May 13, 2024 • 11 mins
On this day in 1920, the Socialist Party of America nominated Eugene V. Debs as its presidential candidate.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show for those interested in the big and bizarre moments
of history. I'm Gabe Lusier, and in this episode, we're
looking at the story of the first and so far
(00:21):
only candidate to run for the White House while locked
up in the Big House. The day was May thirteenth,
nineteen twenty. The Socialist Party of America nominated Eugene V.
(00:41):
Debs as its presidential candidate. That wasn't surprising in itself,
as Debs had already run for president four times on
the Socialist ticket since nineteen hundred. The difference in the
nineteen twenty election was that Debs was currently serving a
ten year prison cents for seditious activities, and wasn't due
(01:03):
for release until nineteen twenty eight, four years after the
end of his presidential term. By the time of his imprisonment,
the sixty four year old Debs had spent a lifetime
advocating in defense of the common man. He began his
career as a railroad worker in his hometown of Terre Haute, Indiana.
(01:23):
He started out as a paint scraper at age fourteen,
but quickly worked his way up to become a railroad fireman,
the person who shovels coal into a train's firebox. In
eighteen seventy five, he found his calling as a labor
advocate while serving as the secretary of the Brotherhood of
Locomotive Firemen. In this role, Debs pledged that the union
(01:46):
would fight to quote provide for the widows and orphans
who are daily left penniless and at the mercy of
public charity by the death of a brother fireman. Deb's
growing interest in the plight of the working c class
eventually led him to politics. He served two terms as
the Terre Haute City Clerk from eighteen seventy nine to
(02:07):
eighteen eighty three, and was then elected to the Indiana
General Assembly in eighteen eighty four. Nine years later, Debs
expanded the scope of his advocacy by founding the American
Railway Union, or the ARU. The group's mission was to
protect all workers in the railroad industry, rather than just
(02:27):
the fireman, and it quickly became one of the largest
labor unions in the country, with one hundred and twenty
five local chapters nationwide. However, one year later, In eighteen
ninety four, Debs received his first prison sentence for his
role in the Pullman Railroad strike, the largest strike of
the nineteenth century. The fact that he was jailed for
(02:50):
leading a worker's strike convinced Debs that the country's two
major political parties, Republicans and Democrats, were both under the
thumb of wealth the industrialists. This led him to conclude
that a third party was needed, one that would reflect
the interests of American workers. Debs used his six months
(03:10):
behind bars to acquaint himself with the works of Karl
Marx and the tenets of the European labor movements. After
his release, he declared himself a socialist and helped found
the Socialist Party of America. He ran as their nominee
in four consecutive presidential elections, and while he never won
a single electoral vote, he did garner six percent of
(03:33):
the popular vote during his fourth run in nineteen twelve. Still,
after losing four straight bids for the White House, Debs
decided to set his sites a little lower in nineteen
sixteen by running for an Indiana congressional seat. He campaigned
on a platform of American neutrality in the First World War,
(03:53):
believing that the conflict would benefit arms, manufacturers and other
profiteers while resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands
of working class soldiers. Debs lost the race in Indiana,
but he continued his anti war crusade by holding public
rallies across the northeast United States. During a fiery speech
(04:14):
in March of nineteen seventeen, he told a New York
crowd of thousands that quote, I will never go to
war for a capitalist government. I'd rather be lined up
against a wall and shot down as a trader to
Wall Street than fight as a trader to myself. I
tell you it is better to live for your country
than to die for Rockefeller and Morgan. One month later,
(04:39):
the United States officially declared war against Germany, but even
that didn't deter Debs. He continued holding rallies even as
President Woodrow Wilson began to crack down on anti war critics.
