The "...only known case of government suppression of a book in peacetime" occured during the administration of Warren Harding. The case involved the disclosure of the story that Warren Harding had a long-standing affair with a Carrie Phillips, who was a "former best friend" of Florence Harding-the First Lady. She was paid a sum of $ 25,000 to disappear during the time of the 1920 election. When this story was about to come to light (by whom the article does not say) the administration sent agents of the Bureau of Investigation "to seize the plates and printing press and destroy copies". This would involve the First Amendment issue of "prior restraint" which holds that the government should not take restrictive action before a publication; after is another matter.
(Source: "The Most Scandalous President" by Carl Sferrazze Anthony. American Heritage Magazine July/August 1998).
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