SECURITYand FREEDOM the GREAT CHALLENGE

Thirtieth Annual Report

of the

American Civil Liberties Union

Dedicated to

ROGER N. BALDWIN Esecntive Director 1920-1910

JOHN HAYNES HOLMES Chairman of the Board of Directors 1940- 19 T 0

EDWARD A. ROSS Chairman of the National Committee 1940-1950 with Respect, Gratitude and Affection TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION--“A FREE NATION OF FREE PEOPLE” 5 SECURITY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES .,.. 10 A. GENERAL ANTI-SEDITION LBGISLAI‘IVE EFFORTS 10 1. The McCarran Act ,. .,, 10 2. “Little McCarran” Acts 3. The Smith Act .,. ,.,..... ,.. :i 4. House Un-American Activities Committee ,...... ,...... 5. House Lobbying Committee ::, 6. State Investigations 17 B. SKIJRITY AND LOYAL’IY AMONG EMPLOYEES 17 1. Federal Program 2. The McCarthy Charges ::, 3. State and Local Programs; 4. Private Programs’ 22 C. OTHER THREATS TO FREEDOM OF OPINION 25 1. General Free Speech .,,....,,..,.... 2. Radio and Movies ., :: 3. Magazines and Books ..,. .._...... 29 4. Schools and Colleges .._...... 5. Labor Unions .._...... 6. Aliens .._ .,...... ,.. .._ 7. Conscientious Objection __....,.._...... _.,..,,...... ,,...... D. OTHER THREATS TO DUE PROCESS OF LAW 1. Wiretapping ..,,...., .,..... 2. Bail Cases 3. Picketing of Courts 4. Grand Juries 38 THE FIRST FREEDOM .._...... 39 A. GENERAL FREE EXPRESSION .._...... B. LABOR ,,., ...... :; C. CENSORSHIP .,,,,.. ,.,... 40 D. RELIGION .,.. 44 DUE PROCESS OF LAW ,. 46 A. WIRETAPPING ,, ., .,,...... ,...,_ .,, .,... .., .,.. 46 B. FAIR TRIAL .., 48 C. PUNISHMENT ,,... ,, 49 EQUALITY 49 A. MINORITIES ..~... 50 B. STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES .._...... _...... 53 1. Employment and Education .._ 2. Housing and Public Accommodations :; 3. Voting and Fair Trial .,.... ,... 55 C. PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS 56 1. Social 56 2. Employment and Education 57 D. OTHER GROUPS 57 1. Indians; 2. Orientals .._...... 57 3. Alaskan, Hawaiian Statehood 59 4. Aliens ,.,..... ,...... ,,.,.. 5. Labor ..,..,. .., 2: 6. Women .. . 7. District of Columbia 2: INTERNATIONAL CIVIL LIBERTIES .., 61 BALANCE SHEET OF COURT CASES 65 ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE 74 FINANCES ,,..._..__...._..._...... ,..,...... ,...... 82 ERRATUM: On page 43, line 14, cohmn one, the word “supported” shortld read “opposed.” Message from Roger IV. Baldwin

T14nR,- -_. fhirttr...... VPZI~C yxrr. thr militant efforts \vorltl councils and alliancca. Only so can we ,--. I ,.-“., . .._ r of the A- merican Civil Liberties Union offer what the pcoplrs of the world still find to impress the principles of as their hope. <,f justice and civil liberty on our dcmoc- I~r~~~:rc.\~--lrcrtlr)tll tv work racy, by enlisting in every fart their own rcforllis with- challenge to them, have out a,, iI,ll’[,a~rl-.-antl fills< hcen our contribution to -5al~tirul. such progress as has been What we achicvr at holtre, made-in law, practice and in mairltaining our prin- untlcrstantling. And progress cil)lCh ai[ainat the attacks of has hccn considerable, de- the i~uful and short-sighted, spite wars, depressions and will meet instaht rccognitinn police states. :ItNl hcartc ninl: rc\lxxlsc Ours is today, and for the throughout a w&I 5cnsitivc foreseeable future, not only to our advances and our fail- an effort to buttress our own “KS Scvct in our thirty years democracy, still far from our goals, but to were obligations so hravy, nor the stakes for uphold those principles and practices in the Union and all democratic tortes so high.

Message from John Haynes Holmes

0 one whose service covers the entire fanaticism, to krt and right alike, wllich aims 7r career of the American Civil Liberties its first attack on civil liberties. Union, there is great content in survey Are WC to lose what we have gained? Mmt ing these past thirty years. From such per- all our work bc done over again? Yes, if we spcctive one sees the threats to liberty which have been overcome, the forms of sup pression and oppression which have been removed, and the definite progress which has been made in many directions. The improvement of con- ditions during this period shows that the courageous, patient, persistent, and highly intelligent work of the I ACI,U has not bern in vain. that, in 5011x trl.rnia ot srlf- The Nation and the Union together have pr<~tc.cti~~n, thq bc rlr,t tcl,ilWd to sacrifice learned things which stand firm today as and thn5 forfeit the vrry fret&m indis- safeguards against the loss of what has been pensablc to civilization, so laboriously gained. This is a critical hour for us and the Yet must we be eternally vigilant so that world. Let us hc alert, amid waxing dan- lessons learned at great cost should not now gcrs, to keep unimpaired at home the bless- be forgotten; causes served heroically may ings of liberty and freedom which we would not be ignored nor despised. In this hour, spread abroad for the enlightenment and there comes the current hysteria of fear and liberation of mankind. Foreword

The last previous annual report of the American Civil Liberties Union bore the date of August 1949, and covered the period from mid-1948 to mid-1949. Midway in 1950, the North Koreans crossed the 38th Parallel. T.he usual slack of our summer season disappeared. In its place, there opened a still-continuing period of intense activity during which our small staff has been unprecedentedly burdened with vital emergency tasks. We have had to operate in the faith that our members want us to direct almost all our energies toward currently defending civil liberties, instead of de- voting them to summarizing what has happened and what has been done about it. Experimentally, in late 1949 we began to send a monthly bulletin to the membership, in place of the former quarterly publication. Our membership figures, showing tiny losses and large gains, indicate that it is doing the work of providing information and cultivating interest in and understanding of the heavy burden under which the office is laboring. That burden has been heavier because a new executive director was in- stalled in February, 1950, and-under instructions from the Board-has conducted some experiments in organizational structure and function. Nobody can ever replace Roger Baldwin but he and the executive and clerical staff he had assembled, together with the Board and National Committee, the local ACLU organizations and the general membership, made the task of his successor less difficult (and more pleasant) than could have been expected. For the most part, the present report covers the period from mid-1949 to the end of 1950; in a few instances, the record is carried forward into early 1951. Hereafter, it is our plan to issue an annual report as soon as possible after New Year’s Day, to cover the preceding calendar year. In an attempt to make it more systematically instructive and more widely read, we are experimenting with some changes in arrangement and format; and we should like to have from its readers any suggestions, critical or construc- tive, which may occur to them. Limitations of staff time and printing space make it impossible to include everything, and we need advice on what to put in and what to leave out. Warm thanks are due to the members of the executive and clerical staff, under the guidance of our Public Relations Director, for their yeoman efforts in preparing the materials which constitute the detailed sectionsof the report; and to Mr. Jay Lavenson, an ACLU member in Jenkintown, Pa., for his many hours of.volunteer service in drafting and consultation. 4 “A Free Nation of Free People”

Patrick Murphy Malin Exm~tiue Director, ACLU

~KXGEDY and anxiety always have been inseparable from human existence. Growing knowledge and developing conscience have elimi- nated or reduced some kinds of tragedy and anxiety, but have also intro- duced or accentuated other kinds, Where civilization stands in any particular time and place, in its attempt to provide a higher proportion of people with a higher proportion of their hearts’ desires, is a calculation subject to inadequate comparative information and varied personal judg merit. but, it is probably safe to say that the middle of the twentieth century finds the citizens of the ‘United States, despite all that good luck and good management have done for them, more conscious of tragedy and ansiety than Americans have ever been before. The year 1950 brought a special deepening of their anxiety. The cold w&u turned hot in Korea, and the possibility of World War III-with its threat of unimaginable destrucrion-became, for the first time for many people, a reality. International tension, for the first time for many people, was recognized to present problems which could not be solved quickly or simply, but which might extend indefinitely into the future and esact terrible costs. One of the most serious threatened costs is the curbing of individual freedom in the name of national security. Lincoln posed our problem in his first message to Congress in the feverish and fateful month of March 1861: *‘Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too iueuk to maintain its own existence?” Like all men, separately and corporately, from the beginning, we have an appetite for organization and an appetite for freedom. We want stabil- ity and calm, and we want change and excitement. We want internal order and external protection; we want variety and progress. We do not 5 want weakness and anarchy, but we do not want stagnation and tyranny, either. When our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, they brought forth a specific kind of new nation-“conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal”. That is our glory, and our perplexity. We should like to be perfectly secure as a na- tion, and we should like to be perfectly free as a people. But we cannot be completely satisfied in either desire. All we can do is to try to find the best combination, in each set of circumstances. Security and freedom-that is today’s great challenge. Happily, the concern over national security and the concern over individual freedom sometimes support each other. For example, in 1950 the recognized necessity for unity and high morale at home and of sus- tained and enthusiastic support abroad, accelerated our advance toward effective equality for Negro citizens. And, on the other hand, the preserva- tion of civil liberties-whose existence has too often in the past been taken for granted, and whose dependence on a foundation of national security and public order has too often been ignored-awakened in 1950 their pro- ponents to the danger of the forces of Soviet Communist tyranny, from without and within. But new anxieties in the past year bred imbalance; the result was that the great majority of people characteristically tended at first to succumb emotionally to unbalanced anxiety in the name of patriotism, at the ex- pense of quiet and rational defense of the stern and prosaic duties which a free society owes to itself-free expression and due process and equality before the law. We must, indeed, remind ourselves that treason and revo- lution are real and hateful facts, in the present as in the past; that our government, with the active support of its citizens, should do its utmost to prevent or punish treasonable and revolutionary acts. But, we must also * do the harder job of reminding ourselves that the attempt to prevent or punish treasonable and revolutionary acts frequently steps over its proper boundaries into indiscriminate invasion of civil liberties, and that protec- tion of those liberties demands active allegiance, even in times of crisis. Fortunately, the people and the government of this country come to the present crisis with admirable resources for such active allegiance to civil liberties. From colonial days to World War I, as Nathaniel Weyl recently pointed out in The Battle Against Disloyalty, “the temper of the people [was] to distrust law-enforcement agencies, to confine the power of the state to a bare minimum, and to prefer even revolution to anything smacking of despotism.” From 1920 to.1950, despite the increasing difIi- culty of administering democratically a vast population of unexampled 6 heterogeneity, with a fabulously intricate and dynamic industrial system and an incredibly rapid enlargement of national and international prob- lems, we succeeded-not without dust and heat, but nevertheless con- vincingly-in preserving and retrieving and developing our tradition, notably in equality for labor and racial minorities. Within a month after the outbreak of the Korean conflict, J. Edgar Hoover included these words in his statement concerning the help which citizens could render the FBI: “We are not interested in what a person thinks, but in what he does which undermines our internal security. Hysteria, witch-hunts and vigi- lantes weaken internal security. We can all contribute to it by protecting the innocent as well as by identifying the enemies within our midst.” Drawing on such faith in freedom, the American people are still keep- ing many of their civil liberties in good working order, though eternal vigilance is still the price of liberty, and there is still no ground for com- placency. (For additional description and analysis of achievements and problems, see the May 1951 issue of The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, “Civil Rights in America”.) The courts gen- erally continue to provide victories for equality and due process, even in a number of cases in which the latter is challenged by alleged considera- tions of national security. Legislators at local and state levels, executive officials at local, state and federal levels, private groups, and the people as a whole, continue to reduce measurably the areas of segregation and other forms of discrimination. But Congress continues to block the President’s Civil Rights Program. The President has not yet issued an executive order, like that of 1941, re- quiring fair employment practice in defense industries, and the army lags in obeying its Commander-in-Chief’s order to end discrimination. Wiretapping goes on apace, and state and local police and prosecuting authorities all too often use or countenance brutality or other violations of due process in the treatment of persons charged with crime. Govern- ment authorities and private pressure-groups have been indulging in a new spasm of censorship and suppression of periodicals and books, radio and television programs, plays, motion pictures and other theatrical entertainments. Chiefly, on the debit side for 1950, are the inroads on freedom of ex- pression and due process being made in the name of national security by federal, state and local law-makers and administrators, and in some cases, the courts,+ and by private groups:

*In June 1951 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the conviction of the Communist leaders under the Smith Act. As the decision was handed down when this report was on the press, no discussion of it is carried in this report. Members have received our analysis and statement of our position on the decision, which is available to non-members also. 7 (a) The Internal Security (McCarran) Act of 1950 is the worst de- parture since the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 from the central principle of American law that a man is accountable only for his own illegal acts, not for mere association with personswho hold obnoxious opinions; and establishesa peculiarly frightening precedent for the discriminatory penal- ization of any group which may be unpopular, for considerations far less dangerous than those represented by Communist and Communist-front organizations today. (b) The damage done by Senator McCarthy was somewhat limited by the fairness of ex-Senator Tydings’ sub-committee in investigating his charges. But the House Committee on Un-American Activities-despite considerable improvement in its methods-continues to exact a much higher cost than a free people can afford to pay in terms of reduced due processand free speech,with insignificant gain for national security com- pared with the results of the expert and relatively quiet work of the FBI and other law-enforcement agenciesin ferreting out present and con- tinuing treason of really deadly sorts. (c) The all-embracing federal employment loyalty program has been efficiently, and on the whole, justly administered, granted the conditions imposed on those conducting it. But the vast amounts of money, energy and time spent might better have been saved, or concentrated with greater benefit to the national safety on strengthening security in “sensitive” posi- tions closely affecting the conduct of military affairs or international policy, and improving the work of the law-enforcement agencies in counter- espionage and other related measures. Suspected persons have received inadequate specificationsof charges,inadequate acquaintance with the evi- dence against them or its sources, inadequate opportunity to confront unfavorable witnesses. (d) State and local “loyalty” oath requirements, applicable to teachers and other public employees, fail to catch personsintent on subversive acts, becausethey are already exposing themselves to punishment much more severe than that attached to perjury. These oath requirements deprive society of the services of conscientious civil servants who are opposed to signing a statement whose meaning some administrator must interpret, and whose implication is that a man’s work should satisfy some other test than the honest performance of his duties. (e) There is a growingly inclusive and pervasive social atmosphere of fear and intolerance, stifling the good old American habits of speaking one’s mind, joining the organizations one believes in, and observing the principles of fair hearin,e and of holding a man innocent until he is proved guilty. Guilt by accusation, or-worse-by innuendo, is abroad in the land. 8 National security is not well-served by such “controls”; it is very badly sarved by them. These are truly times that try the souls of men who believe in both national security and individual freedom. It is often necessary to make distasteful choices between risks-in order to find the best combination in each set of circumstances. The ACLU understands completely the need for efforts to guarantee national security. Democracy must meet the threat of acts directed against its safety and its existence, and also see that its strength and security are founded on the freedom of its own people. The Union continues its op- position to totalitarian tyranny of any kind. It defends civil liberties for everybody, even those whose anti-democratic opinions it abhors and op- poses; and, in order to do so, it bars from its governing bodies and staff all who hold such anti-democratic beliefs whether as Communists, Fascists, Ku Kluxers, or as adherents of other totalitar& doctrines. From its vantage-point of its specialization in civil liberties, the Union urges the citizens of this country to do four things: (a) Exercise their own civil liberties-freedom of expression, due process and equality before the law-in matters touching security as well as “ordinary” matters; (b) sup- port other citizens in their exercise of those same civil liberties; (c) see that government officials observe and enforce those rights-among other ways, by supporting the long-appointed but not-yet-functioning President’s (Nimitz) Commission on Internal Security and Individual Rights; and (d) join the American Civil Liberties Union, the one national non-partisan organization simply and solely dedicated to the constant urging of the claims of civil liberties for everybody-in court cases, in representations to administrative officials, in advocacy of or opposition to legislative proposals, and in general education as to how we may remain a free nation of free people. SECURITY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES a IN common with all other loyal citizens, the American Civil Liberties Union is deeply concerned with the question of guarding our country’s national security. While it has no expert @owledge on that question, it strongly approves the prevention and punishment of all subversive acts. But its special task remains what it has always been-to defend individual civil liberties, which are particularly. threatened in a time of international tension. All governmental and private eflorts to guard national security must be carefully tested, to minimize any violations of the fundamental principles of the Bill of Rights. That it is vitally important to determine how “a free people can pro- tect their society from subversive attack . . . without destroying their own liberties” was reafirmed and highlighted by President Truman’s action (January 1951) zn establishing a nine-member Commission on Internai Security and Individual Rights. The Commission will make a study of laws, practices and procedures concerning protection against treason, sabo. tage, espionage and other matters aflecting internal security. It will con- sider the operation of, and need for changes in such measures, including employee loyalty and security programs. On the other hand, it will study the protection of individuals from “unwarranted attacts and from unwar- ranted infringement of their rights and liberties in the name of security.” It is not surprising that the threatening international situation has given rise to a number of measures which, though well-intentioned, carry the threat of drastically curtailing civil liberties. The main types of such measures are analyzed in this report.

