In June 1972, a scandal broke over the behavior of three of NASA’s astronauts. The Apollo 15 postal cover scandal seems little remembered today, but it rocked the nation at the time, destroying the careers of people who had been hailed as national heroes.
The “Great Sedition Trial” uncovered shocking connections at the time with the German reich that we were fighting, and challenged the idea that the nation was of a single mind during the war. It also challenged exactly how far the national commitment to freedom of speech and opinion reached, especially in extraordinary times.