Woodrow Wilson
[The White House, Washington, D.C.], July 10, 1914
Woodrow Wilson TLS Re: Postmaster General's "careful report" 3 Years Before 1917 Espionage Act Authorized Impounding Objectionable Material
TLS

A 1p typed letter signed by 28th U.S. President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) as "Woodrow Wilson" at center right. July 10, 1914. [Washington, D.C.] Typed in blue ink on watermarked bifold paper embossed "The White House / Washington" at the letterhead. Blank inner pages and outer page. Expected wear including flattened paper folds and a slightly wrinkled right edge. Isolated typed ink smearing, else near fine. 7" x 8.875."

President Wilson wrote this letter to U.S. Senator from New York James A. O'Gorman (1860-1943), in part:

"As I promised, I at once took up the matter mentioned in your letter of June twenty-seventh with the Postmaster General. I now have what I asked him to send me, a careful report on the whole subject?"

In previous correspondence exchanged between President Wilson and Senator O'Gorman, the two had discussed "the important matter of the possibility of excluding certain publications from the mails," at which point Wilson promised to direct an investigation (July 1, 1914 letter from Wilson to O'Gorman.) It is not entirely clear what sort of publications Senator O'Gorman was lobbying for excluding from the U.S. mail, but it was likely material considered inappropriate during the era. Laws were already on the books prohibiting the interstate delivery of sexually explicit material as well as lottery advertisements.

The scope of censorship was significantly widened three years later by the passage of the 1917 Espionage Act (effective June 15, 1917). The wartime legislation granted Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson (1863-1937) the authority to confiscate printed materials, which, through either intelligence or disinformation, were deemed to be detrimental to the American war effort. Open to individual interpretation, the censorship clause of the Espionage Act led to the impounding of a range of publications, from pro-Catholic and populist weeklies to pacifist periodicals, and socialist monthlies.

James A. O'Gorman served on term as U.S. Senator from New York, from 1911-1917. Prior to that, he was a New York Supreme Court Justice from 1900-1911 and from 1902-1906 the Grand Sachem of the Tammany Society.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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7" x 8.875"