Charles Dickens opens his Tale of Two Cities with “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” In every generation there are some who believe that their experience may be the worst of times. Despite the troubles of our current age, they cannot be compared to past times when the President and other leaders of the US acted more hostile to the Constitution and the people’s liberty. From the standpoint of liberty, Woodrow Wilson was comparable to Abraham Lincoln, as the most hostile to this nation’s highest value.
Committee on Public Information
In 1917, Wilson formed the Committee on Public Information. This was a propaganda agency of the Federal government intended to release and promote information about how the government was involved in the war effort in Europe. Additionally, they used filtered information to help sell war bonds. This agency turned the people’s view from a war to a crusade. Their mottos included “Make the world safe for democracy” and “The war to end all wars”. The goal behind the CPI was to flood the media field with so much progovernment information that any other outlets critical of the government’s actions would be lost in the ocean of reporting. They sent out speakers across the country to promote Wilson’s views. They created and flooded school curriculum with the same propaganda. Posters, buttons, and stickers could be seen everywhere. Anyone with any awareness of the Soviet Union, or Communist China or Castro’s Cuba and many other despotic rulers used the same propaganda to limit and crush dissent.
The Espionage Act
Almost concurrent with the formation of the CPI, Congress passed The Espionage Act under great pressure from Wilson’s White House. This act made it illegal to make false or misleading statements about the government or war effort. Any American citizen or resident caught doing so could be imprisoned for up to 20 years and be fined up to $10,000, equivalent to about $250,000 in 21st century values. If one were to compare the “Alien and Sedition acts” from the days of John Adams one would find remarkably similar language.
By 1918, the act was amended as the “Sedition act”, which made it a federal crime to speak or publish any words disloyal or abusive about the government, the Constitution, or the flag. The punishments for violations of this act were the same as for the Espionage act. The Reverend Clarence Waldron was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for distributing pamphlets claiming that the war (WWI) was “un-Christian”. Robert Goldstein, a film maker, was sentenced to 10 years for producing a film about the American revolution (“The Spirit of ‘76”). Government prosecutors found fault that he had portrayed the British negatively. The British were American allies in WWI.
There is no question that there were some elements among the American people who opposed Wilson’s involving America in the war. Many were socialists. Some just pacifists. They made their views known via rallies, speeches, and pamphlets. Nevertheless, the nature of liberty and the Constitutional rights of the people to speak and write whatever they choose is core to the promises of liberty from the founding. Consistently, authoritarians have sought to undermine and qualify the rights and liberties of the people. Presidents, Congressmen and Supreme Court Justices have all joined in agreement to interpret both natural law and the rights of the Constitutional as conditional on circumstances that they determine.
The Palmer Raids
Even though the war was largely over in 1918, Wilson found a new crusade to justify his continued methods of quelling dissent against his policies and the government in general. “The Red Scare”. This paranoia about the influence of Vladimir Lenin of the Soviet Union was convincing enough for Wilson to get away with further abuse of the people’s liberties. In 1919, Wilson’s new Attorney General, A Mitchell Palmer, began carrying out raids to gather up all of the alleged radicals, socialists, communists, subversives, and generally undesirable elements across 33 cities in America. The largest of these raids happened on Jan 2-3, 1920. Four thousand Americans were caught up in these raids on a single night with the help of his deputy, J. Edgar Hoover. Beatings and abuse of suspects in custody were common in those days. There was no Miranda reading, advising suspects of their rights. Many were detained for extended periods without being charged, a violation of the fourth amendment. Many were starved and tortured including watching their family members beaten in front of them. This was all done by bureau that became the FBI.
Income tax and Federal Reserve and Prohibition
Wilson was also responsible for getting the 16th amendment passed imposing the national income tax as well as implementing the Federal Reserve act, the nation’s central bank.
Lastly, Wilson was a significant contributor to getting the 18th amendment to the Constitution passed which prohibited the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcohol, commonly known as Prohibition. There are few acts of authoritarians more abusive to the people’s liberties than Prohibition. Prohibition brought together many different authoritarian groups, politicians for the sheer power grab and moralists who sought to impose their values on the whole country. This was an example of the authoritarian nature of democracy. Not only was Wilson a supporter and architect of the amendment but Congress passed the Volstead act as the enforcement mechanism for the amendment. Finally, the 18th amendment was passed by majorities of voters in 46 states even though only 36 states were required. The majority overruled the will of the minority. This is one of the greatest examples of the heinous flaw in democracy. Democracy always leads to abuses of the liberties of the minority even if that minority is 49%. The Constitution was never able to protect the liberties of all the people from abuses by a majority. The authoritarian, President Wilson had no problem with that.
There can be no question that Wilson did more harm to the liberties of Americans than any other President with the exception of Abraham Lincoln. Together both of these Presidents stripped Americans of their liberties and Constitutional rights and made all Americans slaves of the federal government. Even so, many historians and progressives consider Wilson one of our greatest presidents. Apparently, they care nothing for liberty.