THE PARIS CAUCUS, MARCH 15-17, 1919
The first delegates began to arrive for the caucus on March 14th.
After-the-war good fellowship between those who had been commissioned
officers on the one hand, and enlisted men on the other, was
foreshadowed in a most interesting and striking manner when they began
to come into the hotels. A dozen or more officer delegates brought
with them as orderlies an equal number of delegates from the ranks.
Thus enlisted personnel, by devious means, were ordered to Paris under
one guise or another. One sergeant came under orders which stated that
he was the bearer of important documents. He carried a despatch case
wadded with waste paper. Another non-com., from a distant S.O.S.
sector, had orders to report to Paris and obtain a supply of rat
poison. Several wagoners, farriers, and buck privates acquired
diseases of so peculiar a character that only Parisian physicians
could treat them. As one of them said, he hadn't had so much fun since
his office-boy days when a grandmother made a convenient demise every
time Mathewson pitched. The expense of the trip was gathered in
diverse ways. In some divisions the officer delegates took up
collections to defray the expense of enlisted delegates.
In numerous instances, enlisted men refused such assistance and took
up their own collections. One amusing story was told by an enlisted
man. He said that the "buddies" in his regiment had deliberately lost
money to him in gambling games when he refused to be a delegate
because he couldn't pay his own expenses. So by various means nearly
two hundred enlisted delegates were in Paris by late afternoon on
March 14th. It must not be imagined from the foregoing that all the
officers arrived on special trains and were themselves in the lap of
luxury. One second lieutenant who attended has since confided that he
sold his safety razor and two five-pound boxes of fudge sent from home
in order to get carfare to Paris.
Practically all of the self-appointed, temporary committee, with the
exception of Colonel Roosevelt, was present. He was Chairman of the
American Committee and had left France for the purpose of organizing
that part of the army and navy which did not get abroad or which had
returned home.
The Paris caucus convened at the American Club near the Place de la
Concorde on the afternoon of March 15th, Colonel Wood presiding.
Lieutenant Colonel Bennett C. Clark of the 88th Division was selected
Chairman of the caucus and Lt. Col. T.W. Miller of Pennsylvania, and
serving in the 79th Division, was elected Vice-Chairman. When Colonel
Wood called the meeting to order nearly one thousand delegates
answered the roll-call and these were of all ranks from private to
brigadier general; and every combat division and all sections of the
S.O.S., were represented. Colonel Wood briefly reviewed the
self-appointment of the temporary committee during the previous month
and outlined the purposes of the caucus.
A few minutes after Colonel Clark had taken the chair an officer of
high rank, a colonel to be exact, moved that while in the convention
hall, the after-war status as fellow civilians be forecast and that
the stations of rank would there cease to exist. It was agreed that
they would be resumed with full force and full discipline as soon as
the delegates crossed the threshold of the convention hall and
regained the street.
It was the ability of the American officer to do this--to be friendly
to a certain extent with his men and yet at the same time to keep them
perfectly disciplined--which amazed the officers of the armies of our
Allies. No more striking example of this was ever given than within
the confines of the American Club on that 15th day of March. The
Colonel's motion was unanimously carried and the work of the
organization began. Then generals forgot their rank, corporals engaged
in hot debates with colonels, sergeants argued with majors and
everybody talked with everybody else in a most boylike spirit of
fraternity and equality.
Captain Ogden Mills of G.H.Q. moved that four caucus committees be
appointed to draft suggestions and submit them to the caucus, one
committee to design machinery for convening the winter convention; one
committee to submit suggestions as to a permanent organization; one
committee on tentative constitution; and one committee on name. Each
committee consisted of fifteen members, and was appointed by the
Chairman.
Here are the committees, appointed by the chair:
COMMITTEE ON CONVENTION
Brig. Gen. Sherburne, 26th Div., Chairman
Wagoner Shaw, 88th Div., Vice-Chairman
Capt. Ogden Mills, G.H.Q.
Colonel Graham, S.O.S.
Prvt. C.W. Ney, 1st Army Troops
Captain Mahon, 77th Div.
Sgt. Obrecht, 1st Army
Capt. Kipling, Troops serving with French
Sgt. J.C. Hendler, Paris Command
Lt. Col. Appleton, 2d Army Hq.
Major Gordon, 36th Div.
Field Clerk Sowers, Press Section G.H.Q.
Major Hungerford, 3rd Army Hq.
