["First Amendment, whats that?" in 1918. GIs sit-in, go to jail in
1968. An invasion is an invasion in 1968. KKK run out of town in 1923.
Lead paint deadly in 1983 (and it still is). Trying to outlaw war in
1928. March on Washington in 1963.]
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THIS WEEK IN PEOPLE’S HISTORY, AUGUST 22 – 28  
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_ "First Amendment, what's that?" in 1918. GIs sit-in, go to jail in
1968. An invasion is an invasion in 1968. KKK run out of town in 1923.
Lead paint deadly in 1983 (and it still is). Trying to outlaw war in
1928. March on Washington in 1963. _

"Arrest This Man," a 1921 cartoon by Art Young,

 

_AUGUST 22, 1918 (105 YEARS AGO)._ Jacob Abrams and three others are
arrested for violating the Espionage Act by distributing anti-war
leaflets in Manhattan during World War 1. The arrest is one of many
hundreds that occur during 1917-1921 in which the alleged offense is
the publication of anti-war literature or simply expressing opposition
to the war in a speech (or even a conversation). In 1919 the Supreme
Court upholds Abrams conviction by a 7-2 vote, just as it did in every
one of the many similar cases it decided. The 1919 decision is famous
because the two dissenting justices, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Louis
Brandeis publish a dissent arguing that the convictions should be
reversed because the First Amendment's protection of political speech
and writing is crucial in a democratic society, a position that became
the position of the court's majority many, many years later.
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_AUGUST 23, 1968 (55 YEARS AGO)._ At Fort Hood, Texas, forty-three
Black GIs are arrested, and will soon be court-martialed, when they
stage a non-violent sit-in to protest plans to deploy them for
riot-control duty outside the hotly contested Democratic Convention in
Chicago, which is the site of enormous demonstrations against the war
in Vietnam. Most of the resulting court-martials resulted in sentences
of three to six months hard labor, forfeiture of pay and reduction in
rank. [link removed]

_AUGUST 24, 1968 (55 YEARS AGO)._ Four days after troops and tanks
from the Soviet Union, Poland, Bulgaria and Hungary invaded
Czechoslovakia in order to halt the political liberalization known as
the Prague Spring, the French government publishes a pointed reminder
that no matter what county does it, an invasion is an invasion.
Referring to Czechoslovakia, the French statement says that a friendly
nation had been "invaded and is being occupied against her will."
 The statement continues "this, in the eyes of the French government,
is to turn one's back to peace," adding "we are saying this now as we
said it three years ago on the occasion of the affair of the Dominican
Republic" referring to the uninvited U.S. invasion to prevent a
left-wing government from coming to power in April 1964. The French
criticism is not taken kindly in Washington.
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_AUGUST 25, 1923 (100 YEARS AGO). _The Ku Klux Klan is in the midst of
displaying a tremendous resurgence in size and influence, including a
reign of terror in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a gathering of 12 thousand
Klansmen in New Brunswick, NJ, (25 miles from New York City), multiple
large Klan meeting and protests in New York State and a gathering of
15,000 Klansmen in Worcester, Mass. But the Klan's growth gives rise
to organized opposition by those who reject its racist and xenophobic
politics. When some four thousand robed Ku Kluxers attempt to parade
by torchlight through Carnegie, Pa., just outside Pittsburgh, they are
confronted by a phalanx of hundreds of citizens blocking Main Street.
During the resulting melee, one robed Klansman is shot dead. The rest
are subjected to a hail of bricks and lumps of coal and are literally
run out of town. Five days later the citizens of Perth Amboy, NJ, do
the same thing.
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_AUGUST 26, 1983 (40 YEARS AGO). _A 3-judge panel of the U.S. Court of
Appeals in Washington, D.C., unanimously rules that the federal
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) had failed to carry
out its legal responsibility to protect children from the poisonous
effects of lead-based paint. In a scathing decision, the court rules
that under a 1973 law (the Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Act), HUD is
required to ''establish procedures to eliminate as far as practicable
the hazards of lead-based paint poisoning'' in any property owned or
subsidized by the federal Government. But, the court says, HUD, under
four Presidents had failed to do so. Instead, the court says, HUD has
narrowly construed its obligations according to a cost-benefit
analysis for which there was no legal justification. The ruling points
out that "Congress commanded that if it is 'practicable' to eliminate
an immediate hazard, that hazard must be eliminated. The statute
admits of no exceptions to the required elimination procedures on the
basis of the degree of practicability. Neither Congress's concern
about the cost of the elimination program nor Congressional silence in
the face of the department's interpretation of the statute can
overcome the clear statutory directive." Even though HUD was totally
against the decision, it did not appeal the case to the Supreme Court,
because it was obvious the appeal would not stand a chance. Follow the
link to read how little has changed in 40 years.
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_AUGUST 27, 1928 (95 YEARS AGO)._ At a meeting in Paris, fifteen
nations, including the United States, France, Germany and the United
Kingdom, sign the "General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an
Instrument of National Policy," which is better known as the
Kellogg-Briand Pact. Under the terms of the treaty, the signatories
resolve to not use war to settle "disputes or conflicts of whatever
nature or whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them."
The treaty, which lacked any enforcement mechanism, could not prevent
World War 2, but when that war was over the treaty was the legal basis
for prosecuting (and convicting) the leadership of Germany and Japan
for committing crimes against peace. In addition, the treaty
established the international norm that the threat or use of military
force, as well as any territorial acquisitions resulting from the use
of force are unlawful, which was, strange as it might seem, a
brand-new idea.
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_AUGUST 28, 1963 (60 YEARS AGO). _Organized by the Congress of Racial
Equality, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Student
Non-violent Coordinating Committee, the Negro American Labor
Organization, National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People and the Urban League, at least 250,000 demonstrators join the
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom to protest the subjugation of
African Americans to Jim Crow segregation and laws, low wages and a
disproportionate level of high unemployment, and other forms of legal,
economic, and social inequality. The march ends at the Lincoln
Monument, where the demonstrators listen to some unforgettable
oratory, including Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
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