Carl Haessler

Carl Haessler (1888–1972) was an American political activist, conscription resister, newspaper editor, and trade union organizer.

He is best remembered as an imprisoned conscientious objector during World War I and as the longtime head of the Federated Press, a left wing news service which supplied content to radical and labor newspapers around the country.

Carl attended public school in Milwaukee and went on to college at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, from which he graduated in 1911 with a bachelor's degree in Latin.

[1] With American entry into the European conflict early in 1917, the ethnic German pacifist Haessler was dismissed from the university for his political views.

During his time in prison, Haessler was removed for a brief period when he was called as a witness for the prosecution in the federal trial of Congressman Victor Berger.

In 1922, Haessler was named as the managing editor and secretary-treasurer of the Federated Press, positions which he retained until the end of the news service in 1956.

[3] In 1937, Haessler went to work for the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) handling the union's public relations from Flint, Michigan, during its series of sitdown strikes there.

[citation needed] His sister, Gertrude Haessler, married William Weinstone, a high ranking-official of the Communist Party.