206:
the point that U.S. Attorneys and BOI agents, assisted by cadres of volunteers from the APL and other similar patriotic auxiliaries, pursued suspects of disloyalty on their own initiative and in their own manner. APL members "spotted violators of food and gasoline regulations, rounded up draft evaders in New York, disrupted
Socialist meetings in Cleveland, broke strikes, threatened union men with immediate induction into the army." In the most extraordinary cooperative action, thousands of APL members joined authorities in New York City for three days of checking registration cards. This resulted in more than 75,000 arrests, though fewer than 400 of those arrested were shown to be guilty of anything more than failing to carry their cards. APL agents, many of them female, worked undercover in factories and attended union meetings in hope of uncovering saboteurs and other enemies of the war effort.
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178:
74:
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In addition to its regular geographically based network, the APL attempted to organize secret units inside factories producing clothing and war materiel, with a view to identification of those advancing "discouraging disloyalty" or engaging in pro-German activities. Suspects would be reported within
153:
APL members sometimes wore badges suggesting a quasi-official status: "American
Protective League–Secret Service." The Attorney General boasted of the manpower they provided: "I have today several hundred thousand private citizens... assisting the heavily overworked Federal authorities in keeping an
305:
ended the war, Gregory credited the APL with the defeat of German spies and propaganda. He claimed that his
Department still required the APL's services as enemy nations sought to weaken American resolve during the peace negotiations, especially as newly democratic Germany sought kindlier treatment
248:
During World War I, the APL was joined by many similar groups formed by civilians to fight against foreign infiltration and sabotage. The Anti Yellow Dog League was a youth organization composed of school boys over the age of ten, who sought out disloyal persons. Such leagues and societies branched
205:
Teams of APL members conducted numerous raids and surveillance activities aimed at those who failed to register for the draft and at German immigrants who were suspected of sympathies for
Germany. APL headquarters and the Justice Department in Washington often lost control over field operations, to
312:
succeeded
Gregory as Attorney General on March 5, 1919. Before assuming office, he had opposed the APL activities. One of Palmer's first acts was to release 10,000 aliens of German ancestry who had been taken into government custody during the war. He stopped accepting intelligence gathered by the
157:
In a letter to Briggs, the
Justice Department told the APL that it was not only "of great importance prior to our entering the war, it became of vastly greater importance after that step had been taken." The government had been receiving complaints of disloyalty and enemy activities, and while the
111:
The APL was formed in 1917 by Albert M. Briggs, a wealthy
Chicago advertising executive. Briggs believed the Department of Justice was severely understaffed in the field of counterintelligence in the new wartime environment. He proposed a new volunteer auxiliary, with participants neither paid nor
320:
requested it. He called the APL materials "gossip, hearsay information, conclusions, and inferences" and added that "information of this character could not be used without danger of doing serious wrong to individuals who were probably innocent." In March 1919, when some in
Congress and the press
281:
President Wilson knew of the APL's activities and had misgivings about its methods. He wrote to
Attorney General Gregory expressing his concern: "It would be dangerous to have such an organization operating in the United States, and I wonder if there is any way in which we could stop it?" But he
149:
claimed membership in the APL and described it as "a volunteer unpaid auxiliary of the
Department of Justice" in which he and his colleagues "have been acting upon cases assigned by the Department of Justice, Military Intelligence, State Department, Civil Service, Provost Marshal General, etc."
185:
At its zenith, the American Protective League claimed 250,000 dues-paying members in 600 cities. It was claimed that 52 million Americans—approximately half of the country's population—lived in communities in which the APL maintained an active presence.
285:
The APL also worked with the army's Military Intelligence Division (MID), the government's principal investigatory agency in this period. When the relationship between the APL and the MID became public early in 1919, the revelations embarrassed
1088:
540:
158:
Bureau of Investigation was doing its best to contain the situation, the letter continued, the Protective League served as an auxiliary force to put a stop to corruption within the borders of the United States.
145:. APL assistance was welcomed by the BOI, which in 1915 had only 219 field agents, without direct statutory authorization to carry weapons or to make general arrests. Thus the author of a letter to the
97:
sympathizers and to counteract the activities of radicals, anarchists, anti-war activists, and left-wing labor and political organizations. At its zenith, the APL claimed 250,000 members in 600 cities.
