On This Day in 1914, US Military Slaughtered Kids in Colorado and JD Rockefeller Had Media Cover It Up

 On April 19 and 20, 1914, during a miner strike in Colorado, the  National Guard killed dozens of people—though the exact number of  casualties is disputed, most sources agree that at least four women and  11 children were among the dead. When the workers first went on strike,  they were evicted from the company-owned houses in the mining town, so  they set up massive tent colonies outside of the towns. The workers were  protesting for higher wages and better work qualities but were making  very little progress. 

The largest of these tent cities was in Ludlow, just outside of John  D. Rockefeller’s Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. The tent city in Ludlow  housed over 1200 people, and entire families, including children, were  living in these tents. The strike had been going on for months before  the massacre, with tensions rising between the military and the strikers  with every passing day. Then one day, these tensions came to a head and the National Guard  set up a machine gun on a hill overlooking the tent city and began  raining bullets down on the workers and their families. 

The Soldiers  then invaded the colony and began setting fires to the tents, trapping  many innocent people to die inside. When news of the violence spread,  miners all over the state began to revolt, and went to war with the coal  companies, shooting and attacking soldiers and mine owners, as well as  dismantling railroad tracks and blowing mines shut. 

Eventually, the Army was called in to quell the uprising and the protesters went back home or back to work. However, news of the incident was beginning to spread, tarnishing the  Rockefellers’ reputation and inspiring more protests. To deal with this  problem of public perception, Rockefeller hired public relations  pioneer Ivy Lee. Lee was an early influence of Edward Bernays, who would later write the infamous book “Propaganda,” a textbook of mind control for tyrants and aristocrats. Bernays is often called the “father of propaganda.” If this is so, then Ivy Lee is the grandfather. 

Photo - Ivy Lee - Wiki

It is likely that Rockefeller picked Lee for the job because years  earlier he came up with an idea that would revolutionize how  corporations and governments communicated with the peasant class. In  1906, when a horrible train accident happened in Atlantic City, Lee  suggested that the company issued a statement presenting their side of  the story to the press—this was to be the first “press release.” 

The disaster was caused by negligence on the part of the railroad  company and was witnessed by hundreds of people, so the press release  was a special measure taken in hopes to get their side of the story out  first. The press release scheme was a success and two days later the New  York Times just printed the company’s statement word for word! 

This  kind of insanity continues to this day where “news“ reporters simply  regurgitate the statement from the White House or from Exxon about what  they are doing, instead of making any attempt at investigative  journalism. 

Starting with the Ludlow Massacre, Lee began to change the public  image of the Rockefeller family and their businesses even if it meant  telling blatant lies. Lee sent out mass bulletins claiming that the  people who had been killed in the Colorado protests were the victims of a  house fire caused by an “overturned stove,” when in reality those fires were intentionally set by National Guard soldiers. He also accused  a popular union worker named “Mother Jones” of being a prostitute and  running a brothel, because she was a vocal activist who was bringing a  national spotlight on the incident. 

On Lee’s advice, Rockefeller wrote a statement one month after the incident, insisting that, “There was no Ludlow massacre.  The engagement started as a desperate fight for life by two small  squads of militia against the entire tent colony … There were no women  or children shot by the authorities of the State or representatives of  the operators … While this loss of life is profound and to be regretted,  it is unjust in the extreme to lay it at the door of the defenders of  law and property, who were in no slightest way responsible for it.”

 For a short time, Lee and the Rockefellers were able to manage public  perception of the event on a national level, although many residents of  Colorado were already well-aware of the truth behind the massacre.  Eventually, word spread and caused outrage across the country, sparking  widespread protests that eventually led to a congressional hearing. As  expected, the congressional hearing solved nothing and brought no  justice for the families of the slain children and miners. 

To repair the public image of the Rockefeller name, Lee suggested  that the family make high profile donations to various charities and  have photographs taken of them handing out money to the commoners to  make people think that they were good-hearted and generous. Again the  plan worked and the application of public relations was able to  resurrect Rockefeller’s reputation and then build it to the point where  it is today. At the time of his death, Lee was being investigated by  Congress for his work with the Nazis through the company IG Farben and a  proxy firm called the German Dye Trust. He was also a founding member  of the Council on Foreign Relations. 

The Ludlow massacre is a part of history that is often glossed over,  and when it is mentioned, it is typically in the backdrop of  conversations about unions and labor laws. While it is true that this  was a labor dispute and a strike, the power dynamic that existed between  the workers, the company and the government is often overlooked. 

It is often suggested that government is here to protect  people from corporations becoming too powerful, but this incident  illustrates how the government actually helps these interests maintain  their power. 

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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY:

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My name is John Vibes and I am an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. I write for numerous alternative media websites, including The Free Thought Project @tftproject and The Mind Unleashed. In addition to my first book, Alchemy of the Timeless Renaissance, I have also co-authored three books with Derrick Broze @dbroze : The Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality, Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion and Manifesto of the Free Humans

I just won a 3-year-long battle with cancer, and will be working to help others through my experience, if you wish to contribute to my medical bills, consider subscribing to my podcast on Patreon.