It was a Second Rate War (The American Mercury, 1924)"In the conflict which some still persist in calling the Great War, though it was great only in size, there was so much jumble and muddle and half-hearted experiment and so little visible military skill and ingenuity that a far-seeing and keen-thinking British colonel has declared that if the nations of the earth will only use their brains, the inevitable next war will show combat so transformed and reformed that the struggle of 1914 - 1918 will seem, by comparison, little more than a clash 'between barbaric hordes...'"
Click here to read about the new rules for warfare that were written as a result of the First World War - none of them pertain to the use of poison gas or submarines.
A Price was Paid at Fismette (American Legion Weekly, 1924)A two page history of the 32nd Division and their struggle to eradicate the bulge in the Marne battle line that resulted in the liberation of Fismette and Fismes. ''My Friend Babe Ruth'' (Collier's Magazine, 1924)1920s sportswriter Arthur Robinson wrote this profile of his pal Babe Ruth (1895 – 1948) for the editors of Collier's:
"For some years I have had a peculiarly intimate friendship with Babe Ruth...to the alternately and jeering millions who have watched this modern Beowulf at bat, driving out his smashes, it may have appeared that he was just a thick-skinned ballplayer, schooled to deafness on the field. The skin of my friend Babe Ruth is not thick."
The First Elected African-American Judge (Literary Digest, 1924)An article about Albert B. George (1873 - ?) of Chicago, the first African-American to be elected as a municipal court judge: "An epochal scene will presently be enacted in one of the divisions of Chicago's Municipal Court, pointed out several editors, when there will ascend to its bench Albert Baily George, the Negro just elected Municipal Judge on the Republican ticket by 470,000 votes. In the past a Negro here and there has been appointed judge, notably Robert H. Terrell (1857 - 1925) of Washington, we are told, but this is the first election of one to a regular judicial office."
"Judge George's ancestors were slaves in old Virginia. His success, says the CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 'has sent a thrill of hope through the black belts - a new incentive to work and decent living.; It is considered 'a milestone in the journey of the negro race out of the wilderness of slavery, an application of the principles of democracy which may point the way to better things for both races.'"
The Little Things That Made Babe Ruth (Colliers' Magazine, 1924)A confidant cashed-in on his chum Babe Ruth and provided numerous factoids regarding the baseball legend's habits, manias and obsessions that are not likely to be added to the Baseball Hall of Fame archives. Sammy Sosa in our day may use steroids, but unlike Babe Ruth, at least he wears underwear... Prohibition Era Prisons Filled with Women (American Legion Weekly, 1924)Four and a half years into Prohibition, journalist Jack O'Donnell reported that there were as many as 25,000 women who had run-afoul of the law in an effort to earn a quick buck working for bootleggers:
"They range in age from six to sixty. They are recruited from all ranks and stations of life - from the slums of New York's lower East Side, exclusive homes of California, the pine clad hills of Tennessee, the wind-swept plains of Texas, the sacred precincts of exclusive Washington... Women in the bootleg game are becoming a great problem to law enforcement officials. Prohibition agents, state troopers and city police - gallant gentlemen all - hesitate to embarrass women by stopping their cars to inquire if they are carrying hooch. The bootleggers and smugglers are aware of this fact and take advantage of it."
Verily, so numerous were these lush lassies - the Federal Government saw fit to construct a prison compound in which to incarcerate them; you can read about that here...
General John J. Pershing (American Legion Weekly, 1924)An interesting profile of General Pershing by the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Marquis James (1891 – 1955):
• Ever hear about the time the C-in-C saluted a French cow?
• Did you know he had the right to put 'Attorney at Law' after his name?
• That he was given eight hours extra guard duty for a breach of discipline at West Point?
• Do you know why he was chosen to command the A.E.F.?
Read another post-war article about General Pershing.
Irving Thalberg: Hollywood's Boy Wonder (Collier's Magazine, 1924)An article covering the early career of twenty five year-old Irving Thalberg (1899 – 1936): legendary Hollywood executive and movie producer, whose natural abilities in the Dream Factory catapulted his meteoric rise to greater power, leaving a long string of hits and well-admired film productions in his wake before pneumonia got the better of him twelve years after this article went to press.
William Butler Yeats Interviewed (Theatre Arts Magazine, 1924)When the writer and editor Montrose J. Moses (1878 – 1934) got some quality time with the fifty-four year old poet and playwright William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939) they discussed Irish theater, contemporary poetry, the collective literary merits of their generation and a good deal more. Unlike their visits in earlier days, Yeats was by then a respected icon in the republic of letters (having been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature a year earlier).
Women Candidates Win Higher Offices (The Literary Digest, 1924)"The majority of women being natural-born housekeepers, why shouldn't the infinite details of a Governor's office appeal to the female of the species?" This deep thought was put to the public by the inquisitive souls at The Birmingham News just four years after the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which granted American women the right to vote.
The attached article concerns the 1924 elections which saw many American women swept into high political offices all across the fruited plain; it lists all significant offices that would soon be held by women and clearly indicates that the year 1924 ushered in a new era in American political history.
Click here to read further about women in national politics.
In 1933 FDR named one of these women to serve as Director of the U.S. Mint... The KKK Factor and the 1924 Elections (Literary Digest, 1924)Written on the heels of the 1924 election, this article listed who among KKK candidates won or lost their respective contests. The journalist collected a number of opinions pulled from as many as twenty mid-western newspapers, including two Klan-owned papers: "The Oklahoma Fiery Cross" and "The Illinois Kourier". A Tribute to General Pershing (American Legion Weekly, 1924)Six years after the last shot was fired, war correspondent Frederick Palmer (1873 - 1958) typed up some sweet words of praise for the American W.W. I Commanding General John Pershing: "When the people at home were thinking in terms of thousands, Pershing planned for an army of a million men overseas...He was organizer and molder of the A.E.F.. The stamp of his character was upon it in so far as any one man can put his stamp upon a vast, modern army."
During that brief period of the war in which Pershing's Doughboys were at bat against the Germans, Palmer worked under the general as the press liaison officer and censor for the entire A.E.F. (a job he hated). His bitter recollections of W.W. I were recorded in his 1921 memoir; click here to read the review.
Click here to read an article from 1927 by General Pershing regarding the American cemeteries in Europe. That Night in Paris (American Legion Weekly, 1924)Whether or not this story is true or not, it's a wonderful ride - written in the idiom of the American trench-dwellers of the time. It's awfully funny. Mabel Walker Willebrandt Takes On Prohibition (Collier's Magazine, 1924)An article about Mabel Willebrandt (1889 - 1963), the Assistant Attorney General of the United States between the years 1921 through 1929, her tremendous successes in the past and her ambitions to hold fast in the enforcement of the Volstead Act: "'Give me the authority and let me have my pick of 300 men and I'll make this country as dry as it is humanly possible to get it,' she said without the slightest trace of braggadocio. 'There's one way it can be done: get at the source of supply. I know them, I have no patience with this policy of going after the hip-pocket and speakeasy cases. That's like trying to dry up the Atlantic ocean with a blotter.'" When Mrs. Willebrandt stepped down some seven years after this article went to press, she questioned the willingness of the nation's law enforcement agencies to see the job through. | 
