Speech in Wartime

I wrote this piece in 2005. I was spending a lot of time on the plane, and I had been reading Geoffrey R. Stone's “Perilous Times - Free Speech in Wartime” and Howard Zinn's “A People's History of the United States”. Then I saw Chris Chandler perform at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. He does an amazing show where he talks and the music backs him up, moving from song to song. In particular, listen to “There is something in the air - but it's not on the airwaves” (although I liked the live version better).

So when I got to music camp (the one week a year when I'm usually offline, offgrid and offwork), I got inspired. By midweek I'd dropped all my classes (except for Peggy Lynn's SongWriting class, which I kept visiting for advice and encouragement) and was camped out on the dining hall porch with my laptop and several books--frantically trying to narrow down the scope of the piece. By Friday morning (day of the “talent” show) I had it down to fifteen minutes (still way too long), but I had no music. So I enlisted Beth Lawton, a Meadowlark Music Camp student who does a lot of historical reenactment music, to help me out. She and others helped me pick out the background music and which verses we would do. And somewhere in there I roped her, her partner, and Sheldon Campbell into performing them for me.

By dinner time I had the piece down to ten minutes and that was all I had time to do (the Friday capture-the-flag game after dinner is too much of a tradition to miss). None of the performers had heard more than a few bits and pieces of the performance, and I'd just scribbled down some queues for when they should start playing each song. We had no time to arrange for playing background throughout the piece, which I would have liked. A few hours later-hot, sweaty, out of breath, sore (capture-the-flag), and smelling of lobster (dinner)-we put it on.

All things considered, it went pretty well. It was certainly the longest performance anyone had done at the talent show, and the first using a laptop (I had not had time to memorize the words), but it went over well. A number of people suggested I should do a video-which would be very cool if I ever had the time....

The sad thing is that in 2005, the number of examples I had for misbehavior of the Bush administration were fairly limited. I certainly believed there were more, but there hadn't been a lot of details of specific misbehavior, just bad words and suppression of speech. Torture, illegal wiretaps, indefinite incarceration of citizens-that all came later. If I were to write the piece now, the ending would be far nastier. Sigh.

In any case, here it is.

  • Kee Hinckley - spoken words, vocals
  • Sheldon Campbell - guitar, vocals
  • Beth Lawton - guitar, vocals, music selection
  • Kevin Hagen - banjo, vocals, music selection
  • Meadowlark attendees - chorus
  • Chris Chandler - inspiration
  • Peggy Lynn and the Meadowlark Song Writing class - encouragement and support

Most of the information and quotations come from two sources. Geoffrey R. Stone's “Perilous Times - Free Speech in Wartime” and Howard Zinn's “A People's History of the United States”. See the lyrics for more details.

Note: The quotation attributed to Benjamin Franklin at the end of the piece, though commonly presented as such on the internet, is in fact incorrect. He may or may not have written it, and it probably reflects his views. However a more correct statement would be “As published by Benjamin Franklin.” And the correct text is: “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” See “Franklin Quoted by Minsky” for details.


13MB MP3 Download

Lyrics after the break.

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Words
Year
Category
Page
References:
“American Stories” by Chris Chandler and David Roe, and particularly the piece “Something In the Air/But it's not on the Airwaves”
“People's History of the United States -- 1492 - Present” by Howard Zinn
“Perilous Times -- Free Speech in Wartime From the Sedition Act of 1709 to the War on Terrorism” by Geoffrey R. Stone.

Revolution: Yankee Doodle, third verse and chorus
Civil War: Battle Cry of Freedom, first verse and chorus
WW1: Over There
Vietnam: Where all the flowers gone (background)
End: This Land is Your Land - First + Chorus together.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

That is what we wrote. But what did we really mean?
1769
W40
1769. Blackstone, defining the basis of English Common Law. On freedom of the press, he said: “The liberty of the press consists in laying no previous restraints upon publications, and not in freedom from censure for criminal matter when published.”