A. GENERAL ANTI-SEDITION LEGISLATIVE EFFORTS

1. THE McCARRAN ACT Union when first proposed, and The enactment by Congress of this opposition has become a dedi- cation to its ultimate repeal. the Internal Security Act of 1950 (McCarran Act) represented the (a) Leading Provisions most striking invasion of individual The Act cuts directly athwart the rights since the early days of our Bill of Rights by forcing registra- national history-the greatest threat tion of all “Communist-action” and to general civil liberties since the ‘Communist-front” organizations- Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. It violative of the right of association was vigorously protested by the and expression of opinion-and its 10 provision for emergency detention early 1951 a special bill was passed of persons believed sabotage or es- permitting the entry of “nominal” pionage risks in event of war. Con- members of totalitarian organiza- sidered violative of due process of tions). law is the so-called sedition pro- Aliens who are, or ever have been, vision, penalizing any agreement to members of the Communist Party perform an act which would sub- or any group required to register stantially contribute to the establish- under the Act, were required to be ment here of a foreign-controlled deported. Aliens seeking entry, who totalitarian dictatorship-so vague might join any organization re- as not to give any adequate guid- quired to register, are excludable. ance as to whether or not an indi- Citizens of foreign countries which vidual may be violating it. Require- refuse to accept deportable aliens ments that Communist groups will not be permitted to visit or forced to register must label all liter- immigrate to the U.S.-a step hard- ature, radio and television programs ly conducive to winning friends for as linked with Communist or- democracy. Aliens are denied na- ganizations is an interference with turalization if they were in any of free speech-as ACLU pointed out, the above mentioned categories it has no precedent in American within ten years before the naturali- law. zation petition was filed. Members Although caution called for in- of Communist fronts are denied suring the nation’s safety by exclud- naturalization unless they can over- ing aliens who were real threats, or come a presumption that they do for committing subversive acts, not support the U.S. Constitution. the Act also goes far afield (in deal- And joining a “registered organiza- ing with immigration and natural- tion” within five years after natur- ization) by setting up such restric- alization creates a presumption of tions on entry that immigration and disbelief in the U.S. Constitution the freedom to travel-so inextric- when citizen status was granted, able a part of civil liberties-were and if contrary evidence is not of- made almost impossible for large fered, marks that person for de- numbers of people. In the haste that naturalization. expedited passage of the Act, no The confusion and repression that reasonable criteria for exclusion ACLU and other non-Communist were established. The barring of all opponents of the Act warned would ex-Communists and other ex-totali- result was strikingly shown imme- tarians could actually harm the na- diately after the Act was passed. tion by barring many ardent demo- Many European artists, and others, crats, who, ,having experienced life accused of one-time ties with totali- in a totalitarian state, could assist tarian groups, were detained at greatly in the. fight against it. (In Ellis Island. The procedure of de- 11 tention and questioning created such bad feeling and harassment that the Government was forced temporarily to suspend visas of all foreign visitors until it could draft new rules for their admission. In all, Attorney General McGrath report- ed that 1300 aliens were temporarily detained at, Ellis Island; 19 were held for further investigation, or be- cause they were more than nominal members of a totalitarian party. As part of this roundup, 86 alien Com- munists reported as especially active

in propaganda work were ordered Pirqwrick, S$. Lo& Port-Dirfinrch seized by the government. “What Price Politics?”

(b) Legislative History viding for emergency detention of Heightened tensions, growing out persons in times of war, invasion, or of the Korean War, and the corol- armed insurrection in aid of a for- , lary that a crackdown on domestic eign enemy. While the Kilgore Bill Communists was in order, provoked seemed to have been offered both as Congress into action. Motivated by a political maneuver to defeat the the desire for reprisal, Congress McCarran Bill, and to forestall combined the Mundt-Nixon Bill, emergency detention in the event of which featured broad sedition and war under the President’s war pow- Communist registration sections, ers without the detailed protections with proposals of Sen. Pat McCar- for suspected individuals which it ran dealing with immigration and outlined, the strategy boomeranged. naturalization. The Administration Congress tacked on these proposals introduced special security legisla- to the McCarran Bill, and the legis- tion which devoted itself to protec- lation was adopted by an over- tions against real threats and did whelming margin. President Tru- not substantially endanger free man vetoed the bill, asserting in his speech or association. To focus pub- message, “I cannot approve this leg- lit attention on the danger of the islation, which instead of accom- McCarran Bill, ACLU endorsed the plishing its avowed purpose would Administration’s program as prefer- actually interfere with our liberties able. A group of liberal Senators, and help the Communists against headed by Senator Harley Kilgore, whom the bill was aimed”; despite sought further to block the McCar- the efforts of the Union and 21 ran Bill by introducing a bill pro- other non-Communist organiza- 12 tions, the bill was passed over the dangerous activities engaged in by President’s veto. The Union spies and saboteurs. promptly stated that it planned to To date, the only observable re- aid appropriate test cases of the sult of the Act has been to add to various provisions of the Act to the atmosphere of fear surrounding which it objected, and urged that the expression of opinion, to present there be no “general cancellation Communists with additional op- of free speech or other civil liberties, portunity to exhibit their “martyr- either bv fear of exercising one’s dom”, to give Russia propaganda own rights, or by suppressing rights material, and to force the law en- of others.” Such a test case has not forcement agencies of the federal yet been brought to the attention government to devote much time of the Union. to the irrelevant question of proving that the Communist Party is a Com- Long after the deadline for regis- munist-action organization when tration of Communist organizations they might better be spending their had passed, as predicted by those time protecting the security of the who declared that forced registra- nation by counter espionage and tion was no answer to the Commu- similar activity. nist danger, not a single organiza- A summary and a detailed analy- tion had registered. Indeed, the Communist Party is now presenting sis of this complex piece of legisla- tion-the McCarran Act-is avail- the country with the semantic spec- able. tacle of claiming it is not a Com- munist-action organization, as de- 2. “LITTLE McCARRAN” ACTS fined in the Act. Already there have Long before passage of the Mc- been months of delay while the Carran Act some local communities Communists endeavored, unsuccess- enacted laws designed to curb al- fully, in the courts to halt hearings leged subversive individuals and before the Subversive Activities groups. But coincident with the out- Control Board. Undoubtedly there break of the Korean War, and will be months of hearings before adoption of the McCarran Act, this the Board, with a further possible trend became more pronounced. review by the Circuit Court of Ap- Ordinances flagrantly violative of peals and the United States Su- constitutional rights were enacted preme Court. It may be several by all too many municipalities, y-ears before all the restrictive pro- calling forth not only ACLU’s de- visions of the McCarran Act can be nunciation and exhortation that tested in the courts, thus proving local communities leave control of another contention of foes of the security to the national government, law that it would be used to delay but also a condemnation by Presi- and obfuscate without halting the dent Truman of such local hysteria. 13 The ordinances were of two main a case in which the Union’s South- types: registration and “run them ern California branch aided. (In out of town” statutes. The latter April 1951 an appeals court upheld kind of law, in which Birmingham, the court’s decisions, but based its Ala., Jacksonville, Fla., and Mc- decision on the point that any oral Keesport, Pa., led the way, required or written statement might be used all members of loosely defined against the individual in a criminal Communist organizations to leave prosecution, thus violating the priv- the city within 48 hours after pas- ilege against self incrimination). sage of the ordinance. By November ACLU has offered to assist in tests 1950, lower city and county courts of the Jersey City law, but it has had declared such ordinances un- not been enforced. constitutional, chiefly because they Other diversified types of ordi- violated due process of law. The nances cropped up, such as Miami’s, ordinances requiring registration which was so broad that untrue of members of similarly loosely statements by political candidates defined Communist organizations could be interpreted as a crime. A became popular in as widely sepa- test of this ordinance was begun by rated places as New Rochelle, N.Y., ACLU, which was successful; a Los Angeles, Calif., and Jersey City, preliminary injunction against its N.J. The haste and vagueness which enforcement was obtained. marked passage of these ordinances While these expressions of near- were seen in the latter two cities. hysteria were common, there were The purported purpose of their or- instances where calmer counsel pre- dinances was the denial to members vailed. For example, the Wisconsin of Communist organizations of per- legislature buried bills to register all mits for concealed weapons and ex- Communists and ban their use of plosives, and positions in civilian de- all public buildings. fense plants. Strangely enough these communities, while requiring 3, THE SMITH ACT registration of all members of such The Union continued to voice its organizations, of whom but a tiny opposition to the Smith Act, which fraction of a percent might ever prohibits “teaching or advocacy” of make such application, failed to violent overthrow of the govern- question actual applicants for such ment, under which the 11 Commu- permits or posts as to their aflilia- nist leaders were convicted in Oc- tions. tober 1949. While reiterating its ab- The Los Angeles statute was held horrence of Communist tyranny, it unconstitutional by lower courts for stressed the Act’s penalization of violating due process, free speech opinions-even revolutionary ideas and conflicting with registration -rather than overt acts. provisions of the McCarran Act, in With regard to the contempt cita- 14 tions meted out to the Communist ask whether the gravity of the evil, defense attorneys, after careful in- discounted by its improbability, jus- spection of the trial record, it found tifies such invasion of free speech as no violations of civil liberties. is necessary to avoid the danger, The Union argued its position thus changing the “clear and pres- that the act was unconstitutional in ent danger” test to one of “clear and the absence of a jury finding of probable danger.” He held that in clear and present danger in a the present case, the only question “friend of the court” brief before was “how long a government, hav- the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. ing discovered such a conspiracy, The government replied that ample must wait before finding that a clear proof of danger had been submitted and present danger exists.” He held and the 11 defendants therefore that this test was satisfied by condi- were not suffering illegal restric- tions as they existed when the prose- tions on their freedom of press, cution began in 1948. speech, and assembly. In affirming the conviction, the appeals court 4. HOUSE UN-AMERICAN ruled the law constitutional, offer- ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE ing a new interpretation of the clear While continuing its investiga- and present danger test. Judge tions, the House Un-American Ac- Learned Hand, who wrote the tivities Committee conducted its af- main opinion, held that the phrase fairs with much less of the fanfare “clear and present danger” was not which characterized its earlier a slogan to be automatically applied. probes. This change did not alter In each case, he said, the court must the committee’s practice of ques- tioning witnesses as to their political opinion or association, which the Union continued vigor- ously to protest. The legal test of the committee’s power to elicit informa- tion concerning membership in the Communist Party was lost when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the contempt convictions in the widely-publicized cases of the ten screen writers, who refused to answer such questions during the committee’s 1947 probe of alleged Communist influence in Holly- wood. The Union had requested Herblock, Post-Hall Syndicate permission to file a “friend of the I Asked Yoti To Send Over A Good Rat Trap court” brief in this case on the point 15 that the committee was unconstitu- also applied to congressional in- tionally created because its original quiries. (The Hawaii case dealt mandate, to inquire into propa- with witnesses refusing to answer ganda, violated an individual’s right questions about Communist Party to remain silent as to political beliefs membership in the committee’s in- or afhliations. vestigation probing alleged Com- The issue was complicated by the munist activities in Hawaii. The fact that the court had agreed to re- Washington, D.C. decision came in view the Gerhard Eisler case, in- the cases arising out of espionage volving the same issue, but which inquiries by the House Committee it dismissed when Eisler, an alleged and the special Tydings Committee Soviet agent, fled the country. probing charges of Communism in A new legal challenge to the com- the State Department. In the Wash- mittee was raised by witnesses who ington cases, the judge ruled that invoked the privilege of self-incrim- persons accused would have to stand ination guaranteed under the Fifth trial nevertheless to determine Amendment. (More than 60 per- whether they had validly raised the sons were cited for contempt-not privilege). only for refusing to answer ques- tions concerning Communist afhlia- 5. HOUSE LOBBYING tions, but espionage activity, too- COMMITTEi and most of these used the argu- The House Committee on Lobby- ment against self-incrimination. In ing Activities touched off a con- one of these cases, that of atomic troversy during its investigation scientist Irving David Fox, the when persons representing both left Union supplied counsel). and right wing political extremes The Supreme Court appeared to were cited for contempt for failing support this contention by reversing to produce books and records the unanimously the contempt convic- committee requested in line with its tion of a Denver woman for refus- inquiry. Backed by Supreme Court ing to answer questions concerning action in the case of the Joint Anti- the Communist Party organization Fascist Refugee Committee which, before a federal grand jury, holding in effect, upheld the right of con- she had successfully claimed such gressional committees to obtain answers would violate her privilege such information, the House Com- against self-incrimination. Subse- mittee cited William L. Patterson, quently, the high court also ruled executive secretary of the Commu- that this privilege was applicable nist-led defense agency, the Civil also to witnesses appearing before Rights Congress, and Joseph P. certain government agencies. Two Kamp, executive vice-chairman of federal judges in Hawaii and Wash- the Constitutional Educational ington, D.C. ruled that the privilege League. In another case, Joseph 16 Rumely, executive secretary of the 6. STATE 1NVESTlGATlONS Committee for Constitutional Gov- Following the lead of congres- ernment, was cited for contempt for sional investigating committees, the refusing to reveal the names of Massachusetts legislature last Xu- those persons who had bought liter- ature from his organization. He gust set up a committee to inves- claimed that such an inquiry vio- tigate the Communist Party and lated the right of free speech. The Communist-front groups “actively committee contended, however, that engaged in Communist indoctrina- purchase of books had been a de- tion or in propaganda against” U.S. vice by which Rumely had avoided military efforts in Korea. In No- reporting the names of contributors vember 1950, Michigan voters ap- of $500 or more, as was required by proved a state constitutional amend- the Lobbying Act. The Union did not intervene in ment making subversion a crime any of the cases, deciding the com- and ruling out the protection of free mittee’s requests were relevant to its speech and free press as a defense purpose. argument.

