Convocation 2025: Michael Punke

• June 13, 1878- miners protest decreased wages at Alice and Lexington mines, and stage a protest march of about 400 people, forming the first union (becomes Miners’ Union Day)
• 1882- Wheeler Born in Hampton, Mass, son of a cobbler (Punke, p. 73)
• 1885- Butte Miners’ Union has achieved a ‘closed shop’ status in Butte
• Wheeler Attended U. Michigan Law school – clerking at Dean’s office during school year and selling cookbooks door-to-door in summer (how he met Lulu, rich farmer’s daughter). (p. 73)
• 1889- Fritz Heinze arrives in Butte. 
• 1892- Heinze establishes Montana Ore Purchasing Co., makes big gains with the Estella and then using the Apex Rule- rights to holdings determined by who owned mining claim closest to where a vein reached its closest level to surface (the apex).  Rights extend underground to wherever the vein led, even under others’ holdings.
• 1893- Western Federation of Miners formed, with influence from Butte Miners’ Union
• 1899- Daly sells his Anaconda Company holdings (mines, smelters, railroads, all) to the Rockefeller Trust’s Standard Oil Co., forming Amalgamated Co.  It goes public- selling shares
• 1900 election- Fritz Heinze and W.A. Clark team up to tilt election away from Amalgamated interests- they wine and Heinze gets a slate of sympathetic judges and W.A. Clark becomes U.S. Senator.  But then Amalgamated threatens to take down Sen. Clark, so he cuts ties with Heinze
• November 12, 1900- Marcus Daly, of Anaconda Co. dies
• 1903- Amalgamated fires several hundred suspected socialists at Anaconda smelter (Punke, p. 139)
• 1900-1906- second War of Copper Kings (Heinze v. Amalgamated)
• 1903- Rarus Mine controversy- Heinze transfers ownership of Rarus claim from his Montana Ore Purchasing Co. to his Jonestown Co., to avoid an injunction against mining contested territory between his claims and Amalgamated’s;  plunder, rumbles between opposing miners, blowing up tunnels…
• 1903- lawsuit from minority stakeholders in companies absorbed by Amalgamated that they hadn’t consented- (Heinze promulgated this) – Judge Clancy, Heinze’s buddy, sided with Heinze- Amalgamated threatened with dissolution, shuts down operations to show the impact- ¾ Montanans instantly out of work (Punke, p. 71)

• Amalgamated pressures Heinze to sell- Heinze delivers ‘working-man’s’ speech on Butte courthouse steps to crowd of 10,000 (pp. 71-72)
• Amalgamated goes to MT Governor Joseph K. Toole and calls for an extraordinary session of legislature- they pass the “Clancy Law,” calling for “offensive judges to be disqualified in civil suits”- Heinze loses court control

