Download or read book Watchdog of Loyalty written by Carl Henry Chrislock and published by Minnesota Historical Society Press. This book was released on 1991 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: April 1917: The governor of Minnesota put the State Capitol in St. Paul under heavy military guard. Newspapers filled their columns with rumors of terrorist activities. Then the United States declared war on Germany. In the midst of patriotic hysteria, the state legislature passed a bill establishing the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety to "do ... all acts and things necessary" to defend the state from its enemies. In compelling narrative style, this book offers the first hard look at the motives and activities of this uniquely powerful state agency, which used loyalty as a weapon to protect the existing socio-economic order against a rising tide of radicalism on the home front.