Students seeking pardons for World War I seditionists

By Sarah Cooke of The Associated Press - 01/09/2006

Phyllis Rolf holds up a photo of her grandfather, Fred Rodewald, Friday at her home in Atwater, Minn. Rodewald was convicted in 1918 of sedition in Montana. Nearly 90 years later, law students at the University of Montana are combing old court records and archive collections across the state to clear Rodewald and 73 other Montanans convicted of sedition in 1918 and 1919. Bill Zimmer / AP photo

HELENA — It took just two words to land Polish immigrant Ben Kahn in prison for nearly three years during World War I.

The 38-year-old traveling liquor salesman called wartime food regulations in the United States a ‘‘big joke’’ in talking with the owner of a southern Montana hotel while waiting for breakfast in March 1918.

By lunchtime, he had been arrested for violating Montana’s Sedition Act and, less than a month later, was in prison in Deer Lodge, serving a sentence of 7½ to 20 years. An armistice ended the war later that year, but Kahn would sit in prison for almost three years more.

Nearly 90 years later, law students at the University of Montana are combing old court records and archive collections across the state to clear Kahn and 73 other Montanans convicted of sedition in 1918 and 1919.

The effort, known as the ‘‘Montana Sedition Project,’’ was sparked by ‘‘Darkest Before Dawn: Sedition and Free Speech in the American West,’’ a new book by Clem Work, a University of Montana journalism professor. Seven law students are taking another look at the cases, and hope to prepare pardon petitions for Gov. Brian Schweitzer this spring.

They were inspired to take on the task after hearing of Work’s book through Jeff Renz, the director of UM’s criminal defense clinic.

‘‘The sedition law has no place in our society today,’’ said one of the law students, Jason Lazark, 28, of Sebastapol, Calif. ‘‘It’s unconstitutional and was found to be that way. People who were convicted under that statute should be vindicated. And if they’re not alive, the family name should be vindicated.’’

Phyllis Rolf, the 60-year-old granddaughter of convicted seditionist Fred Rodewald, said she broke down when she heard about the possibility of a pardon.

‘‘I just want him to be free, like all the rest of them,’’ Rolf said from her home in Atwater, Minn. ‘‘I want them to be free, too. It should never have happened.’’

Her grandfather’s story is particularly extreme. Rodewald, a German immigrant who had settled with his family on 320 acres in eastern Montana, served two years in prison for suggesting in April 1918 that Americans ‘‘would have hard times’’ if Germany’s kaiser ‘‘didn’t get over here and rule this country.’’

He left behind a pregnant wife and eight children when he was sent to prison after a one-day trial. Rolf said she had no idea about her grandfather’s past, and nearly hung up on Work when he contacted her during his research because she was so shocked.

‘‘My grandpa was a very, very quiet man,’’ she said. ‘‘He never said a whole lot. He just kind of went on his way.’’

Schweitzer, a Democrat whose grandparents were German-Russian immigrants, has read Work’s book and appears interested in clearing the 73 men and one woman if pardons are presented.

‘‘Look, innocent people ... whether we can make (a difference) in their life or later, I think we ought to make it right,’’ he said. ‘‘Some of this stuff is outrageous.’’

Montana’s Sedition Act was passed by a special session of the Legislature in 1918, but has since been repealed. It was one of the harshest of its kind in the country, Work said, and was the basis for a national sedition law passed by Congress later in 1918.

The laws sprang from a climate of mass panic and hysteria, in which German spies were feared around every corner and political dissidents were deemed a threat, Work said. German books were banned and burned, and preaching in German from church pulpits was forbidden.

‘‘When the war came, all of those fears were ratcheted up,’’ Work said. ‘‘This fear of Germany and German spies kind of dominated the consciousness of the state.’’

Many of the law students said they were shocked by the number of farmers, miners and other blue-collar Montanans convicted under the law, and the sometimes-innocuous comments that landed them in prison.

‘‘It’s a dark, seamy underside of Montana,’’ said law student Peter Lacny, 26, of DuBois, Penn.

The students plan to continue their research later this month after returning to school from winter break. The hardest part, they say, has been finding relatives of those who were charged. They’re also researching the pardon process and other legal issues.

If nothing else, the students hope the project will make more people aware of what happened and reaffirm the importance of the right to free speech.

‘‘You never know when those rights can be infringed on,’’ said law student Katie Olson, 26, of Great Falls. ‘‘Even though this is something that happened almost 100 years ago, I definitely think it’s still important.’’

t On the Net: Sedition Project: http://www.seditionproject.net