Episode 524 Hochschild on American Midnight
Adam Hochschild’s new book, American Midnight, records the dramatic and deplorable phase of hysteria in the United States during and shortly after World War I. The details about the violation of civil liberties can only shock, for numerous instances were even worse, in Hochschild’s opinion, than during the Trump presidency. The book presents numerous profiles and biographical sketches of prominent figures during the period; we discuss Woodrow Wilson, Eugene V. Debs and Emma Goldman. For the video, audio podcast, transcript, and comments: https://tosavetheworld.ca/episode-524-hochschild-on-american-midnight.
Guest:
Adam Hochschild
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Late Comment on a 2 year old posting I just saw, but a few things to keep in mind:
The conclusion is that Americans had ample reason to become wildly xenophobic and conservative in 1917. They were sick, they were threatened by outside forces and it was all new for a country that had not seen a major war against a fierce enemy since 1865, 52 years earlier.
In 2024 we’re comparatively secure and healthy, the Ukraine and Gaza are far away and few are starving. However we DO have to face something that was unthinkable in 1917. A totally immersive and highly sophisticated program of misinformation/disinformation/propaganda which in the context of a shallow-thinking, i-phone obsessed electorate is probably a worse threat than war itself as it enables highly effective brainwashing and indoctrination of its demographic target.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
T.G. Hedberg
WOODROW WILSON OR DONALD TRUMP?
METTA SPENCER: I was really surprised couple of years ago when in a conversation you said that that period was worse than the Trump period. That was before the January 6th insurrection, which I think maybe puts the Trump hysteria a little bit ahead.
ADAM HOCHSCHILD: No, I think I would still award the prize for hysteria and violence to the 1917 to ’21 period.
SPENCER: Really. Give us some examples. You have an abundance of horror stories.
HOCHSCHILD: Well, here’s what happened. First, the US entering the war, then the Russian Revolution, set off this period of hysteria in the United States. It was reflected in several ways that have been unparalleled by anything since then, including even the nasty stuff that happened under Trump. For one thing, there was something Trump would have liked to do, but wasn’t able: to shut up dissenting media. Trump was always railing against the media, “the press is the enemy of the people.” But Woodrow Wilson, who was president of the United States in this period, did one better; he shut them down. The US had severe press censorship for four years and forced some 75 newspapers and magazines to cease publishing. This was before radio, before TV, before the internet, so print was the way you reached people.
This happened under the Espionage Act, which was passed soon after the US entered the war. It gave the postmaster general the power to declare a publication un-mailable.
EXPLAIN THE TRUMP ERA
It would be hard to attribute Donald Trump’s popularity to war. The Afghanistan war was already boring old news when he was elected. The economy was good too. It should have been a harmonious period of American history, apart from the looming climate threat, which Americans were already ignoring and continued to ignore while he was president. So how to explain it?
Whatever the explanation may be, it must be something world-wide. Trump is not the only demagogue of his day. Maybe backlash against sophisticated contemporary culture? Not sure.