B. SECURITY AND LOYALTY AMONG EMPLOYEES 1. FEDERAL PROGRAM guard security in government em- The challenge-and difficulties- ployment and “protect the Ameri- to achievement of both security and can heritage of civil liberties.” It freedom were sharply etched in the made clear the important differ- government’s personnel security ences between loyalty and security program which continued without programs, as follows: abatement or important revision A loyalty program is one which for the third year. Under the emo- attempts to weed out persons con- tional impact of the international cerning whom there is reasonable crisis, the public and the govern- ground to believe that they may be ment made little distinction be- disloyal, even though their current tween the functioning loyalty and employment may present no danger security programs, whose effects to national security. went far beyond the originally in- A security program is aimed at tended purpose. locating and removing those whose The Union, after careful delibera- presence (through disloyalty or tion of the problem, approved a otherwise), may involve an actual statement which pointed up the risk to the country’s security. Thus, faults of the government’s program an irresponsible person may be and proposed a substitute arrange- classified as a security risk, even ment which it believed would safe- though considered loyal. 17 The Union’s statement empha- tions, and that information “on the sized the designation of “sensitive” nature of each organization should ljositions-posts “closely affectin’g” be kept up-to-date, and should take military affairs or international pol- account of possible changes in its icy-as the chief criteria for opera- nature at various dates during its tion of the security program. It history.” The degree and date of a called for periodic review of these person’s connection with the organ- positions so that the number would ization should also be considered. be limited-to the greatest degree No determination of “unsuitabil- compatible with national security- ity on security grounds” should be and administrative measures de- made without notice of charges, full signed to “minimize access to secur- and fair hearings, careful considera- ity materials by those for whose tion, and reasoned findings.” work they are not essential”. Pro- The Union’s heaviest criticism visions should also be made for the was reserved for the loyalty pro- transfer, where feasible, of persons gram. It urged its termination-in- removed from employment in se- cluding the Attorney General’s list curity positions to “non-security” of 150 organizations-when the pro- jobs. posed security system went into With regard to investigation and effect. hearings on employment in sensi- Its statement declared: “We be- tive positions, the Union’s program lieve that government personnel agreed that “all the evidence” con- security can be assured at much less cerning the applicant’s behavior, cost, and with much less danger to personality, character, opinions and civil liberties, than under the pres- associations, must necessarily be ent program. There are risks in any checked. It stressed, however, the program, security risks and civil lib- weakness of using the Attorney erties risks; but it is .a counsel of General’s “subversive” list as the despair and suicide, for a free so- chief guide concerning organiza- ciety, to urge that large risks to civil tional connections. That the present liberties should always be run, while list contains only six organizations even small security risks should -three still functioning-as being never be run. It should be remem- committed to violent overthrow of bered that, in the three years and a the government; that the other or- half of the loyalty program, search- ganizations are only mildly-if at ing inquiry has been made into the all-related to military and interna- conduct and attitudes of all em- tional policies, and that the list has ployees of the United States govern- been so misused for purposes out- ment, from the highest to the most side the immediate loyalty program, lowly; and that, of the nearly 3,000,- were emphasized. The statement 000 persons subject to the inquiry, urged no public listing of organiza- less than one-twentieth of one per 18 cent have been found to be of or the opinions of someone they doubtful loyalty. On the other hand, know.” it should be remembered that vast Legally, cases testing certain sec- amounts of money and energy and tions of the loyalty order were final- time have been spent, which might ly decided by the U.S. Supreme better have been saved, or concen- Court. One was the Dorothy Bailey trated with greater benefit to the na- case, involving a federal employee tional safety on strengthening secur- in a non-sensitive position dismissed ity in ‘sensitive’ positions and im- under the loyalty program. Miss proving the work of the law- Bailey tested the constitutionality enforcement agencies in the coun- of the government’s failure to ter-espionage and other related allow her the privilege of confronta- measures. Suspected persons have tion and cross-examination of her often received inadequate specifica- accusers. The Supreme Court also tion of charges or inadequate ac- heard argument on the question of quaintance with the evidence whether the Attorney General could against them or its sources, and constitutionally list an organization have usually received no opportun- on his so-called subversive list with- ity to confront unfavorable wit- out a hearing in cases involving the nesses. The omnibus nature of the International Workers Order, the program has invited exaggeration National Council on Soviet-Ameri- of the ‘publicity angle’, and pressure can Friendship, and the Joint .Anti- for ‘results’. Confusion and fear Fascist Refugee Committee. (In have spread through the ranks of May, 1951, the court ruled in the government employees, and highly latter cases that hearings should competent and patriotic men and have been granted. In the Bailey women have left the federal service, case, the court split, 4-4, thus up- or declined to enter it, because of holding the lower court’s ruling unwillingness to work in such an supporting the government.) atmosphere. And, outside the ranks There was established by law a of government employees as well program providing for the sum- as inside, the fine American tradi- mary dismissal, for security reasons, tion of exercising fully the constitu- of any employee of the Department tional right of freedom of expres- of State, Treasury, Commerce and sion and association has been indis- Defense, and the Army, Navy, Air criminately threatened.” Force, Attorney General’s office, Atomic Energy Commission, Na- The statement emphasized that tional Security Resources Board and in line with American history, the National Advisory Committee “judgments about fitness of federal for Aeronautics. Although it con- employees should not be based on tained some objectionable sections the basis of their supposed opinions -lack of cross-examination and 19 scholarship. Such an oath had been required previously from all stu- dents working on even non-secret atomic matter under scholarship grants from the government. Sev- eral months later, the Atomic En- ergy Commission had to reduce drastically its research fellowship program because of the opposition of scientists-fearful of interference Co~r. 1950 The New York? Magazine. Inc. with free research and inquiry- confrontation of accusers-ACLU who refused to submit to loyalty or regarded it as an improvement. security investigations before they The law represented recogni- could work in non-secret fields. tion of individual rights in its pro- Once again, Congress had failed to visions granting a hearing, a pro- recognize the crucial distinction be- tection lacking in the previous law tween security and non-security which only covered the Defense and work. While no Communist or State Departments, and did provide Communist sympathizer should be for transfer to non-sensitive posi- connected with the atomic bomb or tions in other departments, under other atomic weapons, the barring certain conditions of security, but of qualified persons from non-secret, not loyalty, risk. non-military atomic projects-such More stringent security legisla- as the use of radioactive isotopes for tion was enacted in the atomic en- cancer prevention - could conceiv- ergy field spurred on by the disclos- ably delay vitally important scien- ures of atomic espionage. In 1950, tific discoveries. And, as in most when the National Science Founda- cases involving loyalty oaths, the tion was established, the enabling purpose of the oaths-ferreting out legislation originally contained a subversives-was not achieved. To provision requiring FBI investiga- men trained in sabotage and treach- tion and report of every atomic en- ery, the signing of an oath was no ergy scholarship student, whether barrier. The chief result was to he was engaged in secret or non- hamper the activity of loyal Ameri- secret work. Protests by the FBI cans who were unable to do scien- that it never had, and did not now tific research-so dependent on free want, the power to evaluate an in- inquiry-under such political pres- dividual’s security status, forced sures. elimination of this provision. In its place, a non-Communist loyalty 2. THE MCCARTHY CHARGES oath was required from every stu- The whole issue of the loyalty of dent who received a Foundation government personnel was drawn 20 together in the series of sensational punishment for crimes committed; charges of Communist influence in (4) greater restraint in conducting the State Department brought by public hearings involving individu- Sen. Joseph McCarthy. His accusa- als’ loyalty. A minority report, filed tions were marked by their com- by Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge, called plete disregard for fair and orderly the inquiry “inconclusive and super- procedures. Leading American citi- ficial”. Sen. Lodge proposed estab- zens, among them Ambassador lishing a bi-partisan commission “to Philip K. Jessup, Owen Lattimore function under the seal of secrecy” and Dorothy Kenyon (ACLU that would make public its findings Hoard member since 1931), were after the elections (1950). He said assailed by Sen. McCarthy for their it “was not beyond the bounds of alleged Communist activity, sym- -American ingenuity to devise a con- pathy or association. stitutional method relentlessly to The McCarthy charges were in- ferret out disloyalty without doing vestigated by a special Senate sub- injury to innocent individuals or the committee, headed by Sen. Millard whole American people in their re- Tydings, which gave the accused a lations with foreign countries.” fair chance to answer the charges. Sen. McCarthy’s attack on Miss There were disputes, within the Kenyon, an inveterate anti-Commu- Committee and the public, as to the nist, was met by the Union in a extent of the Committee’s investiga- public statement which labeled Sen. tion, the wisdom of disclosing confi- McCarthy’s accusation “unworthy dential FBI files, and other matters of a member of the U.S. Senate.” which involved partisan political It added that McCarthy, without re- feelings. In its final report, the gard for decency, fair play, or regu- committee’s Democratic members lar legal processes “has stooped to cleared all of the accused and rec- some of the lowest depths of preju- ommended : (1) Presidential ap- dice and hysteria to smear the name pointment of a national commission of one of America’s finest women to make a comprehensive study of who has made magnificent contri- the loyalty program in the Federal butions to her country’s standing in Service; (2) Joint Congressional ef- the’ivorld. forts to preserve Congressional im- “McCarthy’s attack proved con- munity without it being a shield to clusively the need for a complete perpetrate injustice and fraud; (3) overhaul of the procedures of Con- study of the question of constitu- gressional investigating committees tional protection against self-incrim- to guarantee that the fundamental ination aimed at a statute to give protections of the Bill of Kights be witnesses “necessary immunity” but accorded to all accused. Govern- not to be a vehicle employed by un- ment by hysteria must not replace scrupulous individuals to escape government by democratic proce- 21 dure. To let it do so would be a Critics of the Attorney General’s fatal step in the world-wide battle subversive list saw in Sen. Mc- we are now waging to preserve and Carthy’s attack further reason for expand the democratic way of life.” revision . of the loyalty program. As the attacks mounted, demands They emphasized that the list, orig- grew for revision or abandonment inally set up only to guide the fed- of congressional immunity, empha- eral loyalty review boards, had far sized by Sen. McCarthy’s failure to outdistanced its original purpose. repeat his statements off the floor of Much of Senator McCarthy’s “evi- Congress, where he is protected dence” was the affiliation of the ac- from libel. Late in the year Sen. cused with organizations on the At- Lester Hunt proposed a constitu- torney General’s list, but no effort tional amendment to repeal immun- was made to show how long ago ity and to enact legislation to make these ties were made, or whether the government liable for untrue de- these had been broken, especially famatory statements made in Con- when the Communist nature of the gress. organization was disclosed. In the The Senate inquiry gave impetus era of the smear, guilt by association to renewed efforts to enact a reso- -no matter how distant-was such- lution of Sen. Lucas, designed to cient. reform congressional investigating procedures by avoiding reckless 3. STATE AND LOCAL charges and injurious publicity, and PROGRAMS giving the accused an ample oppor- The drive for state and local loy- tunity for defense at hearings. While alty and/or security legislation it received encouraging support, it was not so marked in the past year, was put aside by another Senate chiefly because few state legislatures Judiciary sub-committee. were in session. The Union’s state- ment on the government’s loyalty program included a deprecation of “the creation of wholesale security or loyalty programs applicable to state and local employment in the absence of evidence that such em- ployment closely affects the conduct of military affairs and international policy.” Despite the absence of new pro- “He’s a pretty fly customer, Chief-no grams, several tests of existing oath obvious tieups with any of the Commu- nist-front organizations-but we finally laws moved through the courts. The hung it on him. From November, 1944, United States Supreme Court dis- until April, 1946, he was in the State Department.” missed two cases dealing with loy- 22 alty oaths required of Los Angeles, ing as “friend of the court”, was C&f. county- employees-one initi- begun. ated by the Union’s Southern Cali- Ohio announced that applicants fornia branch-on the ground that for unemployment insurance must no employee had as yet. been dis- sign oaths and, surprisingly enough, missed for failing to sign the oath. this was upheld by a lower court. Challenges of New Jersey and An appeal, supported by the Union, Maryland laws which required loy- was taken to a higher court. Simi- alty oaths of all candidates for pub- larly, a lower court in Pittsburgh lic o&e were made with mixed upheld the action of Pennsylvania’s success. The New Jersey Supreme unemployment compensation board Court invalidated one section of a in refusing unemployment insur- state law which would have labeled ance to a person believed to be dis- candidates refusing to sign loyalty loyal. oaths with the ballot notation “re- Still under court consideration are fused oath of allegiance.” Such an other provisions of Maryland’s Ober oath was in conflict with the regular Law covering oaths for public em- oath of allegiance required by the ployees. Several Quakers who re- state constitution it found in a case fused to sign the oath on religious brought by the Progressive Party, grounds have been dismissed. Other and in which the Union filed, in- communities where oaths for public dependently, supporting briefs. employees were required are Kan- Prior to the November elections, the sas City, Kansas, Macon, Ga., Maryland Supreme Court invali- Charleston, W. Va., Norman, Okla- dated one part of the Ober Law re- homa, Cincinnati, Ohio, Trenton, quiring loyalty oaths for those seek- N.J., and Boston, Mass. Seattle, ing federal office, but upheld the Washington, passed a special oath constitutionality of such oaths for for political candidates. state candidates. The U.S. Supreme With the outbreak of the Korean Court refused to advance the case War, states and cities undertook on its calendar so that a decision plans for civil defense programs and could be made before the election- a new area for loyalty oaths was cre- and then dismissed the case after ated. California, late in 1950, enact- election on the ground that it had ed a statute making all state work- become moot. (In April 1951, the ers civilian defense employees and high court upheld the constitution- requiring a loyalty oath from them. ality of oaths for state or city candi- The Union’s Northern California dates foreswearing uct~ of a revo- branch aided in a test case brought lutionary nature). against this law. New York City’s A test of Detroit’s loyalty oath city employees were asked to for city employees, with the Union take a theoretically voluntary and its Michigan affiliate participat- loyalty oath listing past and 23 present membership in organi- sion of loyalty and security pro- zations on the U.S. Attorney grams to private employment. General’s so-called subversive list on The Union’s chief efforts were de- the theory that the employees would voted to obtaining the maximum later be incorporated into the state’s amount of fairness in the proce- civil defense program. The Union’s c!ures designed to safeguard security New York City affiliate, while in private industry where classified agreeing that a security program for information is concerned. Regu- sensitive positions in civilian de- lar contact was maintained with the fense would be perfectly proper, op- Industrial Employment Review posed the all-inclusive oath. A sub- Board, a division of the Defense stitute loyalty oath, contained in the Department’s Munitions Board, federal Civil Defense Act of 1950 which hears appeals in cases where which did not demand a listing of citizens working on defense con- organizational affiliations but re- tracts and having access to classi- c,uired forswearing of present or fied information have been denied future belief in, or membership in, clearance by military authorities. an organization advocating the vio- Under heavy criticism for staffing lent overthrow of the government, the board only with military per- was finally incorporated in the state sonnel, refusing to make hearing law. Several employees who had transcripts available and present its been discharged from New York charges and decisions in writing, City’s Welfare Department for re- and restricting hearings only to fusing to volunteer for civil defense Washington, D.C., the IERB adopt- and sign the original oath were re- ed a new set of procedures, after instated when they signed the nev conferences with ACLU represen- oath and volunteered. A few mem- tatives, which largely eliminated bers of the United Public Workers these troublesome points. Union, charged by Welfare Com- No official figures are available as missioner Raymond Hilliard as to the number of cases brought be- being Communist-dominated, who fore the IERB, but unofficial esti- had been discharged for the same mates are that 10% of the persons reasons, were not rehired. working on government contracts must undergo original investiga- 1. PRIVATE PROGRAMS tions; as the defense program grows this figure will undoubtedly in- Acceleration of mobilization ef- crease. forts, and provisions of the McCar- The Union was also active in ran Act barring proven members clarifying an ambiguous point in of Communist-action organizations the IERB’s regulations, which had from working in defense plants, resulted in the discharge by the brought into sharp focus the exten- Stewart-Warner Company of Chi- 21 cage of five employees for failing of members of the review board, to sign non-Communist loyalty af- composed of labor, industry and fidavits. The company misunder- Coast Guard representatives, for stood a section of the IERB rules, possible prejudices; criteria insur- and believed it was required to de- ing judging of an individual on the mand such statements from all of basis of all evidence rather than dis- its employes, whether or not they qualification because of member- were working on secret material. ship in organizations on the Attor- The IERB has made it clear that ney General’s “subversive” list; private firms are not to issue secur- open or closed hearings (as the sea- ity clearances; this is the function man desired) ; the furnishing of

