Eugene V. Debs Received Almost 1 Million Votes While Sitting In Jail

The 1920 US Presidential election saw President Warren G. Harding easily defeat James Cox.

The 1920 election also produced an interesting piece of Presidential election trivia, as Eugene V. Debs received almost 1 million votes while sitting in a jail cell in Atlanta, Georgia. At the time, this worked out to 3.4% of the popular vote.

Debs, who would earn the nickname "Convict No. 9653", was arrested in 1918 under the Sedition Act. Debs had given a speech in which he opposed World War I, and he ultimately received a 10 year sentence.

Debs was a prominent socialist and labor activist. Debs, who worked as a railroad worker, organized the American Railway Union and was willing to go to jail to stand up for his beliefs.

Debs knew that he was a target of the federal government, and knew that giving a speech opposing World War I would almost certainly land him in jail.

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Debs ran for President in 1900, 1904, 1908 and 1912, though 1920 would be his most successful campaign.

Debs, known as "Convict No. 9653", ran his campaign entirely from behind bars. Debs' story resonated with many union and socialist voters across the country, as he was able to receive an astonishing 914,191 votes, despite not seeing the light of day once during the Presidential campaign.

Despite running as an anti-capitalist, Debs was able to capture a not-insignificant portion of the nation's popular vote.

The surprisingly strong performance caught the attention of President Harding, who ended up commuting Debs' sentence in 1921.

Filed under: General Knowledge