Cpl. J.H. Anderson, Paris Command
Lt. Col. Wren, 36th Division
COMMITTEE OF PERMANENT ORGANIZATION
Colonel Donovan, 42d Div., Chairman
Lt. Col. Graham, 88th Div., Vice-Chairman
Capt. Boyd, 29th Division
Sgt. Tip Bliss, _Stars and Stripes_
Lt. Col. Fitzpatrick, 35th Division
Sgt. Rollo S. Thorpe, 88th Div.
Lt. Col. Crosby, S.O.S.
Pvt. W.L. Thompson, 11th R.R. Engineers
Major Graff, 28th Division
Major Barry Wright, 79th Division
Sgt. Rommel, Paris Command
Sgt. V.V. Trout, Paris Command
Capt. Carlstrom, S.O.S.
Major R.C. Patterson, Peace Commission
Lt. Col. Smith, 89th Division
COMMITTEE ON NAME
Lt. Col. Robbins, 2d Army Hq. Chairman
Lt. Col. Goodrich, G.H.Q., Vice-Chairman
Sgt. Dolan, 89th Division
Lt. Col. Stebbins, 3rd Army Corps
Sgt. H.E. Fleming, 35th Division
Major E.S. Haile, 77th Div.
Colonel Gibbs, S.O.S.
Sgt. McElow, Paris Command
Major Horace Rumsey, 35th Division
Sgt. C.E. Sommers, Paris Command
Major D.D. Drain, 3d Army
Sgt. G.F. Fleming, Paris Command
Lt. Markoe, 2d Army
Major Dwight, S.O.S.
Sgt. Barnard, Paris Command
The names of these committees are given because they are more than
just names. They show the first bubbles of the melting pot into which
all rank and titles in the American Army have been cast and out of
which comes the one word "Comrade."
There were three outstanding features of the Paris caucus which were
evident by midnight of March 15th. The first was the desire to get
together and form an organization quickly and a willingness to forego
personal prejudice and opinion to arrive at that end. The second was
the determination to make the man who didn't get across as much a
component part of the legion as his more fortunate brother-in-arms;
while the third was the avowed intention to take no action at the
caucus which could be deferred until the winter convention in America,
when the home brother and the navy could be jointly represented and a
permanent organization could be effected. I say that these things were
evident by midnight of March 15th for those who have attended many
conventions know that from the casual word heard here and there, the
whispered conference of a few leaders, and from the general tenor of
discussions carried on by delegates gathered together in little
groups, the spirit of the body politic is most perceptible.
After the adjournment of the afternoon session on that day, members
of the committees closeted themselves and started work on their
special functions, while those who were to pass on the committee's
actions, the "hoi polloi" were here and there in groups, in the "Y"
huts or in boulevard cafes discussing the real meaning of the
gathering. A colonel in the Officers' Club said there must be no
disagreement on this or that question; a private in the Bal Tabarin
told his buddies the same thing.
And so it came to pass that on the following day in the Cirque de
Paris, where the final meetings were held, the delegates formally
gathered, sensed the gossip of the clubs and boulevards, and acted
accordingly. One of the things done was to endorse the action of the
temporary committee in appointing itself and in calling the caucus.
Another was to adopt a tentative constitution. It is in reality little
more than a preamble, but it gave a working basis, expressing enough
and yet not too much.
Newspaper men have told me that the Sermon on the Mount is the finest
bit of reporting in the history of writing because it tells a long
story succinctly. Lieutenant Colonel Buxton and his committee on
constitutions are certainly entitled to credit of the same type--for
they tell a great deal in a few lines.
[Illustration: Henry D. Lindsley
Temporary Chairman, who presided at St. Louis]
[Illustration: The Paris Caucus
This gathering had no time for official photographers. A half hour
before a session began one slipped in and took this picture with more
than half the caucus delegates absent]
Here's the tentative constitution under which the Legion worked--it
was read by Lieutenant Colonel Bolles:
"We, the members of the Military and Naval Service of the United
States of America in the great war, desiring to perpetuate the
principles of Justice, Freedom, and Democracy for which we have
fought, to inculcate the duty and obligation of the citizen to the
State; to preserve the history and incidents of our participation in
the war; and to cement the ties of comradeship formed in service, do
propose to found and establish an association for the furtherance of
the foregoing purposes:
"Those eligible to membership shall be: All officers and enlisted
personnel in the Military and Naval Services of the United States of
America at any time during the period from April 6, 1917, to November
11, 1918, inclusive; excepting however, persons leaving the service
without an honorable discharge or persons who having been called into
the service refused, failed, or attempted to evade the full
performance of such service.