At first, the administration contented itself with an elaborate propaganda
campaign meant to bolster public support for the war, but
(05:01):
then in June of nineteen seventeen, Congress passed the Espionage Act,
which enabled the government to block the distribution of anti
war newspapers and to arrest protesters on charges of interfering
with military progress. This was followed by the Sedition Act
of nineteen eighteen, which restricted the free speech rights of
(05:23):
US citizens by making it illegal to quote, wilfully, utter, print, write,
or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about
the government of the United States. Speaking out against the
war had just become more dangerous than ever, but still
Debs would not relent. He continued to speak at Socialist
(05:46):
Party gatherings throughout the Midwest, culminating in his now famous
appearance at a city park in Canton, Ohio, on June sixteenth,
nineteen eighteen. For the better part of two hours, Deb's delay,
I've heard a socialist critique of US involvement in the war,
which he described as a battle between the ruling classes
of opposing nations. They have always taught and trained you,
(06:11):
he said, to believe it to be your patriotic duty
to go to war and to have yourselves slaughtered at
their command. But in all the history of the world, you,
the people, have never had a voice in declaring war.
The master class has always declared the wars. The subject
class has always fought the battles. The master class has
(06:33):
had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the
subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose,
especially their lives. A few days after his appearance in Canton,
Eugene Debs was arrested on his way to another event
in Cleveland. He was subsequently tried and found guilty on
(06:54):
three counts of violating the Espionage and Sedition Acts, and
for that he was sentenced to ten ten years in
a federal penitentiary. Acting as his own attorney, Debs appealed
his case all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court,
but the verdict was ultimately upheld, and so in April
of nineteen nineteen, Debs reported to prison in Moundsville, West Virginia,
(07:18):
where he was assigned the convict number of two two
five three. He telegraphed his supporters just before his arrival,
saying quote, I enter the prison doors a flaming revolutionist,
my head erect, my spirit untamed, and my soul unconquerable.
Deb's popularity among his supporters proved equally resilient when the
(07:42):
Socialist Party held its national convention in New York on
May thirteenth, nineteen twenty, it unanimously nominated Debs as its
candidate for the presidency. By that point, Debs had been
transferred to a penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia, where he'd been
given a new convent nine six five three. In a
(08:03):
bid to capitalize on his notoriety as America's most famous
political prisoner, the Socialist Party produced campaign buttons with Deb's
picture and the words convict nine six five three for President.
Two weeks after the convention, Debs officially accepted the party's
nomination in a carefully choreographed event at the Atlanta prison.
(08:26):
It was filmed by newsreel cameras and shown in movie
theaters across the country, much to the annoyance of President Wilson.
In the months ahead, Debs continued to campaign from his
prison cell, issuing weekly statements through the United Press wire service.
He and his fellow Socialists knew they didn't really stand
(08:47):
a chance of winning the election, so rather than trying
to sell the public on socialist policies, they billed the
party as a protest vote against the government's repressive free
speech laws and for a candidate who was literally barred
from the campaign trail, he didn't fare as badly as
you might expect. When the election results came in on
(09:07):
November two, nineteen twenty, Republican Warren G. Harding was declared
the winner with four hundred and four electoral votes. The
Democrat James Cox's won twenty seven. Debs had once again
failed to garner a single electoral vote, but he came
in a distant third in the popular claiming three point
four percent of the electorate, or just under a million votes.
(09:32):
Deb's supporters spent the rest of the year pleading for
President Wilson to grant him a pardon, but even after
Congress repealed the Sedition Act on December thirteenth, Wilson emphatically refused. However,
his successor, President Harding, proved more sympathetic. On Christmas Day,
nineteen twenty one, he commuted Deb's sentence, along with twenty
(09:55):
three other protesters who'd been convicted under the Sedition Act.
Debs was released after spending two and a half years
in prison, and when he exited through the gates to
the cheers of his fellow inmates, he once again found
newsreel cameras waiting for him. Due to his declining health,
Eugene Victor Debs never mounted a sixth campaign for president.
(10:19):
He died a free man in nineteen twenty six at
the age of seventy, and is remembered today as one
of the most effective political dissidents of the twentieth century,
as well as the first and hopefully only person to
run for president from prison. I'm gay, Blues Yay, and
(10:40):
hopefully you now know a little more about history today
than you did yesterday. If you'd like to keep up
with the show, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have
any comments or suggestions, feel free to send him my
way by writing to this Day at iHeartMedia dot com.
(11:01):
Thanks to kas B. Bias for producing the show, and
thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back here
again tomorrow for another day in History Class.
