University earns 78 pardons

for citizens convicted of sedition

Seventy-five men and three women who were convicted of felonies for criticizing the American government nearly a century ago received pardons May 3 at a ceremony in the state Capitol in Helena.

Some 50 of those Montanans’ descendants were on hand for the ceremony, as were UM faculty members and students who initiated the Montana Sedition Project.

The effort began with UM journalism Professor Clem Work, author of the 2005 book “Darkest Before Dawn.” His research blossomed into a “pardon project” undertaken by UM journalism and law students.

Their work paid off when Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer pardoned those who were convicted in 1918 and 1919 under the state’s tough wartime anti-speech law.

About 40 of those people, many of them German-American immigrants, collectively served 65 years at the state prison in Deer Lodge. Some of their grandchildren spoke at the ceremony of the shameful family secret passed down through the generations. They also expressed gratitude for the vindication provided by the pardons.

The Montana Sedition Project has captured national media attention, including articles in the New York Times, Washington Post and U.S. News and World Report.

More information, including photographs and stories of those once punished for exercising their First Amendment rights, are on the Montana Sedition Project Web site at http://www.seditionproject.net/index.html.