Hamilton Fish recounts a confrontation between former President Theodore Roosevelt and labor leader Samuel Gompers at a July 6, 1917 reception for a delegation from the new Russian government of Aleksandr Kerensky. Fish personally witnessed the confrontation, and claims that it resulted from Gompers’s denunciation of African American strikebreakers in East St. Louis, Illinois. Roosevelt criticized Gompers for his message and the “meeting became a riot,” and Roosevelt had to be escorted to safety.
Collection
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
Creation Date
1975
Creator(s)
Fish, Hamilton, 1888-1991