Silencing Fighting Bob

Silencing"Fighting Bob” tells the story of the coordinated attack by the federalgovernment on the progressive opponents of the first world war. As EricChester reminds us, the American people saw no reason for the United Statesto become directly involved in Europe’s conflict in 1917. President WoodrowWilson, ignoring that fact, forced the United States to join with its alliesin carrying the war to the bitter end: the total and unconditional surrenderof Germany. To accomplish this, Wilson—notably, a Democrat—was convinced thatharsh repression of dissent was necessary. Reexamining a wide range ofarchival sources from a new angle, Chester describes the rollout of thiscampaign of suppression, showing that the most radical opponents of the warwere the first to come under attack, beginning with the imprisonment ofmembers of the Industrial Workers of the World and the sentencing ofleft-wing socialists to long terms in prison. Chester reveals that, as soonas the radical Left was quashed, the federal government turned its attentionto reformists committed to working within the system—that is, Progressives,as led by Senator “Fighting Bob” LaFollette, the Wisconsin Republican at theforefront of the Progressive movement. What does it say that, although someof the first World War’s most ardent opponents were situated in the UnitedStates, few today recall that most Americans opposed the decision to enterthe First World War? What can we learn from the fact that it was a Democratwho brought that antiwar movement down? As Chester demonstrates, historyshows the struggle to uphold civil liberties can only succeed when everyone’sright to dissent is defended, no matter what their views and no matter whoholds power. Chester documents the process by which a Democrat who viewedhimself as a reformer took down a Republican, along with the countlessProgressives he counted among his allies—leaving a lasting legacy for theDemocratic Party: the repression of the most potent Progressive forces in theUnited States.