151 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:07,800 Speaker 1: capital of the Mexican state of Baja California, and called 152 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: it the Republic of Lord California, later called the Republic 153 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:16,120 Speaker 1: of Sonora. He declared himself president and adopted Louisiana state codes, 154 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:21,000 Speaker 1: which made slavery legal. Though more Americans joined him in Mexico, 155 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:24,640 Speaker 1: supplies were lacking. In Neither Mexico nor the US government 156 00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:28,880 Speaker 1: were happy with his actions. By eighteen fifty four, Walker 157 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:31,160 Speaker 1: and the band of invaders were forced to surrender and 158 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:35,120 Speaker 1: leave Mexico. Still, when Walker went to trial in California 159 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:38,280 Speaker 1: for starting in a legal war and violating the Neutrality 160 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:41,400 Speaker 1: Act of seventeen ninety four, the jury acquitted him in 161 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:46,480 Speaker 1: just eight minutes, so Walker continued his filibustering efforts. He 162 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:50,040 Speaker 1: took advantage of civil war in Nicaragua to bring mercenaries 163 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:53,240 Speaker 1: to the country and captured the city of Granada. U 164 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:57,000 Speaker 1: S President Franklin Pierce recognized Walker's regime as legitimate, and 165 00:09:57,040 --> 00:10:01,479 Speaker 1: on July twelfth, eighteen fifty six, Walker came president of Nicaragua. 166 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:07,280 Speaker 1: Walker reinstated slavery, declared English the official language, and encouraged 167 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:10,760 Speaker 1: immigration from the US through changes to currency. In fiscal policy, 168 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:14,920 Speaker 1: he promoted the Filibustering expedition as a way to expand 169 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 1: slavery to win the support of US Southerners, but Walker 170 00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 1: had already earned the anger of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who controlled 171 00:10:22,559 --> 00:10:28,679 Speaker 1: transit businesses in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, 172 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:33,400 Speaker 1: also opposed Walker and his plans of military conquest. Walker 173 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:36,360 Speaker 1: surrendered to Commander Charles Henry Davis of the U. S. 174 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:40,720 Speaker 1: Navy on May one, eighteen fifty seven. Walker was welcomed 175 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:43,280 Speaker 1: back when he returned to the US, but when he 176 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:46,600 Speaker 1: went to Honduras on another filibuster in eighteen sixty, the 177 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:50,000 Speaker 1: British government had too much strategic and economic interests in 178 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:52,960 Speaker 1: the region to tolerate his ploys, and they shut the 179 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:57,200 Speaker 1: operation down. A commander in the British Royal Navy sent 180 00:10:57,320 --> 00:10:59,959 Speaker 1: him to Honduran authorities instead of sending him back to 181 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:04,080 Speaker 1: the United States. Walker was executed in through Hillo on 182 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:08,160 Speaker 1: September twelve, eighteen sixty. Once the US Civil War broke 183 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:12,640 Speaker 1: out in eighteen sixty one, filibustering died out before the 184 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:15,440 Speaker 1: end of the war. Walker was remembered fondly in the 185 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:19,080 Speaker 1: southern and western United States for his exploits, dubbed the 186 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:23,679 Speaker 1: Gray eyed Man of Destiny by his admirers. Many Northerners, 187 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:27,120 Speaker 1: on the other hand, saw him as a pirate. Central 188 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:31,520 Speaker 1: American countries viewed his defeat with pride, but Walker's recognition 189 00:11:31,679 --> 00:11:36,320 Speaker 1: soon faded into history. I'm each Jeff Code, and hopefully 190 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:38,840 Speaker 1: you know a little more about history today than you 191 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:43,079 Speaker 1: did yesterday. You can learn more about history by following 192 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:48,240 Speaker 1: us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. At t d i 193 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:53,160 Speaker 1: h C Podcast. Thanks for joining me on this trip 194 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:57,400 Speaker 1: through time. See you here in the exact same spot tomorrow. 195 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:08,160 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the iHeart 196 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:10,720 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 197 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:11,360 Speaker 1: favorite shows.