The Glenn Beck Program - Ep 3 ｜ How Woodrow Wilson Used WWI to Become a Dictator

00:00:00.000 On Sunday, July 16th, 1916, three men scurried across a rail yard, darting between warehouses

00:00:15.680 and along a wharf in almost total darkness.

00:00:19.420 One of them crept into the maze-like facility on foot.

00:00:24.960 The other two arrived in a rowboat.

00:00:28.500 They needed the cover of darkness, though it wouldn't stay dark for long.

00:00:35.780 The three men worked quickly and efficiently.

00:00:38.900 They knew exactly which storage sheds, boxcars, and barges to visit with their wire, so-called

00:00:44.620 pencil bombs, and sticks of dynamite.

00:00:47.820 This stealth operation had been planned for over a year.

00:00:52.780 They had to be precise in their mission.

00:00:54.700 They were not likely to get another shot at this.

00:00:59.920 Getting inside the massive 25-acre shipping facility known as Black Tom Island was the easy part.

00:01:08.620 There were only eight guards, and on that July 9th, there were more concerned with surviving

00:01:13.620 mosquito attacks than any sort of sabotage.

00:01:16.440 The hard part would be getting back out of the facility in time.

00:01:22.160 The complex on Black Tom Island in New York Harbor was no ordinary train depot, because this

00:01:32.080 was 1916, and the Great War had been ravaging Europe for two years.

00:01:38.320 The United States was officially neutral in the conflict, but was selling countless tons

00:01:43.580 of munitions to Great Britain and France.

00:01:47.580 Black Tom Island was the distribution hub for most of the munitions and gunpowder heading

00:01:53.960 from the U.S. to Europe.

00:01:56.340 It was quite possibly the largest arsenal in the world outside of the European war zone.

00:02:02.700 As the three men went about their task, the warehouses, train cars, and barges surrounding them held

00:02:10.800 two million pounds of small arms and artillery ammunition.

00:02:16.260 One barge alone held 50 tons of TNT and 25,000 detonators.

00:02:22.760 Part of the reason so much firepower was stored there was due to a lack of cargo ships.

00:02:29.680 German U-boats constantly torpedoed Allied ships in the Atlantic.

00:02:33.980 In turn, the British Navy blockaded Germany so it couldn't benefit from the same trade with the U.S.

00:02:41.320 American trade with Britain and France had grown almost 300% since the start of the war.

00:02:47.280 But U.S. trade with Germany was now only 10% of its pre-war level.

00:02:55.100 The three men scattered along the mile-long pier and lit small fires.

00:03:01.080 Then they fled much faster than they had arrived.

00:03:06.720 It didn't take long for the guards to notice the fires.

00:03:10.240 Some of them immediately sent for the Jersey City Fire Department.

00:03:13.480 The rest of them wisely ran for their lives.

00:03:19.300 The time was 2.08 a.m.

00:03:28.140 Dozens of train cars, warehouses, and the entire pier exploded almost in unison.

00:03:34.620 The massive blast was felt as far away as Philadelphia and Baltimore.

00:03:39.160 Scientists later assessed the explosion to be the equivalent of 5.5 on the Richter scale.

00:03:47.300 Almost all of the windows within a 25-mile radius were shattered, including Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.

00:03:55.660 Every building in Jersey City within a mile radius of the blast was destroyed.

00:04:00.820 The dynamite filled over 80 train cars, blew a crater in the island so deep it was below sea level,

00:04:09.320 and water gushed in, creating a giant pond.

00:04:12.760 In the end, at least five people were killed, including a 10-week-old baby in Jersey City who was knocked out of its crib by the explosion.

00:04:24.680 There were perhaps hundreds of additional victims because the barges at Black Tom Island were a haven for vagrants and immigrants.

00:04:32.220 Suddenly, at 2.40 a.m., a second blast rocked the island.

00:04:38.900 The debris shower from the combined explosions lasted two hours.

00:04:44.520 Firefighters ducked behind the railing of their boats and blindly aimed their hoses at the island to avoid the tornado of shrapnel.

00:04:53.340 Artillery shells and other munitions continued exploding for days.

00:04:57.760 Total damages were estimated at $20 million, the equivalent of over half a billion dollars today.

00:05:07.400 The explosion on Black Tom Island was the most destructive terrorist attack in the U.S. until September 11, 2001.

00:05:18.180 Shrapnel from the second major explosion was embedded into the right side of the Statue of Liberty, which faced Black Tom Island.

00:05:26.160 The force of the blast actually pushed Lady Liberty's torch arm against her crown.

00:05:33.080 The resulting damage to the internal framework of the statues armed closed it off to visitors.

00:05:39.260 Prior to the Black Tom Island terrorist attack, people used to be able to climb all the way up to the torch.

00:05:45.860 But that part of the Statue of Liberty has been closed to the public ever since that night.

00:05:51.560 Throughout the wild explosions on Black Tom Island that night, the light inside the torch never went out.

00:06:01.260 But it is symbolically appropriate that Americans' access to Liberty's torch was cut off at a time when the Oval Office was occupied by President Woodrow Wilson.

00:06:16.260 The Statue of Liberty

00:06:46.240 The Bureau of Investigation, as it was called before it became the FBI, only had a total of 260 agents spread across a few offices.

00:06:56.260 After the Black Tom Island disaster, the Bureau quickly labeled it an accident.

00:07:01.660 Their immediate assumption was the lack of safety protocols by the Lehigh Valley Railroad, which owned the depot on Black Tom Island,

00:07:10.860 and by the National Dock and Storage Company, which operated the complex.

00:07:16.720 Within 24 hours, top officials from both companies were arrested.

00:07:21.620 But then, authorities changed their mind and brought in the Black Tom Island security guards for questioning.

00:07:28.020 Investigators suspected that the smudge pots the guards had lit to help keep mosquitoes away that night had started the fires that blew up the munitions depot.

00:07:39.100 But investigators were never able to connect the dots from the smudge pots to the explosions.

00:07:45.140 Strangely, the authorities seemed over-eager to dismiss the possibility of sabotage.

00:07:52.300 Even though, just one day after the Black Tom Island disaster, the New York Times published a list of 42 mysterious explosions at American munitions factories and chemical plants that had happened since the start of the war.

00:08:07.780 And many of these factories and plants just happened to have war contracts making essential weapons for the Allies.

00:08:15.640 In other words, there was a whole catalogue of reasons to suspect foul play at the time of the explosion of the largest munitions depot in the U.S.,

00:08:26.340 chock full of weaponry waiting to be shipped to the Allies in Europe.

00:08:30.980 Yet the Woodrow Wilson administration seemed unwilling to even consider German sabotage as the cause.

00:08:39.120 Turns out, Team Wilson was not nearly as aloof as they appeared.

00:08:44.040 Wilson was well aware of German sabotage efforts early on.

00:08:48.440 In fact, more than a year before the Black Tom Island explosions, Wilson ordered the Secret Service to investigate several incidents and spy on German diplomats in the U.S.

00:09:02.460 In 1915, two Secret Service agents were tailing two German diplomats in an elevated train in New York City.

00:09:10.420 One of the Secret Service agents managed to snatch the briefcase of one of the diplomats.

00:09:16.280 The briefcase turned out to be a treasure trove of documents naming various German agents in the U.S.

00:09:23.060 and revealing specific plans for sabotage in America to wreck U.S. efforts to assist the Allies.

00:09:30.960 The documents even detailed outlandish plans like trying to buy the right aeroplane company and to be able to withhold the use of its patents to Britain and France.

00:09:42.640 Also, in 1915, the Bureau of Investigation caught a German agent named Werner Horn, who had bombed a bridge between Maine and Canada.

00:09:55.040 And U.S. agents investigated and arrested two more Germans who were working to blow up the Wellen Canal, a major shipping point between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

00:10:05.420 Eventually, the U.S. would learn that Johann von Bernstorff, a German ambassador to the U.S., was actually the German government's chief of espionage and sabotage for the Western Hemisphere.

00:10:18.960 He had a $150 million budget and used it for everything from forging passports for German agents to gun running to building time-release bombs that were placed on Allied cargo ships that would later explode as they crossed the Atlantic.

00:10:37.100 The Wilson administration was clearly aware of what the Germans were doing and planning to do in America.

00:10:43.400 President Wilson even wrote this to his close personal advisor, Edward House.

00:10:47.840 I am sure that the country is honeycombed with German intrigue and infested with German spies.

00:10:54.600 The evidences of these things are multiplying every day.

00:10:57.900 By 1916, war-related sabotage investigations made up for almost 30% of the Bureau of Investigation's caseload.

00:11:06.960 Yet President Wilson's Attorney General, Thomas Gregory, cautioned the Bureau to limit its investigation of German activities,

00:11:15.120 using the excuse that federal laws weren't robust enough to prosecute what the Germans were doing anyway.

00:11:23.840 Evidently, the Wilson administration didn't want to dig into the clear-cut evidence of German sabotage efforts on U.S. soil

00:11:31.380 because it would jeopardize Wilson's entire re-election effort.

00:11:35.280 After all, Wilson's 1916 presidential campaign was built around the slogan,

00:11:41.880 quote,

00:11:42.640 He kept us out of war.

00:11:45.740 Woodrow Wilson could not risk getting into an unpopular war during an election year

00:11:51.020 because he needed all the help he could get to stay in the White House.

00:11:55.020 He had barely been elected in the first place, earning less than 42% of the popular vote in 1912.

00:12:03.300 He almost certainly would have lost that election had the former president, Theodore Roosevelt,

00:12:07.840 not decided to run as a third candidate under the Progressive Party banner.

00:12:13.660 Roosevelt ultimately split the Republican vote,

00:12:17.400 causing both he and the incumbent, President Taft, to lose out to Wilson,

00:12:22.040 the former president of Princeton University,

00:12:25.240 whose only political experience was being governor of New Jersey for two years.

00:12:30.720 In that 1912 election, Wilson, a Southerner,

00:12:34.760 only won popular majorities in the 11 states that had been part of the old Confederacy,

00:12:40.800 and remember at that time, those states had almost completely disenfranchised Black voters.

00:12:47.420 So, in the aftermath of the Black Tom Island explosions,

00:12:51.020 President Wilson completely downplayed the event, calling it, quote,

00:12:56.480 a regrettable incident at a private railroad terminal.

00:13:01.240 He said that with full knowledge of the extent of the German sabotage

00:13:06.180 and terrorist attacks being carried out in the U.S.

00:13:09.900 Wilson's last newspaper ad on the day before the election in 1916 read,

00:13:14.780 You're working, not fighting, alive and happy, not cannon fodder.

00:13:22.420 As in 1912, Americans were still not totally sold on President Woodrow Wilson.

00:13:28.320 The incredibly tight election came down to the results in California,

00:13:32.440 which Wilson carried by just 3,420 votes.

00:13:36.960 Wilson's Republican opponent, Charles Evans Hughes,

00:13:40.220 did not concede the race until California finally announced its official results

00:13:45.720 over two weeks after Election Day.

00:13:49.680 Wilson was the first U.S. president to be re-elected with fewer electoral votes

00:13:54.680 than he won in his first run for president.

00:13:57.560 It wouldn't happen again until Barack Obama's re-election in 2012.

00:14:01.880 Wilson's refusal to root out and stop the German sabotage and terrorism campaign

00:14:08.980 ended up costing more American lives.

00:14:12.400 In January 1917, before Wilson was even sworn in for his second term in office,

00:14:18.040 a fire, once again started by a German agent,

00:14:21.800 suddenly erupted in a shell-packing plant in Kingsland, New Jersey.

00:14:27.120 The massive plant had half a million artillery shells on hand,

00:14:31.880 and 1,400 workers who fled in an understandable panic.

