Through Lines: A Glimpse into the Formative Years of General William L. Mitchell

Guest Post by Matthew G. Sadowski

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he initial focus of this research was to ascertain why 10-year-old William L. Mitchell (Willie, a.k.a. Billy) was sent in the winter of 1890 to attend a small private Episcopal grammar school at Racine College in Racine, Wisconsin. Willie was born into a family of great wealth and lineage, so the reasoning is not initially clear. After all, his grandfather, Alexander Mitchell, who had passed away in 1887, had been the wealthiest man in Wisconsin. Willie’s grandmother, Martha Reed Mitchell, traced her ancestors to the Mayflower. Willie’s father John L. Mitchell was a decorated Civil War veteran, a captain of banking, and an influential politician. With such a pedigree, it is reasonable to expect that Willie would have been sent to some prestigious school along the eastern seaboard of the United States, or to the land of his birth, France.[1]

The question “why Racine College” is answered with input from John Magerus, Archivist of its successor the DeKoven Foundation. From 1859 until his death in 1879, the foundation’s namesake, Rev. James DeKoven, was a highly respected and influential national authority in the Episcopal faith and, by association and design, so too was Racine College. From 1852 through the year of its closing in 1933, about 3,000 students attended the grammar school, and over 300 students graduated from the college. During 1869-1870 school year alone, the grammar school and college welcomed 220 students from 21 states and Cuba. 

Racine College, 1892

Racine College had a reputation for grooming future statesmen, politicians, explores, generals, and clerics. Some inquiries, attendees and graduates include: Thomas “Tad” Lincoln, son of President Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln (inquiry was made by Mary Todd Lincoln)[2]; Commander Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr., established the San Diego naval air station in 1917 and the first husband of the Duchess of Windsor Bessie Wallis Warfield; Ernest de Koven Leffinwell, polar explorer and prognosticator of Alaska’s north slope oil fields.[3] With such a reputation the grammar school at Racine College was a fitting institution for the son of a wealthy Wisconsin businessman, State Senator, and future member of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

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ssorted correspondence during Willie’s time at the grammar school includes letters written to his mother Harriet Danforth Becker Mitchell, and his father.[4] What was anticipated to reveal additional clues as to the reasoning for choosing Racine College, rather, provides a fascinating window into the life of an inquisitive young boy, and a foreshadowing of certain traits of the man he would become, General William (Billy) L. Mitchell.

Letter from Willie to John Mitchell, May 15, 1894 

Willie’s earliest letters (January, 1890) are almost exclusively to his mother, referring to her as Moma, Mama, Mamama, and Mrs. Mitchell. Through these letters some interests are revealed, most likely similar to many other young boys of the times. Willie liked ice skating, fishing, wrestling (with the older boys), caramels, knifes, playing at the beach, sailing, going on hikes in the surrounding fields, horses, playing baseball, locomotives and exploring Racine’s downtown and harbor. Willie also liked merry-go-rounds, stickers, oranges, tangerines, sleigh rides and apples. As Willie ages, he begins writing directly to his father at times, referring to him as Papa or Father. A letter dated May 15, 1894, reveals additional [5] activities, however, they may not be typical of a 14-year-old boy in 1894. Willie writes to his father of playing on the school’s baseball and tennis teams and preparing for a performance as part of the school’s dramatic club.

Throughout Willie’s letters, he also reveals activities reflective of a boy with unique interest, and a life of privilege. As some examples, Willie nurses a distressed rabbit, or is captivated by sinking or sunken ships in the City of Racine’s harbor and just offshore from the college. He writes of sailing on the lake, and a fascination with steam ships and locomotives. He mentions his interest in birds, in general, and the concern for the well-being of his chickens, in particular. In an early letter to his mother, Willie asks for his typewriter to be sent to him. In another letter he asks for money to purchase leggings and a knife from an “Indian” that frequents the school’s campus along with other peddlers like the Py [sic] man.

