Editing Eugene V. Debs (section)

=== 1920 presidential run ===
[[File:EugeneDebs.gif|thumb|right|[[Clifford K. Berryman|Clifford Berryman]]'s cartoon depiction of Debs's [[1920 United States presidential election|1920 presidential run]] from prison]]
Debs [[1920 United States presidential election|ran for president in the 1920 election]] while imprisoned in the [[Federal Correctional Institution, Atlanta|Atlanta Federal Penitentiary]]. Campaign pins reading "'''For President: Convict No. 9653'''"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Doherty |first=Thomas |date=2023-04-18 |title=The presidential campaign of Convict 9653 |url=http://theconversation.com/the-presidential-campaign-of-convict-9653-203027 |access-date=2024-07-06 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}}</ref> accompanied his campaign.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Eugene Debs: When a prisoner ran for president |url=https://www.brandeis.edu/now/2023/april/eugene-debs-tom-doherty.html |access-date=2024-07-06 |website=BrandeisNOW |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-09-25 |title=(2020) Convict 9653 at 100 – The Eugene V. Debs Foundation |url=https://debsfoundation.org/index.php/2020/09/25/convict-9653-at-100/ |access-date=2024-07-06 |language=en-US}}</ref> He received 914,191<ref>{{cite web |url=https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1920&minper=0&f=0&off=0&elect=0 |title=1920 Presidential General Election Results |publisher=uselectionatlas.org |accessdate=June 10, 2023}}</ref> votes (3.4 percent),<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h890.html| title=Election of 1920| access-date=2009-09-19| work=Travel and History| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100217203914/http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h890.html| archive-date=2010-02-17| url-status=live}}</ref> a slightly smaller percentage than he had won in 1912, when he received 6 percent, the highest number of votes for a Socialist Party presidential candidate in the United States.<ref name="bio" /><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h887.html| title=Election of 1912| access-date=2009-09-19| work=Travel and History| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100210185839/http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h887.html| archive-date=2010-02-10| url-status=live}}</ref> During his time in prison, Debs wrote a series of columns deeply critical of the prison system. They appeared in sanitized form in the [[Bell Syndicate]] and were published in his only book, ''Walls and Bars'', with several added chapters. It was published posthumously.<ref name="time" />

In March 1919, President Wilson asked Attorney General [[A. Mitchell Palmer]] for his opinion on clemency, offering his own: "I doubt the wisdom and public effect of such an action."{{sfn|Coben|1963|pp=201–202}} Palmer generally favored releasing people convicted under the wartime security acts, but when he consulted with Debs's prosecutors{{snd}}even those with records as defenders of civil liberties{{snd}}they assured him that Debs's conviction was correct and his sentence appropriate.{{sfn|Coben|1963|pp=200–203}} The President and his Attorney General both believed that public opinion opposed clemency and that releasing Debs could strengthen Wilson's opponents in the [[Treaty of Versailles#United States|debate over the ratification of the peace treaty]]. Palmer proposed clemency in August and October 1920 without success.{{sfn|Coben|1963|p=202}} At one point, Wilson wrote: "While the flower of American youth was pouring out its blood to vindicate the cause of civilization, this man, Debs, stood behind the lines sniping, attacking, and denouncing them.&nbsp;... This man was a traitor to his country and he will never be pardoned during my administration."{{sfn|Noggle|1974|p=113}} In January 1921, Palmer, citing Debs's deteriorating health, proposed to Wilson that Debs receive a presidential pardon freeing him on February 12, Lincoln's birthday. Wilson returned the paperwork after writing "Denied" across it.{{sfn|Ginger|1949|p=405}}

In March 1921, soon after the inauguration of President [[Warren G. Harding]], Debs met Harding's Attorney General [[Harry M. Daugherty|Harry Daugherty]], but was returned to jail afterwards.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/04/01/trump-prison-eugene-debs/|title=Yes, Trump could run for president from prison. This candidate did it in 1920.|newspaper=The Washington Post|first1=Terence|last1=McArdle|first2=Gillian|last2=Brockell|date=April 1, 2023|access-date=September 13, 2024}}</ref>

[[File:Eugene Debs released from prison, 1921.jpg|thumb|left|Debs leaving the federal penitentiary in Atlanta on Christmas Day 1921 following commutation of his sentence]]

On December 23, 1921, President Harding [[commutation (law)|commuted]] Debs's sentence to time served, effective Christmas Day. He did not issue a pardon. A White House statement summarized the administration's view of Debs's case:

<blockquote>There is no question of his guilt.&nbsp;... He was by no means, however, as rabid and outspoken in his expressions as many others, and but for his prominence and the resulting far-reaching effect of his words, very probably might not have received the sentence he did. He is an old man, not strong physically. He is a man of much personal charm and impressive personality, which qualifications make him a dangerous man calculated to mislead the unthinking and affording excuse for those with criminal intent.<ref>{{cite news |date=December 24, 1921 |title=Harding Frees Debs and 23 Others Held for War Violations |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B0DE2D71539E133A25757C2A9649D946095D6CF |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |page=1 |access-date=2010-03-03}}</ref></blockquote>