Allan L. Benson
Encyclopedia
Allan Louis Benson was an American
newspaper editor and author who ran for President
as the Socialist Party of America
candidate in 1916
.
, Michigan
on November 6, 1871. His father, Adelbert L. Benson, was a factory worker during Allan's boyhood, later becoming a miller
, while his mother, Rose Morris Benson, died when Allan was an infant. Allan lived until he was 12 with his grandfather, a farmer in Silver Creek, Michigan.
At the age of 15, Benson's father's mill burned and he was forced to give up his aspiration of attending college and becoming a lawyer. Benson left home and took a job in a chair factory, later working in a paper mill.
Benson only attended one year of high school, but he nevertheless took the state examination to become a school teacher and passed, earning a certificate to teach in a district school. He became involved in a physical conflict with some farm boys in the first school to which he was assigned and was apparently forced to resign his post.
In April 1891, Benson left Otsego, Michigan
for Detroit, where he went to work for the Peninsular Car Company as a machine hand. He began to regularly visit the offices of the various Detroit newspapers in search of a position and was finally hired as a reporter, earning the starvation wage of $6 a week.
Benson moved to Ann Arbor in the fall of 1891 to assume the position of managing editor of the Washetaw Daily Times. He continued to move up the ranks of the newspaper profession, moving to a position as telegraph editor of the Chicago Inter-Ocean in the spring of 1892. He later worked as telegraph editor of the Salt Lake Tribune and as a writer in San Francisco.
Benson subsequently worked as managing editor of the Detroit Journal
, the Detroit Times
, and the Washington Times. He married Mary Hugh in Windsor
, Ontario
on November 19, 1899 and had four children.
and his editorials for that publication made him into a nationally recognized figure among radical American political activists.
Benson was particularly outspoken in his opposition to militarism
, championing a proposal to ban American entry from World War I
unless participation was first approved by a national referendum of the American people. Benson further demanded that anyone voting in favor of participation should be the first enlisted in the army — although he never explained how this could be implemented given the use of the secret ballot
in America. This demand was criticized by many of the Socialist Party's
faithful as impractical, including leading party voice Morris Hillquit
, who dismissed Benson's demagogic
demand as "positively wild."
Nevertheless, Benson's extreme position on American entry into the European war found a receptive audience among the Socialist Party's rank and file. As the Socialist Party Presidential and Vice-Presidential nominations for 1916 were made by a referendum
vote of a membership rather than via a political convention
, Benson's status as a widely published anti-war writer made him a frontrunner for the party's nomination. With Eugene V. Debs
opting out of the 1916 Presidential race so that he could attempt to win election to the U.S. House of Representatives from his home state of Indiana
, Benson was left free to run against labor leader James H. Mauer of Pennsylvania and Arthur Le Seuer of North Dakota
. Benson captured a majority of referendum votes cast to become the Socialist Party's Presidential nominee.
The 1916 campaign was run by Benson and the Socialist Party primarily through the newspapers, with Benson concentrating his fire on the country's "Preparedness
" campaign. The campaign proved manifestly unsuccessful, with Benson capturing a fraction of the nearly 1 million votes case for Gene Debs in the 1912 campaign. Benson and his running mate George R. Kirkpatrick ultimately received 590,524 votes for just 3.2% of the total vote.
Although Benson had been an anti-war voice in the years leading up to World War I, when in April 1917 the United States entered the conflict just as the Socialist Party issued a manifesto placing equal blame on Germany and the allies and vowing continued opposition to the conflict, he resigned from the party.
From January 1919 through June 1921, Benson was the publisher of a new monthly magazine called Reconstruction, subtitled "A Herald of the New Time." The publication used a newsprint format similar to The Nation
and The New Republic
and advanced a liberal
political line slightly to the right of those journals. Frequent contributors included former Socialists Charles Edward Russell
and Max S. Hayes
. A substantial run of the publication is present in the collection of the New York Public Library
.
. Several months before his death, Benson wrote a letter to cartoonist Art Young
explaining his plight:
Benson died in Yonkers, New York
, on August 19, 1940.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
newspaper editor and author who ran for President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
as the Socialist Party of America
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
candidate in 1916
United States presidential election, 1916
The United States presidential election of 1916 took place while Europe was embroiled in World War I. Public sentiment in the still neutral United States leaned towards the British and French forces, due to the harsh treatment of civilians by the German Army, which had invaded and occupied large...
.
Early years
Benson was born in PlainfieldPlainfield Township, Kent County, Michigan
Plainfield Charter Township is a charter township of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. According to the 2000 census, the population was 30,195 . The township forms part of the metro Grand Rapids area. It derives its name from the extinct lumbertown of Plainfield founded in 1838 by Andrew...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
on November 6, 1871. His father, Adelbert L. Benson, was a factory worker during Allan's boyhood, later becoming a miller
Miller
A miller usually refers to a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a cereal crop to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents in other languages around the world...