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Xemplifying the privileges afforded to Willie through his family, he writes of frequent meet-ups with his parents at the Racine Junction train depot. Within Willie’s letters is a long essay on his summer 1889 vacation to Yellowstone. In a letter of 1892, he mentions meeting his father and J.I. Case, a wealthy and influential Racine businessman and politician, and walking with them to Racine’s downtown. Showing an awareness of a recent economic turmoil, in a letter to his mother dated October 20, 1893, Willie asks if the bank would “resume.”[6]

Over the years at school, as part of the choir, Willie sings for U.S. President Grover Cleveland in 1893. In 1894 he writes of conversing with decorated Civil War veteran Brigadier General Harrison C. Hobart about his mother’s health. He attends the Racine opera. He visits Mr. Case’s Hickory Grove where there are horse stables and practice facility. In June of 1895, his final year in grammar school, at the age of 15 years, he finalizes his reservations for a summer tour of Europe following his graduation.[7]

While his letters and other communication provide a picture of the interests, development, maturing and grooming of a well-rounded young man of the upper social echelon, Willie’s letters also offer hints of certain traits which surface again as General William L. Mitchell.

Willie's Ice Skate Diagram

His early letters to his mother are, at times, very specific in detail. In a letter dated January 30, 1890, 10-year-old Willie instructs his mother as to a part of his ice skates that has broken, but he also draws a detailed picture, presumedly in his mind leaving no doubt as to the part his mother is to procure.

In another letter dated just three days later, Willie gets very specific as to how to find typewriter ink in his bedroom at home. Willie writes: “Don’t bring my typewriter unless you can find my ink… do not buy any I think if you look all over the bureo [sic] on the left hand side you go into that door that you go in from the stairs or standing with your back towards my bed do not open type writer [sic] box that is on my type writer [sic] you can open it all you want but don’t put in the ink…”[8]

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eminiscent of Willie’s early letters, directions are found in the instruction General Billy Mitchell provides in a letter dated March 20, 1920 to Colonel Thurman Bane, Chief Engineer, at Cook Field at Dayton, Ohio. Gen. Mitchell uses most of the letter to provide interpretation of how staff should be preforming, how innovation in design should be achieved, and how goals should be met (i.e. how to find the typewriter ink in his bedroom). Then, Gen. Mitchell concludes by announcing to Colonel Bane that he’ll be proposing a new all metal high-altitude bomber and, in the letter, draws a picture with his word of what he is proposing (i.e. the ice skate drawing): “I’m going to propose a new high altitude all-metal ship with Turbo Booster, at least two engines, central nacelle hermetically sealed, with heat, etc., and electric controls, a capable of remaining afloat on the falter, -- this ship to be used for attack of airships and surveillance at altitudes of up to 40,000 feet or over.” [9]

Another throughline trait is Wille’s / Gen. Mitchell’s penchant for lists. Referring back to the January 30, 1890 letter, he provides an immersive paragraph amounting to one long list of 8 demands/requests, three of which are for stamps, one directs the type of insulating paper to use on his chicken coop, one requests a visit by his mother, another a letter “as soon as you can”, one instructs his mother to bring his typewriter, and another is a request for his knife with instructions on what to lubricate it with.

Referring back to his February 2, 1890 letter, the list continues with requests for oil, a key chain, a pocket compass, a knife, oranges, tangerines, apples, caramels, stamps, stamps, and stamps because “got to have them. I’m in an offel [sic] hurry.”

Many of the letters, from his youth or adult years, projects a confidence that at times exudes arrogance. Surely a result of the upbringing of a boy who is mindful of his grandfather’s achievements, his grandmother’s lineage, his father’s powers of persuasion, and his mother’s steady guidance and patience.

IN SUMMARY

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Portrait of Brigadier General William Mitchell

s Willie’s parents expected, the grammar school at Racine College helped provide a platform on which their son could receive and foundational education fitting the family’s stature. The college’s grammar school lived up to its mission: “Attractive and full of encouragement as is the prospect afforded by a material foundation so substantial, so large and well appointed; and inspiring as educational achievements and possibilities of Racine College are, the highest interest cannot but attach to it as a school and center of blended learning and religion, for the Northwest. Here the church and the school, worship and work, moral and religious training, scholarship and culture stand side by side as “one and inseparable.”[10]

As a man, Billy took the confidence in self that he gained from family, and his education at grammar school, and applied it to his life endeavors, sometimes to a fault, often at the expense of effective interpersonal and professional communication, but always true to his convictions.

