congregation would be unable to understand the service if it were not conducted in Norwegian, the language in which he had been preaching for the past 40 years. However, it was generally popular among English-speaking, well established Iowans. Former US President Theodore Roosevelt publicly supported Harding's decision in a speech given on May 27, saying "America is a nation—not a polyglot boarding house... There can be but one loyalty—to the Stars and Stripes; one nationality—the American—and therefore only one language—the English language." Virtually all ethnic minorities who spoke languages other than English opposed the proclamation to some extent. The proclamation was seriously enforced, and many "patriotic organizations" issued fines to violators. The majority of violators were caught when telephone operators listened to conversations for violations. For instance, in Le Claire Township, Scott County, four or five women received fines after they spoke German over the telephone. They ended up paying $225, which was donated to the Red Cross. Nebraska issued a similar proclamation. Across the Midwestern United States, 18,000 people eventually faced charges of violating English mandates. The proclamation became "the major political issue" in Iowa for 1918. The Des Moines Register led opposition, publishing several op-eds against the proclamation.A Jewish leader in Des Moines contacted Louis Marshall, then the president of the American Jewish Committee, for advice. Marshall responded that he couldn't "conceive the possibility that the people of any state could be guilty of such an absurdity." However, he advised the Jewish community to avoid publicly going against the proclamation. On June 13 Marshall wrote a letter of protest to Harding. People debated the proclamation across the state and more generally what it meant to be "American". Some newspapers called English "American", as calling it English would suggest that it was "borrowed, and therefore any European tongue would be as legitimate as English." After World War I ended, Harding repealed the proclamation on December 4, 1918. Legacy A 2018 op-ed published in The Des Moines Register called the Babel Proclamation "perhaps the most infamous executive order" in Iowa's history. Several articles have cited the proclamation as an early example of anti-immigrant sentiment. A hearing in the United States House of Representatives in 2006 called the proclamation "the most famous" of several "English-only" restrictions passed around the same time. References External links Revocation Proclamation Divided by a common language Anti-German sentiment in the United States Proclamations 1918 in Iowa