Columnists

A senator and the Great War

This summer marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I, or the Great War as it was known until the extreme horrors of World War II dwarfed the earlier conflict. Like most Americans, Arkansans were reluctant to be dragged into the growing conflict. But once war was declared, most, but not all, people of the state united behind President Woodrow Wilson in his crusade to make the world safe for democracy.

However, U.S. Sen. William Fosgate Kirby of Arkansas remained a steadfast opponent of the War to the bitter end.

America was distracted during the early years of the War due to ongoing problems with Mexico. On March 9, 1916, a Mexican rebel/bandit by the name of Francisco "Pancho" Villa crossed the border with a gang of 485 men and raided the town of Columbus, N.M., killing 18 people. This attack was merely the last in a series of border problems, most involving murder and robbery of Americans.

President Wilson sent a large contingent of regular Army soldiers under Gen. John J. Pershing into Mexico, and several state militias were activated to patrol the American side of the border. The Arkansas militiamen did not acquit themselves well. Probably the most serious breach of common sense, if not military conduct, was an occasion when three members of the Second Arkansas used their military weaponry to hunt jackrabbits, and in the process sent bullets whistling over a camp of Delaware guardsmen.

The Pancho Villa campaign demonstrated the inadequacy of men from Arkansas to fight in a disciplined and effective military unit. The campaign was also a wake-up call to Arkansas about the poor physical condition of its citizens. Of the 2,078 state militiamen who reported for duty, only 1,208 passed their physical exams. This same rejection phenomenon was observed a few months later when Arkansas draftees reported for World War I service.

While an unsuccessful U.S. senatorial candidate in 1914, Kirby had cautioned against going to war with Mexico. Upon his election to the Senate two years later, Kirby extended his anti-war activity to opposing President Wilson's drift toward belligerence. He worked vigorously to defeat Wilson's proposal to arm American trading vessels, causing the president to refer to Kirby and his allies as "a little group of willful men."

The key to Kirby's opposition to the Armed Ship Bill was his belief that corporate interests were behind the legislation. His indignation rose as he blamed Wall Street, "the same Wall Street that revels yonder in the coining of money and that would revel in the coining of the blood and patriotism of the Nation into dividends."

Kirby's opposition to big business harkened back to his long political allegiance to Arkansas populist attorney general, governor, and U.S. senator Jeff Davis. Like Davis, Kirby was an insurgent Democrat, blaming restrictive monetary policy for the generation-long downturn in agricultural prices. On the national level, Kirby found himself among a small cadre of anti-war senators, most notably Sen. Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin.

Though President Wilson won re-election in 1916 on the slogan "He Kept Us out of War," he soon changed his mind when German U-boats resumed sinking American merchant vessels. Congress voted to declare war on April 2, 1917. Realizing how badly out-numbered he was--and facing considerable censure back home in Arkansas--Kirby voted for war. Nevertheless, he refused to concede the cause: ". . . if there was the slightest chance on God's earth that my vote against it would defeat it, I would stand here and vote a thousand years if it might be that we do not go to war."

Sen. Kirby paid a heavy price for his pacifism during his 1920 re-election campaign when he was defeated by pro-war U.S. Rep. Thaddeus H. Caraway, also a longtime advocate for the common man known for his acidic tongue.

Kirby returned to Arkansas to practice law with former governor George W. Hays. In 1926 he won election to the Arkansas Supreme Court, on which he had served before his election to the Senate.

Kirby's last hurrah came in 1932 when he ran against U.S. Sen. Hattie Caraway, the widow of Sen. Thaddeus H. Caraway, who died in office. Mrs. Caraway had the support of Louisiana Sen. Huey Long, who came to Arkansas and waged a marathon campaign for "the little widder woman." Kirby, as historian Geoffery L. Stark has noted in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, "launched vitriolic assaults on Long's involvement and discounted Caraway's ability to hold public office." He finished a distant fifth.

Kirby died July 26, 1934, while serving on the Supreme Court. He is buried at Texarkana.

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Tom Dillard is an historian and retired archivist living in rural Hot Spring County. Email him at Arktopia.td@gmail.com.

Editorial on 08/31/2014

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