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[1] UW-Milwaukee, Fall 2022, History 450G, Mitchell family biography, pages 7, 15, 17, and 21.

[2] John Magerus, communication with Matthew G. Sadowski, December 8, 2022.

[3] Racine College, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racine_College.

[4] Mitchell, General William Correspondence, 1888, 1893-1904, 1927. Micro Film 293, 1 Reel, Barcode 89088764600, UW-Madison Library, Wisconsin Historical Society Archives.

[5] Douglas C. Waller, A Question of Loyalty: General Billy Mitchell and the Court-Martial That Gripped the Nation (New York: Harper Collins, 2004).

[6] Milwaukee Public Library-MPL Digital Library, General William Mitchell Letters, May 15, 1894.

[7] Milwaukee Public Library-MPL Digital Library, General William Mitchell Letters, Frank C. Clark’s General Ticket and Tourist Agency, receipt, June 4, 1895.

[8] UW-Madison Library, Wisconsin Historical Society Archives. Mitchell, General William Correspondence, 1888, 1893-1904, 1927. Microfilm 293, 1 Reel, Barcode 89088764600.

[9] UW-Milwaukee, Fall 2022, History 450G, digital class materials, Letter from Billy Mitchell to Therman Bane, March 20, 1920.

[10] Dekoven Foundation, Archives of Racine College, Circular of the Grammar School Department of Racine College, 39^th Year, for the Academic Year, 1891-92 (Racine: Journal Printing Co., Printers, 1891).

Trust the Course Bibliography

Guest Post by Eli Norlander

My first primary source that I researched was a long letter that Billy Mitchell wrote to his father. I never ended up using this source for any tabling except to just have on the table in case anyone liked my main primary source enough to read past Billy Mitchell’s Op-Ed. To find the letter from Billy Mitchell, I believe I just searched some key words into Google and scrolled for a while, clicking on links that seemed like they would yield what I was looking for. Eventually, I found the letter on the Milwaukee Historical Center’s digital archives site. This was helpful because their website is made for researchers just like me. The information about the piece was very thorough, including the date it was written, the location that it was written, and a plain-text version of the cursive writing. However, the content itself was not particularly helpful or in my mind, interesting enough to present to an audience mainly because it was almost too personal of a letter without a whole lot of historical significance other than framing Billy as a person.

This led me to turn to the course bibliography to find a piece that at least had some big quotes that I could pull out as attention grabbers. The primary source I chose, Billy’s Op-Ed against Coolidge, was exactly what I was looking for. It was slightly more difficult to find some of the additional details about the article, because it was from an aviation magazine that featured his letter because of his significance to the art of aviation. This piece made it very easy to research additional context information, because Billy talks directly about so many historical events that I could take a few notes to put next to their corresponding sections on my poster. This allowed my information to be driven by Billy’s words and thoughts while backing him up with additional information to show just how far ahead he was able to think.

This helped to bring out for myself a lesson on the importance of combining primary sources with secondary and tertiary sources. The Ostfriesland bombing was something that I could research through secondary sources, whose authors had themselves studied first-hand sources to gain a broad perspective on the event. Obviously, Billy was not alive to witness Pearl Harbor himself, so I had the choice of grabbing primary sources to pull from about the attack or seeking out secondary sources. I ended up maybe going even further to tertiary to find some numbers on the total number of airplanes that were involved to see just how accurate Billy was in his prediction. Numbers really seem to draw the attention of viewers as they walk through the museum and I had some striking graphs there, so having the numbers to compare was very useful.

HISTORICAL RESEARCH MAKES PAST COME ALIVE

Guest Post by Matthew G. Sadowski

Locating and analyzing primary sources can be a daunting task at first; what is my focus, what and who are potential repositories of the information I hope to glean, what will I learn along the way? In the case of identifying primary and secondary sources for my subject, William (Willie/Billy) Mitchell and his grammar school years, I found answers to these questions, and more. All questions led me to a richer understanding of the personality, the times, and the environment of my subject.

I started by reviewing the class bibliography. From there, I identified the book My Brother Bill, The Life of General “Billy” Mitchell (Ruth Mitchell, 1953). This book is available in the UW-Milwaukee Archives Department reading room.

