The Red Scare, Cultural Hegemony

14 Pages 3527 Words

h forbade their members to participation in war. As a result of such unyielding legislation, 20,000 conscientious objectors were inducted into the armed forces. Out of these 20,000, 16,000 changed their minds when they reached military camps, 1300 went to non-combat units, 1200 gained furloughs to do farm work, and 100
did Quaker relief work in Europe. 500 suffered court-martial, and out of these, 450 went to prison. However, these numbers are small in comparison with the 170,000 draft dodgers and 2,810,296 men who were inducted into the armed forces. Nevertheless, the conscientious objectors were targeted in the Red Scare after the war. They were condemned as cowards, pro-German socialists, although that was not everything. They were also accused of spreading propaganda throughout the United States. Very few conscientious objectors stood up for themselves. Roderick Siedenberg, who was a conscientious objector, wrote that "to steal, rape, or murder" are standard peacetime causes for imprisonment, but in time of war "too firm a belief in the w...