(Jf the IERB personnel security written charges and findings; and a boards. stenographic transcript of the hear- When, in July 1950, maritime em- ings. ACLU proposals that seamen ployers and unions agreed with the be given the right to confront and Coast Guard to adopt a security cross examine their accusers, the in- checkup program for merchant clusion of at least one lawyer on marine personnel engaged in for- each review board, and designation eign shipping, ACLU also took ac- of the National Appeal Board, tion to insure that fair procedures rather than the Coast Guard, as the would be included. Among the final authority for security clear- rights secured were the challenging ance, were rejected.

C. OTHER THREATS TO FREEDOM OF OPINION 1. GENERAL FREE SPEECH ous precedents of curtailing speech, Parallel with the heightening of were harmful to democracy, and international tension, America’s tra- would present Communists with in- ditional tolerance for minority, even cidents for anti-U.S. propaganda. hateful minority, vie:ws, was placed The bans on meetings and litera- under severe stress. Communist and ture burgeoned after the Korean pro-Communist publications and War began. In New York City last meetings were not under any summer police forbade a so-called blanket ban, but through existing peace rally for fear that it would statutes, quickly devised laws, pri- incite anti-Communists to riot. A vate pressures, and scattered physi- court action, pressed by the Union’s cal violence, restrictions on their ex- New York City Committee, later pressions of opinion multiplied, in resulted in the affirmation of the spite of ACLU warnings that such right to hold such a meeting. In actions were direct interferences Philadelphia a motorist was seized with the principle of free political and held in $20,000 bail for possess- thought that would establish danger- ing so-called subversive literature, 25 In numerous places, several persons 1949. Violence broke out after dem- distributing Communist-sponsored onstrations by veterans’ groups and literature, including the Stockholm before the meeting could begin. Peace Petition, were subjected to Robeson’s sponsors immediately violence, and in some cases, arrest. scheduled another concert for Sep- As these natural responses to tember 4. It was held, but violence Communist aggression spread, erupted again-this time on roads ACLU, in an appeal. to municipal leading away from the meeting officials, expressed its concern over area. the developing pattern of “contempt The designation of George Fa- for constitutional rights”, and urged nelli, Westchester County district that “control of seditious activities attorney, to conduct an inquiry for be left to proper governmental au- a special grand jury impaneled to thorities.” study the riots, was vigorously pro- The Communist newspaper, tested on the ground that his ofFice “The Daily Worker”, was under was under suspicion for failing to fire in several cities. Detroit’s Com- provide adequate police protection mon Council first approved an or- at the first concert. dinance banning the newsstand sale ACLU’s own, independent inves- of “subversive literature”, then en- tigation, supported by five national acted an ordinance closing down non-Communist organizations, one newsstand that defied the act showed clearly that the riots oc- by continuing to sell “The Work- curred because of incitement to dis- er.” In New York, the news- order by the local press, the response dealers’ associa&on sought to end oi organized veterans, and the con- street sales of the same publication. sequently aroused mob spirit of ACLU, through its Detroit and young hoodlums. Behind the New York affiliates, argued, to no avowed anti-Communist feeling of avail, that the First Amendment ap- the community lay certain racial plied “even to thoughts we hate”. In and religious tprejudices. a\uthori- Reading, Pa., police arrested and ties were blamed for failing to fined a Communist for distributing police the area adequately. the “Worker”, but when the case But the special county grand jury was appealed, the fine was returned later disagreed sharply with the and the matter dropped. Union’s conclusions. It blamed the Anti-Communist bias had erupted disorders on local . resentment into violence during the Peekskill against Communism and the mar- riots of 1949. For the benefit of the shalling of a Communist armed Civil Rights Congress, leftist singer guard at the second concert. It im- Paul Robeson scheduled an outdoor plied that state and local police had concert on private property in Cort- taken adequate steps to protect con- landt township, N.Y., -August 27, cert goers. In a reply, ACLU said 26 the jury’s report tended to place re- sion infringed on his political and sponsibility on concert goers rather academic freedom. than on those who committed vio- Refusals to grant meeting places lence, and reiterated its opposition for alleged Communist meetings to the district attorney conducting took place in Portland, Oregon, an inquiry on a matter in which his where the school board turned office was under suspicion. down permits for all groups listed Two college students expounding on the Attorney General’s subver- pro-Communist views ran into diffi- sive list, and in Cincinnati, where culty. In the case of Irving Feiner, Ohio Judge Norval Harris, head of a Syracuse (N.Y.) University stu- a national defense committee for dent, it revealed police-supported the convicted Communist leaders, censorship of unpopular views by was denied accommodations for a private groups. Feiner was arrested protest meeting. In Norman, Okla- in March 1949, as he made a street homa, a cross was burned outside corner speech urging the audience a hall where the Oklahoma Com- to “rise up in arms” and attend munist Party secretary was address- a Progressive Party rally, and ing a meeting. charged with inciting to riot be- cause of audience opposition to his 2. RADIO AND MOVIES abusive remarks about govern- The explosive issueof censorship ment officials, including President burst upon the radio-television in- Truman. With ACLU support, dustry and ignited a new contro- Feiner’s case was carried to the versy-the issue of private pressure U.S. Supreme Court, where a groups exerting their influence to 6-3 decision upheld his conviction force from the air performers with for disorderly conduct. James Za- alleged Communist connections. It richny, a University of Michigan stu- created a new criteria for employ- dent, also was penalized for actively ment, political orthodoxy, which supporting the Progressive Party was accepted by far too many lead- in 1949. After being forbidden to ers in the radio-television field. make political speecheson campus, Touching off a problem still un- Zarichny arranged, and took part resolved was a decision by the Gen- in, a Progressive rally held across eral Foods Corporation to drop a street from the university grounds. actressJean Muir from a TV pro- When Michigan expelled him, Za- gram it sponsored because of a richny filed suit. The U.S. Supreme handful of protests against her Court subsequently declined to re- scheduled appearances.Basis of the view a Michigan Supreme Court protests was Miss Muir’s listing in ruling upholding the university. a privately published pamphlet, ACLU, which supported the former “Red Channels”, which purports to, student, contended that the expul- show Communist connections or leanings of 151 radio and TV offered assistance to T. C. Kirkpat- people. While recognizing that rick, managing editor of Corlnter.- General Foods had fulfilled its con- attack, publisher of “Red Chan- tractual obligations and Miss Muir nels”, when his appearance on a had no constitutional right to ap- NBC interview program was tem- pear on the program, ACLU pro- porarily postponed.I tested the dismissal-made without One network - the American a hearing-as “threatening the fun- Broadcasting Company - fought damental American traditions of against the pressure. It refused to free speech and association . . . and knuckle under to an Illinois Ameri- in the worst possible way violating can Legion demand that Gypsy the spirit of due process and fair Rose Lee be dropped from a TV trial.” program because her name appears The Muir case brought to a head in “Red Channels”. When Miss Lee the general problem of radio-tele- denied Communist leanings, ABC vision blacklisting-the Union had announced she would be retained received several reports of such prac- unless her accusers offered proof of tices by both left and right wing their charges. This they failed to do. forces-and a comprehensive study Efforts were also initiated within was undertaken. Merle Miller, nov- the industry to seek a solution to elist and Union board member, took the problem. A committee, com- charge of the investigation. The posed of radio-TV management, Union made clear that its purpose advertising agency, and performer was not to condemn the right of representatives, was set up to find people to protest, or to seek suppres- /--. -- -\ sion of any publication. But it did ,y=y& reiterate its oposition to the suppres- sion, or attempted suppression, of persons for alleged beliefs or asso- ciations because of listing in private publications. In Newark, N.J., where the school superintendent distributed copies of “Red Channels’:’ to teach- ers as a reference work, ACLU argued that it must not be used to suppress the works of people listed. It also asserted that it should not be banned if it met previously de- termined and recognized standards Herblock, Pm,-Hall Sgndicnfe for school texts established by quali- “I Don’t Need You To Protect Me, fied professional persons. It also Junior.” 28 ways to assure security while at the’ compulsory oaths for all members. same time preserving individual As Guild president, Joseph L. liberties. Mankiewicz had signed a non-Corn- To further emphasize radio’s se- munist oath under the Taft-Hartley curity consciousness, loyalty oaths Act, and he opposed the nine direc- were invoked. Initiated by station tors on grounds that loyalty oaths KFI in Los Angeles-it was chal- should be imposed only by govern- lenged by a Republican woman em- mentai authority. In the dispute ployee as a violation of her prin- Mankiewicz had the support of his ciples-oaths were ordered by CBS .membership. When the nine direc- for all its employees. The other ma- tors sought his recall, members gave jor networks, including NBC and Mankiewicz a resounding vote of ABC, reported they did not require confidence and demanded resigna- loyalty statements of all their em- tion of the board. Near the year’s ployees, but acknowledged the mat- end, Mankiewicz asked Guild mem- ter was under advisement. NBC an- bers to set aside their reservations nounced that all new employees, for against a loyalty oath and to sign it several years, had been required to voluntarily. submit loyalty statements. ACLU had occasion earlier to de- 3. MAGAZINES AND BOOKS nounce censorship by private pres- Both government edict and pri- sure, this time in a case involving vate pressure made inroads on free- Robeson and the TV program “To- dom of printed discussion. In Wash- day With Mrs. Roosevelt”. The left- ington, the Atomic Energy Com- wing singer was scheduled to take mission requested its employees, part in a debate of the Negro’s role contractors and consultants to re- in American politics, but the entire frain from discussing any technical program was cancelled by the pro- information on thermo-nuclear ducers after they had received pri- weapons, even information unclassi- vate protests. In a letter to the fied or previously released. ACLU producers, ACLU deplored the suc- objected to this restriction of opin- cess of pressure groups in suppress- ion, holding that it would deprive ing’ ideas with which they dis- the public of expert views on the agreed, as well as weakening the H-bomb--one of the most impor- principle of hearing all sides of a tant issues of the day. The AEC question in open debate. policy was responsible last spring Hollywood, a community espe- for the burning of 3000 copies of cially sensitive to national trends, “Scientific American’?, a magazine had a dispute of its own concerning which contained a disapproved ar- the question of loyalty oaths. In the ticle on the bomb by Dr. Hans Screen Directors Guild of America Bothe, an AEC contract consultant nine board members demanded and an outstanding university 29 physicist. The AEC gave ACLU a ties involved, has delayed its com- detailed reply, stating that press re- pletion. ports on the magazine’s destruction In several communities, distribu- were inaccurate as the action was tion of Communist or Communist- taken on the grounds that the pub- front literature was banned. lication contained restricted infor- mation and was not due to the new 4. SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES policy. However, it defended the Academic circles continued to be policy on the ground that the pro- a prime target for those groups who hibited statements would be neces-. demand that teachers undergo strict sarily considered authoritative be- loyalty check-ups. The Union, cause of their source, and an- which believes that classroom con- nounced that the ban had been duct and not political belief or as- modified. Since then, no further sociation, is the proper standard for complaints from scientific publica- teacher fitness, carried on its fight tions have been received. against oaths and other measures curbing academic freedom. In Bartlesville, Oklahoma, a The’ issue was crystalized by the “vigilante” citizens committee suc- prolonged fight waged against spe- ceeded in barring from the public cial loyalty oaths by the University library several publications it con- of California faculty members. For sidered subversive. Among them well over a year a group of Univer- were “The Nation”, “The New Re- sity of California faculty members public”, “Soviet Russia Today”, adamantly opposed the signing of “Negro Digest”, and “Consumer loyalty oaths demanded by the Reports”. The group also brought Board of Regents. The dispute, about dismissal of Ruth W. Brown, which created dissension and at- the librarian for 25 years, partly be- tendant bitterness between the Uni- cause of her interest in a YWCA versity and its regents, finally interracial program. This action is boiled down to the issue of whether being tested in the Oklahoma the faculty or the regents (most of courts. whom are non-academicians) had Newspapers in September 1950 the right to make decisions on carried a story alleging that a local teacher qualifications and other es- p American Legion Post in Brookline, sentially academic matters. The Mass. had complained that the pub- ACLU of Northern California ener- lic library had banned the anti- getically supported the teachers. Communist book, “Seeds of Trea- Under a compromise reached in son”, by Victor Lasky and Ralph the spring the regents dropped the DeToledano. ACLU quickly initi- loyalty oath in favor of statements in ated an investigation, but lack of employment contracts disavowing prompt cooperation from the par- Communism. Most of the univer- 30 sity’s 11,000 employees bowed to mosphere, which would interfere this compromise, but a minority with the discussion of controversial stood firmly by its principles. As a issues, an essential in the training result, the regents failed last sum- of youth in democracy. First de- mer to rehire some 157 non-academ- clared unconstitutional by two New ic employees and 18 teachers. Sev- York Supreme Court justices, it was eral b faculty members resigned. upheld as constitutional by two ap- The 18 teachers, who refused to pellate divisions and by the New sign the contractual letters, filed suit York State Court of Appeals. The against the regents seeking to retain Union, joined by .the United Par- their posts. In the meantime, the ents Association, filed briefs against university was forced to drop 48 the law. The case is now before the courses formerly taught by the dis- U.S. Supreme Court. missed teachers. Heads of their de- The question of dismissing teach- partments said they were unable to ers accused of Communist sympa- find qualified personnel for replace- thies became even more immediate ments. Faculty members of many in New York, where the city’s leading colleges and universities school superintendent suspended supported the teachers and gave eight teachers last May for refusing financial aid while the American to say whether they ever had be- Philological Association, the Ameri- longed to the Communist party. can Anthropological Association, One of the eight was also charged and Phi Beta Kappa were among with membership- in the Party. Af- organizations that rallied behind ter lengthy hearings conducted for the faculty. (In April 1951, a Cali- the Board of Education, a trial ex- fornia court invalidated the oath, aminer recommended that the eight saying it was in violation of the be dismissed at once on charges of state constitution. Despite a split insubordination and conduct unbe- within the regents on the advisabil- coming teachers. The Board dis- ity of continuing the fight, the case missed them. In a brief filed with is being appealed to the California the trial examiner, ACLU’s New Supreme Court.) York City Committee and its Com- In New York efforts were con- mittee on Academic Freedom re- tinued to invalidate the Feinberg affirmed the Union’s position on Law, which is intended to bar pur- academic freedom. It declared: “In portedly subversive teachers from measuring the advantages of retain- the public schools. The statute, un- ing unabridged the great American der fire by ACLU since its enact- tradition of intellectual freedom, ment in 1949, had been attacked as against the disadvantages of con- a violation of speech and association tinuing Communists as teachers in and the opening wedge for creating the public schools at this time, we in the