Researching the Preparedness Day Parade bombing, I realize that this story is truly larger than just the parade itself.  For instance, what was the initial reason for the parade?

The history of the Preparedness movement is fascinating in itself.  It pits former President Theodore Roosevelt against President Woodrow Wilson.  Over the course of several years, Roosevelt publicly criticized and disparaged President Wilson regarding the state of American military readiness.  An ongoing Mexican civil war threatened to spill over into America through the raids on American soil throughout the American Southwest and killings of Americans in Mexico by General José Doroteo Arango Arámbula, better known as Pancho Villa.  The Mexican civil war coupled with the Great War in Europe and the sinking of merchant ships all across the Atlantic Ocean led many Americans to demand a heightened state of military preparedness should another nation present a present danger to American sovereignty.

Former President Roosevelt takes very pointed attacks at President Wilson and others not willing to increase American military might, referring to "professional pacifists" as moralists not willing to take a stand against immoral behavior by others.  The press apparently had a field day whenever Roosevelt made a speech promoting preparedness, as his speeches made headlines noting his criticism of Wilson.

As I begin to outline the research to come in this project, I realize that this story is one told from many points.  To date, I found only three accounts (found through internet and library research) dedicated solely to this incident. With these accounts, two deal with the trial of Thomas Mooney and Warren Billings in particular (Curt Gentry's Frame-up and Richard Frost's The Mooney Case, both written in the 1960s).  The third account (John Rangel's Fremont Older and the 1916 San Francisco Bombing: A Tireless Crusade for Justice, published just this past November) deals with one newspaper publisher's quest to see the convicted men freed.

Multiple subsequent investigations since found Mooney and Billings innocent of the crime and the trial unfair.  It is not my goal to simply repeat findings of previous investigations conducted by commission, legal research or historical inquiry.  Rather, I want to tell this story from a place of neutrality: beginning with San Francisco's social setting in 1916 and the significance of a Preparedness Day Parade.

I aim to present this incident from a narrative view, rather than simply present the facts of the incident.  I want the reader to understand the men and women involved: from the victims and bystanders who witnessed the bombing to Mayor "Sunny Jim" Rolph.  Also, the reader will understand the larger implications of the incident as it reverberated nationwide.

I hope to keep you all interested in the topic as I go along and look forward to presenting interesting aspects of my research on this page.

Stay tuned!