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Robert Tait Hodge letter to Anna Louise Strong expressing his support for her in the Seattle School Board recall election, March 6, 1918
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| Title | Robert Tait Hodge letter to Anna Louise Strong expressing his support for her in the Seattle School Board recall election, March 6, 1918 |
| Author | Hodge, Robert Tait (1875-1923) |
| Date of Publication | 1918 |
| Notes | In this letter to Anna Louise Strong regarding that day's election recalling her as a member of the Seattle School Board, Robert Tait Hodge expresses his support for her cause. He refers to her opposition as "self-seeking, would-be political leaders" and "gentleman criminals" who are using so-called patriotism to disguise their ulterior motives. He assures her that he pays no attention to those criticizing her, as he's followed Strong's career over time, and has "always been a great admirer of the good work you were doing to up-build humanity, and help those less fortunate than yourself". He is confident that the "false patriots" will never be able to diminish the high reputation Strong has deservedly earned in the eyes of "all good thinking people". Hodge himself refused to sign the recall petition, calling it "an outrage". He tells her that he has cast a vote in her favor, and encouraged others to do so, as well, and wishes her good luck in retaining her position. |
| Contextual Notes | Anna Louise Strong (1885-1970) was an American journalist and political activist throughout her life. After spending much of the 1910s working as a progressive advocate for child welfare, she became involved in the labor movement in Seattle, and through that movement increasingly identified herself with international communism. This advocacy, along with her work for the Seattle Union Record, connected her to the events surrounding the Seattle General Strike in 1919. Strong later left Seattle, and spent much of the 1920s and 1930s living in the Soviet Union, meeting with men such as Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin, and writing books about her experiences for Western audiences in an attempt to build support for the USSR. During World War II, she continued to promote the cause of communism, although her support for the Chinese communist movement ultimately alienated her from the government in Moscow, limiting her to one visit to the Soviet Union in the final two decades of her life. She spent most of those years living in the People's Republic of China, befriending Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong, and continuing to publish books and articles in support of communism until the end of her life.
Robert Tait Hodge (1875-1923) was a successful businessman in the mining industry who became active in local politics. He was appointed King County Sheriff in 1908, and ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Washington in 1912 as the Progressive "Bull Moose" Party's nominee. The 1912 election campaign was bitterly fought, and Hodge was at the center of several scandals, particularly surrounding his conduct during his first marriage. He finished third behind Ernest Lister, the Democrat, and Marion Hay, the Republican, despite the fact that Theodore Roosevelt, the Progressive "Bull Moose" candidate for the Presidency, won Washington's presidential vote by a substantial margin. While he successfully ran for re-election as King County Sheriff in 1914, his loss in the governor's race in 1916 and the sheriff's race in 1920 ended his career in politics. After struggling as a practicing lawyer for several years, Hodge tried his hand at several other lines of work, before dying in an accident while working as a foreman on a road building job in Oregon. |
| Subjects (LCSH) | Strong, Anna Louise, 1885-1970--Correspondence; Hodge, Robert Tait, 1875-1923--Correspondence; Seattle; Seattle Public Schools. Board of Directors; School boards--Washington (State)--Seattle; Recall--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Geographic Coverage | United States--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Digital ID Number | PNW00807 |
| Ordering Information | To order a reproduction or inquire about permissions contact: photos@u.washington.edu. |
| Digital Collection | Pacific Northwest Historical Documents
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| Repository | University of Washington Libraries. Special Collections Division. |
| Repository Collection | Anna Louise Strong papers, Accession No. 1309-001, Box 7b/67 |
| Object Type | Letter (correspondence)
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| Physical Description | 1 leaf; 24.5 x 21.5 cm. |
| Digital Reproduction Information | Scanned from original text or image at 150 dpi saved in TIFF format, resized and enhanced using Adobe Photoshop, and imported as JPEG2000 using Contentdm software's JPEG2000 Extension. 2010. |
| Restrictions | For information on permissions for use and reproductions please visit UW Libraries Special Collections Reproduction & Use page: http://content.lib.washington.edu/sc-use.html |
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