Debs, Eugene Victor (1855-1926)

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Socialist Party of America

United States Presidential Election (1912)

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Birth Date

1855-11-05

Death Date

1926-10-20

Birthplace

Terre Haute, IN

Biographical Text

Eugene Victor Debs was a labor leader and Socialist politician. He dropped out of high school to work for a railroad and wholesale grocery store. He became a leader in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, and from there was elected city clerk and then to the Indiana General Assembly. Debs remained active in the labor movement, and when in 1894 the American Railway Union called a strike against the Pullman Palace Car Company, Debs was one of the leaders arrested and jailed after the Army put down the strike. While in prison, Debs became a socialist. Debs was the Socialist Party of America's candidate for president from 1904-1912 and 1920. Debs was among the founders of the Industrial Workers of the World, a union which aimed to unite all factory workers. Debs opposed United States participation in World War I and the military draft, and was arrested and convicted in 1918 of violating the sedition act. After losing his appeals, he was imprisoned in 1919; in 1921 his sentence was commuted by President Harding due to his ill health. Debs died in 1926.

Eugene Debs married Kate Metzel in 1885. They had no children.