Eugene V. Debs was the most prominent spokesperson for socialism ever to emerge in the United States. He rose from the ranks of labor to run for president of the United States five times under the banner of the Socialist Party of America, in 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920. Under his leadership socialism became, for a time, a rising viable national political movement. It was feared by national party politicians of both major parties, who rushed to embrace reform in order to escape revolution.

Eugene Victor Debs was born on 5 November 1855 to Jean Daniel (always known as Daniel) and Marguerite (née Bettrich) Debs in Terre Haute, Indiana, at the intersection of the American frontier and the newer industrial age. Terre Haute owed its vigorous prosperity to its location on the Wabash River, which flows into the Mississippi; the National Road, the first federal highway in the United States, which passed...