00:14:37.240 Here's how the New York Times report at the time described the scene.

00:14:40.920 Quote,

00:14:41.220 Thousands of these missiles were flung aloft,

00:14:44.460 and for minute after minute, the sky rained red and golden fire,

00:14:49.400 illuminating the darkening meadows with a weird glare that threw into relief

00:14:54.120 the tiny figures of fugitives, racing, tumbling, falling across the marshes

00:15:00.580 in a mad scramble to get from beneath the hail of molten metal.

00:15:05.820 Just 11 days after that disaster,

00:15:08.980 President Wilson gave his Peace Without Victory speech to the U.S. Senate,

00:15:13.860 in which he floated the concept of an international league

00:15:17.360 that would keep the peace going forward.

00:15:19.920 In Wilson's mind, world peace needed to be scientifically managed

00:15:25.000 by a body of government experts,

00:15:27.400 and he would nominate himself to design such a league.

00:15:31.660 We would only go to war if and when the expert Professor Wilson

00:15:36.680 told Americans that it was time to do so.

00:15:40.340 When Wilson was sworn in for his second presidential term on March 5, 1917,

00:15:44.660 he dropped major hints that the expert was about to change his mind

00:15:49.820 on the whole, he kept us out of war thing.

00:15:52.960 In his speech that day, Wilson said,

00:15:55.940 The tragic events of the 30 months of vital turmoil

00:15:59.560 through which we have just passed

00:16:01.040 have made us citizens of the world.

00:16:04.460 There can be no turning back.

00:16:06.780 Our own fortunes as a nation are involved,

00:16:09.960 whether we would have it so or not.

00:16:12.160 Less than a month later,

00:16:14.940 Wilson asked Congress to declare war,

00:16:17.820 saying, quote,

00:16:18.980 The world must be made safe for democracy.

00:16:24.800 So much for being alive and happy and not cannon fodder, huh?

00:16:29.600 In the same message to Congress, Wilson also admitted,

00:16:32.540 One of the things that has served to convince us

00:16:34.300 that the Prussian autocracy was not

00:16:36.100 and could never be our friend

00:16:37.860 is that from the very outset of the present war,

00:16:41.200 it has filled our unsuspecting communities

00:16:43.160 and even our offices of government with spies

00:16:45.980 and set criminal intrigues everywhere

00:16:48.280 afoot against our national unity of counsel,

00:16:51.280 our peace within and without,

00:16:53.040 our industries, and our commerce.

00:16:55.860 Indeed, it is now evident that its spies were here

00:16:58.220 even before the war began.

00:16:59.500 Wait, wait.

00:17:02.260 Now he was admitting German spies were in America

00:17:05.220 blowing up stuff.

00:17:07.320 What happened to Black Tom Island

00:17:09.480 being just a regrettable incident

00:17:11.260 at a private railroad terminal?

00:17:14.080 By saying it's now evident

00:17:16.080 that spies were here all along,

00:17:18.420 Wilson framed it as this was some late-breaking discovery,

00:17:21.780 but of course, it wasn't.

00:17:23.680 He didn't want to expose the threat before

00:17:27.240 because it would have wrecked his re-election.

00:17:31.000 Just eight days after Wilson gave that speech,

00:17:34.800 German agents struck again

00:17:36.740 at an ammunition plant in Eddystone, Pennsylvania.

00:17:40.600 A series of explosions there killed 133 people,

00:17:44.680 most young women working at the plant.

00:17:47.440 And this just helped back up Wilson's decision

00:17:50.500 to lead America into war, after all.

00:17:54.820 It's fitting that Wilson said

00:17:56.820 we would make the world safe for democracy,

00:18:00.460 not America.

00:18:01.980 That distinction would become painfully evident.

00:18:05.720 In fact, Wilson said,

00:18:07.720 I am an advocate of peace,

00:18:09.000 but there are some splendid things

00:18:10.420 that come to a nation through the discipline of war.

00:18:12.520 When progressives call something splendid,

00:18:16.100 it usually doesn't go well for liberty.

00:18:18.020 I hope it's obvious to you by now

00:18:21.900 that when it comes to decisions

00:18:23.160 that directly affect you and the people you love,

00:18:26.900 it's sometimes not as good to leave things

00:18:29.180 in the hands of the experts.

00:18:31.620 Years ago, when I was dealing with

00:18:33.400 almost daily horrible pain in my hands,

00:18:36.520 I sought the advice of a lot of experts,

00:18:38.600 and they were really good.

00:18:39.780 They were the best in the world.

00:18:41.780 You know what I, you know what that got me?

00:18:43.960 Huge, huge medical bills.

00:18:45.500 No easing of the pain.

00:18:47.900 Nobody could figure it out.

00:18:49.940 That was before I started taking Relief Factor.

00:18:52.900 Things changed for me forever once I started taking it.

00:18:55.660 I had such bad pain in my hands.

00:18:58.940 I had no hope, but I got my hope back, my joy back.

00:19:01.900 I got my whole life back.

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00:19:29.620 In 1916, the New York artist named James Montgomery Flagg

00:19:38.660 drew the magazine cover for an issue

00:19:40.760 of Leslie's Illustrated Weekly.

00:19:43.560 The focus of this special edition issue

00:19:45.980 was military preparedness.

00:19:48.620 The cover image was a very stern-looking Uncle Sam

00:19:52.580 pointing his index finger straight ahead at the reader.

00:19:56.860 The caption on the cover said,

00:19:58.420 What are you doing for preparedness?

00:20:02.560 Less than a year later,

00:20:04.120 the United States joined World War I

00:20:06.040 and the federal government wanted to draft

00:20:08.520 James Montgomery Flagg's rendition of Uncle Sam

00:20:11.700 into action.

00:20:13.800 Flagg forked over his painting's copyright

00:20:16.260 to the U.S. government.

00:20:18.300 The original caption was replaced with a new one

00:20:21.200 that read,

00:20:22.200 I want you for the U.S. Army.

00:20:24.820 The government cranked out four million recruitment posters

00:20:29.520 featuring Flagg's Uncle Sam

00:20:31.720 that were plastered all across the country.

00:20:34.920 It's one of the most famous images in our nation's history.

00:20:39.660 James Montgomery Flagg used his own face

00:20:42.560 as the reference for Uncle Sam,

00:20:44.320 giving him a taut, slightly worn face,

00:20:47.460 a bushy, furrowed brow, and pursed lips.

00:20:51.300 The face is intimidating with urgent, concerned expression.

00:20:55.920 This Uncle Sam clearly meant business.

00:21:00.800 As the posters went up all over the U.S.,

00:21:03.160 the intense stare and accusatory finger of Uncle Sam

00:21:06.840 was virtually inescapable.

00:21:09.300 His eyes seemed to follow the observer from every angle,

00:21:12.280 and that front and center finger was always pointing at you.

00:21:17.640 It was an appropriate projection of the new federal government

00:21:20.880 under the direction of President Woodrow Wilson.

00:21:24.060 He meant business, too.

00:21:27.260 The I Want You poster is an iconic symbol

00:21:29.740 of one of the most dangerous times in American history,

00:21:32.520 when the stringent progressivism of Woodrow Wilson

00:21:35.840 discovered the ultimate playground of wartime.

00:21:42.280 Just one week after Congress declared war,

00:21:47.060 President Wilson signed an executive order

00:21:49.240 creating the Committee on Public Information.

00:21:52.640 The CPI's job was to coordinate propaganda

00:21:56.100 and censorship for the federal government during the war.

00:22:00.100 Wilson and his close personal advisor, Edward House,

00:22:03.940 had discussed forming something like the CPI

00:22:06.220 for months before the U.S. joined the war,

00:22:09.200 as they had tried to figure out the best way

00:22:11.040 to steer and control public opinion.

00:22:15.000 Wilson and House were influenced in these discussions

00:22:17.580 by progressive journalist Walter Lippman,

00:22:20.960 George Creel, and others,

00:22:22.600 who helped convince them to use the mainstream media

00:22:26.800 rather than just trying to censor it.

00:22:29.360 Wilson would later say that during wartime,

00:22:32.080 it is legitimate to regard things

00:22:33.680 which would in ordinary circumstances be innocent

00:22:36.160 as very dangerous to the public welfare.

00:22:38.640 Wilson appointed George Creel to head the CPI.

00:22:43.620 Creel was a diehard progressive.

00:22:46.120 He was a journalist for most of his career

00:22:48.180 in Kansas City and Denver,

00:22:49.960 except for a short stint as police commissioner in Denver.

00:22:54.220 During that stint, Creel took guns and nightsticks

00:22:57.480 away from his policemen.

00:22:59.720 Creel would fit right in with today's left-wing

00:23:02.360 defund the police activists.

00:23:04.160 Under Creel's leadership,

00:23:06.520 the Committee on Public Information

00:23:08.200 was what one historian described

00:23:10.540 as a veritable magnet for political progressives.

00:23:14.260 The CPI issued what it claimed were

00:23:18.040 voluntary guidelines for the press.

00:23:21.080 These were supposedly to help patriotic editors

00:23:24.140 who just wanted to do their part

00:23:26.180 to support the war effort.

00:23:28.140 But of course, editors who chose

00:23:29.860 not to follow those guidelines

00:23:31.900 would have their loyalties called into question

00:23:34.700 by the government.

00:23:36.840 One of CPI's main goals was to shape

00:23:39.420 how the war and related issues

00:23:41.240 were covered in the U.S. press.

00:23:43.000 Part of its strategy was to bury newsrooms

00:23:46.140 in official government press releases.

00:23:48.920 In less than two years,

00:23:50.580 CPI's news division cranked out

00:23:53.080 over 6,000 press releases,

00:23:55.800 averaging 10 per day.

00:23:58.160 These were written as straightforward news articles.

00:24:01.180 Editors often ran these articles

00:24:02.740 without any changes in their publications

00:24:05.100 to head off any suspicion

00:24:07.060 by the Justice Department and Post Office

00:24:09.300 that they were insufficiently loyal.

00:24:13.000 These government-written news stories

00:24:15.460 appeared in at least 20,000 newspapers

00:24:18.980 every week.

00:24:21.260 Shortly after declaring war,

00:24:23.160 Congress passed the Trading with the Enemy Act,

00:24:25.720 which required all newspapers

00:24:27.580 to file daily copies of their war-related news

00:24:31.540 with their local postmaster.

00:24:33.740 Once the government was convinced

00:24:35.300 of the newspaper's loyalty,

00:24:37.480 it received a permit to continue publishing.

00:24:39.700 The law gave the president power

00:24:42.860 to revoke any permit,

00:24:44.620 quote,

00:24:45.400 at his discretion.

00:24:47.700 So editors were even more inclined

00:24:49.460 to publish the CPI's articles

00:24:51.240 if they wanted to maintain

00:24:53.060 their publishing permit.

00:24:55.040 The CPI was a massive operation

00:24:57.920 with 14 separate departments,

00:25:00.360 including news,

00:25:01.880 syndicated features,

00:25:03.340 advertising,

00:25:03.860 and film.

00:25:05.520 The CPI employed journalists,

00:25:07.500 artists,

00:25:08.060 cartoonists,

00:25:08.800 graphic designers,

00:25:09.940 filmmakers,

00:25:10.760 novelists,

00:25:11.580 and short story writers.

00:25:13.400 A weekly bulletin

00:25:14.580 for cartoonists

00:25:15.640 was issued

00:25:16.320 giving a rundown

00:25:17.520 of announcements

00:25:18.260 and other information

00:25:19.400 the government wanted help with

00:25:21.020 in disseminating

00:25:21.960 to the public.