324:
A few months after the Armistice, the League officially disbanded, even as its members insisted they could serve as they had earlier in wartime against America's post-war enemies, "these bomb fiends,
217:
of American citizens, including so-called "anti-slacker raids" designed to round up men who had not registered for the draft. The APL was also accused of illegally detaining citizens associated with
189:
The national headquarters of the APL was established in Washington, D.C., with Briggs installed as the Chairman of the governing National Board of Directors. Charles Daniel Frey, of
232:
An APL report on its actions in the Northwest for five months in 1918 showed that among its 25 activities, its largest effort (some 10% of its activity), was in disrupting the
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were urging him to reinstate the Justice Department's wartime relationship with the APL, he told reporters that "its operation in any community constitutes a grave menace."
537:
1149:
1154:
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investigation of radicals and political dissenters. APL members continued to provide information and manpower to the Department of Justice, notably during the
258:
197:
the APL, which would then make use of its broader network in the community to investigate these suspects' activities after working hours, if deemed necessary.
1139:
240:
against U.S. businessmen and government officials. In turn, the IWW alleged that APL members burgled and vandalized IWW offices and harassed IWW members.
254:
119:
Although technically a private organization, the APL nevertheless was the beneficiary of semi-official status. The group received formal approval from
1144:
774:
515:
1093:
679:
454:
924:
Fischer, Nick. "The American Protective League and the Australian Protective League — Two Responses to the Threat of Communism, c. 1917–1920,"
582:
351:
The APL survived as a series of local organizations under other names, such as the Patriotic American League (Chicago) and the Loyalty League (
344:
of 'disloyal' citizens and anarchists." It said: "We must purify the source of America's population and keep it pure." On June 3, 1919, the
1056:
1129:
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deferred to Gregory's judgment and took no action to curtail the APL, officially approving the organization along with his cabinet.
126:, who authorized the APL to carry on its letterhead the words "Organized with the Approval and Operating under the Direction of the
112:
given expense accounts. Briggs was given authority to proceed with his plan by the Department of Justice on March 22, 1917, and by
459:
658:
250:
1038:
538:
T. W. Gregory "Office of the Attorney General," letter to Mr. A. M. Briggs, November 16, 1917. American Protective League
127:
86:
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1134:
233:
142:
138:
1106:, D.419, at Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester.
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Hagedorn, 421-2, 431; Coben, 228. It is not clear that Palmer knew the role played by APL members in the raids.
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120:
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APL. He ordered some APL agents arrested. He also refused to share information in his APL-provided files when
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994:
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Unsafe for Democracy: World War I and the U.S. Justice Department's Covert Campaign to Suppress Dissent.
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379:'s General Intelligence Unit in the Justice Department drew on the APL for information about radicals.
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Under this directive, the APL worked with the Bureau of Investigation (BOI)—precursor to the
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8:
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American midnight : the Great War, a violent peace, and democracy's forgotten crisis
340:
novels, called for a program of "selective immigration, deportation of un-Americans, and
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recruited members from the Southern branches of the APL. For years following the war,
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and his cabinet on March 30, 1917, and the American Protective League (APL) was born.
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An APL intelligence report sent to the U.S. government detailing pro-German statements
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Business interests strongly supported the APL as a tool to fight organized labor.
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Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen.
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222:
455:"The American Protective League and White House Security During World War One"
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333:
94:
987:
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Chicago: Reilly & Lee, 1919. The authorized official history of the APL.
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372:
368:
317:
905:
Young J. Edgar: Hoover, the Red Scare, and the Assault on Civil Liberties.
328:, IWW's and other fiends." The publication of the organization's story as
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236:(IWW). Some IWW members had been involved in violent labor disputes and
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eye on disloyal individuals and making reports of disloyal utterances."
356:
162:
177:
352:
325:
218:
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193:, served as the national director of the American Protective League.
85:(1917–1919) was an organization of private citizens sponsored by the
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1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War
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1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War
1061:
1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War
226:
73:
293:. Baker tried to end the War Department's use of volunteer spies.
190:
943:
Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860-1925.
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Negative Intelligence: The Army and the American Left, 1917–1941
1039:
Fighting Germany's Spies: VIII: The American Protective League
332:
was an attempt to revive its fortunes as well. That volume by
89:
that worked with federal law enforcement agencies during the
1057:
Social Conflict and Control, Protest and Repression (USA)
1005:
Freedom Under Fire: U.S. Civil Liberties in Times of War.
783:"Topics of the Times: Peace Does Not Change their Minds,"
680:"Get 1,500 Slackers in 3-Day Roundup," September 6, 1918
348:
called for the revival of the APL to fight anarchists.
1104:
The American Protective League New York chapter papers
864:
Hagedorn, 431; see also 231 for Minneapolis activity.
775:"German Intrigue is Still Kept Up," November 22, 1918
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than its predecessor government might have expected.
998:
Over Here: The First World War and American Society.
386:
834:(Chicago: Reilly & Lee, 1919). For a review of
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John Taylor Gatto, "The American Protective League"
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1150:Anti-communist organizations in the United States
1034:Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2008.
