"Lincoln's Surveillance State" Op-Ed NYTimes July 6, 2013

[Liz Rosenthal]

I may be able to shed some light on this issue. I happen to be reading "With Lincoln in the White House: Letters, Memoranda and Other Writings of John G. Nicolay, 1860-1865," and just now came across this journal entry by Nicolay, dated Feb. 25, 1862:

"An order was issued today by the Sec of War and telegraphed all over the Union, forbidding the publication of intelligence concerning military operations, whether received by telegraph or otherwise - papers violating the order to be debarred from using the telegraph entirely."

This is qualitatively different than what was stated in the New York Times op-ed piece to which David Lockmiller refers. Stanton prohibited the publication of highly sensitive military intelligence on pain of being denied access to the telegraph for any violators. This does not appear to be an order for government review of journalists' communications, although it does limit freedom of the press. However, this was wartime, and not just any war, but a battle for the survival of the nation. There were very serious limitations on the freedom of the press to publish military strategy, intelligence and operations during the Second World War, also, but I doubt that anybody would argue that it would have been worth giving up this information to the Axis Powers via a free American press so that the First Amendment could be preserved. But the important point here is that the op-ed writer seems to have gotten his facts twisted.