And so for the first years of our country, that was the understanding.
You are free to say what you want, and to go to jail once you do.
1776
Restrict Speech
P83
1776. “nothing herein contained shall be construed to exempt preachers of treasonable or seditious discourses, from legal trial and punishment” - North Carolina Bill of Rights, echoing those in Maryland, New York, Georgia and Massachusetts.

SONG: YANKEE DOODLE
1797
Restrict Speech
W35
But the true test of speech, comes in wartime. And in the late 1700's, war with France seemed likely, and the new political parties were looking for tools to fight each other.
1798
Restrict Speech
W12
The Federalists drove through the Sedition Act of 1798, making it a crime for any person to publish or utter any disloyal statement against the government of the Uniited States, the Congress or the President, with the intent to bring them into contempt or disrepute. Up to two years in jail, and a fine of $2000.
1798
Restrict Speech
W20
The first to feel the sting of the Sedition Act was Republican Congressmen from Vermont, Matthew Lyons. He wrote that under President Adams “every consideration of the public welfare” was “swallowed up in a continual grasp for power, in an unbounded thirst for ridiculous pomp, foolish adulation, and selfish avarice.”

He was arrested, convicted, lands auctioned off, and held until he raised his $2000 fine. Vermont and Pennsylvania competed for the priviledge. But upon release, he had to announce “I am leaving for Congress” before he left the courthouse, thus invoking congressional priviledge and avoiding re-arrest for letters he published while in jail.
1798+
Restrict Speech
W66
Others went down before the act too. Some well known, some in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Charles Holt, editor of New London CT “Bee” for writing that Americans had a “natural and just abhorrence for standing armies”

Luther Baldwin, convicted for drunkenly observing that he didn't care if the cannon giving President Adams a sixteen-gun salute, quote: “fired through his ass”.
Bridge to Civil War
Shut down the presses.
Demonize those who support the enemy.
Stifle speech.
Use foreign conflicts to defeat the opposition at home.

Just 20 years into our nation, but we were learning fast.
SONG: BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM
1858
Say Two Things
P188
By 1858, we began perfecting the modern art of contradicting yourself with the conviction of a true believer.

Northern Illinois
“Let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man, this race and that race and the other race being inferior, .... Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal.”

Southern Illinois - 2 months later
“I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races... I [am] in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.”

-- Congressional candidate, Abraham Lincoln.
1863+
W103
The Civil War's restrictions on speech came not from Congress, but from the military and the President. Thousands were held and then released only after enlisting or swearing an oath of loyalty.

Clement Vallandigham, Ohio Congressman running for governer. Arrested by General Burnside, convicted by military tribunal, deported to the South.

Said his judge: “artful men, disguising their latent treason under hollow pretensions of devotion to the Union” have been “striving to disseminate their pestilent heresies among the masses of the people.” Those that criticize the government “must learn that they cannot stab its vitals with impunity.”
1884
Define Issues
P258
Of course, better than supression, is changing the topic of conversation. Especially with the ever more helpful press.

1884, Henry Adams, Commentator:
“We are here plunged into politics funnier than words can express. Very great issues are involved... But the amusing thing is that no one talks about real interests. By common consent they agree to let these alone. We are afraid to discuss them. Instead of this the press is engaged in a most amusing dispute whether Mr. Cleveland had an illegitimate child and did or did not live with more than one mistress.”
SONG: OVER THERE
1917
Restrict Speech
P365/366
1917. The great war, and again sedition became a major concern.

Up to 20 years in prison for “Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall wilfully cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, [or] mutiny...” - The 1917 Espionage Act.

Two thousand convictions, with sentences of 10 to 20 years.
Thousands of German immigrants deported.