"The society shall consist of a national organization with subsidiary
branches; one for each State, territory, and foreign possession of the
United States as well as one in each foreign country where members of
the national society may be resident and who desire to associate
themselves together.
"The officers of the society shall be a President, one or more
Vice-Presidents, a Secretary, a Treasurer and a Board of Directors,
which shall consist of the President, the Vice-Presidents, together
with the chief executive of each subsidiary branch.
"The subsidiary branches shall organize and govern themselves in such
manner as the membership of such subsidiary organizations shall
determine upon except that the requirements and purposes of the
permanent national constitution as adopted shall be complied with.
"The representation shall be on the basis of the actual enrollment in
the subsidiary branches at all conventions after the adoption of a
permanent constitution.
"Members present at the meeting of this committee as follows:
"Lt. Col. G. Edward Buxton, Jr., Chairman
"Lt. Col. T.W. Miller, Secretary
"Major Redmond C. Stewart
"Col. E.A. Gibbs
"Lt. Col. W.H. Curtiss
"Major J. Hall
"Col. C.L. Ristine."
There were many, many men in the A.E.F. respected and beloved, but
none perhaps more than he who seconded a motion made by a private from
S.O.S. base section, No. 4, that the constitution be adopted. The
seconder asked to speak on the question. When he began he got the rapt
attention which Bishop Brent, Senior Chaplain of the A.E.F., always
won whether he talked to buck privates knee deep in trench water or
the King in Buckingham Palace.
"It was a great soldier who said that the army has not merely a body
but a soul and a conscience as well," he began. "I believe the
conscience of the army is speaking in this committee's report. I
believe the army's soul is speaking in it. I was present on Saturday,
at the beginning of this caucus and I will tell you frankly that I was
fearful at that moment lest you should create a great mechanism
without adequate purposes. My fears have been wholly allayed and I see
in the report of your committee the ideals not only of the army but of
the nation adequately expressed and I wish to tell you gentlemen that
so far as I have any ability to promote this great movement I give you
my most hearty support. I believe that the army of to-day, when it
goes back to citizen thinking and citizen acting, will be capable of
contributing to the commonwealth of the United States so as to change
the character of the whole country and lift it up to a higher plane
of political, industrial, and religious life. I happen to be at this
moment leading in a movement in the army to promote the various ends
that are so well expressed in the committee's report, in what is known
as the 'Comrades in Service.' There are two ways of creating an
organization; one is by forming the principles and leaving the body to
take its own shape; the other by creating a machinery without stating
your end and reach that end through the machinery. According to our
democratic conception we have adopted the former or idealistic method.
We are prepared to contribute to this army wide organization which is
now brought into existence, all that we have to contribute. We are
entirely loyal to your principles and methods of approach and we are
quite willing to forego any attempt to make an organization which
might become a rival to you. Between now and the time of
demobilization there is a great opportunity for us to promote the
principles which actuate you. We have already a temporary and
provisional organization for the promotion of such principles; the
creation of better citizenship along the lines so well expressed. We
would like everyone who can to give support to that which we are
endeavoring to do, while we ask all who come in with us to be prepared
to throw in their lot with this organization when it is perfected in
the United States."
"The creation of better citizenship," Bishop Brent says. He wants
every one who can, to give support to that; to "what we are trying to
do."
If everyone could see just that in the Legion, if everyone will work
for just that--better citizenship--the Legion's aim will be realized
in its deepest and truest sense. Bishop Brent has a knack of hitting
the nail on the head with such force that the sparks fly and by their
light comes insight--ask anyone from out Manila-way if it isn't so.
The short address was greeted with thunderous applause. The newly born
Legion knew it had a champion and a worker in the Bishop.
Col. Wm. J. Donovan of the 165th Infantry, Forty-second Division
headed the committee of fifteen which gave the final report on
resolutions and organization. This report is reproduced here in full
because it presaged the action of the American caucus and brought
about the form of the Legion Government until November.
"RESOLVED: That an Executive Committee shall be selected, two
(2) from each unit (as recognized in this caucus) and eight (8)
to be selected by the Executive Committee; the two members, one
officer and one enlisted man, to be selected from each unit to
be named by the respective delegations attending this caucus.
Each unit shall present the names of committeemen who shall as
far as possible represent, in point of residence, each State,
Territory and possession of the United States and the District
of Columbia.
