{"product_id":"9781685901264","title":"Silencing Fighting Bob : The Attack on Antiwar Progressives During the First World War The by Eric T. Chester","description":"Silencing  \"Fighting Bob\" tells the story of the coordinated attack by the federal  government on the progressive opponents of the first world war. As Eric  Chester reminds us, the American people saw no reason for the United States  to become directly involved in Europe's conflict in 1917. President Woodrow  Wilson, ignoring that fact, forced the United States to join with its allies  in carrying the war to the bitter end: the total and unconditional surrender  of Germany. To accomplish this, Wilson-notably, a Democrat-was convinced that  harsh repression of dissent was necessary. Reexamining a wide range of  archival sources from a new angle, Chester describes the rollout of this  campaign of suppression, showing that the most radical opponents of the war  were the first to come under attack, beginning with the imprisonment of  members of the Industrial Workers of the World and the sentencing of  left-wing socialists to long terms in prison. Chester reveals that, as soon  as the radical Left was quashed, the federal government turned its attention  to reformists committed to working within the system-that is, Progressives,  as led by Senator \"Fighting Bob\" LaFollette, the Wisconsin Republican at the  forefront of the Progressive movement. What does it say that, although some  of the first World War's most ardent opponents were situated in the United  States, few today recall that most Americans opposed the decision to enter  the First World War? What can we learn from the fact that it was a Democrat  who brought that antiwar movement down? As Chester demonstrates, history  shows the struggle to uphold civil liberties can only succeed when everyone's  right to dissent is defended, no matter what their views and no matter who  holds power. Chester documents the process by which a Democrat who viewed  himself as a reformer took down a Republican, along with the countless  Progressives he counted among his allies-leaving a lasting legacy for the  Democratic Party: the repression of the most potent Progressive forces in the  United States.\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback \/ softback","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56369126048117,"sku":"9781685901264","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/9781685901264","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}