The American Defense Society (ADS) was a nationalist American political group founded in 1915. The ADS was formed to advocate for American intervention in World War I against the German Empire. The group later stood in opposition to the Bolsheviks, who came to power in Russia after the October Revolution of 1917, and the proposed American participation in the League of Nations.
In domestic politics, the ADS launched a campaign to eliminate instruction of the German language in the United States.[1] As a nationalist outfit, the ADS demanded "100 percent Americanism" amid fears over the loyalties of "hyphenated Americans".[2]
The organization's first honorary president was former President Theodore Roosevelt.[3] After declining post-World War I, the ADS made a brief resurgence prior to World War II, where the group fought President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's effort to expand the Supreme Court.[4]
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