William Dudley "Big Bill" Haywood: The Successful Progressive
Uploaded by AeronBlake on Feb 18, 2002
Around the beginning of the 20th century, there were many men and woman who had earned themselves the title of Progressives. These people fought for simple rights and freedoms in the workplace, in society, and in the home. Progressives were positive for the growth in society because of the changes they influenced. There were many Progressives who were successful in their protests for woman’s rights, workers rights, and business rights, but, unfortunately, not all Progressives were successful in changing the ills of society that they fought so strongly against. Due to the great amount of people that had joined the progressive movement, there was a need for leaders; a need for leaders that would not only rally the people together, but leaders who would be able to change things on their own. William Dudley “Big Bill” Haywood was the type of leader the people needed, and he is definitely one of the Progressives that can be said to have been successful.
Although people are usually distinguished as being successful by the accomplishments in their lifetime, their success lies, in reality, with their personality and how they handle a situation. If “Big Bill” Haywood had not grown up to develop the type of personality he has become so famous for, he would not be known as one of the successful Progressives of his time.
“Big Bill” Haywood had the type of personality that caused him to never stand down when he was challenged for something he believed that would be worth fighting for, which was almost anything. He had even taken a number a beatings in his lifetime, which proves this fact. For example, in April of 1904 in Denver’s Union Station, “Big Bill” Haywood was attempting to make contact with Charles Moyer, who had been seized by the military. After being told that he could not speak to Mr. Moyer at that time, he punched one of the guards in the face. Moments later “…Walter Kinley, one of the husky gunmen hired by the mine owners, knocked him partly down a flight of stairs leading to the basement, while others struck him repeatedly in the face with the barrels of their revolvers.” (Lukas, 202) His strong will for fighting for what he believed had already proved him to be a success among the common men, but it had proved to be an even greater asset during other events in his life. Not...