Primary Sources: World War I: Anti-War

Robert M. La Follette, Sr.
Free Speech in Wartime
October 6, 1917

"A youthful critic in his twenties, Randolph Bourne wrote a bitter essay in the intellectual magazine Seven Arts, lambasting his fellow intellectuals for lining up so readily behind the war effort. "

Delivered at Forward Hall, New York City on June 14, 1917, an Anarchist.

Speech at Carnegie Hall, New York City, January 5, 1916, by Helen Keller

"One of the hit songs of 1915, “I Didn’t Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier,” by lyricist Alfred Bryan and composer Al Piantadosi, captured widespread American skepticism about joining in the European war. "

Speech by Senator Robert M. La Follette April 4, 1917 against a Declaration of War.