00:25:23.300 One of the biggest innovations

00:25:25.140 of the CPI

00:25:26.300 was its

00:25:27.220 four-minute men.

00:25:30.060 This was an army

00:25:31.500 of volunteers

00:25:32.740 who memorized

00:25:34.100 short speeches

00:25:35.360 provided to them

00:25:36.740 by the CPI,

00:25:37.820 of course,

00:25:38.380 and then they made

00:25:39.280 these speeches

00:25:39.920 whenever and wherever

00:25:41.240 they could find

00:25:42.200 an audience.

00:25:43.600 The four-minute part

00:25:44.740 of the moniker

00:25:45.560 referenced the time

00:25:46.740 it took to change

00:25:47.720 film reels

00:25:48.640 in a movie theater.

00:25:50.480 Four minutes.

00:25:51.840 So while an audience

00:25:52.800 waited for the next reel

00:25:54.160 to begin,

00:25:55.200 they could hear

00:25:55.860 a four-minute men's speech

00:25:57.640 about supporting

00:25:58.540 the war effort.

00:26:00.560 The four-minute men

00:26:01.520 were given their speeches

00:26:02.540 and talking points

00:26:03.520 by the CPI's

00:26:04.800 Division of Civic

00:26:05.840 and Educational Publications,

00:26:07.980 which was headed

00:26:08.640 by a University of Minnesota

00:26:10.380 history professor.

00:26:12.600 Almost 50%

00:26:14.000 of the speech material

00:26:15.200 mentioned

00:26:15.640 or directly quoted

00:26:17.220 President Wilson.

00:26:19.160 It was an unprecedented

00:26:20.560 scope of publicity

00:26:22.200 for a president.

00:26:23.320 It allowed Wilson

00:26:24.820 to skip the press

00:26:26.060 and communicate

00:26:27.000 his agenda

00:26:27.860 directly to the public.

00:26:30.180 One historian noted

00:26:31.280 that these constant

00:26:32.440 mini-speeches

00:26:33.760 being given

00:26:34.480 across the U.S.,

00:26:35.520 quote,

00:26:36.140 came as close

00:26:37.000 to approximating

00:26:37.980 a presidential radio speech

00:26:39.780 as was possible

00:26:40.980 before network radio.

00:26:43.280 At the end of the war,

00:26:44.780 George Creel

00:26:45.680 estimated that

00:26:46.620 75,000

00:26:48.100 four-minute men

00:26:49.120 had delivered

00:26:49.820 750,000 speeches

00:26:52.600 to 315 million people.

00:26:57.600 Creel was so hands-on

00:26:59.100 with the CPI's

00:27:00.000 massive propaganda effort

00:27:01.720 and the CPI

00:27:03.060 was so successful

00:27:04.160 with its operation,

00:27:05.720 people joked

00:27:06.560 that there were now

00:27:07.400 four branches

00:27:08.300 of our government,

00:27:09.760 executive,

00:27:10.740 legislative,

00:27:11.880 judicial,

00:27:12.820 and Creel.

00:27:13.680 In the years

00:27:15.480 after World War I,

00:27:16.660 promoting government

00:27:17.720 propaganda

00:27:18.320 was referred to

00:27:19.320 as Creeling,

00:27:21.140 George Creel

00:27:21.960 was clearly in love

00:27:23.980 with his influential

00:27:25.140 position,

00:27:26.340 saying that he wanted

00:27:27.120 to make every American

00:27:28.360 feel, quote,

00:27:29.620 a compulsion from within

00:27:31.400 to support government

00:27:32.980 policy.

00:27:34.340 He said his ultimate

00:27:35.500 goal was to create,

00:27:36.960 quote,

00:27:37.260 Perhaps the most

00:27:56.860 egregious product

00:27:58.020 that the CPI put out

00:27:59.500 was publishing

00:28:00.460 a daily government

00:28:01.500 newspaper called

00:28:02.840 The Official Bulletin.

00:28:04.300 It was distributed

00:28:06.000 at every post office,

00:28:07.960 military base,

00:28:08.820 and many other

00:28:09.680 government offices.

00:28:11.340 One historian noted

00:28:12.600 that the Official Bulletin

00:28:13.780 is, quote,

00:28:14.880 The closest the United States

00:28:16.400 has come to a paper

00:28:17.400 like the Soviet Union's

00:28:18.980 Pravda

00:28:19.620 or China's People Daily.

00:28:22.240 The Official Bulletin's

00:28:23.880 masthead said,

00:28:25.120 Published daily

00:28:26.000 under the order

00:28:26.780 of the President

00:28:27.700 of the United States.

00:28:30.300 The Woodrow Wilson

00:28:31.540 administration was,

00:28:32.860 in several ways,

00:28:34.300 a turning point

00:28:35.460 in American history.

00:28:37.140 Its efforts to control

00:28:38.400 American speech

00:28:39.440 through the CPI

00:28:40.580 permanently damaged

00:28:42.120 America's trust

00:28:43.340 in their government.

00:28:45.240 As bad as the CPI

00:28:46.500 was for American liberty,

00:28:48.420 it was soft tyranny

00:28:49.960 compared to the full crackdown

00:28:52.420 that was in store.

00:28:54.540 Woe be to the man

00:28:56.140 or group of men,

00:28:57.760 Wilson said,

00:28:58.760 that seeks to stand

00:29:00.620 in our way.

00:29:03.060 End quote.

00:29:04.300 The presidential oath

00:29:07.320 of office

00:29:07.920 is short,

00:29:09.180 to the point,

00:29:10.220 and it ends

00:29:10.960 with the promise

00:29:11.560 that,

00:29:12.260 to the best

00:29:12.700 of their ability,

00:29:13.580 the President

00:29:14.040 will preserve,

00:29:15.760 protect,

00:29:16.420 and defend

00:29:17.420 the Constitution

00:29:18.300 of the United States.

00:29:20.140 Basically,

00:29:20.800 the President

00:29:21.180 has one job,

00:29:23.120 to be the guardian

00:29:24.260 of the Constitution.

00:29:26.880 Here's the major thing

00:29:28.080 that is left out

00:29:28.940 of every school textbook

00:29:30.040 about Woodrow Wilson.

00:29:31.700 He was the first

00:29:32.760 U.S. President

00:29:33.600 to disparage

00:29:34.880 the Constitution

00:29:35.960 and the separation

00:29:37.520 of powers,

00:29:38.300 which he considered

00:29:39.140 outdated barriers

00:29:40.760 to his agenda.

00:29:42.600 But there were

00:29:43.520 plenty of warning signs

00:29:45.060 about his

00:29:45.560 anti-constitutionalism

00:29:47.420 before he became

00:29:48.900 President.

00:29:50.020 For example,

00:29:51.160 when he was still

00:29:51.760 President of Princeton

00:29:52.820 University,

00:29:53.460 he gave a speech

00:29:54.500 titled,

00:29:54.940 Our Elastic Constitution.

00:29:58.260 He thought

00:29:58.620 the Constitution

00:29:59.220 was a relic

00:30:00.320 and that it was

00:30:01.060 time for America

00:30:01.940 to evolve beyond it.

00:30:04.860 He later wrote,

00:30:06.120 All that progressives

00:30:07.020 ask or desire

00:30:07.820 is permission.

00:30:09.060 In an era

00:30:09.440 when development,

00:30:10.640 evolution is

00:30:11.320 the scientific word

00:30:12.360 to interpret

00:30:13.480 the Constitution

00:30:14.180 according to

00:30:14.780 the Darwinian principle.

00:30:16.220 In other words,

00:30:16.940 let the experts

00:30:18.300 evolve the Constitution.

00:30:21.220 Wilson believed

00:30:21.920 government should be

00:30:22.760 run by the experts

00:30:23.940 only calling

00:30:25.600 American public opinion.

00:30:27.660 A clumsy nuisance.

00:30:29.020 A rustic.

00:30:29.720 Handling delicate machinery.

00:30:31.780 More than a year

00:30:32.660 before the U.S.

00:30:33.760 entered the war,

00:30:34.960 his annual message

00:30:36.080 to Congress,

00:30:37.440 Wilson urgently

00:30:38.360 requested legislation

00:30:39.680 to suppress

00:30:40.780 disloyal activities.

00:30:43.320 The very next day,

00:30:44.560 Wilson's cabinet

00:30:45.380 asked Attorney General

00:30:46.500 Thomas Gregory

00:30:47.640 to work on

00:30:48.820 drafting such a law.

00:30:50.640 Congress received

00:30:51.480 the draft of the law

00:30:52.540 later in 1960

00:30:53.920 but it didn't move

00:30:55.240 on the bill

00:30:55.780 until after the U.S.

00:30:57.960 declared war

00:30:58.960 a year later.

00:31:00.780 Obstensively,

00:31:01.760 the Espionage Act

00:31:03.340 was supported

00:31:04.420 to protect

00:31:05.380 American military operations

00:31:07.280 and root out

00:31:08.760 enemy spy operations.

00:31:10.700 But it went

00:31:11.700 much further

00:31:12.920 than that.

00:31:13.620 The law

00:31:17.440 and later

00:31:17.920 the Sedition Act

00:31:18.960 that amended it

00:31:20.040 aimed to shut down

00:31:21.500 any criticism

00:31:22.980 of the federal government

00:31:24.240 under the guise

00:31:25.620 of the government

00:31:26.560 needing leeway

00:31:27.820 to wage

00:31:28.740 a successful war effort.

00:31:30.780 These laws

00:31:31.520 shredded

00:31:32.120 our First Amendment rights.

00:31:34.900 Together,

00:31:35.540 the Espionage

00:31:36.340 and Sedition Acts

00:31:37.420 provided punishment

00:31:38.700 of up to

00:31:39.660 30 years in prison

00:31:41.020 and $20,000

00:31:42.740 in fines

00:31:43.860 for those who

00:31:45.000 quote,

00:31:45.560 willfully

00:31:46.140 utter,

00:31:47.140 print,

00:31:47.880 write,

00:31:48.560 or publish

00:31:49.260 any disloyal,

00:31:50.980 profane,

00:31:52.180 scurrilous,

00:31:53.160 or abusive language

00:31:54.620 about the U.S.

00:31:55.620 government,

00:31:56.480 constitution,

00:31:57.660 military,

00:31:58.340 or flag.

00:32:00.340 In theory,

00:32:01.800 those laws

00:32:02.340 were there

00:32:02.800 to help protect

00:32:03.700 America's war effort.

00:32:05.740 In practice,

00:32:06.480 the Wilson

00:32:07.480 administration

00:32:08.100 used them

00:32:08.880 to fixate on

00:32:10.020 and target

00:32:10.740 regular Americans

00:32:11.980 rather than

00:32:13.140 the enemy.

00:32:14.560 Sound familiar?

00:32:16.480 The same spirit

00:32:18.060 infuses the rhetoric

00:32:19.400 from the current

00:32:20.520 progressive

00:32:21.140 White House.

00:32:22.640 This is President Biden

00:32:24.120 in a speech

00:32:24.740 before the 2022

00:32:26.420 midterm election.

00:32:28.200 Too much of what's

00:32:29.440 happening in our

00:32:30.180 country today

00:32:30.900 is not

00:32:31.880 normal.

00:32:34.300 Donald Trump

00:32:35.260 and the MAGA Republicans

00:32:36.560 represent an extremism

00:32:38.800 that threatens

00:32:39.940 the very foundations

00:32:41.220 of our republic.

00:32:43.860 MAGA forces

00:32:44.560 are determined

00:32:45.260 to take this country

00:32:47.020 backwards,

00:32:48.360 backwards

00:32:49.040 to an America

00:32:50.620 where there is

00:32:52.180 no right to choose,

00:32:54.060 no right to privacy,

00:32:56.400 no right to contraception,

00:32:57.780 no right to marry

00:32:58.520 who you love.