• 1905- Wheeler wanted to go West, got off train in Butte, interviewed for lawyer jobs in city- got one not-great offer, which he declined.  But then, he lost his only $500 in a poker game, so he had to take the one job offer in Butte (Punke, p. 74)
• 1906 – Heinze sells to Amalgamated
• 1907-1912- growing discontent with Butte Miner’s Union that seems to be caving to Company desires (voting for pegging wages to the price of copper, for instance)
• 1910- Clark sells to Amalgamated
• 1910- Wheeler wins a seat in the Montana legislature- at this time, the state legislature elected national senators- he backed Thomas J. Walsh “in the face of ‘Company’ orders not to do so” (Howard, p. 233), and earned his loyalty.  Walsh lost this election, but won through direct vote 3 years later. 
• 1911-1914 Butte has a Socialist mayor- Lewis J. Duncan
• 1912- Senator Walsh appoints Wheeler U.S. District Attorney for Montana State- pursues Progressive agenda- better working conditions in mines etc.
• 1912- Amalgamated fires 500 (Finnish) miners suspected of socialism (Punke, p. 139)
• December, 1912- The Company creates the rustling card system- cutting down unions closed shop system
• 1912- the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, “Wobblies”) arrive in Butte as a propaganda league
• June 11, 1914- Butte Miners’ Union shows up at Speculator to inspect union members’ cards- Michael “Muckie” McDonald refuses to show his card, and then 400 others follow- that night, a meeting to rally against the Miners’ Union, attended by 2,000; they protest Miners Union Day (June 13) parade and angry mob attacks those who march
• June 13, 1914- after mobbing the parade walkers, they sack Miners’ Union hall and dynamite the safe
• June 22, 1914- 4,000 join new Butte Mine Workers’ Union, led by Muckie McDonald
• June 23, 1914- miners took dynamite (at gunpoint) from Steward Mine and blew up the Miners’ Union Hall
• June 28, 1914- Franz Ferdinand assassinated and WWI begins
• August 30, 1914- a rustling card house dynamited (Punke, p. 143).  The Company offered reward, meanwhile, the Butte Mine Workers’ Union said the Company staged it.  The National Guard was called in with 500 armed troops.  Muckie McDonald imprisoned, Socialist mayor Duncan impeached; press censored, public assembly forbidden, curfew enforced.  Unions powerless (until 1917)
• 1915- the term Anaconda Company resumes, though it’s Amalgamated and they now own all
• April 6, 1917- US enters WWI- Wheeler personally opposed U.S. entrance into WWI, as did some in Butte- like Socialists, IWW, etc.  But Wheeler responsible for enforcing draft as DA, which he does
• June 5, 1917- Butte draft riots- 2500 people, National guard sent in to quell
• 1917- IWW is its own union in Butte- conspiracy starts to link them to seditious plans as ‘agents of the Germans’- “lest anyone fail to connect the dots, the Company used its newspaper monopoly to provide a steady drumbeat of conspiracy theory” (Punke, p. 178).
• 1917- Butte supplying much of copper for electricity and telephone wire critical for U.S. war effort
• April 7, 1917- Montana Council of Defense formed (President Wilson requested that all states do so)- Will Campbell, editor of the Helena Independent, appointed.  He uses the paper as a mouthpiece for the MT Council of Defense and influences it to take a conservative and draconian turn.
• June 8, 1917- Granite Mountain- Speculator Mine disaster unfolds- 168 dead
• June 15, 1917- The Espionage Act passes at federal level

Section III: Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall wilfully make or convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies and whoever when the United States is at war, shall wilfully cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or shall wilfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, to the injury of the service or of the United States, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both. . . .(constitutioncenter.org)

• End of June, 1917- 15,000 of ~16,500 workers on strike in Butte (Punke, p. 191) – Anaconda Company uses its papers to paint strikers as aligning with (seditious German agents) IWW, along ethnic divisions (Punke, p. 193).  Company spies, detectives and gunmen abound (p. 194) – Truth of IWW influence unclear (pp. 195-196)
• July 11, 1917- Butte Metal Mine Workers’ Union rejects both IWW and AFL affiliation; electricians’ union settles with Anaconda two days later- solidarity fizzling
• July 18, 1917- Frank Little arrives in Butte, after IWW Chicago meeting in which they didn’t decide on how to approach the anti-war/draft issue.  Little was against the draft.  “He was, without apology, gasoline on fire” (Punke, p. 203)
• July 19, 1917- Little gives a speech to about 6,000 listeners in Butte
• July 27, 1917- another speech, talking about how the Constitution can be torn up.  Pressure growing on Wheeler to prosecute Little for sedition
• July 31, 1917- Wheeler concludes his investigation of Little and concludes that he is not in violation of the Espionage Act. (Punke, p. 206)
• August 1, 1917- Little is murdered (Punke, p. 207)- papers bent to blame Wheeler for failing to prosecute him
• August 11, 1917- federal troops arrive in Butte- “It isn’t Martial Law” (because it’s war-time)
• December 18, 1917- miners vote to end strike
• 1917-1921- Federal troops remain in Butte that long! (Punke, p. 216)

• August 15, 1917- Montana’s U.S. Senator, Henry Myers, drafts a Montana Sedition Bill, saying he drafted it in “response to the failure (of B.K. Wheeler) to prosecute [Frank] Little” (Punke, p. 237)- stalls in judiciary committee

• November, 1917, Wheeler’s post as DA expires, up for reappointment- Walsh, his supporter, also up for re-election.  Traditionally, wait to be reappointed.

