--- title: Thomas W. Gregory url: https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/thomas-gregory/ description: 4 verified quotes from Thomas W. Gregory, Attorney General of the United States (1914-1919), with sources. section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: a First World War field-intelligence collage of trench maps, wireless transmission logs and aerial reconnaissance photographs.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-wwi.jpg) [Quotes](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/) · United States # Thomas W. Gregory ![Thomas W. Gregory in 1913, studio portrait by The Elliotts](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/images/wilson-administration/thomas-gregory.jpg) [Photo](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Watt_Gregory_cph.3b47712.jpg): The Elliotts, Public domain (published in the United States before 1931) Attorney General of the United States (1914-1919) · United States On the regime page: [Wilson administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/wilson-administration/#thomas-gregory) 4 quotes, oldest first. [Filter with other speakers](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/#speaker=thomas-gregory). 1. > “The care used by the department in its desire to do nothing to interfere with the legitimate exercise of the right of free speech is shown by the fact that in practically every case convictions were secured and substantial sentences imposed. In one instance the convicted defendant was sentenced to serve 20 years in the penitentiary.” — 1917 · Statement · Washington, D.C. — From the Attorney General's annual report for the fiscal year that ended 30 June 1917, in the passage on prosecutions of persons charged with circulating newspapers and pamphlets and making speeches against the draft. The Espionage Act had been in force since 15 June 1917. — Annual Report of the Attorney General of the United States for the Year 1917 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1917), p. 75 [Source](https://archive.org/details/annualreportatt19justgoog) 2. > “One of them in particular, which is nation-wide in scope and which is known as The American Protective League, has proven to be invaluable, and constitutes a most important auxiliary and reserve force for the Bureau of Investigation.” — 1917 · Statement · Washington, D.C. — From the Attorney General's annual report for the fiscal year that ended 30 June 1917. "Them" refers to the local volunteer citizens' committees which the department says it encouraged to look out for "disloyal or enemy activities" and report them to officials. — Annual Report of the Attorney General of the United States for the Year 1917 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1917), p. 83 [Source](https://archive.org/details/annualreportatt19justgoog) 3. **Content note:** Threat of prosecution against opponents of the war. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “To all the disloyal in this country a message will be sounded which they can understand through the criminal courts. May God have mercy on them, for they need expect none from an outraged people and an avenging Government.” — November 20, 1917 · Speech · New York City Verified (secondary source) — Gregory spoke at a dinner in New York City, seven months after the United States entered the war and five months after the Espionage Act. The New York Times reported the speech the next morning. He had said just before that 95 per cent of Americans would die as willingly for their beliefs as the men of 1776 and that he would address the other 5 per cent. — Report of Gregory's speech to the Lincoln Memorial University dinner, New York, 20 November 1917, in The New York Times, 21 November 1917 (the same sentence is repeated in the paper's editorial "Disloyalists and Aliens" of the same issue) [Source](https://archive.org/details/NYTimes_nov16_30_1917) 4. **Content note:** Derogatory language about opponents of the war. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “I will not speak of them, but I would address the other 5 per cent of disloyal persons and moral and physical degenerates who believe nothing is worth fighting for.” — November 20, 1917 · Speech · New York City Verified (secondary source) — Gregory spoke at a dinner in New York City, seven months after the United States entered the war and five months after the Espionage Act. The New York Times reported the speech the next morning. "Them" refers to the 95 per cent he had just described as loyal. — Report of Gregory's speech to the Lincoln Memorial University dinner, New York, 20 November 1917, in The New York Times, 21 November 1917 (the same sentence is repeated in the paper's editorial "Disloyalists and Aliens" of the same issue) [Source](https://archive.org/details/NYTimes_nov16_30_1917) ## Often attributed, not verified These words circulate under Thomas W. Gregory’s name but could not be traced to a source. They are listed so readers can check them, not as Thomas W. Gregory’s words. - > “Slackers and pacifists are 'moral and physical degenerates who believe that nothing is worth fighting for'; 'God have mercy on them! ... for they can expect no mercy from this outraged nation'.” — Paraphrase Usually said to come from: The Sun (New York), 21 November 1917, p. 7, report of the same speech — The Sun reports the Lincoln Memorial dinner speech in indirect speech with a differently worded mercy sentence. The New York Times prints the sentence in direct quotation and is used for the quotes above.