Walls and Bars

By Ruth Burke, San Simon, Ariz. / September 2, 2008

I’m reading Eugene V. Debs’s Walls and Bars which tells the story of how he ran for president (for the fifth time), in 1920, while he was an inmate at Atlanta Federal Prison (for making a speech unfavorable to the government). He conceded to the winner, Warren G. Harding, who commuted Mr. Debs’ sentence and made him a free man, on Dec. 25, 1921.