Schenk vs. United States 1917 Key Ideas Before The Case

1. Schenk vs. United States 1917 Key Ideas Before The Case • US entered World War I in 1917 • Espionage Act of 1917: • Made it illegal to interfere with military operations, including the draft • Illegal “to cause … or incite … insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States” • Sedition Act of 1918: • Made it illegal to criticize the government

2. Who was Schenck? • Socialist that opposed the war • Schenck passed out flyers urging individuals to resist the draft • Violation of the Espionage Act • Schenck argued the Act violated the 1st amendment • Schenck appealed to the Supreme Court

3. "The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that the United States Congress has a right to prevent. It is a question of proximity and degree. When a nation is at war, many things that might be said in time of peace are such a hindrance to its effort that their utterance will not be endured so long as men fight, and that no Court could regard them as protected by any constitutional right." The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic. [...] The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent. The Supreme Court decision The Supreme Court unanimously agreed that Shenck broke the law Justice Oliver Holmes, Jr. Free speech does not allow you to yell fire in a theater

4. Women & African Americans during the War • Women • Women worked in factories and as nurses • Helped lead to the passage of the 19th amendment • Video: Home Front the Changin role of women • African Americans • Fought in segregated units, mostly did manual labor • WEB Dubois supported the war effort – hoped for improved rights for African Americans

5. Nurse’s Journal “Side by side I have Americans, English, Scotch, Irish, and French, and a part in the corners are Boche. They have to watch each other die side by side. I am sent for everywhere - in the… operating-room, the dressing room, and back again to the rows of men…Of course, some only stay twenty-four hours, because they send them away just as fast as it is possible, for even this cellar is too dangerous a place to be in. the cannon goes day and night and the shells are breaking over and around us…I have had to write many sad letters to American mothers. I wonder if it will ever end.” (Florence Bullard)

6. Labor Unions during the War • National War Labor Board • Helped oversee disputes • AFL led by Samuel Gompers • Did not strike during the war • IWW Industrial Workers of the World • Nicknamed “I won’t work”

7. Mobilizing the Home Front Propaganda and the War Effort • Recruiting soldiers • Buying War Bonds • Saving Food • Contributing to the War Industry (weapons factories) • Joining the Red Cross

8. “First Call” the Poster Art of World War I

10. British Recruitment Ad, 1915 following the sinking of the ship “Lusitania”

11. Civic organizations use the media to call for war.Poster from the Mayor’s Committee, New York 1917

13. “Go soldiers and fulfill your role as Christians. Oh gentleman, complete your duty to your fatherland and earn your place in Heaven.” German recruitment poster, 1914

14. “Committee on Public Information” established as the nations first propaganda agency.

15. About two-thirds of all war financing came from the selling of “war bonds” to the public.

20. U.S. Food Administration poster, 1917

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