Academia

Have You Seen This Man? My Unending Search for Charles T. Schenck

As many of you know, my book The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in the Age of Rage is scheduled for release in a few months. I am putting together the final edits and art. I have run into a curious problem with a widely referenced historical figure, socialist leader Charles Schenck. The defendant in Schenck v. United States is associated with the decision where Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes coined his famous “shouting fire” analogy.  However, I have not been able to find a good picture of Schenck himself, a curious paucity of imagery given his historical importance. I may be missing some resource, so I thought I would reach out to our readership to see if anyone knows of such images. I found one image that may be Schenck but I was not able to confirm the authenticity.

Charles T. Schenck was general secretary of the U.S. Socialist Party and his conviction led to the historical decision in the Supreme Court in 1919. Many searches come up with a picture that is actually Oliver Wendell Holmes. Others are clearly the wrong Charles Schenck. There is one image that, when you run it down, is from a small site without confirming sources. Ideally, we are looking for a high resolution image with a confirmed source.

So, have you seen this man?

On a less urgent need, I am also trying to find a high resolution image of Montana Judge George M. Bourquin. His portrait is found at the Montana State House, which does have an image but they charge of its use and have an added charge for a high resolution digital image. I am exploring that option, but I am not sure if there are other public domain, high resolution photos of the judge. The portrait is accessible to the public in the capitol. There are plenty of images on the Internet, but it has to be a high resolution image to pass muster with the Simon & Schuster quality standards.

42 thoughts on “Have You Seen This Man? My Unending Search for Charles T. Schenck”

  2. The earlier professional photographers often maintained possession of the original sharp image photo while distributing a photo of lessor sharpness for an agreed upon price for public viewing. It was their way of maintaining photo rights of the photograph they had taken.

  3. I’ve always been curious of Turleys opinion of the “general welfare” clause. If he believes in the expansive opinion of Helvering v. Davis does the rest of the constitution matter? A question from a curious libertarian.

  4. Smithsonian Collection Search:
    [Link] collections.si.edu/search/

    National Archive Serch:
    [Link] archives.gov/research

    Library of Congress Serch:
    [Link] catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/searchBrowse

    Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Historian) | PBS Staff :
    Directed by: John Maggio; Jesse Sweet; Caitlin McNally; Jack Youngelson; Sabin Streeter; Julia Marchesi

    [Link] pbs.org/publiceditor/blogs/pbs-public-editor/know-your-roots/

    [Link] waybackgen.com/whats-new/2018/7/20/how-to-hire-the-best-professional-genealogist-part-1

    Who knows? Someday they may do a show about you Jonathan.

  10. Bing AI
    https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=tsbz8Caw&id=1084F457354446443815994A5F15725C61EA5B19&thid=OIP.tsbz8Caw7GG_tbuVyKIQkAAAAA&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fth.bing.com%2fth%2fid%2fR.b6c6f3f026b0ec61bfb5bb95c8a21090%3frik%3dGVvqYVxyFV9KmQ%26riu%3dhttp%253a%252f%252fnjdigitalhistory.org%252f1919%252fwp-content%252fuploads%252f2019%252f04%252fschenck.jpg%26ehk%3dEgsa28x%252f9vrTiBUd0bsXudO8jSzrixMtPWk3kHcdCN8%253d%26risl%3d%26pid%3dImgRaw%26r%3d0&exph=400&expw=315&q=picture+of+charles+schenck&simid=608009130291657715&FORM=IRPRST&ck=595109ECE1D3B2204AF8A166D8C2C7C8&selectedIndex=0&itb=0&idpp=overlayview&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0

  14. Gee.. All I had to do was highlight his name, directly off your post.. And hit “Search the web.” I found at least 4 pictures in under 5 seconds.

  15. https://www.google.com/search?q=Charles+T.+Schenck+hd+wallpaper&sca_esv=600274493&sxsrf=ACQVn0_3k88V0qzLeGEkItPJSCTrC0a4xQ%3A1705869685434&source=hp&ei=dYGtZa3MGI3GkPIPh7K-6AE&iflsig=ANes7DEAAAAAZa2Phfsq-GqwoiYzLF5Is_V0G8O73uuX&ved=0ahUKEwjt2oblq–DAxUNI0QIHQeZDx0Q4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=Charles+T.+Schenck+hd+wallpaper&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6Ih9DaGFybGVzIFQuIFNjaGVuY2sgaGQgd2FsbHBhcGVyMgUQIRigATIFECEYoAEyBRAhGKsCSNMmUABYoiRwAHgAkAEAmAFcoAHICKoBAjE0uAEDyAEA-AEC-AEBwgIFEAAYgATCAgYQABgWGB7CAgsQABiABBiKBRiGAw&sclient=gws-wiz

  16. Ok. Let me check my files. Let’s see. I have a file on D.B. Cooper and know where he is. Here is a file on Jimmy Hoffa. Yup, I know where he is buried. Oh and I have something on Judge Joseph Crater. I know who kidnapped him and where he lies. But Charles Schenck? Nope. Sorry professor, can’t help you.

  19. If you Google Charles Schenck, there are all kinds of pictures of him at various ages.

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