DONIS CASEY: Write Errant

What would you think if suddenly people you’ve known for years begin to look at you with suspicion, for no other reason than that your brother is a liberal leftist, or you have a foreign-sounding name, or you said something critical about the government? You have to be careful, because as a government propaganda poster says:

I Am Public Opinion. All Men Fear Me

My first Alafair Tucker mystery, The Old Buzzard Had It Coming, takes place in 1912, when the events of the wider world had little to do with Alafair Tucker and her large happy clan. They live in rural Oklahoma, far away from great events. But by the eighth novel, All Men Fear Me, it’s 1917 and the U.S. has become embroiled in WWI. Whether Alafair likes it or not, her family is going to be affected by the momentous things happening in the world.

The book is not about what was going on in Europe. It’s about the American home front and how the war had a huge impact on the daily life of ordinary people. At the beginning of World War I, Americans were as divided as they are at the beginning of the twenty-first century, and the U.S. Government was not nearly as tolerant of dissension as it is today. (At least as of this writing.) Congress declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. But not everyone in the country was behind the war.

In August, shortly after Congress passed the Selective Service Act, an armed uprising called the Green Corn Rebellion took place in Oklahoma. On August 2, the sheriff of Seminole county and three deputies set out the investigate a reported gathering of anti-conscription activists in a rural area in the east-central part of the state. Before they reached the rebel camp, they were ambushed by the insurgents and had to flee for their lives.

Once their camp was discovered, the revolutionaries called a secret meeting and made plans to march on Washington D.C., arrest President Wilson, reform the economy, and put an end to the war. They expected to link up with thousands of other farmers and workers on the way, creating a massive army. They were betrayed to the law by an informer, and a large citizen posse formed to attack the rebel stronghold. The rebels dispersed, guerrilla-style, and for weeks, hundreds of suspected insurgents around the state were rounded up and arrested. Posses engaged in several bloody battles with hold-outs, and the organized rebellion was completely put down. Nearly five hundred men were arrested, but fewer than two hundred were indicted, and one hundred fifty were convicted of sedition. The rebellion contributed to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in Oklahoma and the first national Red Scare in the 1920s.

All Men Fear Me deals with the pro-war patriotism and anti-war activism that are not only tearing Oklahoma apart, but Alafair’s own family as well. Her sons are eager to do their patriotic duty. Her German-born son-in-law is the victim of vandalism and discrimination. Her brother is a Socialist, union organizer, and anti-war activist. The peace and harmony she desires is not to be. Especially after the arrival in town of an ominous stranger who is fanning the flames of dissent and playing on people’s fear. Fear leads to chaos and murder. History is filled with such examples.

Not that we ever learn.