« Don't Bogart That Joint | Main | What a Stud »

May 04, 2006

Posthumous Pardons For Dissenters

Montana has issued posthumous pardons for about 80 people who had been imprisoned for criticisms of WWI. They had been convicted for such things as:

Keith Sime, whose uncle Herman Bausch was a pacifist who refused to buy war bonds and spent 28 months in prison for being outspoken about it, said it was important for the state to finally recognize the injustice.

August Lambrecht spent seven months in prison for saying the country would "get a licking" in France. His great-grandson, David Gabriel of Helena, said Lambrecht was sent out of state after his release for fear of being imprisoned again.

.....

Liquor salesman Ben Kahn spent 34 months in prison. "This is a rich man's war, and we have no business in it," he told a hotel owner. "The poor man has no show in this war. The soldiers are fighting the battles of the rich."

Why?

Under Montana's sedition law, it was illegal to make "any disloyal, profane, violent, scurrilous, contemptuous, slurring or abusive" comment about the U.S. Constitution, the federal government, soldiers or sailors, the flag or the uniforms of the Army or Navy.

Not that Montana was doing anything unusual. Their law appears to follow the language of the Sedition Act of 1918.

Now that was real suppression of dissent, my Hollyweird friends.

Oh, who the president who pushed the Sedition Act through Congress you ask?

Woodrow Wilson of course.

Democrat.

Posted by Rita at May 4, 2006 08:01 AM

Comments

I haven't been able to verify, but I heard on the radio that the Sedition Act of 1918 was actually based on Montana's law, not the other way around.

If I get a chance today, I'll look into it, but no promises. :)

Posted by: Craig at May 4, 2006 09:30 AM

Interesting. I hadn't heard that. Let me know what you find.

Posted by: Rita [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 4, 2006 09:35 AM

I forgot to mention in my previous comment that I have Bausches in my family tree, so I'll also have to check if that's a relation or not.

Posted by: Craig at May 4, 2006 09:41 AM

I can't find anything definitive, but that does seem to be the case that the national law was copied almost word for word from Montana's.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1230-05.htm

http://www.seditionproject.net/faq.html

Posted by: Craig at May 4, 2006 10:49 AM

Weird. It's usually the other way 'round.

It's one of the reasons I always laugh when I hear someone whining about repression or the Patriot Act. They wouldn't know repression if it bit 'em on the ass. Read the Sedition Act sometime, now that's repression....and btw it was held to be constitutional in Schenk v. Somebody.

Posted by: Rita [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 4, 2006 12:54 PM