Buzz
Beginning with the Progressive Era in U.S. history (c. 1890–1920), writers leveraged the influence of print and mass media to expose societal wrongs and advocate for change. President Theodore Roosevelt coined the term 'muckraker' to describe these reformers, a term inspired by John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, where a rake is used to dig through muck. The muckraking legacy continues to shape investigative journalism to this day.
10. A Disturbed World and Its People, 1872
Bloomingdale Asylum, once a private mental health institution in New York where Columbia University now resides, catered to patients from affluent families. Its serene, manicured grounds concealed the dark realities occurring within its walls.
Amid rumors of patient mistreatment, Julius Chambers, one of the earliest investigative journalists, decided to uncover the truth by going undercover as a patient at Bloomingdale Asylum. To convincingly portray insanity, he intentionally reduced his food intake and indulged in stimulants such as cigars and coffee, planning to stop just before his mission. He believed that sudden withdrawal would disturb his nervous system, making his act more believable.
Chambers deceived the doctors who evaluated him and was promptly admitted to Bloomingdale. The asylum housed around 200 patients, but it was understaffed with only three doctors and 10 attendants. These staff members often neglected patients in distress, resorting to slapping them and leaving them to suffer alone in filthy, prison-like cells. Chambers was placed in the ‘manic wards’—unlit padded rooms measuring 2 meters (6 ft) by 3 meters (9 ft).
Chambers recounted the horrors of his experience in his exposé:
No method was ever used that was as effective in breaking the spirit, destroying hope, and driving one to madness as solitary confinement in a cell devoid of any object to occupy the mind or attention of the unfortunate prisoner. The dungeons of feudal Germany, revolutionary France, or inquisitorial Spain, were no more fitting for these outcomes than the cell in which I found myself trapped.
Meals, barely edible, were served with soiled utensils. An attendant referred to as 'feeding the animals' (his own words) handled the patients in solitary confinement. The patients were completely isolated from the outside world, with no access to newspapers. Chambers was stunned to discover that even wealthy patients endured such treatment.
After enduring 10 days in misery, Chambers’s newspaper secured his release. His exposé, published in installments over two weeks, led New York Governor John Hoffman to launch an immediate investigation into Bloomingdale and other asylums. As a result, 12 mentally healthy patients were freed, and the asylum underwent a complete overhaul.
In 1872, Chambers compiled his harrowing experience into a book, A Mad World and its Inhabitants. The book ultimately reshaped how the government viewed those labeled as 'lunatics.'
9. A Century of Injustice, 1881
In 1879, poet and writer Helen Hunt Jackson attended a lecture by Native American Ponca Chief Standing Bear in Boston. After being forcibly removed from their small reservation in Dakota Territory and relocated to Indian Territory in Oklahoma, Standing Bear’s tribe was left to suffer in poor living conditions and was ravaged by disease. President Rutherford B. Hayes turned a blind eye to their suffering—a decision that ultimately led to the deaths of over 100 Ponca, including Standing Bear’s own son.
Moved by the plight of Native Americans, Jackson vowed to use her writing to alert the American public to the injustices they faced. Her in-depth research revealed a history of government mismanagement, which led to massacres and wrongful imprisonment of peaceful Native American communities.
Her articles triggered a defensive response from Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz, who claimed that the Native Americans, particularly the Poncas, were satisfied. This sparked a heated exchange between Jackson and Schurz, with Jackson accusing him of being an 'unprincipled liar' and 'wicked, insincere, and hypocritical.'
Jackson’s revelations ignited widespread public outrage and prompted a Senate investigation into the Ponca controversy. Ultimately, the tribe was granted the right to live on the reservation of their choice and was compensated with a $165,000 indemnity.
In 1881, Jackson published her comprehensive findings in a book titled A Century of Dishonor, describing it as 'a shameful record of broken treaties, unkept promises, and acts of murder, violence, theft, and injustice' carried out by white settlers. She personally sent a copy to each Congressman, bound in deep red and stamped with Benjamin Franklin’s words, '“Look upon your hands! They are stained by the blood of your relations.”'