495:
493:
491:
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1155:Conservative organizations in the United States
1045:vol. 36, no. 4 (August 1918), pp. 393–401.
960:
1120:History of the Industrial Workers of the World
945:Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2002.
611:From Charles Daniel Frey Papers, ca. 1917-1919
488:
980:Military surveillance of civilians in America
933:Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America, 1919.
561:(First ed.). New York. pp. 98–100.
249:across the nation. Other groups included the
181:An American Protective League membership card
718:
1140:United States home front during World War I
172:
169:executive to supervise 400 APL operatives.
93:era. Its mission was to identify suspected
914:New York: Columbia University Press, 1963.
581:: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
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481:
479:
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165:provided financial support and assigned a
101:
1145:1917 establishments in the United States
1099:Photographs of badges carried by the APL
1010:Peterson, H. C., & Gilbert C. Fite.
1000:New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
928:vol. 10, no. 2 (2011), pp. 133–149.
921:New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
516:"An Error of Omission," December 7, 1918
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72:
665:, accessed March 16, 2010; Hagedorn, 30
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431:
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460:The White House Historical Association
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209:APL members were accused of acting as
935:New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007.
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954:The Web: A Revelation of Patriotism.
812:Hagedorn, 186-7, 227; Coben, 199-200
589:
499:Glen L. Roberts, "APL and the BOI,"
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359:members served as investigators for
1027:New York: Carroll & Graf, 2007.
907:New York: Carroll & Graf, 2007.
832:The Web: A Revelation of Patriotism
723:. University Press of Mississippi.
371:of January 1920. In the 1920s, the
330:The Web: A Revelation of Patriotism
128:United States Department of Justice
87:United States Department of Justice
13:
897:
14:
1166:
1130:Organizations established in 1917
1094:Meagan English "The New Everyman"
1089:A.M. Briggs letter of 10 Dec 1917
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1025:1920: The Year of Six Presidents.
844:"What America Did," June 29, 1919
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830:Hagedorn, 226-7; Emerson Hough,
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141:—which gathered information for
912:A. Mitchell Palmer: Politician.
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743:Kennedy, 83, 87-8; Hagedorn, 28
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234:Industrial Workers of the World
1014:(U of Wisconsin Press, 1957).
1007:Boston: South End Press, 1990.
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536:Biltmore Industries Achieves:
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1012:Opponents of war, 1917-1918
926:American Communist History,
777:, accessed March 17, 2010;
547:, accessed February 4, 2009
382:
106:
10:
1171:
1066:Brown, Charlene Fletcher:
982:. General Learning Press.
974:; the main scholarly study
719:Talbert, Jr., Roy (1991).
213:, allegedly violating the
83:American Protective League
17:American Protective League
846:, accessed March 17, 2010
682:, accessed March 17, 2010
557:Hochschild, Adam (2022).
518:, accessed March 17, 2010
501:Full Disclosure Magazine.
405:Alexander Mitchell Palmer
61:
45:
37:
29:
21:
1030:Thomas, William H., Jr.
978:Jensen, Joan M. (1975).
972:. Chicago: Rand McNally.
917:Christopher Cappozolla,
543:August 28, 2009, at the
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271:American Defense Society
267:National Security League
173:Membership and structure
114:President Woodrow Wilson
1079:Bureau of Investigation
143:U.S. District Attorneys
132:Bureau of Investigation
1135:1919 disestablishments
968:The Price of Vigilance
303:Armistice with Germany
182:
102:Organizational history
78:
903:Ackerman, Kenneth D.
180:
76:
1077:Thomas, William H.:
700:Kennedy, 82-3, 165-6
397:United States portal
263:Boy Spies of America
259:Terrible Threateners
1125:American vigilantes
1003:Linfield, Michael.
244:Other organisations
18:
661:2005-03-07 at the
310:A. Mitchell Palmer
251:Knights of Liberty
183:
167:Ford Motor Company
79:
16:
1043:The World's Work,
995:Kennedy, David M.
785:November 23, 1918
691:Hagedorn, 27, 324
674:Ackerman, 19-20;
255:Sedition Slammers
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67:250,000 (claimed)
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229:movements.
91:World War I
1114:Categories
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357:New Jersey
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301:After the
238:bomb plots
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201:Activities
163:Henry Ford
577:cite book
353:Cleveland
277:Criticism
219:anarchist
38:Dissolved
22:Formation
988:15131007
964:(1968).
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541:Archived
383:See also
361:New York
227:pacifist
107:Founding
46:Location
836:The Web
636:396-397
338:Western
191:Chicago
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