Champ Clark letter to Bennett Champ Clark - January 22, 1918
Transcript
January 22, 1918. Lieut. Col. Bennett C. Clark, Brigade and Field Officers School, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas. My dear Bennett: Hell is popping here in Washington! Under separate cover, I am sending you yesterday’s record which contains a speech made by Senator Stone and several other speeches backing him up or trying to answer him. I also send you, under separate cover, today’s Washington Post which is perhaps fuller of what is going on now than any paper you would get hold of down there. I tore off parts that could be of no interest to you to save postage. We have the second deepest snow on hands that I have ever seen in Washington. I suppose you are old enough to remember the four-foot snow we had here at the time of the blizzard. The snow is now seven inches deep, and the Weather Bureau promises some more tonight.
Transcript
No. 2. L-C. Bennett. C. C. You will see that Senator Chamberlain who heretofore has been a complete lickspittle for the President made a speech in New York declaring all of our military preparations a failure and that inefficiency prevailed in every Bureau, etc., to a gang of highbrows who cheered him most lustily. Julius Kahn chimed in with him. At which the President is evidently very wrathy. It seems to me that it was an outrageous speech and that the President is entirely justified in his wrath and in starting an Annanias Club of his own and putting Chamberlain in it. He ought to put Julius kahn in with him. He very ologamorsly endorsed everything that Chamberlain said. Chamberlain has offered a resolution appointing some sort of a board to take charge of the war which is unconstitutional and nonsensical because the constitution clearly makes the President Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, so I am with the President, in that row, at any rate. I think taking it up one side and down the other, that everybody has done very well during this
Transcript
No. 3 L.C. B.C.C. war. It was an extraordinary situation. All of us were as green as gourds. Of course there has been wastage, carelessness and almost criminal negligence in some cases and those that were guilty of it ought to be dealt with. I think the worst thing that has happened is about the soldiers’ uniforms. I think Senator Stone’s speech has started a political row here that may have great effect – Nobody can predict the end. Col. Roosevelt is in town!! Pater.
Details
Title | Champ Clark letter to Bennett Champ Clark - January 22, 1918 |
Creator | Clark, Champ |
Source | Clark, Champ. Letter to Bennett Champ Clark. 22 January 1918. Clark, Champ (1850-1921) and Bennett Champ (1890-1954), Papers, 1853-1973. C0666. The State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, MO. |
Description | In this January 22, 1918 letter to his son Bennett, Champ Clark discussed Senator George Chamberlain's speech in which he declared American military preparations a failure. Chamberlain later wrote the Military Preparedness Bill of 1918. Champ Clark, a long-time resident of Bowling Green, Missouri, was a politician in the Democratic Party. He served as a representative of Missouri from 1893 to 1895 and from 1897 to 1921. From 1911 to 1919 he served as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Bennett Clark served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 140th Regiment, 35th Division and as Assistant Chief of Staff for the 88th Division during World War I, and was Missouri State Senator from 1933 to 1945. |
Subject LCSH | Clark, Champ, 1850-1921; Clark, Bennett Champ, 1890-1954; United States. Army. Division, 35th; Fort Sam Houston (Tex.); Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924; Chamberlain, George E. (George Earle), 1854-1928 |
Subject Local | WWI; World War I |
Site Accession Number | C0666 |
Contributing Institution | The State Historical Society of Missouri |
Copy Request | Transmission or reproduction of items on these pages beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the State Historical Society of Missouri: 1020 Lowry Street, Columbia, Missouri, 65201-7298. (573) 882-7083. |
Rights | The text and images contained in this collection are intended for research and educational use only. Duplication of any of these images for commercial use without express written consent is expressly prohibited. |
Date Original | January 22, 1918 |
Language | English |