Woodrow Wilson: America’s worst president for free speech
Before he championed democracy abroad, Woodrow Wilson built America's first modern censorship regime, jailing dissenters and crushing opposition in the name of war.
Table of Contents
Figures of speech
The heroes and villains of free speech in American history.
WATCH VIDEO: This episode of Figures of Speech explores how fear was used to suppress speech during wartime, and what it reveals about the limits of free expression in moments of national crisis.
America's Figures of Speech
As America marks 250 years of independence, it's time to look back at the moments that tested the freedoms at the heart of the American experiment. FIRE is proud to present the limited series “Figures of Speech” — looking at the heroes and villains of free speech in American history.
Frederick Douglass represents the best of us. And free speech.
History
Frederick Douglass understood that free speech was the greatest weapon against slavery. His example still challenges America today.
J. Edgar Hoover and the war on dissent
History
J. Edgar Hoover turned the FBI into a powerful crime-fighting agency — and one of the greatest threats to free speech in American history.
Thomas Paine: American history’s winter soldier
History
Two hundred fifty years after "Common Sense," Thomas Paine’s life reminds us that free speech and free thought are the lifeblood of a free society.
How Anthony Comstock became America’s most powerful censor
History
Anthony Comstock turned Victorian panic into federal censorship, criminalizing “obscene” speech and policing American morality. This is his story.
Ida B. Wells: Journalist, activist, civil rights icon, and free speech hero
History
In 1892, a mob destroyed a Memphis newspaper after it published an anti lynching editorial. Through death threats and violence, they tried to erase journalist Ida B. Wells’s message. Instead, they made her fight impossible to ignore.
How McCarthy scared America silent
History
A paranoid senator, a terrified nation, and the birth of modern political censorship. This is the chilling story of how McCarthyism came to haunt America.
Cassius Marcellus Clay brought cannons to a free press fight
History
Before Muhammad Ali, another Cassius Clay defended a free press — with brass cannons aimed at the pro-slavery mob.
Frank Kameny was fired for being gay. What he did next changed America.
History
After losing his career for being gay, Frank Kameny challenged the government and helped spark the modern gay rights movement.