Next, I utilized the UW-Milwaukee library’s online catalogue to search for potential resources where I identified two leads. One was a description of microfilmed correspondence from Billy Mitchell to his mother and father, and assorted other documents spanning the years 1888-1927. The microfilm is available from UW-Madison via inter-library loan.  The second was the George Hardie Papers; a collection of letters, articles and photos dated from 1880 to 2001; these are located at the UW-Milwaukee Archives Department.

Knowing that Billy Mitchell attended Racine College, I turned my focus to potential sources in or near Racine, WI. I first contacted the University of Wisconsin-Parkside Archives, as it holds a collection of historical materials related to Racine and Kenosha, WI, and is a repository for the Wisconsin Historical Society. I also visited the Racine Heritage Museum Archives and the Racine Public Library’s Racine Room. Staff at all three institutions were very helpful and advised me to speak directly with the archivist of the DeKoven Foundation, successor to Racine College (the final reincarnation of Racine College closed in 1933). 

While all the sources I identified were useful, the most abundant and telling to me was the microfilm from UW-Madison (handwritten letters from Willie/young Billy to his mother and father, and other documents), my visit, discussions and correspondence with DeKoven Center Archivist John Magerus, and a self-guided walking tour of the college grounds. 

Being a life-long resident of Racine, the entire experience was exciting. Reading through Willie’s letter he would mention names and places of 1890’s Racine. I looked forward to, and spent hours, reading his letters and the other correspondence, studying photographs, searching the internet for related information; time would simply fly by. Places and names from that past that I only saw pictures of or read about became alive to me. As I walked the DeKoven grounds, or the streets, harbor, beaches, downtown, light house, train stations, horse racing track… all things Willie commented on in his letters… I was looking at the very same sights.  Some drastically different from their 1890’s version, most the same. TOO COOL!

I began my research to answer the question “Why send Willie Mitchell to Racine College?” He was the son to the richest family in 1800s Wisconsin. While the answer to that question became apparent early on (Racine College was a very prestigious school), the question led me on a wonderful journey through time revealing the interest, sights, sounds and day-to-day activities of a student at an 1890s boarding school. Ever watch Somewhere in Time (Film, Szwarc, 1980) with Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour? That kind of cool… almost.

 

William “Billy” Mitchell: A Man of Great Action and Ideas

 Guest Post by Lori Martello

            William Mitchell was more than the man our Milwaukee airport is named after, for Mitchell was a prominent figure beyond the notorious court martial that made him seemingly more famous than his revolutionary ideas during the First World War and during the interwar period. George Hardie, Jr., a Milwaukee aviation historian, Army veteran, and author of General William Mitchell: Air Power Pioneer, wrote the following regarding how Mitchell should be received:

“General Mitchell can be well regarded as the American herald of a world revolution. With that revolution war and transport moved into a new dimension. Mitchell, with many others, saw it coming. However, unlike the many, he did something about it, advancing aviation in ways that are recognized here and abroad.”[1]

Like Hardie’s commentary on Mitchell, Major Alfred F. Hurley, a former Air Force Brigadier General and former chancellor of the University of Northern Texas, wrote that Mitchell was the pivotal character in the history of the World Wars as his ideas and actions made him unique and indispensable to the future of warfare:

“When Mitchell is considered in terms of his ideas, he emerges as one of the significant figures of the years between World War One and Two…Many of his ideas span an era which will not end until the missile replaces the airplane as the primary carrier of nuclear weapon.”[2]

What has been intensely studied surround the topic of Mitchell was his 1925 court martial, wherein he attacked the United States Navy for their supposed responsibility in the disaster that was the USS Shenandoah. Yet what other historians have sought to prove is that Mitchell was a man of great action and ideas that was constantly stalled by the War Department and the Army in the interwar years. There are various biographies on Mitchell that portray his boisterous character and parallel it with the court-martial, yet what the following historians advocate for is the revolutionary aspect of his ideas that made his boisterous, passionate, and outspoken manners and attitudes make sense.

