A Look Back at the Clear and Present Danger of Free Speech During the First World War
Eric T. Chester's "Free Speech and the Suppression of Dissent During World War I," published in 2020, examines the Supreme Court's wartime free speech jurisprudence and Justice Holmes' role in its formulation. Chester also examines how the executive and legislative branches mobilized the country for war and, as an integral part of that preparation, aggressively suppressed any anti-war activism that could have detracted from the war effort.
January 26, 2021 at 10:00 AM
9 minute read
Free Speech and the Suppression of Dissent During World War I by Eric T. Chester Monthly Review Press (2020), 504 pages, $49
Just over 100 years ago, in January 1919, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a trilogy of First Amendment cases that affirmed convictions under the World War I Espionage Act. Most lawyers can recall Schenck v. United States from their first year Constitutional Law class because it introduced "clear and present danger" to our lexicon. Less remembered today, however, but significantly more high-profiled at the time, was Debs v. United States, which upheld the conviction of Eugene Debs, a prominent member of the Socialist Party and anti-war activist, under the newly-formulated "clear and present danger" test. The decisions upheld convictions of opponents to U.S. participation in World War I and were all decided after the war had ended.
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