Eugene Debs Speaking in Canton, Ohio
This photograph served as an exhibit in the 1918 case The United States of America v. Eugene V. Debs. Debs, a leading member of the Socialist Party, gave an anti-war speech on June 16, 1918, in Canton, OH. In the crowd were U.S. Department of Justice agents. Debs’s lengthy speech included many of his standard arguments and talking points for supporting the socialist cause. Regarding the war, Debs decried America’s involvement, saying, “They have always taught you that it is your patriotic duty to go to war and slaughter yourselves at their command. You have never had a voice in the war. The working class who make the sacrifices, who shed the blood, have never yet had a voice in declaring war.” Observers noted that the crowd responded throughout his speech with moments of enthusiastic applause.
The Espionage Act of 1917, and the affiliated Sedition Act of 1918, was broadly used to prosecute supposed enemies of the United States. Debs was indicted on June 29, 1918, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern (Cleveland) Division of the Northern District of Ohio for violating the Espionage Act of 1917. The indictment stated that on June 16, 1918, Debs "did then and there unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously make and convey certain false reports and false statements . . . to promote the success of the enemy of the United States."
Debs was convicted by a jury on September 12, 1918, and sentenced to federal prison. He appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court of the United States. On April 12, 1919, the Supreme Court confirmed the court's verdict and Debs was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. In December 1921, President Warren G. Harding commuted Debs's sentence to time served, and he was released. He died in 1926.
Photograph of Eugene V. Debs Speaking in Canton, OH. National Archives Identifier: 2641496
View and download the Photograph of Eugene V. Debs Speaking in Canton, Ohio, and the entire case of The United States of America v. Eugene V. Debs on the National Archives Catalog. This record is one example of many held in District Court Case Files at the National Archives at Chicago, IL, including additional cases related to Eugene Debs and court cases concerning enforcement of the Espionage Act of 1917. You can explore more records held in the National Archives at Chicago by visiting our online Catalog or by visiting our research room in person. These records are located within Record Group 21: District Courts of the United States, Series: Cleveland Criminal Case Files, 1912–1996. Many of the records in this collection have yet to be digitized. We encourage researchers to visit us onsite to explore these records and learn more about the archival collections held in the National Archives at Chicago.