"This Executive Committee shall have general power to represent
the units now in foreign service, to determine its own quorum,
to confer with committees from a similar caucus in the United
States, to secure one general convention of persons entitled to
membership under the tentative constitution, to elect its
officers and appoint such sub-committees and give them such
powers as may be proper and necessary.
"This Executive Committee acting in conjunction with the
committee of the United States is specifically charged with the
duty of fixing a date and place for holding a national
convention, issuing a call for the holding of county and State
conventions and providing a unit of representation and method of
selection of delegates to the national convention, by the State
conventions.
"The powers of this committee shall expire upon the organization
of the permanent national convention.
"The committee is further charged with the duty of making known
the existence and purpose of this organization, of stimulating
interest in it, and of inviting the support of all those
entitled to membership.
"No policy except in furtherance of the creation of a permanent
organization having in mind the desirability of unity of action
in organizing all the American forces shall be adopted or
carried out by the committees.
A meeting for the temporary and preliminary organization of the
Executive Committee shall be held at this place immediately upon
the adjournment of this caucus.
The Executive Committee may receive and add to its number two
representatives from any division or equivalent unit not
represented at this caucus."
As the result of the passage of this report it is interesting to note
the personnel of the Executive Committee which the delegates selected
and which is controlling the American Legion of the A.E.F., observing
especially the large number of enlisted men; large in view of the
difficulties experienced in getting such men to Paris.
1st Div., Capt. Arthur S. Hyde
2d Div., Lt. Col Harold C. Snyder
26th Div., Sgt. Wheaton Freeman
26th Div., Lt. Col. Wm. J. Keville
27th Div., Lt. Col. Edward E. Gauche, N.Y.
27th Div., Reg. Sgt. Mjr. Samuel A. Ritchie, N.Y.
28th Div., Brig Gen. Wm. G. Brice, Jr., Penn.
28th Div., Sgt. Ted Myers, Penn.
29th Div., Lt. Col. Orison M. Hurd, N.J.
29th Div., Color Sgt. Andreas Z. Holley, Maryland
31st Div., Captain Leon Schwarz, Ala.
33d Div., Col. Milton A. Foreman, Ill.
35th Div., Lt. Col. B.C. Clark, Mo.
35th Div., Sgt. Fred Heney, Kans.
36th Div., Col. Chas. W. Nimon, Texas
36th Div., Sgt. Mjr. L.H. Evridge, Texas
41st Div., Col. Frank White, N. Dak.
42d Div., Col. Henry J. Reilly, Ill.
42d Div., Sgt. Rowe, Iowa
77th Div., Major Duncan Harris
77th Div., Sgt. Lawrence Miller, N.Y.
79th Div., Lt. Col. Stuart S. Janney, Md.
79th Div., Sgt. Benjamin R. Kauffman, Pa.
80th Div., Capt. Arthur F. Shaw, Mich.
81st Div., Major Theodore G. Tilghman, N.C.
81st Div., Reg. Sgt. Mjr. Wm. S. Beam, N.C.
82d Div., Capt. Frank S. Williams, Fla.
82d Div., Sgt. Alvin T. York, Tenn.
83d Div., Lt. Col. Wayman C. Lawrence, Jr., W. Va.
83d Div., Cpl. Thoyer
86th Div., Major John H. Smale, Ill.
88th Div., Lt. Col. George C. Parsons, Minn.
88th Div., Wagoner Dale J. Shaw, Iowa.
89th Div., Lt. Col. Frank Wilbur Smith, Pa.
91st Div., Lt. Col. John Guy Strohm, Oregon
91st Div., Sgt. Mjr. Hercovitz, Calif.
S.O.S. Hq., Col. James H. Graham, Conn.
Adv. Sec., S.O.S. Capt. David A. Uaurier, Wash.
Base Sec. No. 1, S.O.S., Pvt. W.L. Thompson, N.Y.
Base Sec. No. 3, S.O.S., Lt. Col. Carle Abrams, Oregon
Base Sec. No. 5, S.O.S., Major Orlin Hudson, Kans.
Base Sec. No. 6, S.O.S., Major Arthur S. Dwight, N.Y.
Troops with French, Sgt. L.K. Flynt, Mass.
Troops with French, Capt. A.W. Kipling, Paris, France
Paris Command, Pvt. Harold W. Ross, Calif.
Paris Command, Lt. Col. John Price Jackson
G.H.Q., Bishop Charles H. Brent, N.Y.
