Roughly a century before Bernie Sanders's long-shot run for the White House, another prominent democratic socialist, Eugene V. Debs, waged his own campaigns for the presidency.  Although government repression nearly destroyed what had been a vibrant Socialist Party, in 1920 Debs campaigned for the presidency from his prison cell and drew nearly a million votes.  His campaigns and the popularity of democratic socialism played a key role in sparking America's major economic and social reforms of the 20th century.