Baldwin and Keppel maintained a productive dialogue over the treatment of conscientious objectors — for about 10 months. In early 1918, authorities in the War Department and the Justice Department concluded that the Civil Liberties Bureau’s criticisms of the administration interfered with the war effort and the draft in particular. Keppel wrote Baldwin that corresponding with him had become an “embarrassment” and severed their relationship. Military intelligence began spying on those involved with the Civil Liberties Bureau, and far worse would soon come.



The Civil Libertarians vs. Progressive-Era Reformers

In the first months of the war effort, Eastman and Baldwin were not only alarmed by the government’s actions but were truly shocked and dismayed by the actions of their fellow prewar progressive reformers.

“If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with a stern hand of repression.”

- President Wilson

Virtually all of the leading reformers enthusiastically endorsed the war effort as a grand calling and many volunteered in one of the many service organizations that quickly sprang up. President Wilson’s vision of a world made safe for democracy was intoxicating to these social activists. George Creel, a crusading progressive-minded journalist, became director of the government’s propaganda agency, the Committee on Public Information. Carrie Chapman Catt, a leader of the National American Suffrage Association, put aside her pacifist principles and joined a national service organization. John Dewey, already America’s most noted philosopher, wrote an article arguing that the war effort created great opportunities for social reform.

By May 1917, Eastman and Baldwin found that they were members of a small and very isolated group of Americans who were willing to challenge the administration over issues of free speech and press as well as freedom of conscience for young men opposed to participating in war. But an even greater shock awaited them in June.