1st Army Corps, Lt. Col. Lemuel L. Bolles, Wash.
1st Army Corps, Sgt. Mjr. Race
2d Army Hq., Lt. Col. Burke H. Sinclair, Colo.
The tentative name of this organization was not adopted without a
great deal of discussion. All sorts of titles were suggested to the
committee which considered the matter. Some of them were:
Comrades of the Great War
Veterans of the Great War
Liberty League
Army of the Great War
Legion of the Great War
Great War Legion
The Legion
The American Comrades of the Great War
The Great Legion
The American Legion
The last was tentatively decided upon as the best name although there
was considerable discussion on it. This discussion waxed particularly
warm between a colonel and a corporal and it came to an end only when
some hungry enlisted delegate braved the officer's rising ire to move
an adjournment for lunch. The motion carried immediately and, true to
the understanding made at the outset in regard to rank, the corporal
clicked his heels together, stood at attention and saluted the
colonel, when the latter passed him on the sidewalk exactly five
minutes after he had been telling the colonel precisely what he
thought of him and his opinions--at least as far as the name of the
Veteran's Organization was concerned. I might add that this colonel
was well under thirty-five years of age and that the corporal was only
twenty-one.
And this brings to mind another striking feature of this most unusual
gathering, which was the comparative youth of its membership. For
instance the two individuals who have taken from the beginning the
leading parts in the movement, Bennett Clark, son of Champ Clark and a
Lieutenant Colonel of infantry, and Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., son of
the ex-president and also a Colonel of infantry. They are respectively
twenty-nine and thirty-one years of age, and one of the most brilliant
speeches in the caucus was made by a captain of twenty-six.
It must not be understood from this rather dry recital of what took
place at the Paris Caucus, this record of minutes and resolutions,
that it was an entirely sedate and dignified gathering. On the
contrary, Young America was there and quite often the impression which
one gathered was that a dozen or so Big Brothers had been turned loose
at once. A great many wild speeches were made and all sorts of
ticklish questions were brought up. Chairman Clark broke two gavels
and three times overturned his table. Everyone there was young. Peace
was young. Few knew exactly, like Bishop Brent, just what was wanted.
The whole project was new. Dozens of delegates wanted to speak; it was
their first chance since April 6, 1917. In fact one man made two very
violent speeches on the same subject, one in direct opposition to the
other. He realized he was making a heated argument for both sides and
finally sat down laughing about it. Who was he? Who was the colonel
who got wrought up over the proposed name? Who were the lieutenants,
and who were any of these privates, captains, and sergeants?
"I don't know." Nobody knows.
Doubtless they have themselves forgotten what they said. No verbatim
records are available now. In fact I am told that no record could have
been kept, for many times two or three were speaking at once and the
chairman was breaking the third commandment with his gavel. But this
much everyone wanted, "A Veteran's Organization." This much everyone
swore he would have, one that was neither political nor partisan, one
that would perpetuate righteousness, insure "honor, faith, and a sure
intent," and despite whatever bickering there might have been, despite
whatever differences of opinion arose, when, with a tremendous "Aye,"
the motion to adjourn was carried, this Paris Caucus had accomplished
a body politic and a soul of the type which Bishop Brent so clearly
described.
To resume the story of actual accomplishment. The Executive Committee
was given general power to represent the units in France, to confer
with committees or representatives of the American Caucus as soon as
these should be appointed, and, in conjunction with the latter, to
issue a call for the holding of county and State conventions and
providing a unit of representation and method of selection of
delegates to one general convention for the autumn of 1919, preferably
November 11th, or Armistice Day.
The Executive Committee met immediately after the adjournment of the
caucus and elected Colonel Foreman of the Thirty-third Division,
Chairman; Lt. Colonel George A. White, Forty-first Division, Secretary
and Major R.C. Patterson, Paris Command, Assistant Secretary. Lt. Col.
White, Col. Wood, Major R.C. Patterson, and Lt. L.R. Farrell were
elected permanent members at large of the Executive Committee.
Then from this executive committee a committee of fifteen was chosen
for the purpose of expediting the work which had been assigned to the
larger committee, it being easier to assemble fifteen men than the
larger number. The committee of fifteen elected Col. Bennett Clark as
its chairman.
At the first meeting of the committee of fifteen a hope was expressed
that the caucus in America would take similar action in the
appointment of an executive committee, which would in turn delegate
its authority to a smaller committee for working purposes. Just
exactly how this worked out, is later described.