Three days after we published Russell Rowland’s piece about attacks on press freedoms in Montana history, and on the same day we published David Crisp’s column touching on similar subjects, we have learned of a new article of a similar nature. It is a story at Smithsonian.com, written by Billings native Patrick Sauer, about Montana’s World War I-era sedition law, which was used to imprison people for, among other things, expressing mild opposition to U.S. involvement in the war. The story has been told before, but this is a good recap, and a timely one. Sauer also tells of the efforts of some really admirable people—with Clem Work and Jeff Renz leading the way—who succeeded in securing posthumous pardons for all the people convicted under the infamously bad law. If I could add my own two cents to this fascinating piece of Montana history, it would be to note that in 1995, as part of the Billings Gazette’s “History on Your Doorstep” series, I wrote several stories about the labor troubles in Butte, culminating in the occupation of that city by National Guard troops, briefly in 1914 and then for 42 months starting in August 1917. Continue Reading →
