Relentless reformer : Josephine Roche and progressivism in twentieth-century America

439 Pages·2015·5.3 MB·English

by  Muncy, Robyn, Roche, Josephine A., Roche, Josephine Aspinwall

Relentless Reformer
Politics and Society in
Twentieth- Century America
SERIES EDITORS
WILLIAM CHAFE, GARY GERSTLE, LINDA GORDON, AND JULIAN ZELIZER
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Relentless Reformer: Josephine Roche and Progressivism
in Twentieth-Century America
by Robyn Muncy
Relentless Reformer
JOSEPHINE ROCHE AND PROGRESSIVISM
i n T w e n t i e t h - C e n t u r y A m e r i c a
ROBY N MUNCY
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON & OXFORD
Copyright © 2015 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press
41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press
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press.princeton.edu
Cover photograph by Chase LTD., Photography, the George Meany Memorial AFL-CIO
Archives, Special Collections & University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.
Photograph © AFL-CIO, used with permission.
All Rights Reserved
ISBN 978– 0- 691– 12273– 1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014935546
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Sabon LT Std, Folio Std, and Egyptienne Becker
Printed on acid- free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FOR MOM, DAD, AND MER

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IX
INTRODUCTION 1
PART I
FIRST BURST OF PROGRESSIVE REFORM:
ROCHE’S APPRENTICESHIP, 1886– 1918
1 Childhood in the West, Education in the East, 1886– 1908 13
2 Aspiring Feminist and Social Science Progressive, 1908– 1912 26
3 Emergence as a Public Leader, 1912– 1913 42
4 Seeking Fundamentals: The Colorado Coal Strike, 1913– 1914 64
5 “Part of It All One Must Become”: Progressive in Wartime,
1915– 1918 79
PART II
FIRST TEMPORARY REVERSAL OF PROGRESSIVE REFORM:
ROCHE’S NEW DEPARTURES, 1919– 1932
6 Work and Love in a Progressive Ebb Tide, 1919– 1927 97
7 Migrating to a “Totally New Planet”: Roche Takes Over
Rocky Mountain Fuel, 1927– 1928 110
8 “Prophet of a New and Wiser Social Order,” 1929– 1932 126
VII
PART III
SECOND BURST OF PROGRESSIVE REFORM:
HEIGHT OF ROCHE’S RENOWN, 1933– 1948
9 Working with the New Deal from Colorado, 1933– 1934 143
10 At the Center of Power: Roche in the New Deal Government,
1934– 1939 162
11 Generating a National Debate about Federal Health Policy,
1935– 1939 177
12 Unmoored during Wartime, 1939– 1945 193
13 Becoming a Cold War Liberal, 1945– 1948 211
PART IV
SECOND TEMPORARY REVERSAL OF PROGRESSIVE REFORM:
ROCHE BUILDS A PRIVATE WELFARE SYSTEM IN THE COALFIELDS, 1948– 1963
14 Creating “New Values, New Realities” in the Coalfields,
1948– 1956 227
15 Democratic Denials and Dissent at the Miners’ Welfare Fund,
1957– 1963 247
PART V
THIRD BURST OF PROGRESSIVE REFORM:
ROCHE RECLAIMS THE FULL PROGRESSIVE AGENDA, 1960– 1976
16 Challenged and Redeemed by the New Progressivism,
1960– 1972 265
17 Only Ten Minutes Left? Epilogue and Assessment 289
ABBREVIATIONS 297
NOTES 299
SELECT PRIMARY SOURCES 375
INDEX 379
VIII
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I
could write nearly as long a story of my adventures researching
Josephine Roche’s life as I wrote about her life itself. Susan Ware was
the first person who encouraged me to pursue a full biography of
Roche. She set me on the path by contracting an entry on Roche for
Notable American Women (Belknap Press, 2004). Susan has since
read proposals and conference papers about Roche and at every point of-
fered sound advice and effective encouragement. Thank you, Susan. I also
want to thank here a particular labor historian, who, when I informed
him I might write a book on Josephine Roche, referred to her as a “toady”
of John L. Lewis. That description was so at odds with everything I had
learned about Roche to that point that it gave me extra incentive to take
the plunge into biography.
As every historian does, I have depended on many archivists and li-
brarians. Special thanks to Walter Bowman at the State of Kentucky
Archives; Larry DeWitt at the Social Security Administration Archives
in Baltimore; Michael Hussey at the National Archives in College Park;
Barry Kernfeld in the Labor History Collection at the Pennsylvania State
University Libraries; Carol Leadenham and Ron Bulatoff at the Hoover
Institution; William LeFevre at Wayne State University’s Walter P. Reuther
Library and Archives; Halyna Myroniuk at the University of Minnesota’s
Immigration History Research Center; Gayle Richardson in the Manu-
scripts Division of the Huntington Library; Michael Ridderbusch at the
University of West Virginia Libraries; Cynthia Rand in the Denver Public
Library’s Western History Collection; Angie Reinecke in the Archives at
the University of Wisconsin, Platteville; Dean Rogers at Vassar College’s
Special Collections; Ellen Shea at Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library; Frank
Tapp at the Auraria Library in Denver; Eileen Witte in the Vassar Col-
lege Alumnae Office; and all the wonderful archivists at the Franklin D.
IX