00:33:00.480 They promote

00:33:01.300 authoritarian leaders

00:33:02.460 and they fan the flames

00:33:03.800 of political violence.

00:33:05.260 that are a threat

00:33:06.720 to our personal rights,

00:33:08.800 to the pursuit

00:33:10.020 of justice,

00:33:11.220 to the rule of law,

00:33:13.080 to the very soul

00:33:14.220 of this country.

00:33:15.760 Our nation of fear,

00:33:18.420 division,

00:33:19.420 and of darkness.

00:33:21.820 MAGA republicans

00:33:22.640 have made their choice.

00:33:24.560 They embrace anger.

00:33:26.600 They thrive on chaos.

00:33:29.300 They live not in the light

00:33:30.760 of truth,

00:33:31.300 but in the shadow

00:33:32.120 of lies.

00:33:38.080 The Biden administration

00:33:39.760 through the Justice Department

00:33:41.380 has targeted

00:33:42.240 multiple pro-life activists,

00:33:45.120 including sending

00:33:46.160 20 FBI agents

00:33:48.280 to arrest

00:33:49.060 pro-life activist

00:33:50.320 Mark Hoke

00:33:51.240 at his home

00:33:52.200 in 2022.

00:33:54.180 Hoke was accused

00:33:55.060 of violating

00:33:55.800 the FACE Act

00:33:57.100 because he shoved

00:33:58.660 a pro-abortion activist

00:34:00.100 who was harassing

00:34:01.380 Hoke's 12-year-old son.

00:34:03.660 In January 2023,

00:34:06.200 Hoke was acquitted

00:34:07.360 of all charges.

00:34:09.320 He's now suing

00:34:10.700 Biden's Justice Department.

00:34:12.400 In a letter

00:34:14.220 to a Democratic congressman

00:34:15.680 from North Carolina,

00:34:17.240 Woodrow Wilson

00:34:17.860 reiterated his need

00:34:19.380 for censorship power

00:34:20.840 through the Espionage Act,

00:34:22.740 saying it is

00:34:23.600 absolutely necessary

00:34:26.520 for the protection

00:34:27.560 of the nation

00:34:28.380 and that it is imperative

00:34:30.280 that powers

00:34:31.160 of this sort

00:34:32.100 should be granted.

00:34:34.220 Wilson also said

00:34:35.060 publicly

00:34:35.560 that disloyalty

00:34:36.800 to America's war effort

00:34:38.240 must be crushed out

00:34:40.720 and that disloyal Americans

00:34:42.660 had sacrificed

00:34:43.840 their right

00:34:44.680 to civil liberties.

00:34:47.160 Wilson had full support

00:34:48.440 for his unconstitutional

00:34:50.100 stance

00:34:50.700 from the Justice Department.

00:34:53.020 Regarding Americans

00:34:53.840 who didn't support

00:34:54.880 the U.S. joining the war,

00:34:57.060 Attorney General

00:34:57.680 Thomas Gregory said,

00:34:59.180 quote,

00:35:00.020 May God have mercy on them,

00:35:03.040 for they need expect

00:35:04.260 none from an outraged people

00:35:06.700 and an avenging government.

00:35:11.420 There was a lot of resistance

00:35:13.300 to Wilson's overreach

00:35:15.080 with the Espionage

00:35:16.100 and Sedition Acts.

00:35:17.900 Major newspapers

00:35:18.720 across the nation,

00:35:19.700 including the New York Times,

00:35:21.100 spent days

00:35:22.420 sounding the alarm

00:35:23.700 about the unconstitutional

00:35:25.360 censorship

00:35:26.020 and power grab.

00:35:27.860 Many members of Congress

00:35:29.240 also voiced

00:35:30.340 strong objections,

00:35:32.200 but war fever

00:35:33.340 was a more powerful force.

00:35:36.060 The laws were passed

00:35:37.480 and the Wilson administration

00:35:38.800 was off to the races.

00:35:40.340 It was a total coup

00:35:42.800 for the progressive

00:35:43.720 expert philosophy

00:35:45.160 that American rights

00:35:47.120 are not unalienable,

00:35:49.260 but instead flexible

00:35:51.000 depending on the circumstance.

00:35:53.800 The experts were simply

00:35:55.140 pressing pause

00:35:56.640 on First Amendment rights,

00:35:58.380 but supposedly

00:35:59.560 just for the duration

00:36:01.360 of the war.

00:36:02.300 One of the worst aspects

00:36:07.220 of the espionage

00:36:08.240 and sedition laws

00:36:09.300 is that they allowed

00:36:10.360 unprecedented coordination

00:36:12.180 among President Wilson,

00:36:14.220 the Postal Service,

00:36:15.560 and the Bureau of Investigation.

00:36:18.200 This created the culture

00:36:19.900 of domestic surveillance

00:36:21.680 in the U.S.

00:36:23.220 that has never gone away

00:36:24.760 and continues to this day

00:36:27.000 to be abused.

00:36:27.980 In 2023,

00:36:30.220 a court found

00:36:30.940 that the FBI

00:36:31.620 violated the surveillance

00:36:33.240 program rules

00:36:34.360 pertaining to the infamous

00:36:36.180 Section 702 program.

00:36:38.680 The court ruled

00:36:39.500 that FBI analysts

00:36:41.140 used Section 702,

00:36:43.580 which does not require

00:36:45.120 a warrant,

00:36:46.500 to access information

00:36:47.880 about hundreds,

00:36:49.420 if not thousands,

00:36:50.620 of Americans.

00:36:51.940 It is a perpetual menace

00:36:54.080 that can be traced back

00:36:55.780 to the Wilson administration.

00:36:57.980 Wilson's Postmaster General

00:37:00.180 Albert Burleson

00:37:01.680 and Burleson's

00:37:02.960 Solicitor General

00:37:03.920 William Lamar

00:37:04.980 banned mailing privileges

00:37:07.180 for those publications

00:37:08.900 that they or others

00:37:10.660 in the government

00:37:11.300 deemed insufficiently loyal.

00:37:14.880 Within the first month

00:37:16.260 after the Espionage Act

00:37:17.620 was passed,

00:37:18.680 Burleson had already banned

00:37:20.320 15 so-called

00:37:22.060 socialist publications.

00:37:25.020 Shortly after Congress

00:37:26.560 passed the Espionage Act,

00:37:28.820 Burleson sent a letter

00:37:30.060 to local postmasters

00:37:31.540 directing them

00:37:32.720 to keep a,

00:37:33.720 quote,

00:37:34.380 close watch

00:37:35.200 on unsealed matter,

00:37:36.940 newspapers,

00:37:37.760 etc.,

00:37:38.420 containing matter

00:37:39.220 which is calculated

00:37:40.060 to interfere with,

00:37:41.480 to embarrass

00:37:42.060 or hamper the government

00:37:43.540 in conducting the war.

00:37:45.080 Burleson instructed

00:37:46.240 local postmasters

00:37:47.360 to forward

00:37:48.220 any suspicious material

00:37:49.860 that they found

00:37:50.720 to Washington.

00:37:51.540 The postmasters

00:37:53.340 flooded the national office

00:37:55.140 with material

00:37:55.860 that they deemed

00:37:57.040 unmailable.

00:37:59.260 Eventually,

00:38:00.080 after so much

00:38:00.820 First Amendment abuse

00:38:02.060 had already taken place,

00:38:03.660 reporters finally got

00:38:04.820 Burleson to comment

00:38:05.960 on the criteria

00:38:07.080 he used

00:38:08.120 to place a magazine

00:38:09.500 or newspaper

00:38:10.160 on the banned list.

00:38:12.440 Burleson said

00:38:13.520 no publication

00:38:14.660 was allowed to,

00:38:16.120 quote,

00:38:16.420 say that this government

00:38:18.240 got in the war wrong,

00:38:20.060 that it is in it

00:38:21.000 for wrong purposes

00:38:22.200 or anything

00:38:23.340 that will impugn

00:38:24.360 the motives

00:38:24.840 of the government

00:38:25.560 for going into the war.

00:38:28.100 They cannot say

00:38:28.980 that this government

00:38:29.740 is the tool

00:38:30.820 of Wall Street

00:38:31.620 or the munitions makers.

00:38:33.320 That kind of thing

00:38:34.160 is a false statement,

00:38:35.440 a lie,

00:38:36.220 and it will not

00:38:36.920 be permitted.

00:38:38.320 Burleson Solicitor General

00:38:39.880 William Lamar

00:38:41.040 admitted that the law

00:38:42.520 left room

00:38:43.440 for interpretation,

00:38:45.100 but he and

00:38:45.920 Postmaster Burleson

00:38:47.080 used every inch

00:38:48.360 of that room.

00:38:50.200 Lamar said

00:38:50.780 they had often

00:38:51.340 had to resort to,

00:38:52.740 quote,

00:38:53.220 the old adage

00:38:54.000 of reading

00:38:54.620 between the lines.

00:38:56.460 Isn't it not only

00:38:57.120 sensible but fair

00:38:58.480 to take into consideration

00:38:59.680 the known attitude

00:39:00.680 of the writer,

00:39:01.960 also to consider

00:39:02.800 the circumstances

00:39:03.720 and the environment

00:39:04.580 of the readers

00:39:05.240 to whom such writing

00:39:06.500 is addressed?

00:39:08.080 It's an incredible

00:39:09.640 George Orwell

00:39:11.140 1984 level philosophy,

00:39:14.480 and yet,

00:39:15.160 it was embraced

00:39:16.340 by the progressive

00:39:17.380 experts of the day

00:39:19.100 and upheld

00:39:20.520 by the progressive

00:39:21.680 dominated Supreme Court.

00:39:24.100 In Schneck v. United States,

00:39:27.120 one of the most famous

00:39:28.380 Espionage Act cases

00:39:29.860 brought before

00:39:30.700 the Supreme Court,

00:39:32.320 the justices ruled

00:39:33.420 unanimously

00:39:34.420 against a man

00:39:36.060 named Charles Schneck

00:39:37.440 who had published

00:39:38.700 and mailed leaflets

00:39:40.020 critical of the U.S.

00:39:41.600 military draft.

00:39:42.740 It was a landmark case

00:39:44.840 because the court

00:39:45.540 tragically decided

00:39:46.800 that free speech rights

00:39:48.680 are not absolute.

00:39:51.360 In his majority opinion,

00:39:53.600 uber-progressive justice

00:39:55.180 Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

00:39:57.600 famously said,

00:39:58.820 We admit that in many places

00:40:00.760 and in ordinary times,

00:40:02.200 the defendant,

00:40:02.940 in saying all that was said

00:40:04.040 in the circular,

00:40:05.460 would have been within

00:40:06.240 his constitutional rights.

00:40:08.600 But the character

00:40:09.620 of every act

00:40:10.440 depends upon the circumstances

00:40:12.060 in which it was done.

00:40:13.880 The most stringent protection

00:40:15.700 of free speech

00:40:16.560 would not protect a man

00:40:17.800 in falsely shouting fire

00:40:19.420 in a theater

00:40:20.080 and causing a panic.

00:40:21.260 The question in each case

00:40:23.600 is whether the words

00:40:24.760 were used in such circumstances

00:40:26.560 and are of such a nature

00:40:28.900 as to create a clear

00:40:30.160 and present danger

00:40:31.180 that they will bring about

00:40:33.100 the substantive evils

00:40:34.440 that Congress

00:40:35.040 has a right to prevent.

00:40:37.420 It is a question

00:40:38.220 of proximity and degree.