            To being to understand how Mitchell became known as the Father of the United States Air Force, one must be aware of his exceptional actions prewar, during the First World War, and in the interwar period. Plainly stating, Mitchell was a man who enjoyed acquiring knowledge, and his learning and application of said learning made him a fierce leader and expert. His experience in the Spanish-American War made him a soldier, but the time he spent learning would foster his ideas on the future of combat and supported his insistence on a unified Air Force. Mitchell even paid for his own flying lessons in Kansas, which then cost him $1,470. Under General MacArthur, Mitchell laid 75 miles of telegraph lines in the Philippines and later 1,700 miles in Alaska; and it was during this time that he later recounted his first thoughts of “blitz” warfare. Emile Gauvreau, an American journalist and author, in his 1942 book, Billy Mitchell: Founder of Our Air Force and Prophet without Honor, credited Mitchell as the creator of the blitz due to his time spent in Alaska and the Philippines; Gauvreau recounts conversations Mitchell had regarding the “flaming coffins” that himself and others would attempt to fly. Mitchell spent his time touring Russian, Japanese, French, and Germany warcrafts in his youth prior to the outbreak of the First World War. He wrote in the Cavalry Journal in 1906 about how his tour of the far north culminated in his ideas about aviation: “Conflicts no doubt will be carried on in the future in the air, on the surface of the earth and water, and under the water.”[3] What historians have made clear is that Mitchell spent his time forecasting military future in terms of how aviation would be the factor that determined success.

During the early years of the First World War before American entry, Mitchell, through his own financial and social means while still working for the War Department, advocated for and created a loose aviation department for the U.S. Army. It was his time in Paris that really originated Mitchell as a war hero and annoyance: “Though Washington placed little value on Mitchell’s views on aviation, the French regarded him as an authority. He once lectured the French Senate committee on aviation.”[4] The United States appropriated $1,650,000,000 for aircraft and all Mitchell got was 196 planes, so he used his own finances to relocate to a bigger headquarters in Paris. Socially, Mitchell acquired prospective aviators as the War Department would leave his messages unanswered. Mitchell absorbed and generated ideas and asked endlessly shrewd questions that fed into the character which was popularized during his court martial in 1925.

His actions during the First World War cemented him as a hero not only because of his actions at Saint Mihiel, wherein he led an air armada of French, British, and Italian flyers to successfully halt Germans, but because he was an organized and dedicated soldier that was in those “flaming coffins” similarly to his soldiers. Mitchell was the first American officer to fly over battlelines. According to Burke Davis, “Mitchell used his organization plans of St. Mihiel for the new offensive, improving his communication system between airfields and other points by radio, telephone, and motorcycle couriers.”[5] And while he was not regarded as heroically to the War Department, the soldiers perceived him differently: “The fliers around him would have done anything for him…and so would the boys out in the squadrons…Billy was clearly the Prince of the Air now.”[6] Mitchell spent the war years flying over enemy lines to report back to commands on the how aviation and his fleet could alleviate the pressures on the ground forces. His success during the First World War impacted his behavior, attitudes, and perspectives in the future that have been used to sensationalize the events leading up to his court martial.

Major Alfred F. Hurley and Emile Gauvreau seem to be the biggest proponents that seek to establish Mitchell as a man of ideas and knowledge that speak the great depths and impact of Mitchell. Hurley claims that the sensationalism of the certain events of Mitchell do not do justice to the revolutionary ideas that Mitchell contributed: “All of Mitchell’s biographies have tended to overemphasize one or two sensational elements in his history, particularly his court martial…When Mitchell is considered in terms of his ideas, he emerges as one of the most significant figures in the years between World War One and World War Two.”[7] Mitchell spent the interwar years studying and even predicting the events of the Second World War in particular the events of Pearl Harbor, and Emile Gauvreau spends copious amounts of time setting up his book Billy Mitchell: Founder of Our Air Force and Prophet without Honor in a way that presents the then current events of war (1942 specifically) in retrospect, in retrospect to what Mitchell predicted: “Everything he [Mitchell] told us right here has come true – the battleships sunk by air bombs, big cities like Cologne destroyed from the air, France gone, the Philippines gone, just as he said seven years ago, sitting right at this table.”[8]