schools a “spy hunt” at- find no other course for Americans 31 New Jersey Supreme Court, which ruled it constitutional. A Pittsburgh school teacher, charged by undercover FBI agent Matt Cvetic as a member of the Civil Rights Congress and the Com- munist Party (she denied the latter charge) was dismissed from her job. C JIMMY BUTLER IS A Her case is being pressed in a coun- ty court, and ACLU filed a brief attacking the constitutionality of the law under which she was fired. An investigation to determine the names of employees of San Fran- cisco child care centers, including teachers who had voted against dis- affiliation from the United Public By Permirrion Cofw. 1950 The New Yorker Magazine, 11~~. Workers Union was undertaken by that city’s Board of Education. The to follow than the impressive Amer- United Public Workers Union was ican tradition of judging all per- dropped by the CIO on charges of sons, even Communists, on their being Communist dominated. deeds and actions, not on their an- At Queens (N.Y.) College, stu- ticipated conduct.” dent organizations were disciplined A section of New\ Jersey’s loyalty last spring for defying a college rul- oath law covering teachers was test- ing by inviting one of the suspend- ed in the courts-so far unsuccess- ed New York public school teachers fully. A Union attorney, represent- to address them. The meeting had ing a teacher hired by the Newark been scheduled months before the College of Engineering and then teachers’ trials. ACLU criticized the dismissed for failing to sign the college for failing to uphold free oath, contended that the law was speech and banning the talk, an illegal amendment to the state asserting that it should have ad- constitution, and, moreover, violat- hered to the democratic principle ed both the New Jersey and U.S. of presuming a person innocent un- constitutions by infringing on free til proved guilty. Another instance speechand due process. Since both of interference with discussion on the State Board of Education and the campus was reported at the Uni- the State Commissioner of Educa- versity of Michigan where a debate tion upheld the dismissal and re- between Herbert Phillips, Washing- fused to rule on the constitutionality ton University professor dismissed of the act, the case was carried to the as a Communist, and a Michigan 32 professor, on the subject “Capital- litical afliliations of some of the otli- ism vs. Communism”, was banned. cers .and employees of the corpora- The reason given was that Phillips tion which manufactured the rec- might advocate subversion. ords. No issue was raised as to the One attempt to control reading content of the records themselves, matter for school children was de- nor as to their value in public school feated when the Scarsdale, N.Y. education. Board of,Education rejected the de- mands of a small but vocal resi- 5. LABOR UNIONS dents’ group that books written by The spirited public antagonism alleged Communists be removed toward Communists, and the fear’ from school library shelves. The of subversion-especially in strategic board held that “protection against industries - was demonstrated in subversive influences can best be some labor unions. ACLU ex- achieved by the positive approach pressed concern that the tension of vigorous teaching rather than by would produce unfair procedures in the negative methods of repressive union disciplining of members and censorship.” In several cities, among membership requirements, and as- them Atlanta and Macon, Ga., signed Prof. Philip Taft of Brown Providence, RI., and Milwaukee, University to prepare a preliminary Wis., official publications of the study of this general problem. He Russian government circulating in decided, after a summer-long inves- school libraries and classrooms were tigation, that, a full-scale inquiry banned or destroyed. was not justified at this time. The In Fairlawn, New Jersey, a nurs- ‘basis for this judgment was the ery school was forced to vacate scarcity of information available. premises it leased from the local The ACLU Board of Directors then American Legion post when the lat- approved a’revision of its 1943 re- ter protested the use by the school port on trade union democracy, to of some children’4 phonograph rec- bring it up-to-date, which Prof. ords. The opposition was-based on Clyde Summers of the Buffalo Uni- the political affiliations of some of versity Law School is handling. the performers on the records and Charges were leveled at the CIO that the record company had been National Maritime Union that its declared subversive by the House leaders sought to stifle all political Un-American Activities Committee, opposition-Communist and non- and that one of the songs describing Communist alike-by forcing cer- the building of a city omitted refer- tain members to forfeit membership ence to business groups. In Levit- books, and stripping aliens of union town, N.Y. the local school board membership. This conflict produced ordered other phonograph records several outbreaks of violence be- destroyed because of the alleged po- tween the contesting sides. ACLU’s 33 interest lay in using its influence- problem. The National Labor Rela- often successfully - to guarantee tions Board ordered the union and democratic procedures at the mem- ship owners to discontinue discrim- bership meeting and in seeking to inating in employment against these have books returned so the right to workers, citing the Taft-Hartley’ work would not depend on political Act’s prohibition against such dis- opinion. crimination. When the Korean War began, By a 5-l vote, the U.S. ‘Supreme violence was used by union mem- Court ruled that the non-Commu- bers, in some plants, to express dis- nist affidavit required of union offi- pleasure of fellow workers allegedly cials under the Taft-Hartley Act is Communists or considered sympa- constitutional. ACLU filed a brief thetic to Communism. These inci- in the high court opposing the law. dents arose particularly in indus- It claimed that in &e absence of a trial plants where.workers were af- clear and present danger the oath filiated with the CIO United Auto requirement infringed upon free Workers Union. UAW President speech and thought and that it Walter Reuther promptly informed penalized people without judicial the locals that they must “not trials. participate in unlawful acts”, and called for full adherence to 6. ALIENS democratic practices. In Linden, The heightened concern for na- N-J.3 a UAW union ousted four tional security had its impact on members for circulation of al- aliens and other persons seeking leged Communist propaganda state- entry to the country even before ments against the Korean War out- passage of the McCarran Act. Em- side the plant, on the grounds that .phasis was on barring anyone who such action was detrimental to the had the remotest association with union’s interests. An appeal is being Communists or other totalitarian taken to higher tribunals within the movements, no tmatter what the union by the four defendants. circumstances or how far in the past ACLU will support ‘it on the basis those connections occurred. In the that the circulation of literature is process, individual injustices multi- an individual right, which has no plied, and in foreign lands our na- bearing on. the union’s contractual tion’s position as an advocate of obligations. freedom suffered. The suspension of many anti- One case especially demonstrated Cominunist members of the Na- the unfairness of the immigration tional Union of .Marine Cooks and statutes, the case of Ellen Knauff, Stewards, cut loose by the National German war bride, whose battle CIO as Communist-dominated, pro- against exclusion is now in the sec- vided, a different angle to the same ond year. Mrs. Knauff was held by 34 the Justice Department to be a California branch of ACLU, an- “poor security risk” and denied en- other war bride, Mrs. Valentina try, without a hearing at which she Ivanova Gardner, was ‘admitted af- could learn the charges and defend ter a long joust with immigration herself. The Department protested authorities. Through her misunder- that naming of her accuser would standing of a question at her first endanger his safety and jeopardize hearing, she implied support of the the operation of the Government’s “tenets and principles” of the Soviet counter-espionage network. After Government and was denied entry. the Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision In custody for 13 months, she was in her case, ruled that aliens could finally freed on bond provided by be barred without hearings, and the ACLU. Only after two hear- solely on the basis of the Attorney ings and a habeas corpus court pro- General’s findings, the scene shifted ceeding did the immigration service to Congress where efforts to pass reverse itself and allow her entry. a special bill allowing Mrs. Knauff Restrictions on aliens seeking en- entry were begun. A House Judi- try to the U.S. were also applied to ciary Committee, which held hear- American citizens seeking visas for ings, quickly cleared Mrs. Knauff travel abroad, whose political views and the bill was approved by the were considered “prejudicial to the full House. Senate action was interests of the U.S.” In this category stymied by the Senate Judiciary was included Paul Robeson, whose Committee. Late in the year, the visa request to travel and attend a “New York Post” disclosed that Communist-sponsored peace confer- Mrs. KnaufI’s sole accuser had been ence in Europe was turned down. discovered, that he was safe in the U.S. and would testify that he had never known Mrs. Knauff. Mrs. Knauff was finally released from Ellis Island in the custody of her husband and counsel, and the Attorney General promised to re- view the case again. (A hearing was held in March 1951, but the immi- gration hearing board again judged her a “poor security risk” and ‘re- fused her entry. ACLU attorneys are now studying the records to ascertain whether Mrs. Knauff re- ceived a fair hearing.) Herblock, PortHall Sydicats To the credit of the Northern “You Mean Not Use The Axe At All?” 35 7. CONSCIENTIOUS Congress to provide for a common OB]ECTION defense and insure the survival of The conflict between religious the nation.” ACLU’s brief, arguing principles and demands for military against the existence of a clear and service produced a series of court present danger, declared that when cases testing the Selective Service Dr. Warren advised his stepson not law. to register the boy was not of draft The U.S. Supreme Court, by a age-he later registered-and that 4-4 vote, upheld an l&month sen- the government had violated a con- tence imposed on Larry Gara, dean fidential parent-child relationship. , of men at an Ohio Mennonite Col- The U.S. Supreme Court refused to lege for violation of the draft law. review the conviction. Gara was convicted for advising a Another conscientious objector’s divinity student, who had just been case was closed in the winter of arrested for refusing to register, to 1950 when the U.S. Supreme Court remain true to his principles. The refused to review the 1947 convic- Union, which generally does not tion of 21 men for a wartime “work oppose government action against strike” at the Glendora, Calif., ci- those advising non-registration, did vilian public service camp. The oppose this conviction in an appeals Southern California branch of court brief. It claimed Gara’s free- ACLU had supported the 21 defen- dom of speech was violated because dants’ views that they were victims there was no clear and present dan- of involuntary servitude. ger of any evil resulting from his advice. One victory for a conscientious The same argument was raised in objector was recorded when the Su- the case of Kansas physician Dr. preme Court ruled that Martin Wirt A. Warren, who had advised Cohnstaedt, a German alien pacifist, his stepson not to. register for the could be naturalized although he re- draft, and received a two-year sen- fused to agree to non-combatant tence. He acted as a religious paci- military service in wartime. Sup- fist. In upholding his conviction in porting Cohnstaedt, the Union con- late 1949, a U.S. Circuit Court ruled tended that conscientious objectors that “freedom of speech and reli- should be eligible for citizenship gion guaranteed by the constitution since the law exempts such persons cannot interfere with the power of from all service. D. OTHER THREATS TO DUE PROCESS OF LAW 1. WIRETAPPING . diminished. Its practice was high- The government’s use of wire- lighted in the Judith Coplon case tapping to obtain information relat- in which the government worker ing to alleged espionage was un- was charged with taking secret gov- 36 ernment documents for transference has appealed the decision to the Su- to a Soviet agent. preme Court. The Union regards wiretapping as an invasion of individual privacy 2. BAIL CASES and a violation of the Federal Com- The government’s campaign munications Act. It joined with against alleged subversion also Americans for Democratic Action raised the question of whether Com- in urging an investigation by the munists or alleged Communists con- Senate Judiciary Committee into victed of crimes were entitled to the extent of federal wiretapping. bail, pending their appeals. In two This was based on the disclosures cases the right to bail, even for Com- in the Coplon case that not only all munists, was reaffirmed. memoranda relating to wiretapping The San Francisco Circuit Court had been intentionally destroyed, of Appeals reversed a decision of a but such fundamental rights as federal district court denying labor confidential communications be- leader Harry Bridges bail, pending tween attorney and client, husband his appeal from a perjury conviction and wife, and etc., seemd to be jeop- concerning alleged membership in ardized. This request proved fruit- the Communist Party. The lower . less. Attorney General J. Howard court termed him a menace to na- , McGrath was urged to take action tional security. The Circuit Court against FBI agents for allegedly held there was a substantial ques- misleading the court on use of wire- tion of law to be reviewed, and said taps in this case, but the Justice De- the jailing of Bridges “is as startling partment denied that such practices as it is novel. . . . A Bridges singled were used. out and jailed by arbitrary judicial This point was argued again by action while he is prosecuting with the Union in a “friend of the court” diligence his good-faith appeal poses brief when Miss Coplon moved to our minds a more serious menace for a new trial on her first convic- to the nation and its ins-titutions tion in a Washington, D.C. federal than does a Bridges at large on district court. The motion was de- bail in accordance with the estab- nied. The New York Circuit Court lished rules of law.” The Northern of Appeals reversed Miss Coplon’s California branch of ACLU had second conviction, holding that the filed a brief as friend of the court Government had failed to show in support of Bridges’ bail defense. conclusively that its evidence Similarly, U.S. Supreme Court stemmed from sources other than Justice Jackson admitted the 11 con- illegal wiretaps and her arrest with- victed Communist leaders to bail, . out a warrant invalidated the evi- after the New York Circuit Court ,dence against her. The case was sent of Appeals had met the govern- back for retrial, but the government ment’s plea for revocation of the 37 bail. The government argued that of penalizing obstructive picketing no substantial question of law of courts, with three votes in favor was to be reviewed in the of the Union’s taking no position appeal and the Communist lead- on the issue. While agreeing that ers’ continued freedom menaced se- the provision punishing picketing curity. Justice Jackson’s opinion sup- with mere intent to influence, as ported the contentions of the Union, contrasted with intent to obstruct, which had protested the govern- should be removed, the Board then ment’s action, that the government agreed that the Union should give had -admitted the Supreme Court its support to the Senate bill, be- would have to decide on the consti- cause coercive picketing of courts tutionally of the Smith Act, and tends to run counter to due process there was no evidence that the Com- of law for litigants whose cases munist leaders were continuing the should be decided solely by law advocacy for which they were con- rather than coercion. (The McCar- victed. ran Act includes a section banning Regarding the allegedly danger- picketing of courts). ous Communist activities, Justice Jackson said they consisted chiefly 4. GRAND JURIES of articles in the “Daily Worker” or On the rights of Communists to speeches, adding: “If the govern- serve as Grand Jurors (following , ment cannot get at these utterances the dismissal of a member of the by direct action, it is hard to see March 1950 Grand Jury panel by a how courts can justifiably reach and Pittsburgh, Pa. judge, because of al- stop them by indirection.” leged membership in the Commu- Following this decision, the gov- nist Party), the Union adopted the ernment did not appeal the decision following statement: granting bail to Bridges. “Although no person has a right to be a grand juror, no one should 3. PICKETING OF COURTS be excluded from that privilege be- The Union’s Board of Directors cause ,of discrimination on political twice divided almost evenly on the grounds. Such discrimination estab- question of whether to endorse two lishes a bad precedent. Further- bills in the Congress prohibiting the more, indictments handed down by picketing of federal courts. Because a grand jury from which Commu- of the closeness of the vote, the nists have been excluded, might be question was then referred to the invalidated; they would certainly be members of the corporation who invalidated if handed down against voted 34-24 to endorse the principle Communists.”

