Biography
John Kos was a conscientious objector from Minnesota imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for refusing military service, he was held at Fort Leavenworth. Sentenced to 5 years in prison - reduced to 2. (Documented in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection's World War I Conscientious Objectors database.) Archival note: registered for draft on June 5, 1917 but not as a CO; interviewed by Special Bd. re: 58th article of war at the Disciplinary Barracks on Feb. 14, 1919; sentenced to 5 years in prison - reduced to 2.5 years; was Russian, not a U.S. citizen; WAS HE A CO?
The Revolutionary Age of August 9, 1919 prints a letter received by the National Left Wing Conference on June 21, 1919 from political prisoners confined in the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. It lists John Kos among political prisoners who explicitly said they were not Socialist Party members, endorsing the letter's support for the Left Wing and its political aims. June 21 is the conference's receipt date, not an admission or release date; no individual charge or measured custody total is supplied.