What political party did Louis F. Post lead during the late nineteenth century?

Louis F. Post became chairman of Henry George's United Labor Party in 1887 to advocate for land value taxation and free trade principles.

How many deportation cases did Louis F. Post dismiss by April 10 1920?

Louis F. Post dismissed 71% of a backlog of 1600 deportation cases after reviewing each file by the 10th of April 1920.

Louis F. Post: the story on HearLore

Louis Freeland Post was born on the 15th of November 1849 in Hackettstown, New Jersey. His father worked as a merchant for New York while his mother belonged to the prominent Freeland family. He left formal schooling at age fourteen to work four years inside a newspaper office. This early experience led him directly into law school before he turned twenty-five. By that time he had built a lucrative legal practice in New York City. His office sat on Broadway across from City Hall. He eventually returned to journalism as associate editor and then editor of the New York Truth.

Post embraced Henry George's economic philosophy with deep conviction during the late nineteenth century. He described George's political views as my kind of radicalism which regards social values of natural resources as public property. In 1887 he became chairman of George's United Labor Party. The party advocated for land value taxation and free trade principles. Post ran for Congress in 1882 backed by the Central Labor Union. He published numerous pamphlets explaining single tax theory between 1886 and 1903. These works included detailed charts and notes on land reform and labor economics. His writings covered topics ranging from street car service in Chicago to the Chinese Exclusion Act.

President Woodrow Wilson appointed Louis F. Post as the first Assistant United States Secretary of Labor in 1913. Post held this position until March 1921 when the Wilson administration ended. Early in March 1920 Acting Secretary status fell to him due to temporary absence of William B. Wilson. This role made him responsible for the Bureau of Immigration during two critical months. He directed reviews of all deportation cases while opposing Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer. J. Edgar Hoover led the Justice Department Radical Division that targeted suspected radicals. Post distinguished carefully among arrested individuals based on legal standards rather than political suspicion.

Post reviewed a backlog of 1600 deportation cases by the 10th of April 1920. He dismissed 71% of them after careful examination of each file. Some detainees had been held for up to two months simply for attending radical group meetings. The Anarchist Exclusion Act of 1918 allowed deportations for membership in organizations advocating government overthrow. Post determined that Communist Labor Party membership did not meet legal standards like other groups. He granted aliens fair hearings contrary to Bureau of Immigration policy. Many innocent people were freed through his administrative decisions. He authorized deportations only for anarchists even of extreme pacifist types because law required it.

Kansas Congressman Homer Hoch accused Louis F. Post of abusing power on the 15th of April 1920. The House Committee on Rules planned to ask President Wilson to remove him instead of impeachment proceedings. Post requested and received permission to testify before Congress on May 7 and 8. He successfully defended his actions while attacking Attorney General Palmer and others. Democratic supporter Edward W. Pou praised Post's sense of duty during a dramatic exchange. Pou walked out leaving the room in stunned silence after speaking. The Rules Committee took no further action against Post despite pressure from the American Legion. A letter dated the 31st of December 1920 demanded his dismissal but the White House endorsed his work.

Post published The Deportations Delirium of Nineteen-Twenty: A Personal Narrative of an Historic Official Experience in 1923. He called the entire raid effort a stupendous and cruel fake in that memoir. His assertion that no substantially erroneous decision had been specified held true over time. Most certainly without qualification may this be said of my cancellation decisions according to Post. Every attempt to show even one erroneous cancellation decision has utterly failed he wrote. He died on the 11th of January 1928 at Homeopathic Hospital in Washington D.C. following brief illness. The New York Times reported his early advocacy of single tax and noted his legal career.

Louis F. Post.

The Single Tax Crusade

Wilson's First Assistant

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