American Midnight by Adam Hochschild takes an immersive look at various aspects of the United States in the years surrounding our entry into WWI with the war serving as a backdrop, not the focus. Hochschild turns an analytical eye on Wilson, the repressive government and community actions taken in the name of “nationalism”, and the opposition work of many fighting for rights during this oppressive time. History readers looking for a critical look at this period of racism, nativism, anti-labor, and the disparate Wilson will enjoy American Midnight. ( )

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it sure as heck rhymes. Hochschild chronicles the history of often violent anti-labor, anti-immigrant, anti-radical, misogynist, anti-Black initiatives by ruling white men in the years surrounding the First World War. He notes the use of torture on radicals at home by men who’d learned waterboarding in the Philippines, and who, before the rise of “white” as a category covering Italians, Russians, and many Jews, saw them as racial inferiors. Suppressing speech was an integral part of this campaign against kinds of people, as it is today. ( )

This is an excellent but horrifying history about an extremely violent and repressive, but mostly (as per the title) forgotten 4-year period in American history, from 1917, when the U.S. entered WW I, to 1920. Woodrow Wilson became president in 1913 as a liberal reformer, and many like-minded politicians and other figures joined his administration to help with the project of making life better for laborers and helping to reduce the large wealth gap that had formed between the working class and the owners of industry. (Sound familiar?) In many important ways, however, Wilson was no bargain. Although he'd served as governor of New Jersey, Wilson was a Georgia native and a firm proponent of Jim Crow. For example, he went about resegregating the areas of the federal government that had made progress in that area. At first he was opposed to U.S. involvement in WW I, running for reelection under the slogan, "He kept us out of war." But as the war progressed, and the allies became hard pressed, they turned to the U.S. for armaments and other supplies, going into huge debt to the U.S government and munitions companies, among others, to the extent that an Allied defeat in the war would have occasioned massive defaults and extensive losses to U.S. creditors. Well, that couldn't be allowed. That's not the only cause that Hochschild provides for the U.S. entry into the war, but it is an extremely significant one, and something I'd never realized.

Once the U.S. was involved, Wilson's Attorney General and other high-ranking figures went to town, using the war effort as an excuse for furious and violent repression. The so-called Espionage Act of 1917 made it a crime punishable by long prison terms to criticize the war effort or the government, or to complain about war profiteering. A nationwide civilian vigilante organization called the American Protective League was organized and given carte blanche for violent and even often deadly activities. People got lynched for refusing to buy War Bonds. Massive, coordinated, roundups of draft-aged men took place, and woe betide anyone who couldn't show a draft card. This was all a cover for nativist, rightwing politicians who wanted to hound immigrants, the labor movement, conscientious objectors, socialists, Jews, Catholics and, it goes without saying, Blacks. Good old J. Edgar Hoover got his start during these days. And Wilson, still supposedly a reformer, either condoned or turned a blind eye to all of it. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Espionage Act (very little espionage was ever uncovered), and did so in a unanimous ruling despite the presence of Louis Brandeis and Oliver Wendell Holmes on the court (Holmes, in particular, later did an about face on this subject). The whole period was a horror show from beginning to end. It wasn't until the end of the war and, in particular, the advent of the Warren Harding administration, that some of the main perpetrators of the offenses began to be discredited (in events reminiscent of Joseph McCarthy's toppling) and the American body politic finally lost their appetite for the repression. And although Harding is generally remember with derision nowadays, Hoschshild makes the point that he immediately began commuting the sentences of and releasing from jail the many political prisoners still being held under the Espionage Act long after the war, and the dangers of espionage, had ended. Or, has Harding put it to a journalist off the record even before assuming the presidency, "Why should we kid each other? Debs* was right, we never should have been in that war."

* Leading, and extremely popular, Socialist politician Eugene Debs, who had previously garnered massive amounts of votes while running for president, and running again for president in 1920 from his prison cell (jailed under the Espionage Act), still garnered 900,000 votes nationwide. Harding let him out. Debs, Emma Goldman, and other socialist and anti-war leaders get excellent pocket biographies in this book.

This is a very well-written history, though towards the end it becomes progressively (you should pardon the expression) harder to read, as it is largely a recitation of objectionable people and events. Hochschild does spend a bit of time at the very end drawing parallels between that time and this one in American history. How could he not? Unpleasantness aside, the book is fascinating and provides, I believe, essential information for all Americans (at the very least) wanting to understand the antecedents of today's massive strains of nativist, repressive movements that currently flourish here. ( )

I'm not sure if reading this book makes me feel better because things aren't worse today, or feel worse because things aren't better today. ( )

I appreciated how this book highlighted a period that is often skipped over, that of America's involvement in and the immediate aftermath of World War I, and what was happening in American life during that era. The cast of characters (or rather, historic figures) is large and ranges from people like President Woodrow Wilson, activist Emma Goldman, young J. Edgar Hoover, and socialist Eugene Debs. If this history has a flaw, it's that the author seems to be emphasizing how relevant the themes of this period are to today's culture and politics, rather than just allowing this to be apparent to the reader. Overall, however, I did find this history to be insightful and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in American history. ( )