Regrettably, A Century of Dishonor was met with indifference upon release. However, its long-term influence was profound. Publications discussing the issues of Native Americans began to rise. The book inspired organizations such as the Women’s National Indian Association, the Indian Rights Association, and the Lake Mohonk Conference of the Friends of the Indians to advocate for Native American rights. Later reformers would reference Jackson’s work, which was reprinted in 1965 and became a staple in college curricula.
8. How The Other Half Lives, 1890
Jacob Riis was no stranger to poverty. After immigrating to America from Denmark in 1870, his early years in the U.S. were marked by a relentless battle against hunger, homelessness, disease, crime, and filth. He worked various odd jobs, and the struggles brought him to the edge of despair.
Eventually, Riis secured a position as a police reporter for the New York Tribune, covering some of the city's most crime-ridden slums. He wanted the world to see the dehumanizing conditions he had endured in immigrant neighborhoods, and more than that, he sought to compel the indifferent middle and upper classes to confront the brutal realities faced by the 'other half' of society.
To make his case, Riis taught himself photography. With the help of the newly invented flash bulb, he was able to capture images in the darkest corners of New York’s overcrowded slums. This effort culminated in a groundbreaking work of photojournalism, How The Other Half Lives, a stark visual and written portrayal of the nightmare lurking behind the American Dream.
Riis stunned the public with stark descriptions like this:
Be careful! The hall is pitch-black, and you might trip over children playing with pennies. Not that it would hurt them; kicks and slaps are part of their daily routine. They have little else. At the bend in the hall, where darkness envelops everything, is a step, followed by another, and then a flight of stairs. You can feel your way if you can't see it . . . The only fresh air that enters these stairs comes from the constantly slamming door and from the windows of dark bedrooms that rely on the stairs for their only supply of air . . . The sinks are in the hallway, so all tenants have access—and all are equally poisoned by the summer stench.
Paired with his haunting images, Riis possessed a 'great gift for making others see what he saw and feel what he felt,' as described by Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt. The future president acted swiftly, closing the worst boarding houses and urging the government to revise housing codes. Riis’s impactful photographs helped fuel social reform in other regions as well.
7. The Story of the Standard Oil Trust, 1902
John D. Rockefeller once stated, 'The American Beauty Rose can only achieve its full beauty by sacrificing the early buds that surround it.' In this metaphor, the American Beauty represented his own Standard Oil, while the buds symbolized his rivals. In 1872, he obliterated all opposition in what became known as the 'Cleveland Massacre,' consolidating 85 percent of the city's refinery control under Standard Oil.
Frank Tarbell, an independent oilman, was one of the victims of this massacre. His daughter, 14-year-old Ida, later recalled how her father's business partner committed suicide and how their once-thriving life fell apart as Frank was forced to mortgage their home. Rockefeller expanded further, acquiring refineries across cities like Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York. His secretive arrangements with railroads, which guaranteed him favorable rebates, cemented his dominance.
The ruthless tactics employed by Rockefeller stirred a deep resentment for privilege in Ida Tarbell. After securing a job at McClure’s magazine, she set her sights on exposing the unethical practices of Standard Oil, disregarding her father's warnings about the dangers of challenging such a powerful figure.
Standard Oil's manager, Henry Rogers, was under the impression that Ida was writing a positive article about Rockefeller. In their interview, he was surprisingly forthright, even providing Ida with internal company documents. These, along with other records from across the country, helped Ida uncover a pattern of coercion, espionage, deceit, and hidden collusion. The evidence made it clear that Standard Oil's claim of 'legitimate competition' was a complete fabrication.
In 1902, Ida’s powerful exposé was serialized in 19 parts in McClure’s magazine, later published as a book titled The History of the Standard Oil Company. The once-revered Rockefeller, hailed as America's leading tycoon and philanthropist, was exposed as a devious manipulator who had played the game unfairly.
The public's outrage led the case to the Supreme Court, which in 1911 found Standard Oil guilty of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. As a result, the company was divided into smaller entities, some of which still exist today, such as ExxonMobil and Chevron. This landmark decision ushered in a wave of antitrust actions, signaling the end of an era in American capitalism and closing the chapter on the ruthless business tactics of the Gilded Age.
