AMERICAN PROTECTIVE LEAGUE BADGE IN ORIGINAL
LEATHER WALLET – A SCARCE ARTIFACT FROM THE UNITED
STATES ENTRY INTO WORLD WAR ONE – EXCELLENT EXAMPLE:
This is an excellent example of an original American
Protective League badge, still in its original leather
wallet. The American Protective League was created as
the United States entered World War One as a privately
funded, but government sanctioned, investigative service
to combat fifth column activities committed against the
U.S. – real and imagined.
During the first three years of World War One - August,
1914, to April, 1917 - the United States maintained a
certain level of neutrality and it continued to interact
with both the Central Powers and the Allied nations. As
the war progressed, the government and the citizenry
alike became increasingly concerned over the numbers of
German sympathizers present in the country. With the
entry of the U.S. into the war these fears intensified.
Albert M. Briggs, a wealthy Chicago advertising
executive. Briggs believed the Department of Justice was
severely undermanned to conduct the counterintelligence
operations which would be necessary with the nation on a
wartime footing. He proposed a new volunteer
investigative auxiliary which would not receive any
compensation for their work, and would be structured to
“enforce patriotism and stifle dissent.” Briggs
submitted his proposal to the Department of Justice
which approved his plan on March 22, 1917, and referred
it to the White House. President Woodrow Wilson and
his cabinet subsequently added their approval on March
30, 1917, and the American Protective League (APL) was
founded.
Sponsored by Briggs and others in Chicago, the APL was
privately funded. Initially headquartered in Chicago at
the People’s Gas Building, it eventually moved to
Washington, D.C. The League’s stated mission included
identifying suspected German sympathizers and reporting
on the activities of suspected fifth column operatives,
political radicals, anarchists, anti-war activists, and
left-wing labor and political movements.
Although an organization of private citizens, the APL
was the beneficiary of semi-official status i.e. the
League received formal approval from Attorney General
Thomas Gregory who authorized the APL to publish on its
letterhead the words "Organized with the Approval and
Operating under the Direction of the United States
Department of Justice, Bureau of Investigation." The
Attorney General boasted of the manpower the APL
provided: "I have today several hundred thousand private
citizens... assisting the heavily overworked Federal
authorities in keeping an eye on disloyal individuals
and making reports of disloyal utterances."
While in effect sponsored by the DOJ, and the assistance
of the APL was welcomed by the Bureau of Investigation (BOI-
precursor to the FBI which in 1915 had only 219 field
agents), the members of the APL operated without direct
statutory authorization to carry weapons or to make
arrests. Nonetheless, as stated in a letter to the New
York Times, the author who claimed membership in the APL
described it as "a volunteer unpaid auxiliary of the
Department of Justice" in which he and his colleagues
"have been acting upon cases assigned by the Department
of Justice, Military Intelligence, State Department,
Civil Service, Provost Marshal General, etc."
Coincidentally, at the time the APL was created,
President Wilson’s administration introduced, and
congress passed, the Espionage Act of 1917 – the stated
purpose given was to “stamp out perceived threats to the
security of a nation at war.” Under the umbrella of the
act, and other similar laws, the “Leaguers” (as members
were known) pursued investigations against anyone they
deemed to be a threat to the United States.
The services of the League were apparently regarded as
significant. In a letter to Briggs, the DOJ described
the APL as not only "of great importance prior to our
entering the war, it became of vastly greater importance
after that step had been taken." The DOJ had been
receiving increasing numbers of complaints of disloyalty
and enemy activities, and while the Bureau of
Investigation was doing its best to contain the
situation, the letter continued, the Protective League
served as an auxiliary force to put a stop to corruption
within the borders of the United States.
At its apex, the APL reported 250,000 – 300.000 members
operating in over 600 cities, including major cities
like Chicago, New York, Boston, and Washington, D.C. It
was claimed that 52 million Americans—approximately half
of the country's population—lived in communities in
which the APL maintained an active presence.
In addition to the value placed on the APL by the
government, business interests strongly supported the
League as a instrument to combat the organized labor
movement. Henry Ford provided financial support and
assigned a Ford Motor Company executive to supervise 400
APL operatives. The APL also attempted to establish
covert operatives – both men and women - among the
employees of factories producing all sorts of war
materiel and members of the labor unions, intent on
identifying persons advocating "discouraging disloyalty"
or engaging in pro-German activities.
Groups of Leaguers also conducted a significant
number of raids and surveillance operations targeting
those who failed to register for the draft. Not
surprisingly, the APL headquarters and the DOJ often
lost control over these independent field operations.
Despite the original charter which prohibited the APL
from making arrests and presumably precluded them from
conducting other intrusive actions such as searches, the
Leaguers pursued violators of food and gasoline
rationing regulations, rounded up draft evaders in New
York, disrupted Socialist meetings in Cleveland, broke
strikes, and threatened union men with immediate
induction into the army. In the most extraordinary
cooperative action, thousands of APL members joined
authorities in New York City for three days of checking
registration cards. This resulted in more than 75,000
arrests, though fewer than 400 of those arrested were
shown to be guilty of anything more than failing to
carry their cards.
In the context of the nation’s entry into World War One,
in an era which saw such moves as renaming sauerkraut as
“liberty cabbage”, the German Sheppard being called
“Alsatian”, and the lowly, inoffensive dachshund dubbed
“liberty pup” for their own protection, the activities
of the American Protective League do not seem all that
extreme. And before we hold the Leaguers up to severe
criticism, it would be less than honest if we do not
remember that such mass hysteria has occurred in the
years since in such periods as the McCarthy Era of the
1950’s and most recently, the COVID epidemic – in both
instances neighbors were more than willing to report
each other's perceived infractions – real or imagined.
In order to infer quasi-official status on the leaguers,
members of the American Protective League were issued
badges such as the one offered here. The badges were
serial numbered and in practice were accompanied by an
official identity/membership card, an example of which
is pictured below.
Measuring 2 ¼” high and 1 3/8” wide, the badge is full
form, retains the original pin back, and is housed in
its original textured leather bi-fold wallet. The badge
features the correct control number stamped in the
center field. The leather shows some scuffing, having
been carried in the original owner’s pocket, but the
wallet is still full form and the leather is supple
without any hardening. The snap closure is still intact
and fully functional.
This American Protective League badge and wallet would
be an interesting addition to a World War One
collection, which would highlight the types of domestic
policies – the APL being one of the earliest - which
were spawned as the United States entered the Great War
and began over a century of acting as arbiter in the
ongoing feuds among the family of European nations.
(0421) $350
NOTE: The APL
membership card pictured below is not included in
the sale of this badge.
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