Yale Daily News

Updated: Sunday, November 22, 2009 11:19 a.m.

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America's first casualties of war: its civil liberties

Published Wednesday, September 19, 2001

Sitting on my desk is a pin that reads "For President: Convict No. 9653." The man pictured is bald, and his expression looks like a kindly grimace.

During World War I, while we were fighting to make the world safe for democracy, the U.S. government quickly locked up dissidents like Eugene V. Debs, the perennial Socialist candidate who ran for president even while in prison. Other radicals, like Emma Goldman, were deported. Germans, even Americans with German last names, were harassed, and many had to hide their heritage.

The next time we had a major war was World War...

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