The American Nation A History of the United States, Combined Volume (14th Edition)

Propaganda and Civil Liberties 623

raised over $200 million mainly to finance recre-
ational programs for the troops overseas.

Propaganda and Civil Liberties

Wilson was preeminently a teacher and preacher, a
specialist in the transmission of ideas and ideals. He
excelled at mobilizing public opinion and inspiring
Americans to work for the better world he hoped
would emerge from the war. In April 1917 he cre-
ated the Committee on Public Information (CPI),
headed by the journalist George Creel. Soon
75,000 speakers were deluging the country with
propaganda prepared by hundreds of CPI writers.
They pictured the war as a crusade for freedom and
democracy, the Germans as a bestial people bent on
world domination.
A large majority of the nation supported the war
enthusiastically. But thousands of persons—German
Americans and Irish Americans, for example; people
of pacifist leanings such as Jane Addams, the founder
of Hull House; and some who thought both sides in
the war were wrong—still opposed American
involvement. Creel’s committee and a number of
unofficial “patriotic” groups allowed their enthusi-
asm for the conversion of the hesitant to become
suppression of dissent. People who refused to buy
war bonds were often exposed to public ridicule and
even assault. Those with German names were perse-
cuted without regard for their views; some school
boards outlawed the teaching of the German lan-
guage; sauerkraut was renamed “liberty cabbage.”
Opponents of the war were subjected to coarse
abuse. A cartoonist pictured Senator Robert La
Follette, who had opposed entering the war, receiv-
ing an Iron Cross from the German militarists, and
the faculty of his own University of Wisconsin voted
to censure him.
Although Wilson spoke in defense of free speech,
his actions opposed it. He signed the Espionage Act
of 1917, which imposed fines of up to $10,000 and
jail sentences ranging to twenty years on persons
convicted of aiding the enemy or obstructing recruit-
ing, and he authorized the postmaster general to ban

from the mails any material that seemed treasonable

or seditious.

In May 1918, again with Wilson’s approval,

Congress passed the Sedition Act, which made “say-

ing anything” to discourage the purchase of war

bonds a crime, with the proviso that investment coun-

selors could still offer “bona fide and not disloyal

advice” to clients. The law also made it illegal to

“utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane,

scurrilous, or abusive language” about the govern-

ment, the Constitution, or the uniform of the army or

navy. Socialist periodicals such asThe Masseswere sup-

pressed, and Eugene V. Debs, formerly a candidate for

president, was sentenced to ten years in prison for

making an antiwar speech. Ricardo Flores Magón, an

anarchist, was sentenced to twenty years in jail for

publishing a statement criticizing Wilson’s Mexican

policy, an issue that had nothing to do with the war.

These laws went far beyond what was necessary

to protect the national interest. Citizens were jailed

Eugene V. Debs (“Convict #9653”) was imprisoned for speaking

against the war. In 1920 he ran as the Socialist candidate for president

from the Atlanta federal prison, receiving nearly a million votes.

Table 23.1 Suppression of Liberties during World War I

Federal Action Year Consequence

Espionage Act^1917 Prohibited words or actions that would aid the enemy or obstruct recruiting efforts

Sedition Act 1918 Prohibited people from “saying anything” that might discourage purchase of war bonds or other-

wise undermine the federal government or the Constitution

Schenck v. United

States

1919 Supreme Court upheld limitations on free speech during times of “clear and present danger”

to the nation