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What Does APL Stand For?

APL stands for American Protective League

this was the pre-FBI during WWI. Their job was to investigate alien enemies such as Germans who did not buy Liberty Bonds, had German ties, or whose neighbors narced on them with unprovable allegations of spreading propaganda.The APL was a forerunner of the modern FBI, formed during World War I as a group of amateur spy hunters. It operated under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice during the early 1900s. It was a volunteer spy organization responsible for gathering and reporting information regarding all violations of war and espionage acts and proclamations. The organization of the APL was noted by J. Edgar Hoover, and his Bureau of Investigation was based on many of the same concepts as the APL.The organization allegedly had nearly 250,000 members at the height of WWI. The APL was disbanded shortly after World War I in the early 1920s. It is a defunct organization.

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Added on 26/05/2011 | Edit this acronym