Robert Goldstein, director of the the movie “Spirit of '76”, which showed British atrocities against American colonists was charged as well.
Said the judge: “History is history, and fact is fact. There is no doubt about that.” But “This is no time” for “those things that have the tendency or effect of sowing ... animosity or want of confidence between us and our allies.” Ten years in prison.
1917
Demonize Dissent
P369
The government enlisted the public:
“report the man who spreads pessimistic stories. Report him to the Department of Justice” -- Government Committee on Public Information.

The press joined the clamor.
“clip and send to us any editorial utterances [you] encounter which seem ... seditious or treasonable.” -- Literary Digest

And the people complied.
Over 200,000 belonged to organizations like the American Defense Society, Knights of Liberty, and Boy Spies of America. They opened the mails, broke into houses, held theatre-goers at bayonet-point until they produced draft cards. They reported over three million cases of “disloyalty” to the government.
1942
Restrict Speech
W257
1942. “Now that we are in the war, it looks like a good chance to clean up a number of these vile publications.” -- President Roosevelt

The deportations and illegal detentions continued through the Second World War, and through the 1950s.
1950+
Restrict Speech
W340
Guilt by association. Intimidation by arrest. No conviction required.
1950+
Demonize Dissent
W341
13 million people under the shadow of loyalty oaths.

Ohio - oath required for unemployment compensation
New York - for a fishing license
BACKGROUND: WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE
1966
Restrict Speech
W443
But then came Vietnam, the government had lost control of the press.

President Lyndon Johnson, always the blunt talker, called CBS president, Frank Stanton to complain about a war documentary.
“Frank, are you trying to fuck me? Frank, this is your president and yesterday your boys shat on the American flag.”
1965
Restrict Speech
W471
With the press no longer under control, there was force and intimidation. Illegal investigations abounded.

The FBI, CIA, NSA, Secret Service, Army Intelligence (with 1500 undercover agents) and IRS all joined the game of investigating American citizens. The IRS went after singer Joan Baez, Senator Charles Goodell and actress Shirley MacLaine--making her possibly the first American to be investigated in more than one incarnation.
1967
Define Issues
P483
1967. The bombing of Cambodia.
Jerome Doolittle, government official in Laos, preached the party line of unarmed reconnaissance flights: Later he said, “This was a lie. Every reporter to whom I told it knew it was a lie. ... Every interested Congressman and newspaper reader knew it was a lie...
After all, the lies did serve to keep something from somebody, and the somebody was us.”
1968
Define Issues
W453Q
Walter Cronkite, “What the hell is going on? I thought we were winning the war?”
1975
Define Issues
P551
New York Times correspondant C.L. Sulzberger -- “There must be something seriously wrong with the way we present ourselves these days.”

And indeed image was becoming a key aspect in manipulating opinion.
1991
Define Issues
P598
As information became the life-blood of the media, shaping the discussion became critical. And the media fell in line.

“It seems perverse to focus too much on the casualties or hardships in Afghanistan.” -- Head of CNN to his staff.
1990+
Demonize Dissent
W551
Two hundred years, and the fundamental techniques are still the same.

Find issues to rally public opinion:

“I'm running out of demons. I'm running out of villains. I'm down to Castro and Kim Il Sung.”
-- Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Direct the conversation:

“You are either with us or with the terrorists” -- President George W Bush

Intimidate those who speak out:

Among others, the FBI has investigated
- a young woman who was reported to have posters on her wall criticizing the President
- a woman who blogged pictures from an anti-Bush art exhibit
- subpeonas for information on all people attending, and organizations sponsoring, an anti-war conference at Drake University

And demonize those who complain:

Said Attorney General John Ashcroft:
“To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve.”
1770+
Quotes
Said Benjamin Franklin:
“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”


SONG: THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND
Categories: International , Politics , Privacy , Security , Social , Technology
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By Kee Hinckley on September 8, 2007 3:08 PM | | Comments (0)

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This page contains a single entry by Kee Hinckley published on September 8, 2007 3:08 PM.

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