The current debate over NSA surveillance and civil liberties reminds a Wisconsin historian of a similar argument almost a century ago.
History instructor Jonathan Pollack of Madison Area Technical College points to the Espionage Act of 1917 as a precursor of today’s debate—and in some cases a legal precedent.
Passed during World War I, the Espionage Act made it illegal to interfere with the United States military in its war effort—and revisions in 1918 outlawed many forms of speech criticizing the American government.
Pollack says the laws were initially aimed at Germans in the United States during the war. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, the mission changed. “The Espionage Act very quickly pivoted and became a way to crack down on communist speech, on socialist speech during the end of the war and even the immediate post-war period.”
The Espionage Act led to arrests and closures of newspapers around the country. Pollack says they also led to a strong reaction in favor of civil liberties. “What I think is also interesting about the issue of the Espionage act and the threat to free speech is that it crossed political boundaries in really interesting ways. In looking to discredit Woodrow Wilson for example, William Randolph Hearst, who was certainly no radical, championed the cause of Eugene Debs, the American socialist who had been jailed for the espionage act.”
He sees parallels today, as progressive members of the Democratic Part and libertarian members of the Republican Party react against government anti-terrorism surveillance programs. “This issue of free speech transcends party lines even in these polarized times and you find really unusual coalitions coming together.”