6. The Shame Of The Cities 1904
By the late 1800s, American democracy had devolved into a system where city bosses, aligned with big business, called the shots. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, exemplified this. The city government issued bonds to fund the railroads' expansion, but soon, the railroads took control of local politics, renounced their debts, and began outbidding rivals through bribery. The police force was under their control, and the city boss reigned like a medieval lord. Although the citizens were aware of the 'ring' of corruption, they were apathetic to the situation.
Lincoln Steffens, editor of McClure’s magazine, meticulously unraveled the tangled web of business and political corruption. His curiosity extended beyond just exposing the “how” of this dishonesty; he sought to understand the “why” behind it. His approachable demeanor enabled him to secure interviews with the corrupt bosses themselves, who, to his surprise, were candid about their wrongdoing. In 1904, Steffens’s findings were published as a series and later compiled into the book The Shame of the Cities.
Steffens encapsulated his findings with the following statement: “I had discovered that business was the force behind every political party, gang, scam, crime, and every moral failing in our society. Every crooked politician was their ally, and every reformer who stood for integrity and power was their adversary.”
The same pattern emerged from New York to St. Louis. To make matters worse, Americans resorted to racial stereotypes to assign blame. In New York, it was the Irish Catholics; in St. Louis, it was the Germans.
The push to reform city governments gained momentum after the release of Steffens's book. Reform candidates were elected, and the old patronage system, where jobs were awarded based on political loyalty rather than competence, was replaced by the appointment of skilled city managers. Electoral reforms dismantled the old political machines and restored power to ordinary voters.
Although the reforms improved governance, they fell short of completely eliminating entrenched interests. Corruption, while less overt than in the Gilded Age, remains a challenge in government to this day. Steffens himself became disillusioned with American democracy and the way capitalism influenced politics, leading it to “make good men do bad things.” He turned to communism as a solution, but by 1931, he had grown disenchanted with that ideology as well.
5. ‘Treason Of The Senate’ 1906
The corrupt fusion of politics and business extended far beyond city politics, reaching into the larger stage of the federal government. Initially, the US Constitution had provided for the election of senators by state legislatures. However, as America neared the 20th century, industrialization accelerated, and the powerful business moguls who were shaping their empires began enticing state legislators with financial incentives to ensure their candidates would win seats in the Senate. Once elected, these senators were manipulated like puppets by monopolistic industries such as oil, steel, and banking.
A prominent example of this was Republican senator Nelson W. Aldrich from Rhode Island, who was known as a staunch ally of the Rockefellers, even having his daughter Abby marry John D. Rockefeller Jr. As the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Aldrich’s tariff legislation primarily benefited the oil and tobacco monopolies.
In 1906, investigative journalist and novelist David Graham Phillips published a series of articles in Cosmopolitan titled “Treason of the Senate” (which was later published as a book in 2012). In these articles, Phillips accused both the Republican and Democratic parties of colluding to “advance the industrial and financial interests of the wealthy elite.” He argued that the Senate had betrayed the American people, stating: “Treason is a strong word, but not too strong, rather too weak, to characterize the situation where the Senate acts as the indefatigable, eager agent of interests as hostile to the American people as any invading army could be.”
Phillips singled out Aldrich as the prime symbol of this corrupt alliance. In response, President Theodore Roosevelt dismissed the accusations as politically motivated attacks designed to undermine his administration, labeling Phillips a “muckraker.”
Nonetheless, the articles reignited the movement for the direct election of senators. Phillips succeeded in convincing legislators, particularly Southern senators who had previously resisted direct elections due to concerns over empowering African Americans, to ultimately ratify the 17th Amendment to the Constitution in 1913. This gave the people the right to elect their senators directly.
4. ‘The Great American Fraud’ 1905
Picture this: attempting to soothe an infant with sweetened water mixed with morphine. Indeed, Kopp’s Baby Friend did calm babies effectively. But perhaps even more alarming was its rival, Dr. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup, which claimed to make children “lay like the dead ’til mornin’”—though it was more likely to result in the child’s actual death.
At the turn of the 20th century, America was flooded with quacks, both human and medicinal. While these concoctions gained popularity, they often caused more harm than good, sometimes even resulting in fatalities. Patent medicines had their origins in the herbal mixtures used by Native Americans and the folk remedies brought by European immigrants.
