Original typed manuscript for an essay titled at the top in pencil, “Americanism versus Communism,” six pages, 8.5 x 11, signed at the conclusion in black ink, “William Randolph Hearst.” Manuscript bears numerous ink and pencil notations and corrections throughout the entirety of the text, nearly all of which are in Hearst’s hand. In part: “The general strike in San Francisco is ended thanks entirely to the courage and competence of the public officials of the city of San Francisco and of the state of California and to the patriotic determination and devotion of the citizenship…That the strike amounted to civil war was a fact already sufficiently familiar to San Franciscans. The newspapers of San Francisco had repeatedly denounced the strike not merely as rebellion but as revolution…It was an attempt by force and violence to depose all constituted authority and to destroy established American institutions…They reluctantly realize that the Federal Administration and its visionary advisors by specific word and deed have done much to encourage the radical elements of the community to revolutionary demonstration and have done little or nothing to suppress those dangerous demonstrations when they occur….As a matter of frank fact much of the administration is more communistic than the communists themselves…Much evil and injury may result from the ignorance if not the impudence of those modern political leaders who believe that their crude communistic ideas are superior to the well planned and well proven policies of the fathers of our republic….If there are evils in our conditions, those evils can be cured and best cured and only cured by more and better Americanism….Thank God the patriotic citizens of California have shown us the way.” In fine condition, with tears to the right borders of the third and final pages, neither affecting any text or writing. Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from PSA/DNA. Provenance: William Collier Family Collection.
On May 9, 1934, determined to negotiate a coast-wide contract, a union-run hiring hall, and an industry-wide waterfront federation, longshoremen in every West Coast port walked out, beginning the 83-day West Coast Waterfront Strike. As the workers continued to reject deals brokered by the Roosevelt administration, the strike escalated, reaching its height of violence in early July when police shot three protesters, killing two. After a subsequent four-day general strike in San Francisco, the Labor Council voted to finally bring it to an end, recommending that the unions accept arbitration of all disputed issues. In this manuscript, a version of which was published as a front-page editorial in his San Francisco Examiner on July 23, Hearst pats himself and his newspapers on the back for “repeatedly denounc[ing] the strike not merely as rebellion but as revolution,” and applauding “the patriotic citizens of California” for “show[ing] us the way" of stopping what he characterized as Communist uprisings. Initially a Roosevelt supporter, Hearst had decided with the passing of the New Deal—or “the raw deal,” in his words—that “much of the Administration is more communistic than the communists themselves,” and used this event as another opportunity to rail against FDR; with his frequent red-baiting editorial attacks, he hoped to restore Republicans to the White House in the next election. A fascinating working manuscript from a dramatic time in American politics, by one of the most influential shapers of public opinion. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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