Two women, Emma Goldman and Alice Paul, were causing President Woodrow Wilson and the United States government major headaches, and in June 1917 it was decided to silence them. Goldman was a Russian-born anarchist and editor of the magazine Mother Earth. In March she had stated her position on the war in Europe.

“At this most critical moment it becomes imperative for every liberty-loving person to voice a fiery protest against the participation of this country in the European mass-murder.