Catalogue Number
NMLH.1991.59.10
Object Name
Badge
Title
For President Convict No. 9653
Place
USA
People
Eugene V. Debs; Socialist Party
Description
Round red badge with white text "For President Convict no.9653" and a photograph of Eugene V. Debs. This badge was created for Debs' U.S. presidential campaign as the Socialist Party candidate. He had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for sedition following a speech that urged resistance to military draft during the First World War, in 1918. He was jailed on April 13, 1919 and ran for President from prison the following year. He received nearly a million votes in the 1920 election, demonstrating the significant support for socialist ideas in the U.S. at the time.
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