38 THE FIRST FREEDOM

DENIALS of or interference with free expression were prevalent in many instances where national security,was not an issue. And oficials and courts, except where movie censorship was concerned, appeared more willing to uphold this f ree d om when it was not related to the Communist problem.

* I %

A. GENERAL FREE EXPRESSION A new tangent to the problem of minds as they would like. A Fed- maintaining free speech-the right eral District Court in Washington of silence-developed over the issue refused to rescind the permission, of radio broadcaststo “captive audi- and appeal was taken to the Wash- ences” in public conveyances. It ington, D.C. Circuit Court of Ap- threatens to become a major prob- peals. lem if the use of this newest adver- The right of free speech was vig- tising device increases. The test orously defended in the 1950politi- arose in Washington, D.C. where cal campaign when John L. Lewis, the D.C. Public Utilities Commis- president of the United Mine Work- sion had granted the Capitol T’ran- ers Union, warned that an appear- sit Company permission to broad- ance by Sen. Robert A. Taft in ,cast music, advertising, and so-called Ohio coal mines to make political public service anno’uncements in speechesmight result in masswalk- busesand streetcars. In a legal test outs. The Union publicly deplored brdught by two Washington law- such a threat, terming it suppression yers, the Union, in a supporting and censorship.Lewis was informed brief, declared that such broadcasts that just as workers’ rights not to violated free speechby denying rid- listen to political remarks must be ers the freedom not to listen, and protected, so must Sen. Taft’s right due processby depriving personsof to make a political addressremain the liberty to use their conscious inviolate.

B. LABOR The prdtection of peaceful picket- Union in Washington, the court ing in labor matters as an expres- held that peaceful picketing for a sion of free speech, established by purpose condemned as illegal by a Supreme Court decisions, was state law or court could be prohib- weakened by a new ruling of the ited. Its effect - establishment of high court. In a case concerning an more restrictive criteria for picket- AFL Building Service Employees ving-was seen in the National La- 39 bor Relations Board’s application of legedly severely disciplined for mak- this viewpoint. This agency ruled in ing critical remarks about Lewis two cases where picketing had been and the UMW’s operations. An on- conducted allegedly to force em- the-scene ACLU investigation dis- ployment of only union workers proved, to a large degree, these that the Taft-Hartley Act forbids charges. It found that a misunder- such activity and thus the picketing standing between the local union was illegal. and Dickmon, as to.how the latter’s Sharp criticism was leveled at apology for a false statement was John L. Lewis when Joe Dickmon, to be made, was the sole cause for a miner from Library, Pa., was al- his failure to regain employment.

C. CENSORSHIP 1. M0VZE.s preme Court subsequently declined Efforts to halt censorship of films to review the decision. by state and local agencies and pri- In its brief, the Union argued that vate pressure groups comprised a the First Amendment was broad major part of the Union’s activity. enough to cover “the media of com- Through legal briefs, written pro- munication w,hich the technology of tests and other educational steps, its our age has developed.” And for afFtliate, the National Council on this reason, the free press guar- Freedom From Censorship, sought antees of the First Amendment tc establish the principle that films must be extended to motion pic- were entitled to the free speech tures. guarantees of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court also refuged The leading court battle of 1950 to review a somewhat similar case surrounded the film, “Lost Boun- against the Memphis, Tenn. Censor daries”. Dealing with a Negro fam- Board for banning the film “Cur- ily, which passed the color line in ley ” because it showed white and New England, the picture was Negro children playing together. A banned in Atlanta on grounds that clear-cut ruling on the constitution- it would “‘adversely affect the peace, a!ity of state and municipal censor morals and good order” of that city. boards had been lacking in lower With the Union’s active coopera- court hearings of this case since it tion, the producer and distributor was decided on a technicality. of “Lost Boundaries’? brought suit Hope for eventual elimination of against the Atlanta censor board in censorship, operative in seven states the Federal District Court. That and over 90 cities, must rest on a court, and the New Orleans US. Supreme Court decision *which will Circuit Court of Appeals, upheld overturn a 1915 ruling by that court the censor board and the U.S. SU- which said movies are simply enter- 40 tainment and not entitled to con- Europe” to eliminate references to stitutional protection against censor- police brutality and to illegal activ- ship. The lower tribunals still abide ities by European orphans. Oppo- by that decision, although the high sition was also registered to at- court itself indicated in 1948 it is no tempts to prohibit showings in Syra- longer considered valid. cuse, N.Y. and New York City of Late in the year, a Texas exhibitor “The Birth of a Nation” for alleged was actually arrested and convicted racial bias. Charges of anti-Semitism for showing a banned film, “Pinky”, in “Oliver Twist” were believed re- and it is hoped that in this case the sponsible for the.original refusal of high court will finally decide this MPA to approve that movie-an ac- crucial censorship point. tion that in effect barred showing The Pennsylvania censor board in most U.S. theaters. The Union sought to extend its power into tele- chided MPA for undertaking cen- vision by censoring movies offered sorship powers it has asserted by TV stations in Pittsburgh, Phila- should be barred to the states, and delphia, and Lancaster. The stations stressed that the public must be the started a test case and were upheld final judge of whether films are by the Philadelphia U.S. Circuit good or bad. Finally the film was Court of Appeals, which said TV approved, but only after some of the broadcasting is interstate commerce scenes featuring the objectionable and its regulation pre-empted by character, Fagin, were deleted. Congress. A review of the case by the Supreme Court has been asked. 2. RADIO (That court in early 1951, refused Hearings before the Federal Com- to overturn the circuit court deci- munications Commission were con- sion.) cluded on the hotly-contested issue Protests were issued against scat- of whether radio magnate G. A. tered bans on “Stromboli’‘-because Richards was fit to retain his license of the personal conduct of its star for stations KMPC, Los Angeles, and producer, Ingrid Bergman and WJR, Detroit, and WGAR, Cleve- Roberto Rossellini - and “The Bi- land. Richards was under fire cycle Thief”-a prize-winning Ital- for allegedly ordering his news ian film denied approval’ by the staff at KMPC to slant and Motion Picture Association of falsify news against President America unless two scenes were de- Roosevelt and his family, and leted. The latter film had a few Democrats and Jews. Despite a 20- minor scenes cut in Baltimore, Md., month-old charge of bias by the but the ban in Portland, Oregon Hollywood Radio News Club, the was revoked by a city court. ACLU FCC failed to hold hearings. Fin- also decried scene-cutting by Ohio ally, after concerted efforts by inter- censors in the film “It Happened In ested groups, in which ACLU 41 joined, hearings were ordered. The Union asserted that if charges against Richards were true they “were seemingly in violation of the public interest clause of the Com- munications Act as well as the Com- mission’s Mayflower decision.” The latter calls for presentation of both sides of controversial questions. -- 3. PUBLICATIONS New York Timer Book Review Section Attempted book suppression hid dence, R.I., a committee of pri- mixed results. In Pennsylvania, vate citizens was appointed by the James T. Farrell’s “Studs Lonigan” Mayor to rid newsstands of “objec- trilogy and “A World I Never tionable” comics. New London, Made”, William Faulkner’s “Sanc- Conn. reported unsuccessful at- tuary” and “Wild Palms”, Erskine tempts to eliminate comic books by Caldwell’s “God’s Little Acre”, a group of Protestant ministers and Calder Willingham’s “End As A the state police. The theory that Man”, and Harold Robbins’ “Never juvenile delinquency can be traced Love A Stranger” were cleared. chiefly to publication of crime com- Judge Curtis Bok’s decision in the ics was disputed by a survey con- _ lower court was hailed because it ducted by the Senate Crime Investi- applied for the first time the rule gating Committee among 65 public that a book could not be labeled as officials. The consensus of the ex- obscene unless there was a clear and perts, which included FBI director present danger of some crime re- J. Edgar Hoover, was that there was sulting from it. The Pennsylvania no direct connection. Miss Kath- Superior Court, an intermediate ap- erine Lenroot, chief of the Chil- pellate court, apparently approved dren’s Bureau of the Federal Secur- this test. However, no mention was ity Agency, called attention to the made of it by the state Supreme voluntary code of ethics to which 14 Court which a&rmed the decision of the 34 publishers of comic books clearing the books. now subscribe. “God’s Little Acre” did not fare For the third year “The Nation” as well in Massachusetts, where the was banned from the New York Supreme Court declared it “obscene, City school libraries despite repeated indecent and impure” and denied protests by ACLU and the maga- that such labeling violated free press zine’s publishers. The ban was in- guarantees. stituted because of a series of articles There were scattered reports of considered anti-Catholic, and was censorship of comic books. In Provi- continued apparently on grounds 42 that the publication supposedly ridi- ald, publishers of. a calendar with culed religious beliefs. The Union nudist photos. The Post Office also took issue with school authorities proceeded under this law against for failing to promote democracy by the makers of colored nude “art” encouraging the fullest freedom of slides .and against the French pub- speech. A companion case-a tax- lication “NUS”. A compromise was payer’s suit to remove Charles reached in the latter case. The Dickens’ “Oliver Twist” and Nature1 Herald case is still pending. Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of And a’year after hearings were con- Venice” from New York public cluded, no decision was forthcom- schools for their alleged anti-semit- ing over the issue of mail distribu- ism-ended in defeat for the pro- tion of “Sunshine and Heaith”, a ponents of such action. The suit, nudist publication. supported by the Union’s Commit- tee on Academic Freedom, was dis- An ironic touch was provided in missed by a New York Supreme the Post Office’s action against Court. “Love and Death” by C. Legman- a study of censorship. Though the In Louisiana, the state legislature,’ book had received generally favor- right of newspapers to criticize and- able reviews, the Post Ofice ap- after stormy hearings, affirmed the parently thought it obscene .because comment. A “New Orleans Item” of the presence of a, few pbjection- editorial had termed the legislators able four-letter words,. ACLU has “a rubber .stamp” group with as requested reconsideration. * much independence as “trained seals”. At the height of the contro- ACLU’s disputes with Post Office versy a state senate committee con- censorship were cited by the P.O. as sidered citing the paper’s publisher one justification for its requested in- and managing editor for contempt, crease in appropriations. but finally decided against such ac- On the legal front, the U.S. SU- tion. preme Court overturned by unani-. mous decision, the conviction of 4. THE MAILS JesseSinclair, a Pennsylvanian sen- Censorship by the Post Ofhce De- tenced to jail for one year for send- partment against what it considered ing his wife an allegedly obscene obscene publications took an up- letter through the mails. ACLU’s ward swing. A new law permitting brief in support of Sinclair asserted the Post Office to return all mail ad- that the letter was a non-obscene, dressed to any organization, any confidential communication, which part of whose business was found he had a right to send under his by it to be obscene; resulted in pro- constitutional guarantee of free ceedings against the Nature1 Her- speech. 43 D. RELIGION