• February 1918, Montana Sedition Act passes, the first state to do so.  It ‘inspires’ the federal law (Punke, p. 236)- the language is ‘nearly identical’ to that Senator Henry Myers’ bill from August 1917

• May 16, 1918 Sedition Act of 1918 becomes law

Section III: Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully make or convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States, or to promote the success of its enemies, or shall willfully make or convey false reports, or false statements, . . . or incite insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or shall willfully obstruct . . . the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, or . . . shall willfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States, or the Constitution of the United States, or the military or naval forces of the United States . . . or shall willfully display the flag of any foreign enemy, or shall willfully . . . urge, incite, or advocate any curtailment of production . . . or advocate, teach, defend, or suggest the doing of any of the acts or things in this section enumerated and whoever shall by word or act support or favor the cause of any country with which the United States is at war or by word or act oppose the cause of the United States therein, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than 20 years, or both . . . . .(constitutioncenter.org)

• May 31-June 2, 1918- Wheeler questioned before the Montana Council of Defense on his handling of the Frank Little case.  Recommended as ‘unfit’ for reappointment as District Attorney. (Punke, pp. 241-245)
• August 1918, The Butte Daily Bulletin becomes a daily press voice of the labor unions- Wheeler helped fund it (Punke, p. 190)
• August 1918- IWW leadership convicted (in entirety) under the Espionage Act, in Chicago
• October 9, 1918, Wheeler formally resigns as DA, after a bout with Dan Kelly, Anaconda Co. attorney (Punke, p. 251)
• 1918-1920- Spanish flu pandemic- celebratory parades at end of WWI become large spreader of disease
• 1917-1933- rough times for labor and the mines
• April 21, 1920- Anaconda Road Massacre- 16 unarmed men at an IWW protest were shot in the back by Anaconda Company armed guards- 2 died
• December 20, 1920- U.S. Sedition Act repealed (Punke, p. 250)
• 1920-1959- According to Library of Congress, “By 1920, the Anaconda Company owned nine of the state’s fourteen major dailies, contributing to the company’s unrivaled political influence, which persisted until the sale of the newspapers to Lee Enterprises in 1959.” (https://www.loc.gov/item/sn84036012# )
• 1920- Wheeler runs for MT Governor on anti-Company platform, loses
• 1922- wins as U.S. Senator for Montana
• 1922-1946- Wheeler is U.S. Senator
• 1924- Wheeler leads anti-corruption initiative against Harry M. Daugherty, Attorney General of U.S. Daugherty forced to resign
• Fall 1924- runs as VP candidate to Robert LaFollette (Independent Progressive).  This ticket publicly denounced the KKK when the federal government shied away from making a statement.  KKK sought to make them lose election, but they still garnered 17% of vote (Punke, p. 255)
• 1930s- aligned with FDR, Wheeler pushed New Deal Legislation through- FDR awarded him with building of Fort Peck Dam (1933-1940) and adjacent town of Wheeler.
• June 16, 1933- the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) passed- enshrined workers’ right to organize and independently collectively bargain, forbidding employer intervention (Punke, p. 258)
• End of summer 1933- National Labor Board established to mediate disputes and enforce union rights
• Summer 1933- Butte Miner’s Union revitalizes, Anaconda won’t recognize
• May 8, 1934- Butte Miner’s Union members walk off jobs
• September 19, 1934- with federal assistance in negotiating, an agreement is reached- 40-hour work week, wage increase, formal recognition of union and closed shop
• February 5, 1937- BK Wheeler learns of court-packing plan- “president would be given power to appoint one new Supreme Court justice for every sitting justice who remained on the bench beyond his seventieth birthday.  Six of the nine justices were then over seventy.” (p. 260).  Wheeler would fight this- influenced by his own experience with the Montana Council of Defense (p. 260 for quote about parallels of today): Wheeler on a radio address: “Create now a political Court to echo the ideas of the executive and you have created a weapon; a weapon which in the hands of another president could…extinguish your right of liberty of speech, or thought, or action, or of religion.” (p. 260)
• May 18, 1937- Judiciary Committee votes the court-packing proposal down
• 1939- WWII breaks out
• 1940- Wheeler opposes FDR’s Lend-Lease program to supply military equipment to Europe. Wheeler is isolationist, supports America First committee (didn’t join, but wrote and rallied for them)
• December 7, 1941- Pearl Harbor- Wheeler comes out in support of U.S. joining the war
• 1946- Wheeler’s isolationist tendencies and reticence cost him re-election in 1946 (See Joseph Kinsey Howard’s article, “The Decline and Fall of Burton K. Wheeler,” Harper’s Magazine, vol. 194, no. 1162, 1947, p. 226.)