Beginning in October 1905, Samuel Hopkins Adams launched the most aggressive campaign against the patent medicine industry with the publication of “The Great American Fraud” in Collier’s Weekly. His article featured an illustration of a hooded skull looming over bottles of patent medicines, setting the stage for his critique.
It is estimated that the business done by pseudo-medical products amounted to seventy-five million dollars a year. These preparations claimed to ‘eradicate’ asthma with mere sugar and water, ‘soothe’ babies with hidden and lethal opiates, ‘relieve’ headaches with hazardous coal-tar drugs that damaged the heart, ‘dispel’ catarrh with cocaine mixtures, encouraging addiction worse than death, and ‘cure’ diseases like tuberculosis, cancer, and Bright’s disease with disguised alcohol like whiskey and gin.
Adams also condemned the magazines and newspapers that supported the deceptive industry due to the profits they earned from advertising these harmful products.
In 1906, the government enacted the Pure Food and Drug Act, introducing regulations to oversee the pharmaceutical industry, eventually leading to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration.
3. Unsafe At Any Speed 1965
In 1956, during the year of Congressional hearings on traffic safety, nearly 40,000 people lost their lives in car accidents across the United States. At the time, safety features like seat belts and padded dashboards were offered as optional extras, but they came with a hefty price tag. For instance, only 2 percent of Ford's buyers chose to spend an additional $27 to equip their cars with seat belts.
This led to what could be described as ‘wholesale slaughter,’ with road fatalities approaching the scale of deadly wars. The automotive industry, tire manufacturers, the National Safety Council, and the American Automobile Association all ignored the crisis. Instead, styling, comfort, speed, and cost-cutting became higher priorities than safety. Despite findings from a Cornell University study that linked car design and fatal accidents, automakers dismissed the research.
In 1965, lawyer Ralph Nader rocked the public by exposing the dangers of driving in his groundbreaking book, Unsafe At Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile. He noted that “The gigantic costs of the highway carnage in this country support a service industry”—doctors, lawyers, police, and morticians—and lamented that little was being done to reduce these tragedies.
Nader singled out the 1959 Chevy Corvair as a prime example of “stylistic pornography over engineering integrity.” He criticized the car’s rear-engine design and swing axle, which made it prone to skidding and rolling over.
Private investigators hired by General Motors began spying on Nader. When word of this leaked out, enraged senators called for an investigation. GM eventually acknowledged the harassment, which only fueled public interest in Nader’s allegations. This sparked a nationwide movement demanding safer vehicles and stricter laws.
In 1966, the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act was enacted, along with seat belt laws in every state except New Hampshire. The seat belts, airbags, antilock brakes, and other safety features now standard in nearly all new cars are direct outcomes of Ralph Nader’s relentless advocacy.
2. ‘Contaminated And Natural Lead Environments Of Man’ 1965
Clair Patterson, unlike the other reformers on this list, was a scientist. In 1953, he first calculated the Earth's age at 4.6 billion years, a figure that remains valid today. To arrive at this groundbreaking conclusion, he measured the decay of uranium and thorium into lead found in a meteorite that had struck Earth millennia ago.
Patterson carried out his research in a 'clean room' to ensure his samples were not contaminated by environmental lead. As his studies progressed, he began questioning the natural versus man-made origins of lead. His findings showed that lead found in ancient plants, animals, and ocean sediments was only one-tenth to one-hundredth of what is present today. Patterson concluded that the primary source of the excessive lead was gasoline used to fuel the world's transportation systems.
In the 1920s, tetraethyl lead was introduced into gasoline to reduce engine knocking, increase octane ratings, and minimize wear on engine valve seats. Despite the well-known fact that lead is a neurotoxin, the major oil companies continued its production. Workers at companies like DuPont and Standard Oil began dying from lead poisoning. A cover-up quickly ensued, with officials attributing the deaths and illnesses to the demands of strenuous work.