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show for those interested in the big and bizarre moments
of history. I'm Gabe Lusier, and in this episode, we're
looking at the story of the first and so far
(00:21):
only candidate to run for the White House while locked
up in the Big House. The day was May thirteenth,
nineteen twenty. The Socialist Party of America nominated Eugene V.
(00:41):
Debs as its presidential candidate. That wasn't surprising in itself,
as Debs had already run for president four times on
the Socialist ticket since nineteen hundred. The difference in the
nineteen twenty election was that Debs was currently serving a
ten year prison cents for seditious activities, and wasn't due
(01:03):
for release until nineteen twenty eight, four years after the
end of his presidential term. By the time of his imprisonment,
the sixty four year old Debs had spent a lifetime
advocating in defense of the common man. He began his
career as a railroad worker in his hometown of Terre Haute, Indiana.
(01:23):
He started out as a paint scraper at age fourteen,
but quickly worked his way up to become a railroad fireman,
the person who shovels coal into a train's firebox. In
eighteen seventy five, he found his calling as a labor
advocate while serving as the secretary of the Brotherhood of
Locomotive Firemen. In this role, Debs pledged that the union
(01:46):
would fight to quote provide for the widows and orphans
who are daily left penniless and at the mercy of
public charity by the death of a brother fireman. Deb's
growing interest in the plight of the working c class
eventually led him to politics. He served two terms as
the Terre Haute City Clerk from eighteen seventy nine to
(02:07):
eighteen eighty three, and was then elected to the Indiana
General Assembly in eighteen eighty four. Nine years later, Debs
expanded the scope of his advocacy by founding the American
Railway Union, or the ARU. The group's mission was to
protect all workers in the railroad industry, rather than just
(02:27):
the fireman, and it quickly became one of the largest
labor unions in the country, with one hundred and twenty
five local chapters nationwide. However, one year later, In eighteen
ninety four, Debs received his first prison sentence for his
role in the Pullman Railroad strike, the largest strike of
the nineteenth century. The fact that he was jailed for
(02:50):
leading a worker's strike convinced Debs that the country's two
major political parties, Republicans and Democrats, were both under the
thumb of wealth the industrialists. This led him to conclude
that a third party was needed, one that would reflect
the interests of American workers. Debs used his six months
(03:10):
behind bars to acquaint himself with the works of Karl
Marx and the tenets of the European labor movements. After
his release, he declared himself a socialist and helped found
the Socialist Party of America. He ran as their nominee
in four consecutive presidential elections, and while he never won
a single electoral vote, he did garner six percent of
(03:33):
the popular vote during his fourth run in nineteen twelve. Still,
after losing four straight bids for the White House, Debs
decided to set his sites a little lower in nineteen
sixteen by running for an Indiana congressional seat. He campaigned
on a platform of American neutrality in the First World War,
(03:53):
believing that the conflict would benefit arms, manufacturers and other
profiteers while resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands
of working class soldiers. Debs lost the race in Indiana,
but he continued his anti war crusade by holding public
rallies across the northeast United States. During a fiery speech
(04:14):
in March of nineteen seventeen, he told a New York
crowd of thousands that quote, I will never go to
war for a capitalist government. I'd rather be lined up
against a wall and shot down as a trader to
Wall Street than fight as a trader to myself. I
tell you it is better to live for your country
than to die for Rockefeller and Morgan. One month later,
(04:39):
the United States officially declared war against Germany, but even
that didn't deter Debs. He continued holding rallies even as
President Woodrow Wilson began to crack down on anti war critics.
