Eugene Debs Research Paper

Matt Thompson

Lancaster/ McWatters

American history 2

10 March 2017

How Eugene V. Debs Changed the World

Eugene V. Debs, a founder of the international labor union, lead labor unions and strikes to get equality for different groups. He was a very popular social rights leader and social equality activist. His impact on the American way of life has been greatly affected by him.

Eugene Victor Debs, was born on november 5th, 1855. His mother and father were both immigrants from France. They immigrated to Terre Haute, Indiana where Eugene debs was born. He attended Terre Haute Public schools but had to drop out of high school at the age of 14 to start his job as a painter in railroad yards. In 1870, he became a fireman on the railroad.
This was the first industrial union in the united states. His movement was to get better treatment for unskilled workers on the railroad. The American Railway union attracted thousands of members. The workers aimed at the Great Northern railway, where not a wheel moved in 18 days, which lead to the railway to grant the demands of the workers. A couple of months later there was a new union sprung up (against Deb’s) advice to strike Pullman Palace car workers. The strike was aimed at boycotting all the cars in the railroad that were Pullman. There was great effect on the commerce in the western half of the nation from the strike and the Union. The United states military and the federal government got involved, to break up the
This lead him to carry out a message of democratic socialism to millions of Americans. He sincerely believed only through socialism, could workers rights be protected. That's what lead to his presidential campaign. He was the socialist party’s presidential candidate in 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920. He never thought he would actually be president, but he always wanted to cause drama in his campaign across the country. There was always huge crowds at all of Eugene Debs events to see his energetic tone. All of his views were considered radical at the time (before WWI). Eugene Debs waged war against Woodrow Wilson who actually won the election. Some say Roosevelt and Wilson took attention away from Debs and stole ideas from him. Luckily the ideas they stole from his was for the greater good, including women's rights and child labor laws. Debs best candidacy only got 6 percent of the votes. One of the strangest presidential elections in history was when he ran for presidency in Atlanta Federal penitentiary, for violating the Espionage Act. When Debs was released from prison 50,000 people welcomed him back