ABSTRACT
Albert S. Burleson is best remembered as the United States Postmaster General under the Wilson administration, and for his actions during WWI in using the Acts to suppress mailing privileges of any materials suspected of violating the Acts. Burleson confronted the Washington Post over an article entitled "Hun Hisses Wilson". Though the war was over, the Espionage Act still in force, and prosecutions still in court, Burleson by-passed the chance to press charges against the paper for printing an article considered to be a personal attack on the postal authorities. Even members of the prosecution felt the case was weak, as the tract was more about plutocracy than the war. Scott Nearing's trial under the Acts is one of the most famous. As opposed to others who joined the radical movement, Nearing actually grew up in a privileged atmosphere, but this did not stop him from realizing the inequalities in society.
