Justice at War: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights During the Great War [1917-1919]
President Wilson turned America’s participation in World War I into a fervent ideological crusade for democracy
leading to the clash of individual rights and national security under the Espionage Act during WWI
Video Clip: Crackdown on Dissent | The Great War
The Germans were dehumanized by the Allies, portrayed as the evil, conniving “Hun” through propaganda campaigns. Such propaganda campaigns were designed to instill a patriotic fervor in the young men of the Allied countries, so they would enlist to fight.
Examples of Anti-Germanism
German Americans had a complex response to the attacks on their loyalty that emerged when the United States went to war against Germany in 1917. During and after the war, many German Americans began to conceal their ethnic identity—some changed their names; others stopped speaking German; still others quit German-American organizations
German-American schools and newspapers by the thousands were forced to permanently close. In cities and towns across the nation, libraries burned their German-language books in public burning. The officials of German-named towns that had been founded by German-Americans were intimidated by county, state, and federal government officials into anglicizing their names, and into destroying all traces of their German heritage.
In cities across the United States, German-sounding street names were banned. Many families with a German-sounding last name changed their surname. The vast majority of German-Americans, however, were loyal to their adopted country and thousands of them served in the United States military.
Newspapers in New York and other places published lists of inhabitants names and addresses, labeled as Enemy Aliens, thereby inviting neighbors to hostile actions.
As the public atmosphere became increasingly hysterical, vigilantes burned "pro-German" books, spied on neighbors, and attacked and murdered immigrants and radicals.
Anti-German tension culminated on April 4, 1918, in the brutal lynching of German immigrant Robert Prager, a coal miner living in Collinsville, Illinois, who was accused of making "disloyal remarks".In June 1918 a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative John M. C. Smith with the aim to wipe out German names from the map of the United States.
In Hilger, Montana citizens burned history texts that mentioned Germany, -16 states banned the teaching of German, -Citizens were often bullied into making “Liberty Loans”, -Professors & school teachers who questioned the war were often fired
Key Points of Schenck Case
Charles Schenck and Elizabeth Baer were convicted under the 1917 Espionage Act for mailing leaflets encouraging men to resist the military draft. They appealed to the Supreme Court on the grounds that the conviction violated their free speech rights.'
The Supreme Court upheld their convictions, ruling that speech that creates a “clear and present danger” (by encouraging violence or insurrection, or endangering national security) is not protected by the First Amendment.
Ellis Island
During World War I, the former U.S. Immigration Station at Ellis Island was converted for use as a detention center for enemy aliens and suspected spies and saboteurs. The island’s use as a detention facility continued after the war during the “Red Scare” for the detention of suspected socialists and other radicals.
George Lunn: The 1912 Socialist Victory in Schenectady
October 30, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment
https://newyorkhistoryblog.org/2019/10/george-lunn-the-1912-socialist-victory-in-schenectady/
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.