00:40:40.800 When a nation is at war,

00:40:42.220 many things that might be said

00:40:43.720 in time of peace

00:40:44.660 are such a hindrance

00:40:45.620 to its efforts

00:40:46.380 that their utterance

00:40:48.100 will not be endured

00:40:49.040 so long as men fight

00:40:50.440 and that no court

00:40:51.480 could regard them

00:40:52.280 as protected

00:40:52.900 by any constitutional right.

00:40:57.120 One year after

00:40:58.280 the Espionage Act passed,

00:41:00.440 in a memo

00:41:01.020 to local postmasters,

00:41:03.000 Albert Burleson gloated,

00:41:05.140 quote,

00:41:05.640 Only about a quarter

00:41:06.600 of the papers

00:41:07.220 which applied for a permit

00:41:08.680 have actually been licensed.

00:41:11.680 Some papers,

00:41:12.860 finding that there was

00:41:13.600 no prospect

00:41:14.280 of their obtaining a license,

00:41:16.260 rather than remain

00:41:17.220 under the implied stigma

00:41:18.760 of disloyalty,

00:41:20.440 have suspended publication.

00:41:22.800 Others,

00:41:23.560 more openly obnoxious,

00:41:25.140 have had their second-class

00:41:26.400 mailing privileges revoked.

00:41:29.900 Ultimately,

00:41:30.780 the post office

00:41:31.500 deprived over 400 periodicals

00:41:34.160 of mailing privileges

00:41:35.780 under the Espionage

00:41:37.500 and Sedition Acts.

00:41:39.080 At that time,

00:41:40.380 not being able

00:41:41.280 to use the mail

00:41:42.400 for even one issue

00:41:43.900 could be a death sentence

00:41:45.720 for a publication.

00:41:46.780 To many Americans,

00:41:49.200 that level of censorship

00:41:50.400 in the United States

00:41:51.500 is outrageous,

00:41:53.000 completely unconstitutional,

00:41:55.100 and a severe cautionary tale.

00:41:57.840 But for modern-day progressives,

00:42:00.460 it's something to aspire to.

00:42:03.260 Last year,

00:42:04.260 Senate Democrats

00:42:05.000 proposed the

00:42:06.120 Digital Platform Commission Act,

00:42:08.840 which would feature

00:42:09.640 five expert commissioners,

00:42:11.580 appointed by the president,

00:42:12.780 of course,

00:42:13.520 to regulate misinformation

00:42:15.300 and hate speech

00:42:16.840 on the internet.

00:42:18.580 So, Scott,

00:42:19.060 what would this commission do?

00:42:21.800 It would,

00:42:22.480 John,

00:42:22.880 regulate,

00:42:23.880 you know,

00:42:24.140 police,

00:42:24.720 maybe license

00:42:25.520 this very fast-growing industry,

00:42:28.480 make sure that it's safe,

00:42:29.840 but also accessible

00:42:31.040 to people.

00:42:32.180 Wait,

00:42:33.040 did you hear that?

00:42:34.920 According to

00:42:35.680 a CBS News reporter,

00:42:37.780 it would regulate,

00:42:38.940 police,

00:42:40.720 license,

00:42:42.180 and keep you safe.

00:42:44.440 Classic progressive buzzwords.

00:42:47.640 Experts in their never-ending quest

00:42:50.000 for more control.

00:42:56.260 I hope you love this series of podcasts

00:42:58.540 as much as I do.

00:42:59.620 I can't wait for you to hear the whole series.

00:43:02.060 But history teaches us

00:43:03.340 to have at least a little bit of skepticism

00:43:05.880 for the so-called experts

00:43:07.680 and what they tell us

00:43:08.760 at any given time.

00:43:10.400 In fact,

00:43:11.160 it's best to have

00:43:12.120 as many of our decisions

00:43:13.380 that get made

00:43:14.740 about you

00:43:15.460 and your family

00:43:16.420 in your own hands,

00:43:18.000 not theirs.

00:43:19.000 For instance,

00:43:19.720 what about life-saving medications?

00:43:21.980 If there's an emergency

00:43:23.160 and you or a member of your family

00:43:25.160 desperately needs medication

00:43:26.740 and it's not available right now

00:43:28.640 for whatever reason,

00:43:29.920 what are you going to do?

00:43:31.100 How do you prepare

00:43:32.160 for something like that?

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00:44:11.340 Robert Prager

00:44:15.260 frantically gathered

00:44:16.900 pieces of wood,

00:44:18.180 tile and debris

00:44:19.140 that were scattered

00:44:20.320 around the basement

00:44:21.360 and made a pile.

00:44:23.980 He laid flat on the floor,

00:44:25.820 raking the debris

00:44:26.720 on top of himself,

00:44:28.720 desperately trying

00:44:29.740 to be invisible.

00:44:31.640 He could hear

00:44:32.540 the crowd approaching outside,

00:44:35.300 a terrifying torrent

00:44:36.640 of yells and chants.

00:44:39.080 He had already escaped

00:44:40.100 the rabid mob

00:44:41.080 once that night.

00:44:43.540 Could he do it again?

00:44:45.720 The 45-year-old Prager's

00:44:47.720 nightmare began

00:44:48.680 earlier that evening

00:44:49.740 when he attended

00:44:50.560 a socialist meeting

00:44:51.780 in Merrillville, Illinois.

00:44:54.100 While he was there,

00:44:55.100 he allegedly made remarks

00:44:56.700 that were critical

00:44:57.520 of President Wilson

00:44:58.740 and deemed disloyal

00:45:00.840 to the United States.

00:45:02.920 Word of Prager's heresy

00:45:04.700 spread like wildfire

00:45:06.560 through the town

00:45:07.340 and someone told him

00:45:08.920 a mob was forming.

00:45:11.360 Prager rakes back

00:45:12.220 to his home

00:45:12.700 in nearby Collinsville,

00:45:14.260 but the mob

00:45:15.640 would not be denied.

00:45:17.680 Around 300 men

00:45:19.120 showed up on Prager's street

00:45:20.420 where they found him

00:45:21.780 in front of his house.

00:45:23.540 The mob grabbed Prager,

00:45:25.420 wrapped him

00:45:25.900 in a large American flag

00:45:27.500 and thrust two smaller

00:45:29.160 U.S. flags in his hand.

00:45:31.480 He was marched downtown

00:45:33.000 barefoot,

00:45:34.140 forced to kiss the flag

00:45:35.580 over and over.

00:45:37.100 The Collinsville police

00:45:38.340 managed to rescue Prager

00:45:40.220 from the mob

00:45:41.120 and took him to jail

00:45:42.480 at City Hall

00:45:43.160 for his own protection.

00:45:46.000 Prager admitted

00:45:46.640 to the police

00:45:47.320 that he was born

00:45:48.340 in Germany,

00:45:49.440 but swore that he was

00:45:50.700 American heart and soul

00:45:51.960 and was working

00:45:52.920 on his citizenship papers.

00:45:55.180 Two hours later,

00:45:56.000 the mob reformed,

00:45:57.400 even larger this time,

00:45:59.220 at least 350 strong.

00:46:02.700 Ignoring the Collinsville mayor

00:46:04.380 who implored them

00:46:05.580 to disband and go home,

00:46:07.480 the flag-waving mob

00:46:09.180 marched toward the City Hall.

00:46:11.440 The handful of police officers

00:46:13.080 guarding Prager

00:46:14.160 rushed him into the basement.

00:46:16.760 That's when he tried

00:46:17.680 to hide himself

00:46:18.720 under the pile of debris.

00:46:20.940 The mob reached

00:46:22.080 the steps of City Hall

00:46:23.280 and demanded Prager

00:46:24.460 be handed over to them.

00:46:26.540 Prager squeezed his eyes

00:46:28.080 shut and prayed.

00:46:30.320 Then he heard

00:46:31.100 a horrible roar,

00:46:33.040 made more terrified

00:46:34.240 by the violent,

00:46:35.740 battering sound.

00:46:37.460 The mob

00:46:38.300 was smashing

00:46:39.440 through the doors.

00:46:44.340 While the U.S. Post Office

00:46:45.960 played government censor,

00:46:48.000 the Bureau of Investigation

00:46:49.340 under Director

00:46:50.100 Alexander Belaski

00:46:51.420 placed the people

00:46:52.780 who sent and received

00:46:54.100 these banned publications

00:46:55.620 under surveillance.

00:46:58.000 Americans have long

00:46:58.940 associated the shady

00:47:00.240 FBI tactics

00:47:01.320 of wiretapping,

00:47:02.800 bugging,

00:47:03.140 and tampering

00:47:03.800 with mail,

00:47:04.860 among others,

00:47:05.920 with the long reign

00:47:06.960 of Director J. Edgar Hoover.

00:47:09.280 And he indeed perfected

00:47:10.900 and expanded those tactics.

00:47:13.180 But he first learned them

00:47:14.600 during World War I

00:47:15.800 as a young agent

00:47:17.460 working under

00:47:18.380 Director Belaski.

00:47:20.480 Working with the Bureau

00:47:21.800 of Investigation,

00:47:23.000 General Thomas Gregory's

00:47:24.400 Justice Department

00:47:25.340 was relentless

00:47:26.480 in its prosecutions

00:47:27.980 under the espionage

00:47:29.520 and seditious acts.

00:47:30.840 A New Jersey man

00:47:32.240 was arrested

00:47:32.840 in Newark

00:47:33.520 for simply saying

00:47:34.620 in public,

00:47:35.380 quote,

00:47:36.260 I can't see

00:47:36.960 how the government

00:47:37.660 can compel troops

00:47:38.980 to go to France.

00:47:40.320 It was up to me.

00:47:41.300 I'd tell them

00:47:41.940 to go to hell.

00:47:43.400 That statement

00:47:44.240 got him a five-year

00:47:45.740 prison sentence

00:47:46.800 and a $1,000 fine.

00:47:49.460 And the government

00:47:50.120 prosecuted

00:47:51.140 thousands

00:47:51.820 of similarly

00:47:52.980 petty cases.

00:47:54.940 After the war

00:47:55.800 was over,

00:47:56.380 Assistant Attorney General

00:47:57.580 John Lord O'Brien

00:47:59.000 admitted,

00:47:59.920 quote,

00:48:00.560 Immense pressure

00:48:01.300 was brought to bear

00:48:02.180 throughout the war

00:48:02.980 on the Department

00:48:03.600 of Justice

00:48:04.140 in all parts

00:48:05.120 of the country

00:48:05.680 for indiscriminate

00:48:06.900 prosecution of dissenters

00:48:08.220 and wholesale repression

00:48:09.860 and restraint

00:48:10.640 of public opinion.

00:48:12.040 The Justice Department

00:48:13.500 charged 2,168 Americans

00:48:16.220 with violating

00:48:17.100 the Espionage Act.

00:48:18.900 1,055 of those

00:48:20.740 were convicted.

00:48:22.120 That conviction rate

00:48:23.320 undoubtedly

00:48:24.000 silenced

00:48:24.960 countless others

00:48:26.040 who were not on board

00:48:27.860 with Woodrow Wilson's agenda.

00:48:30.040 The Attorney General

00:48:30.940 Thomas Gregory

00:48:31.840 bragged about

00:48:32.700 the Bureau of Investigation's

00:48:34.480 ability.

00:48:35.220 We have the incredible

00:48:36.180 ability to investigate

00:48:37.620 hundreds of thousands

00:48:38.620 of complaints

00:48:39.320 and to keep scores

00:48:40.740 of thousands of persons

00:48:41.860 under observation.

00:48:43.360 We have representatives

00:48:44.360 at all meetings

00:48:45.360 of any importance.

