At least twice in U.S. history, big political shakeups occurred in midterm elections that served as endpoints to periods of crisis, privation, and extraordinary government expansion and regimentation.
The first was in November 1918. That election was held in the midst of the Spanish flu pandemic and just days before the armistice was signed ending World War I. The Allied breakthrough in France was well advanced and the handwriting was on the wall for the kaiserâs forces.
Since entering the war in April 1917, Americans had endured extreme regimentation under the auspices of Woodrow Wilsonâs âwar socialism.â Rationing of consumer items was coupled with unprecedented government control over basic features of economic life, including a federal takeover of the nationâs railroads. These economic controls were combined with stringent political and social controls. With Wilsonâs support, Congress passed the Sedition Act and the Espionage Act, clamping down (among other things) on publication or dissemination of arguments critical of the war effort or otherwise detrimental to national morale. Hundreds were imprisoned, including the Socialist Partyâs perennial presidential candidate, Eugene Debs, who had urged young men not to comply with the draft. Spurred by war propaganda and encouraged by the administration, some exuberant patriots persecuted German Americans…
