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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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