00:48:48.340 How was that possible

00:48:49.980 with such a small

00:48:51.180 Bureau staff

00:48:52.060 of agents

00:48:52.620 at the time?

00:48:53.300 Well, it wouldn't

00:48:55.840 have been possible

00:48:56.560 without the

00:48:57.280 American Protective League.

00:49:01.400 In a cabinet meeting

00:49:02.920 March 30, 1917,

00:49:05.360 President Wilson

00:49:05.920 approved the establishment

00:49:07.260 of a quasi-governmental

00:49:08.980 organization

00:49:09.740 called the

00:49:10.840 American Protective League,

00:49:12.920 the APL.

00:49:14.660 It was the brainchild

00:49:15.980 of Albert M. Briggs,

00:49:17.980 a Chicago advertising

00:49:19.400 executive.

00:49:20.580 He pitched his idea

00:49:21.720 to the Justice Department

00:49:22.840 of creating

00:49:23.480 a volunteer group

00:49:24.800 of investigators

00:49:25.740 to help out

00:49:26.960 with spying

00:49:27.860 on possible

00:49:28.780 German agents.

00:49:30.440 According to Briggs,

00:49:31.500 the APL would,

00:49:32.860 quote,

00:49:32.960 enforce patriotism

00:49:34.640 and stifle dissent.

00:49:37.680 Once Wilson

00:49:38.400 gave the green light,

00:49:39.480 the APL was started

00:49:40.500 in Chicago

00:49:41.260 and eventually

00:49:41.940 moved its headquarters

00:49:43.020 to Washington, D.C.

00:49:45.120 Attorney General

00:49:45.860 Thomas Gregory

00:49:46.560 apparently had

00:49:47.380 no constitutional qualms

00:49:49.480 about this communist-sounding

00:49:51.660 volunteer vigilante force.

00:49:54.780 He said they would

00:49:55.660 simply be,

00:49:56.860 quote,

00:49:57.300 keeping an eye

00:49:58.000 on disloyal individuals

00:49:59.440 and making reports

00:50:00.580 of disloyal utterances.

00:50:02.560 You could find yourself

00:50:03.840 under suspicion

00:50:04.700 by the APL

00:50:05.960 just for playing

00:50:06.980 German music

00:50:07.820 or checking out

00:50:09.160 a German book

00:50:09.900 from the library

00:50:10.740 or hoarding food

00:50:12.740 or buying goods

00:50:14.060 on the black market.

00:50:15.060 Soon,

00:50:16.720 the APL

00:50:17.260 had an army

00:50:18.140 of over 250,000

00:50:20.480 volunteer agents

00:50:22.380 in over 600 U.S. cities.

00:50:25.980 They all snooped

00:50:27.140 on their communities,

00:50:28.780 reported on

00:50:29.540 so-called suspects,

00:50:31.160 and helped arrest

00:50:32.500 innocent Americans.

00:50:34.620 APL members

00:50:35.320 often sifted

00:50:36.380 through people's mail

00:50:37.620 and trash

00:50:38.840 and then

00:50:39.900 tipped off

00:50:40.980 Bureau of Investigation

00:50:42.480 agents

00:50:43.080 to the troublesome content.

00:50:46.900 The APL

00:50:47.440 used criminal tactics,

00:50:49.120 but it was okay

00:50:49.980 because they were doing it

00:50:51.000 for the protection

00:50:51.700 of their country.

00:50:53.840 APL agents

00:50:54.700 tapped phone lines,

00:50:56.420 they placed

00:50:56.900 bugging devices

00:50:57.880 in offices,

00:50:59.100 they regularly

00:50:59.920 broke into homes

00:51:01.160 to search for

00:51:02.180 and even photograph

00:51:03.460 evidence.

00:51:05.200 In 1919,

00:51:06.580 after the war

00:51:07.260 was over,

00:51:07.840 Emerson Hough,

00:51:08.740 the APL's

00:51:09.400 official historian,

00:51:11.260 wrote an over-the-top

00:51:12.440 tribute book

00:51:13.380 documenting the glorious

00:51:15.320 history of this

00:51:16.540 patriotic group.

00:51:18.700 In it,

00:51:19.460 he boasted of how

00:51:20.520 APL agents

00:51:21.480 broke into houses

00:51:23.000 and pilfered evidence

00:51:24.860 quote,

00:51:25.660 thousands of times

00:51:27.080 and has never

00:51:28.160 been detected.

00:51:29.760 He described how

00:51:31.060 all you had to do

00:51:32.060 was break into

00:51:32.860 an office,

00:51:34.080 you just had to find

00:51:35.100 quote,

00:51:36.140 the agent

00:51:36.880 of the building

00:51:37.760 who was wearing

00:51:38.700 a concealed

00:51:39.520 APL badge.

00:51:41.360 Then,

00:51:42.040 he could get a

00:51:42.800 janitor to open

00:51:43.760 any office for you.

00:51:46.160 Hough waved off

00:51:47.220 legal concerns,

00:51:48.280 saying,

00:51:49.100 trying to get

00:51:49.700 search warrants

00:51:50.540 just slowed up

00:51:51.820 the process.

00:51:53.660 The APL was the

00:51:55.420 perfect government

00:51:56.540 collaborator,

00:51:57.860 because they were

00:51:58.860 like a ghost team.

00:52:01.140 They often passed

00:52:02.440 physical evidence

00:52:03.420 to the Bureau of

00:52:04.300 Investigation,

00:52:05.120 who could accept it

00:52:06.200 because their own

00:52:07.420 agents hadn't

00:52:08.400 technically participated

00:52:09.840 in gathering the

00:52:10.980 evidence.

00:52:11.960 But regular citizens

00:52:13.200 would have no recourse

00:52:14.960 to defend themselves

00:52:16.040 since it was

00:52:17.120 impossible to know

00:52:18.220 who in the APL

00:52:19.540 had stolen the

00:52:20.540 evidence.

00:52:22.060 APL agents

00:52:22.860 reported fellow

00:52:23.860 Americans all the

00:52:25.240 time,

00:52:26.220 without any

00:52:27.340 evidence.

00:52:29.000 Listen to part of

00:52:29.900 this official APL

00:52:31.060 letter to authorities

00:52:32.600 about a suspect

00:52:33.820 in California.

00:52:35.320 Quote,

00:52:35.620 It has been

00:52:36.680 reported to this

00:52:37.480 office that a man

00:52:38.360 named Carl A.

00:52:39.280 Rink is very pro-German

00:52:40.600 and is hoarding

00:52:41.380 food.

00:52:42.440 He drives a Hudson

00:52:43.240 Super 6,

00:52:44.140 which has a trailer

00:52:44.820 attached,

00:52:45.840 and it is claimed

00:52:46.580 that he uses this

00:52:47.580 trailer in collecting

00:52:48.540 supplies which he

00:52:49.600 hoards.

00:52:50.620 He has his house

00:52:51.560 stored with

00:52:52.100 provisions.

00:52:52.720 For instance,

00:52:53.340 it is claimed that

00:52:54.020 he has several

00:52:54.700 sacks of flour

00:52:55.660 stored behind his

00:52:56.620 piano.

00:52:57.820 Also,

00:52:58.660 several sacks

00:52:59.260 of sugar

00:52:59.800 and beans.

00:53:01.960 This information

00:53:02.960 has come to me

00:53:03.660 through a reliable

00:53:04.440 source,

00:53:04.960 and while I have

00:53:07.580 not had it

00:53:08.300 checked up,

00:53:08.820 I consider it

00:53:09.460 worth an

00:53:09.820 investigation.

00:53:11.540 End quote.

00:53:13.520 APL members

00:53:14.280 actually had the

00:53:15.120 option to purchase

00:53:16.780 for 75 cents

00:53:18.060 an official APL

00:53:19.440 badge which

00:53:20.940 said,

00:53:21.600 American

00:53:22.040 Protective

00:53:22.860 League,

00:53:23.720 Secret Service

00:53:24.820 on it.

00:53:26.120 Later,

00:53:26.700 the Treasury

00:53:27.140 Department,

00:53:27.740 which housed

00:53:28.260 the real

00:53:28.860 Secret Service,

00:53:29.740 complained to

00:53:30.260 the Justice

00:53:30.700 Department and

00:53:31.400 President Wilson

00:53:32.200 about the APL

00:53:33.180 using Secret

00:53:34.100 Service on

00:53:34.880 their badges.

00:53:36.040 They didn't

00:53:36.340 want people to

00:53:36.900 confuse the

00:53:37.540 APL with the

00:53:38.600 actual Secret

00:53:39.600 Service.

00:53:40.760 But ultimately,

00:53:41.840 the APL was

00:53:42.580 allowed to

00:53:43.040 continue running

00:53:43.780 around with

00:53:44.300 their toy

00:53:44.780 badges because

00:53:46.180 they were

00:53:46.700 indispensable to

00:53:48.180 the Justice

00:53:48.760 Department.

00:53:50.140 The APL had

00:53:51.480 no technical

00:53:52.280 legal authority

00:53:53.240 to carry weapons

00:53:54.120 or arrest

00:53:54.720 people,

00:53:55.580 but local

00:53:56.140 police forces

00:53:56.980 lacking in

00:53:57.840 manpower often

00:53:59.160 looked the other

00:53:59.960 way and even

00:54:00.760 encouraged APL

00:54:02.020 agents to

00:54:02.640 arrest suspects.

00:54:04.420 The largest

00:54:05.060 single APL

00:54:05.960 operation came

00:54:07.060 in on September

00:54:08.060 1918 in what

00:54:10.180 was known as

00:54:11.040 the Slacker

00:54:12.140 Raid.

00:54:13.720 It happened

00:54:14.240 in New York

00:54:14.720 City.

00:54:15.840 2,000 APL

00:54:16.980 agents,

00:54:17.680 hundreds of

00:54:18.200 New York City

00:54:18.740 cops,

00:54:19.760 35 Bureau

00:54:21.100 of Investigation

00:54:22.080 agents,

00:54:23.300 arrested 75,000

00:54:25.600 New Yorkers

00:54:26.460 accused of

00:54:27.720 dodging the

00:54:28.620 military draft.

00:54:29.540 There were

00:54:30.860 no warrants.

00:54:32.800 Just men

00:54:33.400 stopped on the

00:54:34.260 street and

00:54:35.240 forced to

00:54:35.920 show their

00:54:36.340 draft papers.

00:54:38.140 Out of the

00:54:38.680 75,000 arrested,

00:54:40.980 only 1,300

00:54:41.800 ended up being

00:54:42.920 true draft

00:54:44.020 dodgers.

00:54:45.800 For all the

00:54:46.800 illegal spying

00:54:47.740 activities and

00:54:48.600 arrests of

00:54:49.360 Americans based

00:54:50.160 on hearsay and

00:54:51.280 suspicion, the

00:54:52.580 APL also

00:54:53.740 assaulted and

00:54:54.700 harassed

00:54:55.280 countless

00:54:55.840 others,

00:54:56.880 including

00:54:57.400 documented cases

00:54:58.640 of Americans

00:54:59.500 getting beaten,

00:55:00.860 whipped,

00:55:01.620 tarred and

00:55:02.200 feathered,

00:55:03.160 kidnapped,

00:55:04.180 dragged behind

00:55:04.900 cars, having

00:55:06.100 their heads shaved,

00:55:07.540 being painted

00:55:08.180 yellow, homes and

00:55:09.920 churches being

00:55:10.720 burned down, being

00:55:11.760 shot, and lynched,

00:55:13.400 all without any

00:55:15.220 legal consequence

00:55:16.460 to the APL.

00:55:20.240 Ultimately, the

00:55:21.360 federal government

00:55:22.080 arrested around

00:55:23.120 175,000 Americans

00:55:25.720 for little more

00:55:27.300 than criticizing

00:55:28.700 it.

