Democracy’s Prisoner: Eugene V. Debs, the Great War, and the Right to Dissent

Len's Summary: This is the story of an early 20th century conflict between the perceived demands of national security and the constitutional guarantee of free speech that led to the creation of the American Civil Liberties Union. Railway labor leader and five-time Socialist Party presidential candidate, Eugene Debs (1855-1926) is forgotten today, but won nearly a million popular votes in 1912 and 1920. Debs ran for President in 1920 from a jail cell convicted under the 1917 Espionage Act cell because of his outspoken opposition to American entry into WWI. He was pardoned in 1921 by President Warren G. Harding. The author teaches at the University of Tennessee.