1904 Olympics
When trying to decide the location of the 1904 Olympics, one member of the IOC suggested the U.S. be considered, specifically New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Coubertin favored Chicago from the beginning and believed its midwestern location would be a solid venue to spread the Olympics throughout the rest of the U.S. In 1901, the IOC unanimously voted for Chicago to host the 1904 Olympics. The Chicago Olympic Committee was created to figure out funding, athletic eligibility, and international participation. A man named Henry Furber was elected president of the Chicago Olympic Committee. The Committee got Albert Spalding, a former baseball player who founded Spalding, a sporting goods company, to support the Chicago Olympic planning and execution. Furber travelled to Europe to begin generating buzz about the Chicago Olympics.
Albert Spalding
St. Louis World's Fair
At the same time the IOC and Chicago Olympic Committee were preparing for the 1904 Olympics in Chicago, a man named David Francis was planning the World's Fair AKA the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. Francis saw newspapers announcing that the 1904 Olympics would be held in Chicago and believed this would detract from the World's Fair in St. Louis, which was set to be held in 1903. This would commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1803 purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France. Francis became determined to make the Olympics an asset to the World's Fair. This would require approval from Congress to move the World's Fair to 1904 instead of 1903, which was eventually granted.
David Francis
Amateur Athletic Union
Another entity that got involved with the Olympics was the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), which was established in 1888. The AAU was created due to the sports mania that struck the U.S. in the late 19th century. Its purpose was to create standards and rules for the many athletic clubs that were being organized across the country. Track and field was by far the most popular sport at this time.
A man named James Sullivan was one of the founders of the AAU and had an intense rivalry with Coubertin of the IOC. The two despised each other. There are various reasons for this, but Sullivan was not admitted to the IOC due to Coubertin's refusal. Sullivan retaliated by trying to organize large international track and field competitions to steal control of the Olympics from Coubertin.
David Francis of the St. Louis World's Fair requested that the AAU hold the 1904 National Track and Field Championships in St. Louis during the World's Fair. This move set off alarm bells for the Chicago Olympic Committee. At this time, Coubertin was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the work of the Chicago Olympic Committee in terms of generating funds for the Olympics.
James Sullivan
St. Louis vs. Chicago
In 1902, Albert Spalding, the former baseball player who was working with the Chicago Olympic Committee, received a call from a man named Frederick Skiff. Skiff was the director of exhibits for the St. Louis World's Fair. Skiff spoke about the scheduling conflict between the Olympics in Chicago and the AAU track and field championships that St. Louis intended to host in 1904. Spalding wrote a letter to Skiff shortly after this call saying that he desired representatives from the Chicago Olympic Committee and the World's Fair to meet to discuss the situation.
At this meeting, the World's Fair representatives made it clear that they would not allow two athletic festivals in two cities at the same time. They said the only satisfactory solution would be to move the Olympics to St. Louis as a part of the World’s Fair. The Chicago representatives were stunned and said they would need to speak with the IOC. Afterwards, World’s Fair representatives started speaking publicly about their goal of getting the Olympics from Chicago. Chicago newspapers ran headlines such as “May Yield the Games to St. Louis Exposition” and “May Lose Olympian Games." These headlines generated immense publicity for the Olympics. People were interested in the current turmoil along with the history of the Olympics. This promoted a lot of public interest and enthusiasm.
The Decision
Henry Furber of the Chicago Olympic Committee wrote many letters to Coubertin of the IOC about the situation. Furber presented the issue, gave his opinions, and asked for Coubertin’s decision. Furber and the Committee felt that fighting St. Louis would be disastrous.
Furber wrote, "The difficulties which confront us are very serious. If we try to carry out our program in 1904, St. Louis will jeopardize our enterprise. She will prevent us from securing appropriations; will hamper us abroad, and will injure us in a thousand different ways. I will frankly say, although we never would desert you, that in the interest of the Games it would be better to accept the invitation of St. Louis and transfer the Games to that city, than to attempt to conduct them at Chicago in the face of the difficulties with which St. Louis would oppose us.”
There were three options that Coubertin had to choose from:
Furber wrote many more letters to Coubertin which went unanswered for months. Coubertin refused to give an answer, presumably because he didn't want to be responsible for the decision. However, the Olympics were only a year and a half away and a decision had to be made.
Transfer Accepted
Finally, Furber received a curt, two-word telegram from Coubertin on February 10, 1903. It said, "Transfer accepted." Two and a half years of effort from Furber, including the promotional Europe tour, facility planning, and fundraising were down the drain with that two word message. Furber replied two days later with an equally direct message: “Instructions received. Will transfer accordingly.” Coubertin later claimed that he wrote to President Roosevelt and left the decision up to him. There is no historical evidence of this claim.
After receiving word that the Olympics was transferred to St. Louis, the Exposition Committee started making plans immediately. This was a big deal because sports had never been a true part of a World’s Fair before. They knew they needed a chief director of the Olympics, and they selected James Sullivan of the AAU, Coubertin's enemy.
New York Times. February 12, 1903
Planning the Games
In terms of planning the Olympics, there wasn’t any sort of guide to follow or any set of rules. There had only been two prior Olympics, and the Paris Olympics had been a failure. The only rules that existed were created by Coubertin who started giving little guidance after Sullivan was named the chief director of the Olympics.
In the minds of many, including Sullivan, the Olympics was a track and field event. Other sports were slated to be a part of the Exposition while others were a part of the AAU. This meant that American athletes represented their country along with their individual athletic clubs, which could be confusing.
In the end, "the 1904 Olympics" could refer to the entire seven months of the Exposition, or a one week long portion that was actually titled “Olympics Games” and consisted mainly of track and field events. Officials meant different things when referring to "the Olympics." In the public mind of 1904, there wasn't a need for exact definitions. People were just excited to see sports.
Coubertin and Sullivan continued to fight until Coubertin stopped communicating with anyone involved in the Olympics. St. Louis officials stopped reaching out to him and the IOC. Coubertin did not attend the 1904 Olympics.