Ben Salmon wrote at least three letters to President Woodrow Wilson.
The first letter from the ACLU archives is a transcription of a letter Ben wrote stating he would not be conscripted even though he had registered, as Christ had instructed him not to kill his brothers.
The first letter from the ACLU archives is a transcription of a letter Ben wrote stating he would not be conscripted even though he had registered, as Christ had instructed him not to kill his brothers.
Ben's second epistle,from Fort Douglas, Utah, on Oct 14, 1919 (almost a year after the Great War was ended) was an open letter to President of the United States Woodrow Wilson suggesting that it was time to grant amnesty to the 10,000 citizens still held in prison for conscientiously objecting to war. The Baltimore Amnesty League published it as a pamphlet in January 1920.
The last letter to the President was written after Ben had been diagnosed as sane at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, but was still being held in the ward for the criminally insane. He did not expect the President to grant liberty so he asked for the forcible feeding to be stopped as it was just prolonging his suffering. He asked the President: "will you be kind enough to murder me outright?" There are two versions of this letter available here: 1) As it appears in the ACLU archive and 2) A transcription.