The shifting line between free speech and a criminal threat
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is Ira Glass. On This American Life, one thing we like is a good mystery. Sometimes about really big things, but most times, the little mysteries are the best.
Our lost and found is currently filled with pants. I don't know, I've never seen this happen. Wait, this is true? This is true. Mysteries of every size, each week. This American Life, wherever you get your podcasts.
August 27th, 1966. A group of mostly teens and men in their early 20s met in Washington, D.C. Right on the Washington Monument grounds near the Sylvan Theater. They were part of the W.E.B. Du Bois Club, a national youth organization sponsored by the Communist Party USA. It was a left-wing group that was riding the wave of the civil rights movement, labor organizing, and anti-big government. They were really protesting the Vietnam War. and the racially disparate use of the draft. Black men were only 12% of the U.S. population, but they made up over 30% of the ground combat battalion troops in Vietnam. There was a discussion group about police brutality. And in that group, there was one man named Robert Watts, who made an off-the-cuff comment.
And allegedly Robert Watts, who was 18 years old at the time, said something to the effect, you know, look, if they make me go fight in Vietnam, the first person I'm going to put in my scope is LBJ. They're not going to make me go kill my Black brothers. LBJ, the president. Yeah, LBJ for Lyndon Baines Johnson, the president of the United States. What Robert Watts actually said was, quote, if they ever make me carry a rifle, the first man I want to get in my sights is LBJ. When he made that statement, everybody just laughed. But there was someone in the crowd who didn't think it was funny. An investigator with the U.S. Army. You know, Scope, President, LBJ, oh my gosh, that's a threat. Over the past few years, threats and harassment against public officials have become much, much more common.
And this includes everyone from the president of the United States.
It's the third time in a month that shots were fired near President Trump, who was at the White House last night.
To members of Congress.
Minneapolis man is facing federal and state charges following this week's attack on Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who was sprayed with liquid at a town hall event.
The state and local officials. There have been some threats, right, both political and personal to Indiana lawmakers. And even civil servants, like local librarians. This Livingston Parish librarian asked not to be identified.
Because they will fire me in a heartbeat.
Threats have always been a part of U.S. history, and they've often come in times of political turmoil or cultural tension in the country. But the internet also opened a new chapter in the U.S., making threats easier to make and harder to trace and prosecute. So what is a threat? How has it changed? And how do we balance safety and free speech in a world where the two seem increasingly at odds? I'm Randa Abdelfattah. On this episode of ThruLine from NPR, we're going to tell you the stories of the people who have towed the line between protected speech and true threats.
Hi, my name is Nina Nabi-Zadeh from Battleboro, Vermont, and you're listening to ThruLine from NPR. On Consider This, NPR's afternoon news podcast, we cover everything from politics to the economy to the world. But every story starts with a question. At NPR, we stand for your right to be curious, to make sense of the biggest story of the day and what it means for you. Follow Consider This wherever you get your podcasts. Part one, Watts versus United States.
After that army officer overheard Robert Watts make those comments about President LBJ, he was arrested and prosecuted under a federal law from 1917 that made it illegal to threaten the president. And that was one thing that made his arrest pretty unusual because speech laws in the United States are unusually permissive. The First Amendment protects a lot. We're a free speech outlier in the world. This is David L. Hudson, Jr.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–11:58
2
What historical context explains the rise of threats against public officials?
11:58–16:37
3
How has the internet changed the dynamics of making threats?
16:37–17:42
4
What are the legal standards for defining a criminal threat?
17:42–23:34
5
What was the outcome of the Watts v. United States case?
23:34–38:07