Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2021 March 21

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March 21[edit]

Did any US states have a voting age of 20 or below in 1916?[edit]

Did any US states have a voting age of 20 or below in 1916? I'm asking because Walter Breuning once said that his earliest vote was for Woodrow Wilson in 1916, but Breuning was only 20 years old at the time of the 1916 United States presidential election. Futurist110 (talk) 02:49, 21 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Do you know what his state of residence was in 1916? <-Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots-> 08:31, 21 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Unfortunately, No. His Wikipedia article does state that he moved to DeSmet, South Dakota in 1901 and to Montana in 1918, though. So, based on this information and on the fact that he worked for the Great Northern Railway since 1913, Breuning was likely in one of the Dakotas in 1916. Futurist110 (talk) 21:42, 21 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
According to our Voting age article, Georgia lowered the age to 18 in August 1943 and Kentucky in 1955, and according to the September 9, 1944 issue of Congressional Quarterly, "In the 1944 national election, for the first time in the history of the Republic, men and women less than 21 years of age will be permitted to vote in one of the states of the American Union." -- AnonMoos (talk) 09:34, 21 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
One of the states he lived was Montana, right? This item[1] suggests that the voting age prior to 1972 was 19. If it was also 19 in 1916, and if he was living there, he would have qualified. That's a few "ifs", though. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 12:55, 21 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Struggling to find the Montana voting age in 1916, but did find the 1895 oath required for voter registration in Montana:-
"I do solemnly swear or affirm that I am a citizen of the United States; that I am of the age of twenty-one years, and will have been a resident of Montana one year, and in the county thirty days preceding the day of the next ensuing election and that I am not registered elsewhere in Montana for this electoral year, so help me God (or under the pains and penalties for perjury)"
The Right of Suffrage in Montana (p. 424 or 10/58 of the pdf file). Alansplodge (talk) 13:26, 21 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Breuning only moved to Montana in 1918, though. Based on my post above here, my hunch is that he was living in one of the Dakotas in 1916, though I can't be absolutely certain of this fact. Futurist110 (talk) 21:42, 21 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
In which case we have one of two possible scenarios: either Breuning voted for Wilson (apparently before he was legally old enough to do so), or his memory is flawed (and he supported Wilson without actually casting a vote). We don’t have evidence to definitively prove either scenario. Blueboar (talk) 22:10, 21 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Did both of the Dakotas likewise have a voting age of 21 back in 1916? Futurist110 (talk) 05:32, 22 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Apparently. I have found several sources saying that the first state to lower the age below 21 was Georgia... who did it in the 1940s. Blueboar (talk) 18:16, 22 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
So, Walter Breuning most likely misremembered this and confused supporting Woodrow Wilson with actually voting for him--which shouldn't be that surprising, considering that he was recalling a memory that was already over 90 years into the past at that point in time. Walter Breuning doesn't actually strike me as the kind of person who would actually break the law. Futurist110 (talk) 01:17, 23 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Third if unlikely possibility: he wrote in Wilson in 1920. --24.76.103.169 (talk) 18:51, 23 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Is it too late to call out such blatant election fraud, and overturn Wilson’s election? 😉 Blueboar (talk) 19:38, 23 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Wilson won a third term in 1920??? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 20:26, 23 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I need help finding a copy of an article in Human Events from 1978[edit]

I have not been able to find the following: Todd Culbertson, "The Human Cost of World Communism," Human Events, August 19, 1978, pp. 10-11 (cited here). The website for Human Events has very little archived, as far as I can tell. The closest I have come is this hardbound edition of back issues from 1978 at Amazon, which is unavailable. Does anyone know a way to locate a digital version or how to maybe obtain a copy from the Library of Congress or elsewhere through an interlibrary loan? Any help is appreciated. AmateurEditor (talk) 06:52, 21 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Standard place to ask is WP:REX... -- AnonMoos (talk) 06:55, 21 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. Will do. AmateurEditor (talk) 07:27, 21 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]