In 1965, Patterson published his findings in the paper 'Contaminated And Natural Lead Environments of Man.' He faced strong opposition from powerful oil interests, politicians, and scientists such as Robert Kehoe, who manipulated scientific data to protect Big Oil. During his testimony before Congress, Patterson confronted Kehoe's deliberate suppression of the evidence. In retaliation, Big Oil pushed to have Patterson excluded from the National Research Council and even attempted to have him removed from Caltech.
Eventually, Patterson's irrefutable evidence forced Congress to act, resulting in the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the phased removal of lead from gasoline by 1973. Leaded gasoline was completely banned by 1986. The blood lead levels in the population dropped by 80%, yielding immediate health benefits. Some even speculate that the removal of lead from the environment contributed to a significant reduction in crime rates.
1. The Bitter Cry Of The Children 1905
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, American laborers, especially women and children, endured conditions that would be considered slavery by today’s standards. The nation was immersed in laissez-faire capitalism, where businesses operated on the principle of survival of the fittest. The judiciary supported the interests of capitalists, leaving workers without significant labor laws to protect them.
By 1910, over two million children under the age of 15 were working in factories. Their mothers, with no other options, were forced to send them to work in order to avoid their families starving. The brutal labor stunted their physical development, and without an education, they were condemned to a life of illiteracy, perpetuating a cycle of poverty.
John Spargo, a British Socialist, witnessed the plight of the 'breaker boys' in the Pennsylvania anthracite coal mines. These young boys, as young as nine, were paid just 60 cents for 10 hours of grueling work, where they separated slate from coal under harsh conditions.
In his 1905 book The Bitter Cry of the Children, Spargo described:
The coal is unforgiving, and injuries to the hands, such as cuts, broken fingers, or crushed hands, are common among the boys. Occasionally, a more horrifying incident occurs: a blood-curdling scream is heard, and a boy is mangled in the machinery or disappears into the chute, only to be retrieved later, suffocated and lifeless. Clouds of dust fill the air in the breakers, and the boys inhale them, leading to conditions like asthma and miner’s consumption.
The situation was no better in other areas. As Spargo wrote, 'The disregard of child life is so profound that this can be done openly and with legal sanction.'
Spargo’s book had a lasting influence on the extensive campaign for progressive child labor laws and the reform of labor laws affecting both children and adults. Over time, laws for minimum wages, shorter working hours, safer working conditions, workers' compensation, and age restrictions for laborers were achieved, and they are now strictly enforced by the Department of Labor.
+The Jungle 1906
In the early 1900s, Chicago became known as the meatpacking hub of the world. Within its sprawling and foul-smelling slaughterhouses and meat-processing plants, collectively referred to as 'Packingtown,' immigrant workers, predominantly from Poland, Slovakia, and Lithuania, worked in horrific and perilous conditions. For just pennies an hour, working 10 hours a day, six days a week, men labored in dark, poorly ventilated spaces surrounded by blood and filth. Serious injuries were frequent, yet workers had no access to compensation.
To highlight the plight of these workers, Upton Sinclair wrote a vivid account of his time in Packingtown, told through the eyes of a fictional Lithuanian immigrant, Jurgis Rudkis. However, The Jungle shocked the public in an unexpected manner—by exposing the unsanitary and horrific conditions surrounding the handling of meat.
Jurgis observed workers with skin diseases laboring in the pickling room. Some of them had tuberculosis and frequently coughed and spat on the floor. Near the meat, there was a toilet, but no soap or water. In areas where such amenities were lacking, workers simply urinated in the corners.
Meat that was diseased, spoiled, or contaminated was treated with chemicals and sold in the markets. Meat intended for canning or sausage production was transported in carts containing sawdust, saliva, urine, rat droppings, and even the dead rats themselves.
Sinclair shocked many with his chilling portrayal of workers falling into the lard vats: 'And when they were fished out, there was never enough of them left to be worth exhibiting—sometimes they would be overlooked for days, till all but the bones of them had gone out to the world as Durham’s Pure Leaf Lard!'
After the publication of The Jungle in 1906, meat sales plummeted. The public outcry led President Theodore Roosevelt to invite Sinclair for a discussion on the matter. Although Sinclair may have exaggerated some of the most extreme conditions in Packingtown, a special investigative commission validated the majority of his claims. In the same year, the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act were enacted, restoring public trust in the food and medicine industries.
