Inviting war to America
Girard, KS: Appeal to Reason, 1916. Presumed first edition/first printing. Wraps. 190, [2] pages . 20 cm. Cover chipped and has some wear and soiling. Pencil erasure residue on half-title. Allan Louis Benson (November 6, 1871 August 19, 1940) was an American newspaper editor and author who ran for President as the Socialist Party of America candidate in 1916. Benson only attended one year of high school, but he nevertheless took the state examination and passed, earning a certificate to teach. In April 1891, Benson began to regularly visit the offices of the various Detroit newspapers in search of a position and was finally hired as a reporter. He moved up the ranks of the newspaper profession. Benson subsequently worked as managing editor of the Detroit Journal, the Detroit Times, and the Washington Times. He joined the staff of the Appeal to Reason, a socialist weekly published in Kansas and his editorials made him into a nationally recognized figure among radical activists. Benson championed a proposal to ban American entry from WWI. In 1916, after Eugene V Debs Debs declined the nomination for the Presidential candidacy, Benson was nominated by a direct mail vote of party members. He was an anti-war voice in the years leading up to World War I; one of the planks of his Presidential campaign platform was that war should be only entered into by national referendum. However, when the Socialist Party of America issued a manifesto placing equal blame on Germany and the allies, he resigned from the party. The book contains a chapter entitled "Mr. Roosevelt--and Washington! " on Theodore Roosevelt and the run-up to U.S. entry to World War I. The chapter entitled "Questions for the President" discusses President Woodrow Wilson's "wavering". Excerpt: In this country, at this moment, is being made what is perhaps the greatest attempt of its kind in all history to stampede a nation into committing an act of monumental folly. For many years, the interests that believed they could derive profit, in one way or another, from making this a great military power have been trying to make it a great military power. So long as we retained our sanity, they had but moderate success. Condition: Good.
Keywords: Military Preparedness, Theodore Roosevelt, Naval Strength, Isolationism, Peace, Anti-War, John Hay, Militarism, First World War, WWI
[Book #70144]
Price: $50.00