At first, the administration contented itself with an elaborate propaganda
campaign meant to bolster public support for the war, but
(05:01):
then in June of nineteen seventeen, Congress passed the Espionage Act,
which enabled the government to block the distribution of anti
war newspapers and to arrest protesters on charges of interfering
with military progress. This was followed by the Sedition Act
of nineteen eighteen, which restricted the free speech rights of
(05:23):
US citizens by making it illegal to quote, wilfully, utter, print, write,
or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about
the government of the United States. Speaking out against the
war had just become more dangerous than ever, but still
Debs would not relent. He continued to speak at Socialist
(05:46):
Party gatherings throughout the Midwest, culminating in his now famous
appearance at a city park in Canton, Ohio, on June sixteenth,
nineteen eighteen. For the better part of two hours, Deb's delay,
I've heard a socialist critique of US involvement in the war,
which he described as a battle between the ruling classes
of opposing nations. They have always taught and trained you,
(06:11):
he said, to believe it to be your patriotic duty
to go to war and to have yourselves slaughtered at
their command. But in all the history of the world, you,
the people, have never had a voice in declaring war.
The master class has always declared the wars. The subject
class has always fought the battles. The master class has
(06:33):
had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the
subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose,
especially their lives. A few days after his appearance in Canton,
Eugene Debs was arrested on his way to another event
in Cleveland. He was subsequently tried and found guilty on
(06:54):
three counts of violating the Espionage and Sedition Acts, and
for that he was sentenced to ten ten years in
a federal penitentiary. Acting as his own attorney, Debs appealed
his case all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court,
but the verdict was ultimately upheld, and so in April
of nineteen nineteen, Debs reported to prison in Moundsville, West Virginia,
(07:18):
where he was assigned the convict number of two two
five three. He telegraphed his supporters just before his arrival,
saying quote, I enter the prison doors a flaming revolutionist,
my head erect, my spirit untamed, and my soul unconquerable.
Deb's popularity among his supporters proved equally resilient when the
(07:42):
Socialist Party held its national convention in New York on
May thirteenth, nineteen twenty, it unanimously nominated Debs as its
candidate for the presidency. By that point, Debs had been
transferred to a penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia, where he'd been
given a new convent nine six five three. In a
(08:03):
bid to capitalize on his notoriety as America's most famous
political prisoner, the Socialist Party produced campaign buttons with Deb's
picture and the words convict nine six five three for President.
Two weeks after the convention, Debs officially accepted the party's
nomination in a carefully choreographed event at the Atlanta prison.
(08:26):
It was filmed by newsreel cameras and shown in movie
theaters across the country, much to the annoyance of President Wilson.
In the months ahead, Debs continued to campaign from his
prison cell, issuing weekly statements through the United Press wire service.
He and his fellow Socialists knew they didn't really stand
(08:47):
a chance of winning the election, so rather than trying
to sell the public on socialist policies, they billed the
party as a protest vote against the government's repressive free
speech laws and for a candidate who was literally barred
from the campaign trail, he didn't fare as badly as
you might expect. When the election results came in on
(09:07):
November two, nineteen twenty, Republican Warren G. Harding was declared
the winner with four hundred and four electoral votes. The
Democrat James Cox's won twenty seven. Debs had once again
failed to garner a single electoral vote, but he came
in a distant third in the popular claiming three point
four percent of the electorate, or just under a million votes.
(09:32):
Deb's supporters spent the rest of the year pleading for
President Wilson to grant him a pardon, but even after
Congress repealed the Sedition Act on December thirteenth, Wilson emphatically refused. However,
his successor, President Harding, proved more sympathetic. On Christmas Day,
nineteen twenty one, he commuted Deb's sentence, along with twenty
(09:55):
three other protesters who'd been convicted under the Sedition Act.
Debs was released after spending two and a half years
in prison, and when he exited through the gates to
the cheers of his fellow inmates, he once again found
newsreel cameras waiting for him. Due to his declining health,
Eugene Victor Debs never mounted a sixth campaign for president.
(10:19):
He died a free man in nineteen twenty six at
the age of seventy, and is remembered today as one
of the most effective political dissidents of the twentieth century,
as well as the first and hopefully only person to
run for president from prison. I'm gay, Blues Yay, and
(10:40):
hopefully you now know a little more about history today
than you did yesterday. If you'd like to keep up
with the show, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have
any comments or suggestions, feel free to send him my
way by writing to this Day at iHeartMedia dot com.
(11:01):
Thanks to kas B. Bias for producing the show, and
thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back here
again tomorrow for another day in History Class.
This Day in History Class News
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Gabe Luzier
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