What is greatly interesting is that Mitchell advocated that aviation would be a valuable adjunct to the Army – “a second line of defense,” if the Navy, “the first line of defense” should fail to stop an invasion, and he advocated for this with ideas that were well researched, thoroughly detailed, and had an overall theme of the strengthening the American military. And what historians have romanticized in some ways was his passion and outspoken character that got him court martialed as he spoke out against the Navy regarding the crash of the USS Shenandoah. What the above mentioned historians and authors have offered is a way of viewing Mitchell for his passionate ideas surrounding aviation and not solely his 6,000-word press statement that blamed the Navy for the deaths of the 14 crewmen on the USS Shenandoah. For Mitchell spent his career and life vehemently finding ways to foster American success in war, and Mitchell’s ideas paired with his success in the air give credence to him being referred to as the Stormy Petrel of the Sky and the Father of the United States Air Force.

           

 

  

 

 

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[1] George Hardie, General William Mitchell, Air Power Pioneer (Milwaukee, WI: Ken Cook Transnational, n.d.), 19.

[2] Hardie, General William Mitchell, 18.

[3] Burke Davis, “I Am Naturally a Sort of Soldier,” in The Billy Mitchell Affair (Delanco, NJ: Notable Trials Library, 2003), 19.

[4] Burke Davis, “Good Men…Running Around in Circles,” in The Billy Mitchell Affair (Delanco, NJ: Notable Trials Library, 2003), 31.

[5] Burke Davis, “Good Men…Running around in Circles,” in The Billy Mitchell Affair (Delanco, NJ: Notable Trials Library, 2003), 39.

[6] Cohen Lester & Emile Gauvreau, “The Creator of the Blitz,” in Billy Mitchell: Founder of Our Air Force and Prophet without Honor (LULU COM, 2019), 29.

[7] Alfred F. Hurley, “Introduction,” in Billy Mitchell, Crusader for Air Power (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975), p. viii.

[8] Lester & Gauvreau, “The Creator of the Blitz,”  13.

Digital Reenactment

 Guest Post by Henry Stull

        Reenacting a historical event, or a historical timespan as in our case, on Twitter is a very interesting and unique way of applying in-depth analysis of primary sources. In a more traditional assignment such as an essay or presentation, the research by its very nature has to be a lot more eclectic and diverse in order to present an informed project. For example, to write a paper about the economic development of the Egyptian old kingdom, the author of that paper would have to have at least a rudimentary knowledge of geology, metallurgy, permaculture, and animal husbandry, in addition to the usual set of skills which comes with doing history work. Whereas in a traditional paper might have me look for arsenic concentrations in malachite mined in the Sinai peninsula, the Twitter reenactment pushes the focus more onto the chronology of events. The multi-disciplinary element is still hugely present in the Twitter reenactment, especially with characters who played laborers such as the plankman/railman. However with John Mitchell, who was largely a political actor, research mostly fell under the purview of the social sciences. Local history makes it really easy to show how large, sweeping movements affect small, localized realities and vice versa.

            Seeing as chronology is very important to maintain, especially when working collaboratively and instantaneously with large numbers of people, I oriented my tweets around John L. Mitchell’s Wikipedia article. The benefit of organizing my tweets around the entry helped establish a character arc and portioned away the diversity dynamic eras of John Mitchell’s life. There were also some tremendous sources in the course bibliography about his time serving in the Union army. If Wikipedia was the skeleton for my tweets, then the meat and muscle came from both the class bibliography and the Library of Congress’s digital archives. John Mitchell was very popular amongst his peers in the Senate (until he wasn't) and there is a great trove of his speeches and correspondence, such as a famous one where he rails against the US annexation of the Hawaiian archipelago. I probably drew the least from the class bibliography because a lot of the information about John was physical and also in Madison for some reason, I had requested the box, but I do not think it ever arrived. Despite this, however, the class bibliography was probably the most valuable in terms of the Twitter assignment because the descriptions of his letters really gleaned off a lot of his personality. A banker who was against financial interests; a progressive who fought for business interests so long as they were local industry; scion heir of the wealthiest family in Wisconsin yet pursues a career in agriculture; John L. Mitchell seems like a tangle of contradictions! He lived in a state of educated confusion and self-righteous hypocrisy which ironically contributed positively to his strong moral character. He was a good guy and I enjoyed portraying him.

