Dear Progressive Reader,
“On Monday, September 17, the Justice Department held a press conference to declare that it was dropping its case against The Progressive,” writes current editor Bill Lueders in an article looking back on the fortieth anniversary of the historic press freedom struggle known as United States of America v. Progressive, Inc., Erwin Knoll, Samuel Day, Jr., and Howard Morland. In an unprecedented exercise of prior restraint, a federal judge had issued an injunction in March 1979 against The Progressive to prevent the publication of an article exposing the fallacy of “nuclear secrecy” as a pillar of the cold war mentality of the United States government. “ ‘The secret’ that had served as the rationale for spy scares, witch hunts, and loyalty purges since the beginning of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was a hoax,” wrote then-editor Erwin Knoll in a piece published in the William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal shortly after is untimely death in 1994. After a six-month court battle, The Progressive was able to publish the article in its entirety in the November 1979 issue.
The victory, although it did not come through a precedent-setting court ruling like the Pentagon Papers, is still significant in the protection of free speech and the freedom of the press. The case is regularly analyzed in law school classes today. Next Saturday, the anniversary of this court battle and its implications will be discussed by Lueders, along with author Howard Morland, and others involved in the case, in a panel discussion at the Cap Times Idea Fest in Madison. But the final word may come from Erwin Knoll himself. “With the benefit of fifteen years' hindsight,” wrote Knoll in 1994, “I have only one serious regret about the case called United States v. Progressive, Inc., I'm sorry that we followed the advice of our attorneys and obeyed Judge Warren's injunction [which originally prohibited the publication of the article]. If such circumstances were to arise again, I would publish and be damned.”
This past week on our website, Reese Erlich looks at the attempts to get U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. “The United States has spent more than $1 trillion on the war in Afghanistan since it began in 2001. Some 139,000 Afghan civilians and combatants have been killed. More than 6,300 U.S. soldiers and contractors have died,” he writes. “The Afghanistan War was a disaster from its inception. Now Washington is trying to clean up the mess by pretending we won.” Also, Michael Atkinson reviews the new documentary film I’m Leaving Now, which, he notes, “trains our focus on an underexposed slice of the dynamic: the urge to return home.” And dairy farmer Sarah Lloyd looks at the impact of tariffs and the trade war on Midwestern producers and the possibility of structural solutions. “[By] fixing our eyes on the Band-Aids offered as trade aid,” she explains, “we take our eyes off the real transformation in agriculture that we need. What if farmers got paid a decent price and produced to the actual demand?”
By the way, if you are reading this in the Madison area (or plan to be here in the next few weeks), The Progressive has some great events coming up. On September 12, we are co-hosting a debate-watching party at the Barrymore Theatre as the Democratic presidential hopefuls gather in Houston. On September 14, we are helping support the Fighting Bob Fest activities in Stevens Point. And also on September 14 at the Madison Public Library, we will hold a reception featuring our panelists from the Idea Fest along with special guest Jim Hightower. Please join us if you can.
Keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
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