, while his mother, Rose Morris Benson, died when Allan was an infant. Allan lived until he was 12 with his grandfather, a farmer in Silver Creek, Michigan.
At the age of 15, Benson's father's mill burned and he was forced to give up his aspiration of attending college and becoming a lawyer. Benson left home and took a job in a chair factory, later working in a paper mill.
Benson only attended one year of high school, but he nevertheless took the state examination to become a school teacher and passed, earning a certificate to teach in a district school. He became involved in a physical conflict with some farm boys in the first school to which he was assigned and was apparently forced to resign his post.
In April 1891, Benson left Otsego, Michigan
Otsego, Michigan
Otsego is a city in Allegan County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,934 at the 2000 census. The city is within Otsego Township, but is administratively autonomous....
for Detroit, where he went to work for the Peninsular Car Company as a machine hand. He began to regularly visit the offices of the various Detroit newspapers in search of a position and was finally hired as a reporter, earning the starvation wage of $6 a week.
Benson moved to Ann Arbor in the fall of 1891 to assume the position of managing editor of the Washetaw Daily Times. He continued to move up the ranks of the newspaper profession, moving to a position as telegraph editor of the Chicago Inter-Ocean in the spring of 1892. He later worked as telegraph editor of the Salt Lake Tribune and as a writer in San Francisco.
Benson subsequently worked as managing editor of the Detroit Journal
Detroit Journal
""The Detroit Journal"" was a newspaper published in Detroit, Michigan from September 1, 1883-1922. “The Detroit Evening Journal” was established by Lloyd Brezee. The paper started as a two-cent daily with Brezee in the position of editor and C.C. Parkard as business manager.On December 6, 1883, a...
, the Detroit Times
Detroit Times
- Overview :The first iteration of the Detroit Times was an antislavery bulletin only printed from May - November, 1842 by Warren Isham.The second iteration began in November 1854. Published by G.S. Conklin and E.T. Sherlock, with John N. Ingersoll as editor...
, and the Washington Times. He married Mary Hugh in Windsor
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
on November 19, 1899 and had four children.
Political career
During his tenure as a newspaper editor, Benson read an encyclopedia article on the topic of socialism written by an English Fabian and was thereby won over to the socialist movement. He joined the staff of the Appeal to Reason, a mass circulation socialist weekly published in Girard, KansasGirard, Kansas
Girard is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 2,789.- History :...
and his editorials for that publication made him into a nationally recognized figure among radical American political activists.
Benson was particularly outspoken in his opposition to militarism
Militarism
Militarism is defined as: the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests....
, championing a proposal to ban American entry from World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
unless participation was first approved by a national referendum of the American people. Benson further demanded that anyone voting in favor of participation should be the first enlisted in the army — although he never explained how this could be implemented given the use of the secret ballot
Secret ballot
The secret ballot is a voting method in which a voter's choices in an election or a referendum are anonymous. The key aim is to ensure the voter records a sincere choice by forestalling attempts to influence the voter by intimidation or bribery. The system is one means of achieving the goal of...
in America. This demand was criticized by many of the Socialist Party's
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
faithful as impractical, including leading party voice Morris Hillquit
Morris Hillquit
Morris Hillquit was a founder and leader of the Socialist Party of America and prominent labor lawyer in New York City's Lower East Side during the early 20th century.-Early years:...
, who dismissed Benson's demagogic
Demagogy
Demagogy or demagoguery is a strategy for gaining political power by appealing to the prejudices, emotions, fears, vanities and expectations of the public—typically via impassioned rhetoric and propaganda, and often using nationalist, populist or religious themes...
demand as "positively wild."
Nevertheless, Benson's extreme position on American entry into the European war found a receptive audience among the Socialist Party's rank and file. As the Socialist Party Presidential and Vice-Presidential nominations for 1916 were made by a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
vote of a membership rather than via a political convention
Political convention
In politics, a political convention is a meeting of a political party, typically to select party candidates.In the United States, a political convention usually refers to a presidential nominating convention, but it can also refer to state, county, or congressional district nominating conventions...
, Benson's status as a widely published anti-war writer made him a frontrunner for the party's nomination. With Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
opting out of the 1916 Presidential race so that he could attempt to win election to the U.S. House of Representatives from his home state of Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, Benson was left free to run against labor leader James H. Mauer of Pennsylvania and Arthur Le Seuer of North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
. Benson captured a majority of referendum votes cast to become the Socialist Party's Presidential nominee.
The 1916 campaign was run by Benson and the Socialist Party primarily through the newspapers, with Benson concentrating his fire on the country's "Preparedness
Preparedness
Preparedness refers to the state of being prepared for specific or unpredictable events or situations. Preparedness is an important quality in achieving goals and in avoiding and mitigating negative outcomes...