Experiencing the UWM Special Collections

 Guest Post by Cameron Neubauer

My research was focused on Ruth Mitchell, sister of Billy Mitchell. Thanks to the class bibliography, I had a primary source that I knew I wanted to use right away. I went to the online database for archival collections at UWM and found that they had Ruth’s book, My Brother Bill, in Special Collections. One afternoon I went to the Special Collections department and asked to see the book. There was a list of rules for the material including no drinks or food, and no picking the material up off the table. I signed off on the rules and sat at the table. Once they brought the book out to me, I was surprised by how well kempt it was. The cover was battered only slightly, and the pages barely had any folds or wear. It was shocking to see the price tag on the book as well for $4.00 compared to prices today, but it makes sense considering the book was published in 1953. After surveying the condition, I began flipping through the pages. In the beginning was a page honoring the memory of four John Lendrum Mitchells in the family. There is an introduction by US Air Force Lieutenant General Gerald W. Johnson which was honorable as well and made the whole book seem slightly less biased. I began using my phone Notes app to scan the entirety of the book with every page. It took quite a bit of time, but it ended up being worth it for my classmates and I to read the book with ease. The reading was relatively easy to follow and enjoyable because Ruth didn’t use scholarly vocabulary and kept to a chronological timeline of Billy’s life. Overall, My Brother Bill is an interesting book to pick up not only for research purposes but for recreational reading too.

Primary Sources on Popular Figures: Many Interpretations

 Guest Post by Lori Martello

        Throughout the course of this semester, finding and analyzing primary sources surrounding the popular figure Billy Mitchell in the army and during the First World War was difficult as the sources found were mainly published secondary sources rather than published primary sources. Key published primary sources surrounding Billy Mitchell, like his 6,000-word press statement after the crash of the USS Shenandoah and his War Department memos that revealed his attitudes to superiors and the Navy, have been selectively published to further notions of his behaviors and reputation as a tenacious and provocative leader and war hero. Specifically, there are many secondary sources published by the Air Force Historic Foundation that focus on his character and temperament that made him a successful leader.

Hoping to discover archived primary sources to yield more key sources that had not been published or widely cited to fit into the narrative of Billy Mitchell, the Stormy Petrel of the Air, the UW-Milwaukee Archives Special Collections was very helpful. In the collection of the Mitchell Family Papers, 1864 – 1968, Billy was already a war figure, hero, and fervently fighting for organized aviation, and so there were unfortunately no primary sources in this collection that focused on his time in the War Department or his correspondence with his family that had not been cited frequently; the collection did have reference to the movie that was based on Billy Mitchell’s court martial in 1925, titled The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell. The second useful source at the UWM Special Collections Department was Billy Mitchell’s book, Winged Defense: The Development and Possibilities of Modern Air Power – Economic and Military, published in 1925. The difficulty in using this book, and with many archives, is that none of the sources focusing on Billy Mitchell were either digitized and made available online and that scheduled appointments were needed to view these sources. The accessibility and inaccessibility of sources will seemingly forever be a problem for students and archives, but a great methodological approach to finding unpublished or less popular primary sources was to look at the footnotes and reference pages of secondary works.   

            Additionally in this process, analysis of the sources found regarding Billy Mitchell during the First World War encouraged different interpretations of Mitchell. As the character and brief history of Mitchell was focused on in class prior to this primary source process, analysis of primary sources enabled for attentiveness, a deeper study to contrast the time in which the writings took place with the time span of the narrative. And as many of the sources found were life narratives of Mitchell, his experiences, and interpretations of the past, then present, and future, this process enabled for evaluation of Mitchell’s objectives during his time during the war, in the interwar period, and after his court martial.

A Trip to the UWM Archives

 Guest post by Natalie Hernandez

Before His450 I conducted primary research on one other occasion for another class. We were encouraged to go to the UWM archives or use a primary source form the digital collections. I decided to pick a digital primary source to work with because I was nervous to physically go to the archives. When Professor Seligman told the class that we would work with primary sources I was nervous but excited to get to learn more about approaching primary source research.

