Eugene Debs in The 1920s

Eugene Debs in The 1920s

Eugene Debs (1855–1926), a longtime labor organizer and left-wing political activist, was the leader of the American Socialist Party and an unsuccessful candidate for president on the Socialist ticket in 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920.

During World War I, Debs was convicted of violating the draconian new Espionage Act by giving a speech criticizing the war. He was sentenced to ten years in federal prison. Despite his incarceration, Debs ran for president again in 1920 and won nearly a million votes from his jail cell.