" campaign. The campaign proved manifestly unsuccessful, with Benson capturing a fraction of the nearly 1 million votes case for Gene Debs in the 1912 campaign. Benson and his running mate George R. Kirkpatrick ultimately received 590,524 votes for just 3.2% of the total vote.
Although Benson had been an anti-war voice in the years leading up to World War I, when in April 1917 the United States entered the conflict just as the Socialist Party issued a manifesto placing equal blame on Germany and the allies and vowing continued opposition to the conflict, he resigned from the party.
From January 1919 through June 1921, Benson was the publisher of a new monthly magazine called Reconstruction, subtitled "A Herald of the New Time." The publication used a newsprint format similar to The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
and The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
and advanced a liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
political line slightly to the right of those journals. Frequent contributors included former Socialists Charles Edward Russell
Charles Edward Russell
Charles Edward Russell was an American journalist, politician, and a co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People...
and Max S. Hayes
Max S. Hayes
Maximillian Sebastian "Max" Hayes was a newspaper editor, trade union activist, and socialist politician. He is best remembered as the long-time editor of the Cleveland Citizen and as the Vice Presidential candidate of the Farmer-Labor Party ticket in 1920.-Early years:Max Hayes was born in...
. A substantial run of the publication is present in the collection of the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
.
Later years, death, and legacy
Benson's later years were spent housebound in Yonkers, New YorkYonkers, New York
Yonkers is the fourth most populous city in the state of New York , and the most populous city in Westchester County, with a population of 195,976...
. Several months before his death, Benson wrote a letter to cartoonist Art Young
Art Young
Arthur "Art" Young was an American cartoonist and writer. He is most famous for his socialist cartoons, especially those drawn for the left wing political magazine The Masses between 1911 and 1917.-Early Years:...
explaining his plight:
"I am suffering not from pernicious anemiaAnemiaAnemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. However, it can include decreased oxygen-binding ability of each hemoglobin molecule due to deformity or lack in numerical development as in some other types of hemoglobin...
but from the injury to my nervous system that this disease did when four dumbbell doctors (who were supposed to be good) did not recognize it for what it was and let it go until I collapsed, was in bed for six months and have scarcely been able to walk across the room ever since. I have been away from the house but seven times in nine years, for an hour's motor trip each time, and have not now been out in almost two years. I am in more or less distress all the time, but I read almost constantly and thus enjoy myself pretty well considering the circumstances."
Benson died in Yonkers, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, on August 19, 1940.
Works
- Confessions of Capitalism. Milwaukee: Social Democratic Herald, 1904.
- Socialism Made Plain: Why the Few are Rich and the Many Poor. Milwaukee: Milwaukee Social-Democratic Publishing Co., 1904.
- New Zealand's Reply to Pessimism. Milwaukee: Milwaukee Social-Democratic Publishing Co., 1906.
- What Help Can Any Workingman Expect from Taft or Bryan? Chicago: National Headquarters, Socialist Party, 1908.
- The Usurped Power of the Courts. New York: Pearson Publishing Co., 1911.
- The Growing Grocery Bill. Chicago: National Headquarters, Socialist Party, 1912.
- Issues and Candidates. United States: s.n., 1912.
- The Truth about Socialism. New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1913.
- Our Dishonest Constitution. New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1914.
- Socialism: The Lone Foe of War. Chicago: Socialist Party, 1914.
- The Bombshell that Henry Ford Fired. Chicago: Socialist Party, 1914.
- What Ford Wages Have Done. Girard, KS: Appeal to ReasonAppeal to ReasonThe Appeal to Reason was a weekly political newspaper published in the American Midwest from 1895 until 1922. The paper was known for its radical politics, lending support over the years to the Farmers' Alliance and Populist movement before becoming a mainstay of the Socialist Party of America...
1915. - "Patriotism," Plunder and "Preparedness": Here are Some Facts which You Might Turn Over in Your Mind before Doing Any More Talking or Thinking about Our Need for More "Preparedness" for War. United States: s.n., 1912.
- A Way to Prevent War. Girard, KS: Appeal to Reason, 1915.
- Common Sense about the Navy. Washington: American Union Against MilitarismAmerican Union Against MilitarismThe American Union Against Militarism was an American pacifist organization active established in response to World War I. The organization attempted to keep the United States out of the European conflict through mass demonstrations, public lectures, and the printed word...
, 1916. - Inviting War to America New York, B.W. Huebsch, 1916
- The New Henry Ford. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1923.
- The Propaganda against Prohibition. [S.l.] : Woman's National Committee for Law Enforcement, 1926.
- The Story of Geology. New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, 1927.
- Daniel Webster. New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, 1929.
External links
- Biography from The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography
- Political Graveyard
- Reference to Benson's presence during the Wilson era