When the class was assigned to find a primary source, we wanted to analyze and present at the Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM), I made an appointment at the UWM archives. You don’t need to make an appointment, but it is recommended. The day we were assigned the assignment we went to the UWM library so that a library staff member could teach us a method to approach primary source research which made the assignment more approachable. We went over a research analysis method called “Six Thinking Hats” which taught the class tips on how to analyze primary sources.[1] We also learned how to use a UWM finding aid to help us decide which boxes we should look through to find a primary source regarding our topic. This lesson made me feel more equipped to go to the archives by myself and look for a primary source.

Before heading to the archives, I used the finding aid to look for primary sources related to the Mitchells and found a collection called the “Mitchell Family Papers.” I looked at the boxes and their description and noted three that I wanted to look through. Once I was at the archives, I approached a staff member and explained that I was there for a class assignment and needed assistance getting a box. The staff brought me the box containing the “Mitchell Family Papers” along with folder dividers to use as place holders when I’m looking through the documents. The staff advised me to handle the documents gently and to keep the documents organized and in their respective folders. As I looked through the primary sources, I came across hundreds of postcards and letters with cursive handwriting I had trouble reading. After half an hour of mostly admiring the postcards, I decided to use an invitation from the president to John L. Mitchell to attend a boat christening ceremony for the U.S. Wisconsin. Along with the invitation there was a newspaper clipping that covered the event. I thought it would be a good set of primary sources to analyze and explain at MPM. After I decided on the sources, I asked the staff member if they could scan them and email the scans to me. I left once the documents were scanned and emailed to me. I left the library feeling good about my experience at the archives.

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[1] “Six Thinking Hats,” Wikipedia, retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Thinking_Hats.

 

Calvin Coolidge

 Guest Post by Eli Norlander

Calvin Coolidge became the 30^th president of the United States following the sudden death of President Warren G. Harding in 1923. Before his role as Vice President, he had a career in both the State Senate and House of Representatives for Massachusetts. He was well regarded in both the growing Progressive Party and Republican Party. This was because he consistently ran as a Republican but had strongly held views that the Progressive Party valued, most notably, women’s suffrage. He wrote a piece titled “Have Faith in Massachusetts,” in which he appealed to the political importance of Massachusetts both to the United States and also the world in how it set the example for a strong economy and government leaders that had strong church ties. This piece was very highly thought of in his state, which propelled Coolidge to the office of Lieutenant Governor for two years and then Governor of Massachusetts for two more, before being selected as Harding’s running mate. Well documented as a shy, more introverted individual, during the campaign, Coolidge would travel throughout the northeast US, only allowing small crowds of people he was familiar with to hear his concise speeches. Also historically documented, the office of Vice President holds few powers, and this worked well for “Silent Cal.” He was the first Vice President to sit in on cabinet meetings, which allowed him to sit and observe. He was known as a well-spoken individual when he did choose to speak publicly. Warren G. Harding passed away, leaving Coolidge to take over a cabinet that included divisive individuals like Herbert Hoover, who eventually would lead the nation into the Great Depression, and Albert Fall, who was exposed for the Teapot Dome scandal.

Coolidge is relevant to the Mitchell family due to his conflict with Billy Mitchell. He was focused primarily on limiting government spending and reducing the budget of the federal government. This did not align with Billy Mitchell’s goals of establishing a separate branch of the military for air power and air travel research. It was under his administration that Billy Mitchell was court martialed, tried, and convicted of felonies due to his outspokenness and detailed press activity documenting Coolidge’s decisions. While Billy Mitchell was very outspoken in his opposition to Coolidge, the President did not respond in great volume to the criticisms from one of the Army’s most notable and well-respected leaders. For the Twitter reenactment, I will be doing a handful of the tweets as if I am tweeting from the social media team from the White House and a larger portion from Coolidge himself. Since Coolidge was not necessarily the most impactful president, I will maybe try to find a balance between being a context character, providing a character for the Billy Mitchell tweeters to make replies to, and overall attempting to seem to be avoiding the conflict and begrudgingly beginning to respond after pestering from Billy. Importantly, I will be responding after Coolidge is out of office and the country begins the Great Depression period, as someone who is apologetic and hoping to reconcile with the country who he led into financial failure.

Follow @POTUSCoolidge on Twitter.