00:55:29.840 The Attorney

00:55:30.380 General Thomas

00:55:31.180 Gregory was

00:55:31.960 thrilled with the

00:55:33.140 APL results,

00:55:34.300 saying,

00:55:34.980 It is safe to

00:55:35.600 say that never

00:55:36.380 in its history has

00:55:37.500 the nation been so

00:55:38.420 thoroughly policed as

00:55:39.580 at the present

00:55:40.080 time.

00:55:40.900 The Attorney

00:55:41.360 General even wrote

00:55:42.280 the foreword to

00:55:43.240 Emerson Hough's

00:55:44.040 history of the

00:55:44.980 APL.

00:55:45.920 Quote,

00:55:46.220 I am frank to

00:55:47.740 say that the

00:55:48.340 Department of

00:55:49.120 Justice could not

00:55:50.080 have accomplished

00:55:50.680 its task and

00:55:52.060 attained the

00:55:52.680 measure of success

00:55:53.780 which it did

00:55:54.660 attain without the

00:55:55.640 assistance of the

00:55:56.500 members of the

00:55:57.200 League.

00:55:58.020 Your reward can

00:55:59.200 only be the

00:55:59.820 expressed thanks of

00:56:00.920 your government.

00:56:02.280 As the head of the

00:56:03.120 Department of

00:56:03.760 Justice under which

00:56:04.680 the American

00:56:05.220 Protective League

00:56:06.060 operated, I render

00:56:07.800 you such thanks with

00:56:08.860 sincere pleasure.

00:56:10.480 The work of your

00:56:11.260 organization will long

00:56:12.580 be an inspiration to

00:56:13.900 all citizens.

00:56:15.360 To render their

00:56:16.200 full measure of

00:56:17.160 service to their

00:56:17.820 country according to

00:56:19.200 her need, without

00:56:20.400 reward and with

00:56:21.740 abundant zeal.

00:56:24.260 The Wilson

00:56:25.360 administration

00:56:26.120 triggered an avalanche

00:56:27.940 of anti-German

00:56:29.140 sentiment that swept

00:56:30.640 the nation in both

00:56:31.700 government prosecution

00:56:33.080 and vigilante

00:56:34.460 persecution.

00:56:36.540 German-American

00:56:37.320 immigrants fared the

00:56:38.380 worst.

00:56:39.380 Under the guise of

00:56:40.160 the war effort, the

00:56:41.260 federal government

00:56:41.900 seized over half a

00:56:43.260 billion dollars worth

00:56:44.460 of assets and private

00:56:45.900 property owned by

00:56:47.500 German-Americans.

00:56:49.120 These seizures were

00:56:50.140 overseen by the

00:56:51.420 Alien Property

00:56:53.060 Custodian.

00:56:54.640 Yeah, believe it or

00:56:55.340 not, that was an

00:56:55.860 official title.

00:56:57.420 Wilson appointed A.

00:56:58.820 Mitchell Palmer to

00:56:59.920 the position.

00:57:01.240 After the war, Palmer

00:57:02.440 became the new

00:57:03.740 attorney general.

00:57:05.040 The federal government

00:57:06.300 also sent around 6,000

00:57:08.740 men and some women

00:57:09.880 to internment camps.

00:57:12.640 None were charged

00:57:13.880 with any specific

00:57:14.780 crime.

00:57:16.040 They were sent to the

00:57:16.760 camps under the

00:57:17.560 authority of the

00:57:19.060 presidential arrest

00:57:20.400 warrants and

00:57:22.000 apprehended by U.S.

00:57:23.700 marshals.

00:57:24.600 Once there, they

00:57:25.620 remained in custody of

00:57:27.300 the U.S. Army.

00:57:28.860 One German-American

00:57:29.960 man found himself in

00:57:31.120 one of the primary

00:57:31.860 internment camps in

00:57:33.140 Georgia after the

00:57:34.440 Bureau of Investigation

00:57:35.620 searched his home and

00:57:37.220 found a poem that he

00:57:38.880 had written.

00:57:39.940 The Bureau's report on

00:57:41.420 the man said, quote,

00:57:43.100 He is very bright in

00:57:44.640 his writings, and he

00:57:46.320 might cause trouble if

00:57:48.080 released.

00:57:50.160 Sounds like a very

00:57:51.520 American reason to

00:57:52.780 inter someone indefinitely.

00:57:56.160 And yet, this was the

00:57:57.260 wartime mentality of

00:57:59.200 Woodrow Wilson and his

00:58:00.720 followers.

00:58:02.100 When World War I was

00:58:03.240 over, the government

00:58:03.880 took its time releasing

00:58:05.300 the internment camp

00:58:06.900 prisoners.

00:58:07.480 The last one wasn't

00:58:09.360 released until April

00:58:10.600 1920, a year and a

00:58:13.140 half after the war

00:58:14.540 ended.

00:58:16.020 The German-American

00:58:17.060 internment during

00:58:18.480 World War I ended up

00:58:19.820 being a trial run by

00:58:21.600 progressives, because

00:58:22.780 22 years later,

00:58:24.800 Franklin Delano

00:58:25.600 Roosevelt would do it

00:58:27.120 again, but this time

00:58:28.800 on a much larger scale,

00:58:30.840 this time to

00:58:32.040 Japanese-Americans.

00:58:33.200 The mob burst through

00:58:37.540 the doors and into

00:58:38.580 City Hall.

00:58:39.640 They easily brush past

00:58:41.300 the four police

00:58:42.180 officers on duty.

00:58:43.820 Robert Prager could

00:58:44.880 hear the mob clamoring

00:58:46.120 through the floor above

00:58:47.360 him, frantically

00:58:48.420 searching for him.

00:58:50.220 There was no escape

00:58:51.320 now.

00:58:52.380 He could only hope

00:58:53.520 that in their mad

00:58:54.640 rush, they might

00:58:55.520 somehow overlook him,

00:58:57.560 hiding under the pile

00:58:58.840 of debris in the

00:59:00.060 basement.

00:59:01.540 Prager heard the

00:59:02.300 terrible stomp of

00:59:03.740 boots on the stairs.

00:59:06.040 Suddenly, several

00:59:06.860 strong hands ripped

00:59:08.540 him from beneath the

00:59:09.560 debris.

00:59:10.720 The mob dragged

00:59:11.700 Prager out of City

00:59:12.720 Hall and marched

00:59:13.660 him a mile outside

00:59:15.100 of town.

00:59:16.020 The bloodlust parade

00:59:17.480 came to a halt

00:59:18.720 beneath a sturdy

00:59:20.360 tree.

00:59:22.160 Someone bellowed

00:59:22.980 at Prager, whether

00:59:24.180 he had anything to

00:59:25.120 say.

00:59:26.360 In broken English,

00:59:27.460 he replied,

00:59:28.900 Yes, I would like

00:59:31.100 to pray.

00:59:33.540 Prager fell to his

00:59:34.620 knees, prayed a

00:59:36.300 lengthy, desperate

00:59:37.460 sounding petition

00:59:38.540 in German.

00:59:41.020 His choice of

00:59:41.680 language did not

00:59:42.400 help his cause.

00:59:43.760 The mob allowed

00:59:44.460 him to scrawl a few

00:59:45.500 lines and some paper

00:59:46.680 to his parents who

00:59:47.680 lived in Germany.

00:59:48.840 Dear parents, he

00:59:50.140 wrote, I must this

00:59:51.600 day, 5th of April

00:59:53.060 1918, die.

00:59:55.300 Please pray for me,

00:59:56.420 my dear parents.

00:59:57.760 This is my last

00:59:58.800 letter, your dear

01:00:00.340 son, Robert Paul

01:00:01.840 Prager.

01:00:03.520 A noose fell

01:00:04.820 over his head, and

01:00:06.780 he was suddenly

01:00:07.520 yanked 10 feet

01:00:08.860 into the air.

01:00:14.660 When Prager was

01:00:15.840 dead, the mob

01:00:17.660 slowly dispersed,

01:00:19.880 leaving two men

01:00:21.020 to guard the body.

01:00:23.580 The guards warned

01:00:24.420 anybody who tried

01:00:25.280 to approach that

01:00:26.100 they would meet

01:00:26.600 the same fate

01:00:27.520 if they attempted

01:00:28.320 to cut down

01:00:29.180 the corpse.

01:00:31.460 What was Prager's

01:00:32.480 horrific crime

01:00:33.480 to merit such

01:00:34.380 a savage, brutal,

01:00:35.820 spontaneous death

01:00:36.760 penalty?

01:00:38.400 He had made,

01:00:39.840 quote,

01:00:40.660 disloyal remarks.

01:00:43.120 Just two months

01:00:43.720 later, 11 men

01:00:45.500 were accused of

01:00:46.360 murdering Robert

01:00:47.420 Prager stood trial.

01:00:49.860 The jury only

01:00:50.820 needed a few minutes

01:00:51.780 to reach their

01:00:52.500 verdict.

01:00:54.420 Not guilty.

01:00:56.600 A newspaper

01:01:00.760 report from the

01:01:01.520 time noted that

01:01:02.260 as the verdict

01:01:02.940 was read,

01:01:03.660 a parade of

01:01:04.580 men who had

01:01:05.240 recently been

01:01:05.940 drafted marched

01:01:07.340 past the courthouse.

01:01:09.300 They marched

01:01:09.720 behind a band

01:01:10.460 playing the tune

01:01:11.260 that had become

01:01:11.820 sort of an

01:01:12.380 unofficial anthem

01:01:13.400 of America's

01:01:14.280 entry into the

01:01:15.100 Great War,

01:01:16.360 a song called

01:01:17.500 Over There.

01:01:18.620 Born in Stanton,

01:01:36.540 Virginia, the son

01:01:37.780 of a Presbyterian

01:01:38.740 minister, Wilson,

01:01:40.300 from a very early

01:01:41.240 age, imbued

01:01:42.340 everything he did

01:01:43.340 with moral purpose.

01:01:45.360 Turned out our only

01:01:46.440 president with a PhD

01:01:47.720 knew how to

01:01:48.780 connect with the

01:01:49.680 masses.

01:01:50.600 He never spoke

01:01:51.720 down.

01:01:52.360 He always raised

01:01:53.360 the audience to

01:01:54.180 his level.

01:01:55.340 This had a magical

01:01:56.440 effect, especially

01:01:57.760 on the uneducated,

01:01:59.400 because they felt

01:02:00.200 better about

01:02:00.820 themselves for

01:02:01.860 having heard him

01:02:02.800 and understood him.

01:02:03.840 That was a clip

01:02:05.660 from a puff piece

01:02:07.160 about Woodrow Wilson

01:02:08.180 that aired on

01:02:08.900 CBS Sunday Morning.

01:02:11.280 It's typical of

01:02:12.660 the mainstream

01:02:13.320 historical coverage

01:02:14.660 of the Wilson years.

01:02:16.480 A century later,

01:02:17.740 progressives still

01:02:18.640 carry a lot of

01:02:19.780 water for Wilson.

01:02:21.320 Sure, he was a

01:02:22.480 dedicated racist,

01:02:23.860 and he believed

01:02:24.620 in eugenics,

01:02:25.780 and his wife

01:02:26.720 illegally acted

01:02:27.500 as president

01:02:28.260 after he had a

01:02:29.180 stroke.

01:02:30.100 But he was so

01:02:31.180 smart.

01:02:31.820 He believed so

01:02:33.320 much in democracy,

01:02:35.200 and he had a

01:02:36.300 brilliant plan

01:02:37.220 to make war

01:02:37.980 extinct,

01:02:39.140 if only those

01:02:40.280 foolish Americans

01:02:41.480 had followed

01:02:42.300 his expertise.

