KATE RICHARDS O'HARE, 1877-1948

Kate Richards O'Hare, Socialist organizer and prison reformer, opposed United States participation in World War I, as did most other Socialists; she lectured throughout the United States on "Socialism and the World War" during 1917, and was arrested on July 17 in Bowman, North Dakota for allegedly saying "that the women of the United States were nothing more or less than brood sows, to raise children to get into the Army and be made into fertilizer." Although KRO denied the charge, she was indicted and found guilty under the Espionage Act and sentenced to five years in the Missouri State Penitentiary, entering prison on April 15, 1919; her sentence was commuted on May 29, 1920.

From the guide to the Papers, 1919-1920, (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)