Wartime Prosecutor and Candidate For Governor
After Democrat Woodrow Wilson was elected president, Porter was nominated and confirmed as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, where he served from 1914 to 1918. While serving as U.S. Attorney, he aggressively enforced the Espionage Act of 1917 against persons who spoke out against the draft or "assisted" others who did so, including the defendants in the 1917-18 Davenport sedition trial. He also served as first assistant special prosecutor in the Chicago trial of over one hundred members of the Industrial Workers of the World on similar charges. After a trial that lasted from April to August 1918, the jury deliberated briefly and returned convictions of all 100 remaining defendants, including IWW general secretary Big Bill Haywood. Soon after the trial was completed, Porter was promoted to Assistant Attorney General of the United States.
Porter continued to prosecute federal charges while running for Iowa governor in 1918. He received the Democratic nomination without opposition, and faced incumbent Republican William L. Harding in the general election. Despite Porter's attacks on Harding's patriotism, Harding prevailed, as part of an Iowa Republican sweep.
Porter continued to serve as an Assistant U.S. Attorney General until July 1919, when he became chief counsel for the Federal Trade Commission, serving in that position until October 1, 1920.
Read more about this topic: Claude R. Porter
Famous quotes containing the words wartime, candidate and/or governor:
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—John Dryden (1631–1700)
“President Lowell of Harvard appealed to students ‘to prepare themselves for such services as the Governor may call upon them to render.’ Dean Greenough organized an ‘emergency committee,’ and Coach Fisher was reported by the press as having declared, ‘To hell with football if men are needed.’”
—For the State of Massachusetts, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)