01:02:44.440 That's generally

01:02:45.780 the message

01:02:46.540 about Wilson

01:02:47.200 presented in our

01:02:48.120 history textbooks

01:02:48.960 as well.

01:02:50.440 Wilson's wartime

01:02:51.500 constitutional abuses

01:02:53.220 are rarely,

01:02:54.740 if ever,

01:02:55.440 mentioned.

01:02:56.640 Most Americans

01:02:57.440 have never heard

01:02:58.460 of the American

01:02:59.620 Protective League,

01:03:00.860 even though it

01:03:02.020 was a massive

01:03:02.860 secret police

01:03:03.880 force that

01:03:04.400 was greenlit

01:03:05.240 by President

01:03:06.340 Wilson and

01:03:06.980 fully endorsed

01:03:07.920 and praised

01:03:08.800 by his

01:03:09.380 attorney general.

01:03:10.980 In his

01:03:11.700 superb 2008

01:03:12.820 book,

01:03:13.320 Liberal Fascism,

01:03:14.580 journalist Jonah

01:03:15.300 Goldberg says,

01:03:16.340 quote,

01:03:16.900 Goldberg points

01:03:23.820 out that more

01:03:24.320 dissidents were

01:03:25.060 arrested under

01:03:25.760 Wilson's wartime

01:03:26.660 administration

01:03:27.300 than under

01:03:28.160 Mussolini during

01:03:29.460 the entire decade

01:03:30.820 of the 1920s.

01:03:32.840 Even a brief

01:03:33.980 examination of

01:03:34.880 the evidence

01:03:35.420 makes Goldberg's

01:03:36.660 statement hard

01:03:37.500 to argue against.

01:03:39.060 The Espionage and

01:03:40.080 Sedition Acts

01:03:40.820 gave the Woodrow

01:03:41.820 Wilson administration

01:03:42.720 cover for the

01:03:43.580 most severe

01:03:44.300 restriction of

01:03:45.380 First Amendment

01:03:46.020 freedoms in

01:03:47.260 U.S.

01:03:47.940 history.

01:03:49.220 Essentially,

01:03:49.840 all types of

01:03:50.880 protests,

01:03:51.340 no matter how

01:03:51.900 benign,

01:03:52.760 were made

01:03:53.340 punishable by law.

01:03:55.620 Sending and

01:03:56.260 receiving mail was

01:03:57.240 subject to the

01:03:57.900 will of the

01:03:58.380 post office.

01:03:59.540 American spies

01:04:00.500 blanketed the

01:04:01.500 nation,

01:04:02.060 reporting to the

01:04:02.880 Justice Department

01:04:03.720 and carrying out

01:04:04.960 vigilante justice

01:04:06.240 on their

01:04:06.900 neighbors with

01:04:08.200 no legal

01:04:09.040 repercussions.

01:04:10.620 This sounds like

01:04:11.960 aspects of the

01:04:12.800 old Soviet Union

01:04:14.080 or Communist

01:04:14.780 China today.

01:04:16.120 But from

01:04:17.020 1917 to 1919,

01:04:19.500 it was the

01:04:20.840 reality in

01:04:22.000 America.

01:04:23.180 This national

01:04:24.680 nightmare was

01:04:25.620 thoroughly driven

01:04:26.660 by progressive

01:04:27.580 ideals, primarily

01:04:29.160 the belief that

01:04:30.340 experts in

01:04:31.180 government knew

01:04:32.180 best how to

01:04:33.220 keep Americans

01:04:33.980 safe.

01:04:36.700 The domestic

01:04:37.780 surveillance tools

01:04:38.800 that the Bureau

01:04:39.440 of Investigation

01:04:40.280 first used during

01:04:41.740 World War I,

01:04:43.140 the methods were

01:04:43.860 perfected and

01:04:44.580 expanded under

01:04:45.420 J. Edgar Hoover's

01:04:46.420 decades-long

01:04:47.520 direction.

01:04:48.920 Technology coupled

01:04:49.940 with the terror

01:04:50.600 threats of post-9-11

01:04:51.980 America brought

01:04:53.020 the Patriot Act

01:04:54.140 and a new level

01:04:55.540 of domestic

01:04:56.180 surveillance.

01:04:57.640 Now, artificial

01:04:58.960 intelligence is

01:05:00.100 changing the

01:05:00.800 game again,

01:05:02.540 and the

01:05:02.980 technology is

01:05:04.000 moving way

01:05:04.980 too fast for

01:05:06.260 lawmakers to

01:05:07.080 keep up.

01:05:08.540 An American

01:05:09.600 facial recognition

01:05:10.740 company called

01:05:11.720 Clearview AI

01:05:13.100 created an

01:05:14.540 application that

01:05:15.280 can take a

01:05:15.820 photo of a

01:05:16.460 person and

01:05:17.300 link it to

01:05:17.880 all other

01:05:18.800 public photos

01:05:19.820 of that

01:05:20.500 person.

01:05:21.720 Clearview's

01:05:22.360 database has

01:05:23.220 over 3 billion

01:05:24.860 photos that

01:05:26.160 they claim to

01:05:26.940 have scraped

01:05:27.980 from millions

01:05:28.880 of websites.

01:05:30.580 A New York

01:05:31.080 Times report

01:05:31.720 says Clearview's

01:05:32.740 database,

01:05:33.420 quote,

01:05:34.000 goes far beyond

01:05:35.320 anything ever

01:05:36.140 constructed by the

01:05:37.260 United States

01:05:37.860 government or

01:05:39.020 Silicon Valley

01:05:39.960 giants.

01:05:41.340 That same report

01:05:42.560 says that this

01:05:43.440 Clearview AI

01:05:44.500 technology includes,

01:05:46.120 quote,

01:05:46.860 programming language

01:05:48.140 to pair it with

01:05:49.480 augmented reality

01:05:50.900 glasses so users

01:05:52.560 would potentially be

01:05:53.840 able to identify

01:05:54.860 every person they

01:05:56.400 saw.

01:05:57.400 The tool could

01:05:58.260 identify activists

01:05:59.640 at a protest or an

01:06:01.580 attractive stranger

01:06:02.660 on the subway

01:06:03.500 revealing not just

01:06:04.560 their names but

01:06:05.840 where they lived,

01:06:07.060 what they did,

01:06:08.180 and all of those

01:06:09.540 whom they knew.

01:06:11.640 Police departments

01:06:12.720 across the nation are

01:06:13.680 already using

01:06:14.800 Clearview AI.

01:06:16.640 So far in most

01:06:17.540 jurisdictions, police

01:06:18.620 and prosecutors are

01:06:19.580 not required to

01:06:20.860 disclose when

01:06:22.020 facial recognition

01:06:23.080 is used to

01:06:24.080 identify a suspect.

01:06:25.740 If we think the

01:06:26.840 Constitution is

01:06:27.660 strong enough to

01:06:28.460 protect us from

01:06:29.480 this kind of

01:06:30.300 technology in the

01:06:31.320 hands of progressive

01:06:32.060 government experts,

01:06:33.860 we have not learned

01:06:35.320 the lesson of America

01:06:36.440 during World War I.

01:06:39.160 Three years after the

01:06:40.700 end of World War I,

01:06:42.400 the U.S. and Germany

01:06:43.620 formed the Mixed

01:06:45.020 Claims Commission

01:06:46.140 to investigate various

01:06:48.120 wartime damage claims

01:06:49.920 to commercial and

01:06:50.880 private property.

01:06:52.420 It took the Mixed

01:06:53.760 Claims Commission

01:06:54.720 17 years to

01:06:57.000 officially determine

01:06:58.000 that the German

01:06:58.940 government was

01:06:59.780 indeed responsible

01:07:00.980 for the Black Tom

01:07:02.120 Island explosion

01:07:03.280 in 1916,

01:07:05.220 the most damaging

01:07:06.320 terrorist attack in

01:07:07.380 the U.S. until

01:07:08.280 September 11, 2001.

01:07:10.720 Two of the three

01:07:12.020 German saboteurs were

01:07:13.420 eventually caught and

01:07:14.520 spent time in prison.

01:07:16.140 The third was never

01:07:17.800 caught.

01:07:19.000 He returned to

01:07:19.840 Germany and 20

01:07:21.080 years later worked

01:07:22.020 as a Nazi intelligence

01:07:23.580 agent until the

01:07:25.160 Soviets captured and

01:07:26.360 executed him.

01:07:27.980 The Mixed Claims

01:07:29.280 Commission required

01:07:30.280 the German government

01:07:31.140 to pay $50 million

01:07:32.460 in damages to the

01:07:34.620 U.S. for the

01:07:35.700 Black Tom Island

01:07:36.560 attack.

01:07:37.900 Germany finally made

01:07:39.440 its last payment

01:07:40.480 in 1979.

01:07:42.880 One of the American

01:07:45.500 investigators in the

01:07:46.520 Mixed Claims Commission

01:07:47.600 was a Harvard Law

01:07:48.980 School graduate.

01:07:50.260 His name was John

01:07:51.220 McCloy.

01:07:52.480 He was on the

01:07:53.240 commission for 12

01:07:54.160 years.

01:07:55.480 And in 1941,

01:07:57.320 President Roosevelt

01:07:58.220 named him the

01:07:59.400 Assistant Secretary of

01:08:00.700 War.

01:08:01.540 In the aftermath of

01:08:03.020 the attack on Pearl

01:08:03.940 Harbor, it was John

01:08:05.720 McCloy who helped

01:08:07.280 design the policy that

01:08:08.760 sent over 100,000

01:08:10.600 Japanese Americans to

01:08:12.360 the internment camps.

01:08:14.660 FDR had been an

01:08:15.960 Assistant Secretary of

01:08:17.140 the Navy during World

01:08:18.100 War I.

01:08:19.160 Both he and John

01:08:20.060 McCloy were well

01:08:21.320 versed in German

01:08:22.400 sabotage, the

01:08:24.060 internment of German

01:08:25.260 Americans, and

01:08:26.540 Woodrow Wilson's

01:08:27.500 progressive regime of

01:08:29.140 surveillance and

01:08:30.260 expert control.

01:08:32.100 The attack on Pearl

01:08:33.460 Harbor gave them

01:08:34.300 permission to revive

01:08:35.660 the Wilson regime,

01:08:37.500 but on a much

01:08:38.400 grander scale.

01:08:39.580 At an Oval Office

01:08:41.680 meeting about the

01:08:42.500 plan to strip

01:08:43.300 Japanese Americans

01:08:44.380 of their constitutional

01:08:45.400 rights and force

01:08:46.540 them behind barbed

01:08:47.740 wiring closures for

01:08:48.800 the next few years,

01:08:50.620 Roosevelt turned to

01:08:51.520 McCloy and winked

01:08:53.420 as he said,

01:08:54.880 we don't want

01:08:55.680 another black Tom.

01:08:58.380 We constantly rely

01:09:00.080 on experts to make

01:09:01.240 decisions for us.

01:09:02.120 Because even

01:09:03.040 eyewitnesses and

01:09:04.200 experts can get it

01:09:05.300 wrong.

01:09:05.800 But experts do get

01:09:06.920 things wrong.

01:09:07.580 you have to seek out

01:09:08.700 sources from other

01:09:10.000 points of view and

01:09:11.540 then critically examine

01:09:12.700 their motivations and

01:09:14.060 credibility as well.

01:09:15.140 Well, well, well, well, well, well, well.

The Glenn Beck Program - June 22, 2024

Ep 3 ｜ How Woodrow Wilson Used WWI to Become a Dictator ｜ The Beck Story

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