SOME WOULD SAY WE'RE LIVING THROUGH SOME OF THE MOST CHALLENGING AND VOLATILE TIMES IN AMERICAN HISTORY. BUT OUR NEXT GUEST SAYS THIS ISN'T THE FIRST TIME THAT DOMESTIC EXTREMISM HAS RAN RAMPANT WITH A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE LEADING THE CHARGE TO LOCK UP HIS OPPONENTS AND SHUT DOWN MEDIA OUTLETS. JOINING US NOW, WE HAVE HISTORIAN, ADAM HOCHSCHILD, HIS NEW BOOK "AMERICAN MIDNIGHT," THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING ON THE SHOW. CONGRATULATIONS ON THE BOOK, AND TAKE US BACK TO THE CRISIS BEFORE THIS CRISIS. >> WELL, THANKS, MIKA. IT'S GREAT TO BE WITH YOU. THE BOOK THAT I WROTE "AMERICAN MIDNIGHT" IS ABOUT WHAT I THINK OF AS THE TRUMPIEST TIME IN AMERICAN HISTORY BEFORE TRUMP. ROLL THE CLOCK BACK A CENTURY TO THE YEARS 1917 TO '21, AND YOU'LL FIND A LOT OF THINGS GOING ON THEN THAT FEEL EERILY FAMILIAR TODAY. ONE THING, FOR EXAMPLE, WAS THAT THERE WAS A TORRENT OF OUTRAGE AGAINST IMMIGRANTS AND REFUGEES, AND UP TO THE VERY LAST MINUTE, THE LEADING REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES FOR NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT IN 1920 WERE RUNNING ON PLATFORMS OF MASS DEPORTATIONS.
ANOTHER SIMILARITY YOU MENTIONED, WANTING TO LOCK PEOPLE UP, YOU KNOW, IN 2016 TRUMP'S FOLLOWERS SHOUTED ABOUT HILLARY, LOCK HER UP, LOCK HER UP, WOODROW WILSON DID ONE BETTER, HE DID LOCK UP HIS OPPONENTS. EUGENE BEBBS, THE FORMER SOCIALIST CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT WAS SENTENCED TO TEN YEARS IN PRISON, AND DURING THOSE YEARS, AND IT'S INCREDIBLE TO THINK OF THIS NUMBER, MORE THAN 1,000 AMERICANS SPENT A YEAR OR MORE IN PRISON AND A FAR LARGER NUMBER SHORTER PERIODS OF TIME SOLELY FOR THINGS THAT THEY WROTE OR SAID. AND FURTHERMORE, TRUMP HATED DISSENTING MEDIA, BUT THE WILSON ADMINISTRATION WENT TO WAR AGAINST IT. THEY STARTED A CENSORSHIP PROGRAM WHICH SHUT DOWN 75 AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES. >> SO REVEREND AL, YOU CAN TAKE THE NEXT QUESTION, BUT YOU HAVE TO GO BACK A HUNDRED YEARS, THAT'S DEFINITELY DISTURBING IN TERMS OF THE SETBACKS THAT WE'RE SEEING TODAY. >> AND WHAT IS DISTURBING IS THAT FOR A SEASON SUCCEEDED BACK 100 YEARS. LET ME ASK YOU THIS, AS YOU DID YOUR STUDY, I KNOW THAT WE HAVE ALWAYS HEARD WILSON PLAYED THE FILM IN THE WHITE HOUSE OF THE KU KLUX KLAN AND HAD RACISM AS ACCEPTABLE.
WAS THIS PART OF WHAT WAS THE WINNING STRATEGY FOR HIM THAT HE WAS ABLE TO RALLY? I MEAN, WAS IT SUCCESSFUL IS WHAT I'M SAYING, AND WHEN DID IT BEGIN TO KIND OF EDGE OUT? >> IT WAS VERY MUCH A PART OF HIS STRATEGY. WILSON WAS A SOUTHERNER. IF YOU READ THE BOOKS OF HISTORY THAT HE WROTE DURING THE MANY YEARS HE WAS A COLLEGE PROFESSOR, HE TAKES A STARTLING BENIGN VIEW OF SLAVERY, TELLING YOU THAT THE SLAVES WERE REALLY PRETTY HAPPY, THEY RATHER LIKED IT, AND I THINK OFTEN THE SIGNIFICANCE IN WHAT A PRESIDENT DOES IS WHAT HE DOESN'T SAY, AND THE YEAR 1919 IN PARTICULAR SAW AN — I DON'T NEED TO TELL YOU, REVEREND, SAW REALLY THE WORST RACIAL VIOLENCE IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE THE IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH OF SLAVERY. THE ESTIMATES ARE THAT CLOSE TO A THOUSAND PEOPLE WERE KILLED, ALMOST ALL OF THEM BLACK, WILSON SAID ONE SENTENCE ABOUT IT ALL WHILE IT WAS GOING ON.