Disputes over the application of Rhode Island legislature for a re- the constitutional principle of sepa- leased time progiam led to a gov- ration of church and state continued ernor’s commission of inquiry,, . to receive a good part of the Union’s which concluded no action was attention. necessary at this time. Although the historic Supreme The Supreme Court refused to act Court 1948 decision in the McCol- in the case of Hamportzoon Choo- ,lurn case-denying use of public lokian, an immigrant who re- school property for religious classes nounced his American citizenship -had blocked efforts to utilize pub- and returned to Soviet Armenia in lic schools for religious education, 1947, and sought unsuccessfully to other facets of the same problem -regain custody of his three youngest still exist. children, who had been placed in ACLU’s New’ York City Com- New York Catholic Institutions mittee and its Committee on Aca- during an illness of their moth- demic Freedom joined in a court test er. The institutions had argued of New York City’s public school ‘that the children’s spiritual welfare released time program under which - would not benefit from residence in students, at the request of parents, the Soviet Union. Two New York are excused’ from regular classes an state courts refused to order the chil- hour each week’ for religious in- dren released and an appeal failed Itruction off school property. In when the U.S. Supreme Court de- their brieE to a state appellate court, clined to review the case. The the Union affiliate declared that the Union had argued that Choolokian New York program was a clear was entitled to maintain the in- violation of the separation of church tegrity of his family, to move at and state principle. (The court, in will, and to decide under what re- early 1951, dividing 3-2, held the ligious beliefs his children should be program constitutional. A’ minor- reared. Another court action was be- ity opinion contended that it is gun by Protestant’ groups to have “void in that it is integrated with the children transferred to private the state’s compulsory education sys- homes or to a Protestant institution tem, which assists the program of which would give religious instruc- religious instruction carried on by tions more nearly approximating separate religious sects” - a view that approved by their father. propounded by ACLU.. The close- On the legislative front, the ness of the court decision gave rise churc.h-state principle was the cen- to hopes that the ruling could be tral‘ point around which debate reversed on an appeal to the state raged over a bill to provide federal Court of Appeals.) Pressure on the aid to education. Touched off in the 44 summer of 1949 by Cardinal Spell- a halt to practices under which pub- man’s criticism of Mrs. Roosevelt lic school classes were held in paro- for her opposition to use of federal chial schools, sectarian doctrines funds, for private or parochial were taught in public school classes, schools, it reached its height in and free textbooks and bus transpor- the House Education Committee, tation were made available to paro- which failed to act, chiefly because chial schools. In addition, 139 of the split on the religious issue. priests, brothers and sisters were dis- Another attempt to settle the ques- qualified from further teaching in tion, by providing that states could the public schools because they had spend federal funds in the same taught sectarian doctrines in their manner as state monies ‘were allo- classes. The Free Schools Cqmmit- cated to schools, failed to win s&i- tee of Dixon, N.M., originators of cient House committee support. the test suit, appealed to the state When Cardinal Spellman assailed Supreme Court to reverse a part of Mrs. Roosevelt as “anti-Catholic”, the lower court’s decision which re- the Union, long in favor of com- fused to bar all members of Roman plete separation of church and state, Catholic religious , orders (priests, issued a statement declaring that brothers and sisters) from public the prelate confused support of ‘that school teaching, and to forbid the principle with religious discrimina- wearing of religious garb by public tion. Public tempers were calmed school teachers. ACLU filed a brief when the Cardinal apologized for in this appeal, reiterating its opposi- his remarks and Mrs. Roosevelt as- tion to the wearing of religious garb serted that some federal aid for by public school teachers, but ap- auxiliary needs was proper for paro- proving members of religious orders chial or private schools. in such teaching posts so long as The use of public funds for trans- they did not act to indoctrinate portation of parochial school stu- pupils with their religious views. dents remained a controversial ques- Last fall the Linn, Missouri, tion. In Massachusetts, efforts to school board voted not to rehire hold a referendum on this point Catholic nuns as public school have been stymied by a statute and teachers. a section of the state constitution. A taxpayers’ suit challenged New Both Wisconsin and Iowa legisla- Jersey’s law providing for recital of tures voted against use of public the Lord’s Prayer and for brief Old buses for this purpose, and Wash- Testament readings in the public ington’s state Supreme Court held schools. The plaintiffs charged that such aid unconstitutional. the act was a clear violation of the The issue :of church-state separa- First and 14th Amendments, but tion arose in another form in New the action was denied by the New Mexico where a state court ordered Jersey Supreme Court.. In Illinois, 45 the state Supreme Court upheld the the power to regulate the observance right of parents to educate their of Sunday “as a civil and political children at home, in the case of a institution”. (The U.S. Supreme Seventh Day Adventist couple who Court refused to review the case). refused to violate their religious ACLU’s New York City Civil principles by sending their daughter Liberties Committee was successful to a public school. in an importantfree speech test case before the Supreme Court. It suc- Late in the year the New York cessfully defended Carl Jacob Kunz, state Court of Appeals ruled against a minister, who had been refused a two kosher meat dealers who had permit to preach at religious street been fined $10 each in 1949 for sell- meetings because in the past he had ing merchandise on Sundays. Join- used such meetings to ridicule and ing the American Jewish Congress, denounce the beliefs of others. The which brought a test’case for the de- high court held that whether or not fendants-Sam Friedman and Sam Kunz could have been punished for Praska- ACLU charged that the certain of his statements, his convic- state’s Sunday law impinged on re- tion must fall because the ordinance ligious freedom and tended to place gave an administrative official dis- “a premium on conformity and a cretionary power to control in ad- penalty on the expression and prac- vance the right of citizens to speak tice of minority religious beliefs.” publicly on religious matters with- The court, however, disregarded out any appropriate standard to this view, stating the legislature had guide his action.

DUE PROCESS 0.F LAW

OBSERVANCE of the due process of law, a major support of our civil liberties structure, was under greatest pressure in cases aflecting national security. But there were numerous instances arising in non-security areas which demonstrated the need for constant vigilance to .check government agencies, who, too often-especially where racial minorities are concerned -do not honor this fundamental liberty. + * u; A. WIRETAPPING A suit was begun by the Union’s city funds for the purpose of install- Southern California branch restrain- ing and/or maintaining dictagraph ing Los Angeles Police Chief Wil- equipment in Los Angeles homes. liam A. Wortan from expending The complaint, filed by ACLU 46 counsel A. L. Wirin, declared that the question of whether evidence the practice - unknown to those illegally obtained by wiretapping subjected to this invasion of privacy could be used against a defendant -was based on a California statute, in a state criminal prosecution which .he charged was unconstitu- proved fruitless when the prostitu- tional. The police use of wiretap- tion conviction of Nancy Choremi ping was brought to light during was reversed by the New York 1949 local investigations and trials, Court of Appeals, not for wiretap which involved gambler Mickey violations, but on the ground of in- Cohen. sufficient evidence.

The United States Supreme Court New York State’s vagrancy law refused to review the decision of a came under fire, sparked by Acting special three-judge federal statutory Mayor Impellitteri’s 1950 election- court which dismissed a suit, eve order to round up alleged thugs brought by the New York Criminal and hoodlums in New York City to Courts Bar Association, testing the prevent Election Day disorders. The validity of the State’s constitutional Union’s New York City Commit- amendment permitting court-au- tee and a group of distinguished thorized wiretapping. The- suit had citizens protested this abuse of been dismissed on the technical vagrancy laws, which resulted in ground that the plaintiffs had not the arrest of 652 persons who had shown that their wires had actually never committed crimes or who had been tapped. Another hope of get- paid their debt to society for com- ting the Supreme Court to rule on mitting them. It was later revealed that 152 of those arrested pleaded guilty; of the 500 who pleaded in- nocent, only three were convicted. These shocking statistics moved the New York Committee - citing a 1935 New York state Law Review Commission doubting the law’s constitutionality-to .demand repeal of the state vagrancy statute. With the knowledge of the ACLU affili- ate, a private $50,000 damage suit was started by one of the victims of the so-called hoodlum roundup, who is gainfully employed. The suit is directed at Mayor Impellitteri, Pitzpatrick, k. &wis Port-Dirfiatch Police Commissioner Thomas Mur- “Totalitarian Bird Roosting in America.” phy and the arresting officer. 47 B. FAIR TRIAL The case of the “Trenton Six”, Although the New Jersey Supreme exploited by a Communist-led de- Court ordered a new trial on the fense agency as a racial attack on grounds of a technical error in the Negroes, dragged into its third year. verdict, the Union’s contentions The six youths, convicted for mur- were also prominently cited in the der of a second-hand shopkeeper, court’s opinion. are now receiving the new trial ordered by the New Jersey Supreme The case of the four Idaho lndian ‘Court in 1949, but only after months youths sentenced to a 1-14 year jail of wrangling between defense at- sentence for the theft of a sheep- torneys and the original trial judge, later returned to its owner-drew C. I’. Hutchison. Through the inter- national attention. The judge in the vention of a new committee, most- case had specifically failed to advise ly professors at Princeton University the youths, who were toasting the i and Princeton Theological Semi- birth of a son to one of the group, r,ary, the original group of defense of their right to counsel. The Union attorneys and the Civil Rights Con- was preparing ,to enter the case on gress finally withdrew from the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, case. The Princeton committee but the June 1950 victory of attorney hired Arthur Garfield Hays to act Felix S. Cohen-acting for the As- as defense counsel for three of the sociation on American Indian Af- men, and the National Association fairs-in the Idaho Supreme Court, for the Advancement of Colored made such action unnecessary. The’ People undertook defense of the court ordered a new trial, btit the other three. The Union continues state of Idaho has apparently to observe the case to insure that the dropped its case against the young men are given a fair trial. Indians. When the first issue arose in 1948 The ACLU’s Chicago Division the Union examined the record and protested the order of the Illinois found no evidence of racial preju- Commerce Commission allowing dice, although considerable of ex- discontinuance of telephone service torted confessions. When the first to “bookies” or other subscribers trial was appealed to the state’s who use the facility for illegal pur- highest court, the Union argued for poses. Asserting its opposition to a new trial on the basis of extorted gambling, the ACLU affiliate op- confessions and the denial to the de- posed the ruling for its failure to fense of the right to examine the provide a hearing before the service murder weapon for finger prints. was discontinued. 48 C. PUNISHMENT Two extradition cases concern- Since then, the case was lost in the ing Negroes became enmeshed state courts, and in accordance with in new legal proceedings. One, the Supreme Court ruling, the mat- now in its ninth year, involved ter is now before the federal courts. Leon Johnson, who had escaped Similar legal reasoning formed from a Georgia chain gang and was the basis for decision in the case of ’ apprehended in Pittsburgh. He Lewis A. Johnson, who was arrested originally sought a writ of habeas for robbery in Georgia and kept in corpus in a state court of Pennsyl- jail for 10 months without any pre- vania on the ground that he had liminary hearing, indictment or been subjected to cruel and inhu- trial. He escaped and when appre- man punishment while imprisoned hended in the District of Columbia, in Georgia-although chain gangs Georgia sought to extradite him. He are now abolished there. When the filed a petition for a writ of habeas state court refused the request, John- corpus, seeking his freedom on the son commenced new proceedings in ground that during his incarcera- the Federal District Court in Penn- tion in Georgia he was subjected to sylvania, rather than appeal to a cruel and inhuman treatment, hav- higher state court. He had been sus- ing.been beaten and starved by the tained in the Philadelphia Circuit jailors. The Washington, D.C. Cir- Court of Appeals, which had de- cuit Court of Appeals upheld the clared that Georgia had no right to denial of a writ to him on the extradite a prisoner who had under- ground that he had to exhaust his gone “cruel and excessive punish- remedies in Georgia first. The ment,” but in November 1949 the ACLU took the case to the Supreme U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Court, but a review was denied.. granting of the writ. It declared that Johnson was returned to Georgia Johnson should have exhausted his where he is presently serving a sen- remedies in the state courts before tence, having pleaded guilty to appealing to the federal courts. charges of robbery.

c EQUALITY

THE continuing eflort to achieve equality for all was marked with notable successes, particularly in the field of higher education. The courts, given leadership by the Supreme Court, were chiefly responsible for these ad- uances. In general, the action of government agencies and private organiza- tions gave encouraging evidence of America’s growing determination to break down barriers of prejudice and discrimination. t % +

49 A. MINORITIES 1. NEGROES ings had to be initiated to begin to (a) Federal Government Activities secure the rights the high court had decreed. These efforts were carried The Supreme Court sounded a out chiefly by the National Associa- triumphant note for equality in tion for the Advancement of Col- three decisions that dealt severe ored People. blows to state-imposed discrimina- tion in interstate transportation and Through court action, the Uni- higher education. Under attack was versity of Virginia and Louisiana the segregation policy at the Okla- State Law Schools were required to homa University and Texas Law open their doors to Negro students. School (G. W. McLaurin and Her- Negroes are now admitted to courses in Missouri’s state university man Sweatt, respectively, tested the practice at these institutions) if they are not offered at the Negro and the denial of a Southern state university. The University of railway to grant a Negro war- Maryland (operating under a re- time FEI’C employee, Elmer Hen- gional pact formed by several South- derson, dining car service. In its de- ern states to avoid surrendering cision, the court made clear that ac- their segregation policy) was or- tually equal facilities must be af- dered to accept a young Negro .‘ forded to Negroes and whites. It woman in its School of Nursing. declined to rule, specifically, on the It was not only through formal 54-year-old “separate but equal” court orders that the segregation policy, despite the precedent-making principle was successfully attacked. Government plea in the Henderson Some schools are voluntarily open- case to eliminate this doctrine. ing their doors to Negroes-even in ACLU had filed a brief with the undergraduate divisions. The Uni- court contending that the “separate versity of Louisville is closing its all- but equal” doctrine should be over- Negro Liberal Arts college, and, be- ruled, and that the “equal protec- ginning next September, will admit tion” clause of the Fourteenth these students to its hitherto all- Amendment prohibits a state from white college. According to a “New segregating Negroes from whites. York .Times” survey, 1000 Negroes , Strict application of the court’s are now enrolled in southern schools ruling should help to end segrega- which formerly barred them. tion generally, though the process On primary and secondary levels will be a long one. The Southern of education, the Supreme Court states, bastion of discrimination, decision gave new heart to groups have not bowed gracefully to the Su- working for equality of educational preme Court’s opinion. State-by- opportunities. Suits were won in state, school-by-school legal proceed- several counties in Virginia, two in 50 met this issue head-on, announcing that it would stress non-segregation rather than equal facilities in all future cases.

(b) The President’s Civil Rights’ Program Heartening as this legal rec- ord was, the national legislative pic- ture was far from praiseworthy. The Slst Congress, whose election was attributed, in many areas, to support of civil rights legislation, failed to honor these pledges. Both Pifzfiafrick, St. Louis Porf-Dirfiafcb major parties share responsibility for their refusal to fulfill the prom- Texas, and one in Dewitt, Arkan- isesof the 1948campaign platforms. sas.Other actions are being pressed, The still powerful coalition of stimulated by the Southern Region- Dixiecrats and some Republicans al Council Report that an expendi- continued to hold sway. As Con- ture of $500,000,000would be re- gressional attention was riveted on quired by Southern states to raise the Korean War and international Negro school plants to the level of affairs, the domestic question of white schools,exclusive of teachers’ civil rights-an important issue in salariesand other expenditures. Test our foreign policy-was a casualty. caseson the issueof unequal teach- At the opening of the second ses- ers’ salarieshave been won in sev- sion of the 81st Congress, 40 na- era1 Southern communities. tional organizations sponsored an The campaign to win full educa- Emergency Civil Rights Mobiliza- tional equality is far from over. The tion to focus attention on the need University of North Carolina Law for passage of a Federal FEPC. School, in a Federal District Court More than 4000 delegates from all ruling, was found to have equal parts of the country traveled to facilities for Negroes in a separate Washington, D.C. to let Congress - school. In Missouri and Florida sim- know their sentiments. Despite the ilar decisions were handed down. educational progress achieved by Despite the opinion of the Ten- this assembly, no effective action nesseeattorney general that the Su- was taken in the Congress. Al- preme Court decision required the though, for the first time, an FEPC admission of Negroes to the state bill passedthe House of Represen- university, the Board of Trustees re- tatives, an amendment eliminating jetted the applicants. The’ NAACP enforcement power made this a 51 hollow victory. And even this emas- and that adoption of this amend- culated bill was killed in the Senate, ment, would, in effect, result in where two efforts to vote on it were government-fostered discrimination. barred by the crippling filibuster. The amendment was changed in While more votes than ever before line with the Union’s recommen- were mustered by the anti-filibuster dations. forces, they were still not enough, principally because the new “lib- (c) Armed Forces Practices eral” cloture rule demanded that Progress was made in carry- #two-thirds of the 96 Senators, not ing out the President’s announced merely those in attendance, vote to policy of eliminating discrimination end debate. Late in the session Sen. in the Armed Forces. The Secretary Lehman introduced a bill calling of Defense ordered all branches to for an end to filibusters by a major- discontinue discrimination against ity vote after 1.4 days of debate. Negroes, to insure equal treatment, An anti-poll tax measure, which and to assign Negroes without re- would repeal restrictive laws in gard for race. The Air Forces and seven Southern states, passed the the Navy made the greatest pro- House of Representatives but died gress, with complete integration of in a Senate committee. A similar Negroes and whites achieved in fate befell an anti-lynching law, be- many branches. The Army trailed fore the Congress in various forms, behind. It did propose to open all since 1922. Its scope was limited by Army positions to qualified persons the Senate Judiciary Committee without regard for race or color, to which made it applicable only to abolish Negro quotas for attendance public officers, but even so it never at schools, and make promotions on received Senate consideration, and the basis of competitive examina- its counterpart expired in the House tion without regard to race or color. Judiciary Committee. An omnibus However, it did not end segregated civil rights bill, aimed chiefly at im- Army units or the policy of restrict- proving enforcement of existing ing Negro enlistments to the pro- civil rights laws, likewise died in portion of the Negro population in committee. the U.S. A bill to prohibit segrega- Discrimination against racial mi- tion in the Armed Forces was in- norities in labor unions became an troduced in the House of Represen- issue when Congress discussed a tatives and referred to the Commit- proposed amendment to the Rail- tee on’the Armed Services, but no way Labor Act, permitting a union action was taken. shop for railway labor unions. The Charges were presented by. the ’ Union objected that sufficient safe- NAACP that discrimination 111 guards against Negro discrimina- court martial proceedings against tion in these unions did not exist, Negroes ‘existed in Korea, and its 52 special counsel, Thurgood Marshall, lack of time to prepare cases, and in- conducted an on-the-scene investi- sufhcient consultation between GI’s gation. He reported excessive sen- and their lawyers. He traced the tences in Negro units, far out of situation directly to the continuing proportion to those in white units, segregation policy.

B. STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES 1 EMPLOYMENT AND Youngstown and Gary, Indiana, en- EDUCATiON forced FEPC ordinances. Such laws Contrary to the congressional suffered defeat in the San Francisco blockade, state and city legislatures Board of Supervisors and in Tuc- and private agencies were quick to son, Arizona; in the latter city by respond to the rising clamor for cor- popular referendum. Three more rection of racial and religious in- states, Michigan, Oregon and Wash- equalities in American life. ington-by executive order-ended segregation in the National Guard, During 1949, when most legisla- tures were in session, a number of bringing the number of states to anti-discrimination and civil rights take this step in the past three years to ten. In Kentucky, the compulsory laws were passed, affecting employ- segregation laws were amended to ment and education. In addition to permit Negroes to attend all col- New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode ‘Island leges and universities where com- and Washington which passed FEPC acts with enforcement pow- parable courses were not available er, as cited in our last report, Massa- in the state college for Negroes. chusetts adopted a fair education Two state FEPCs, Connecticut and practices act. Connecticut and New New York, reported their first cease Jersey improved procedures for en- and desist orders, and the Connec- ticut order was reviewed and up- forcing civil rights laws applicable to hotels, restaurants and other held in the courts. Seven of the places of public -accommodation. eight existing state agencies report- Segregation in the National Guard ed a small rise in the number of was ended in California, Connecti- complaints filed, but indications are cut and Illinois. Wisconsin out- that victims of discrimination still lawed segregation in public schools. don’t use the Iegal protections af- forded them. In 1950, with only a handful of legislatures in session, new gains 2. HOUSING AND PUBLIC were recorded. The Massachusetts FEPC was renamed and its scope ACCOMMODATIONS enlarged to include places of public New victories were recorded - accommodation and public housing. chiefly in the Northern and West- Two Ohio cities, Cleveland and ern states-in banning discrimina- 53 tion or segregation in existing pub- tion in selection of tenants in future lic housing projects, notably those public housing built with public aid. built with state. or city assistance, (Another bill, passed in early 1951, and in private projects built with eliminates existing discrimination.) state aid. With the passage of Fed- Popular protest forced Metropolitan eral housing legislation, another to announce the leasing of apart- area of possible discrimination was ments to a few Negro families, but revealed - although defense prior- this gesture was clouded by its re- ities made immediate application fusal to cancel its order denying of the law inoperable. However, ef- new leases to 35 tenants, active in forts were begun to insure that en- a committee protesting discrimina- abling legislation on the state level tion in the projects, and dispossess had anti-discrimination guarantees. proceedings against them were corn- The New York State legislature menced. St. Louis, scene of racial passed a law “prohibiting segrega- conflict in 1949 when city officials tion and discrimination in public initiated a non-segregated policy in and private housing which is public- the city’s swimming pools, officially ly subsidized.” New Jersey followed ended segregation in the pools after suit. Pennsylvania and Wisconsin the NAACP won a court suit over passed laws forbidding discrimina- the issue. No conflict was reported. tion in urban development projects. The growing interest in munici- Newark, N.J. banned segregation pal and state legislation presages in its city housing projects, and further advances in this area of dis- ‘Philadelphia and Cleveland prohib- crimination work, with the center ited discrimination and segregation of emphasis on methods of enforce- in public housing. The San Fran- ment. It is likely that the problem cisco Board of Supervisors voted to will only be settled through court end segregation in urban redevelop- action. ments. In Portland, Oregon, an or- These widening cracks did not dinance outlawing discrimination mean a full breaching of the wall of in public places was approved by the discrimination. Segregation still City Council, but was turned down dominated Southern race relations, by voters at a special referendum. especially in privately-owned places After the U.S. Supreme Court re- of public accommodation where dis- fused to review a 4-3 New York crimination was firmly practiced. Court of Appeals decision uphold- In one legal test, former Idaho Sen. ing the right of the Metropolitan Glen Taylor lost his appeal from a Life Insurance Company to bar Alabama Supreme Court ‘1948 con- Negroes from its Stuyvesant Town viction on a disorderly conduct housing project, built with state and charge stemming from his entering city aid, the New York City Coun- a Birmingham ‘church through a cil adopted a bill ending discrimina- door reserved for Negroes. The U.S. 54 Supreme Court refused to review fused to review that state’s county- the case, and Taylor refused to serve unit voting rule, which givedmore the sentence. voting strength to rural than city Several cases of bombing, arson areas. and attempted arson of homes pur- Idaho voters, in a referendum, ap- chased or leased by Negroes in or proved a state constitutional amend- near areas occupied by whites were ment permitting Indians to vote, reported in Birmingham, Dallas, serve on juries and hold public Detroit, Chattanooga and Chicago. oflice. Vigorous action on the part of the The question of fair trial and dis- Chicago police and the city’s Hu- criminatory sentences arose in three man Relations Commission checked crimes of violence. In Martinsville, a serious disturbance. . Va., where seven Negro men were executed for alleged rape of a white 3. VOTING AND FAIR TRIAL woman, the validity of the sentence Another phase of the anh-dis- was contested until the last day on crimination fight that showed pro- the ground that there had been a gress was the issue of guaranteeing systematic discrimination in the sen- full rights in voting. The Demo- tence against Negroes as no white cratic Party in Arkansas removed man had ever been punished with. racial bars against Negroes from its death for the same crime. The U.S. \ party rules. In the same state a fed- Supreme Court refused to review eral judge ruled that Negroes were the denial of a writ of habeas cor- eligible to become candidates in the pus by the Virginia state court. Democratic primaries. However, The same issue arose in the cele- complaints were filed in Florida, al- brated case of Willie McGee, a leging violation of the right to vote Mississippi Negro, convicted and and register in municipal primaries, sentenced to death for rape of a and in Mississippi, questioning vot- white woman. McGee’s first two ing ofIicial’s right to examine only trial convictions had been reversed Negroes as to the meaning of any on grounds of prevailing hostility in section .of the Constitution. A suit the area and discriminatory exclu- to invalidate the Virginia poll tax, sion of Negroes from the jury. In begun by ACLU, was lost in the the appeal stages of the third con- lower courts, but another suit has viction, McGee’s counsel, supplied been commenced. The South Caro- by the Communist-led Civil Rights lina legislature adopted a new elec- Congress, which used the case as a toral law aimed at limiting Negro propaganda sounding board, sought participation in primary elections. a Supreme Court review, claiming Georgia’s restrictive election law perjured testimony by prosecution was turned down for review by the witness. ACLU found sufficient U.S. Supreme Court, which also re- discrepancies in this claim to pre- 55 vent it from supporting such a plea. rape of a white woman in Grove- However, in concert with the land, Florida. The boys’ attorneys NAACP it twice vigorously urged claimed that a new trial should be Mississippi Governor Fielding granted because Negroes were sys- Wright to commute the death sen- tematically excluded from both the tence to life imprisonment on grand and petty jury panels and the trial was held in the vicinity of the grounds of the discriminatory, sen- alleged crime where violence and tence. hysteria in the community prevent- A new trial was sought for three ed a fair trial. (The U.S. Supreme Negro boys convicted - two sen- Court, in April, 1951, reversed the tenced to death-for the alleged conviction.)

C. PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS . 1. SOCIAL New York Knights of Pythias Private organizations, prodded by opened a fight within its national awakening public opinion, contin- organization to ’ demand removal ued to take positive steps to end of the “white” membership clause *discrimination against Negroes and as a condition of entry; the matter other minorities. The action offered is still pending. The National Edu- proof of the success of integration cation Association agreed to select within groups, and reflected grow- as convention cities only those ing community support of the where “a maximum degree of equal- American principle of equality. ity” was assured. The American Bowling Congress, for years a vigorous exponent of Jim Crow, by an overwhelming majority vote at its annual conven- tion changed its by-laws to include other than “white males” in its tourneys. Suits, entered by the Na- tional CIO in Illinois seeking to rescind the ABC’s state charter and similar litigation in New York, Wisconsin and Illinois, had been in- strumental in convincing the ABC to revoke its 34-year-old rule. In Illi- nois the ABC had been found guilty of violating the federal and state constitutions and the Illinois Civil t’ifzwkck, St. Lo& Port-Dirfiafch Rights Act and fined $2500. The “Return Match.“’ 56 Southern officials of the CIO were members be dropped, but a Negro instructed by their national of&e was seated, for the first time, by the that segregation ordinances were House of Delegates of the Ameri- unconstitutional, and that such can Medical Association. practices should not be permitted. Lafayette College’s refusal of a 2. EMPLOYMENT AND . $100,000 scholarship bequest for EDUCATION “American born” students, “Jews and Catholics excepted”, was anoth- The “Journal of the American er highlight. A poll of 15,000 col- Medical Association” agreed to elim- lege teachers in the south revealed inate all designations of race, creed, that 70% of those replying favored or color from its “situation wanted” admission of Negroes to profession- advertisements. al and graduate schools without Still under discussion by the New segregation. Continued advances York State Commission Against were scored by fraternities who Discrimination and the Seafarers sought to establish the principle of International Union were the AFL brotherhood in practice as well as in union’s practice of maintaining words. The National. Inter-Fratern- separate hiring halls for Negroes ity Conference sought elimination and whites and discriminating in of discriminatory membership pro- job selection, regardless of qualifica- visions in the rules adopted by its tions. The Union, which urged .the affiliated organizations. A new fra- Commission to act, was informed ternity, Watermargin, was set up by that a program to correct the situa- representatives of 17 colleges meet- tion had been worked out, but was ing on the Cornell University cam- not accepted “in toto” by the sailor’s RUS with non-discrimination its union. (In April 1951, the ACLU chief founding principle. The was informed that a hearing on the American Bar Association rejected discriminatory practices would be requests that the color bar for new held.)

D. OTHER GROUPS 1. ZNDZAN Dr. Jay B. Nash, was active in the The civil rights of American In- successful campaign to obtain a dians, generally recognized as the presidential veto late in 1949 of the nation’s most-forgotten and ill-treat- Navajo-Hopi Rehabilitation Bill, to ed minority, have long been a con- which had been added a section cern of the ACLU. placing those Indians under juris- In cooperation with other agen- diction of state laws and courts, thus cies in the field, the Union’s Indian destroying their tribal laws and en- Civil Rights Committee, headed by forcement machinery long recog- 57 nized by the Federal Government. Commissioner Myer in Novem- Later the bill was passed without ber 1949 issued a memorandum re- this rider. garding contracts between attorneys The Union was successful and Indian tribes. The Union’s In- in opposing Senator McCarran’s dian Committee, along with almost P.yramid Lake Bill which would every organization in the field, confiscate lands belonging to urged Interior Secretary Oscar the Paiute Indians in Nevada. This Chapman to disapprove the Com- bill has not yet been able to reach a missioner’s proposed regulations. vote. The rights of Alaska Indians, The Union termed the plan “cum- Aleuts and Eskimos have also en- bersome”, said it would “enlarge the listed the Union’s aid, particularly supervisory controls exercised by the with regard to the Alaskan state- Indian Bureau instead of decreasing hood bill. The 1950 Senate version of them”, and called it “a step back- this bill contained a clause general- ward in the American Indian’s ly considered to be of great danger struggle for full emancipation.” As to tribal land rights and native res- this report goes to press, Secretary ervations. The objectionable clause Chapman seems likely to disap- has been removed from the 1951 bill. prove at least some of the provisions In May 1950, President Truman of the proposed regulations. appointed Dillon Myer Commis- sioner of Indian Affairs. Mr. Myer, 2. ORIENTALS who had won general respect for The long fight to regain citizen- his handling of Japanese-Americans ship for those Japanese-Americans during the war as head of the War who renounced loyalty to America Relocation Authority, began by in World War II under duress ap- placing a number of new men in peared to be ending. Chief San top Indian Bureau jobs. Mr. Myer’s Francisco Circuit Court of Ap- reputation in some circles for over- peals Judge William Denman’s emphasizing administrative efficien- opinion, bitterly assailing con- cy and the liquidation of govern- ditions in the Tule Lake Re- ’ ment responsibility, coupled with location Center and the under- growing demands in Congress for lying philosophy of the evacuation “emancipation” for Indians from order, contributed largely to this federal wardship and supervision, favorable condition. U.S. Attorney have caused many friends of the General J. Howard McGrath an- Indian to fear that Indian rights nounced he would not contest the and Indian lands, now protected by verdict, and by administrative pro- the federal government, would soon cedures, the way was opened to re- be sacrificed for the benefit of land- store American citizenshp to more hungry whites throughout the than 5000 Nisei. West. Through the diligent efforts of 58 the Japanese-American Citizens holed in the Senate Judiciary Com- League, more rapid adjudication by mittee. the Department of- Justice of claims of loses resulting from the evacua- 3. ALASKAN, HA WAllAN tion was achieved. Two hundred STATEHOOD and ten claims were processed, in Also a victim of Congressional contrast with the 21 cases handled delay was the issue of statehood for in 1949, but there is still room for Alaska and Hawaii. Bills granting improvement, as 24,000 persons statehood passed the House but have filed claims. were blocked in the Senate, despite Another California court struck favorable committee reports. Oppo- a blow at discrimination by ruling sition, from the Dixiecrat bloc, was that a state law restricting land predicated chiefly on extending citi- ownership by aliens conflicted with zenship to Hawaiians because of the United Nations Charter and the the high percentage of non-whit”es UN Declaration of Human Rights. in the area. This decision stirred a controversy in legal and congressional circles, 4. ALIENS where it was questioned as fore- Wisely, although delayed, came shadowing the relinquishing of U.S. revisions in the Displaced Persons final control on issues which con- Act, which admitted additional travened UN declarations and com- refugees and eliminated certain dis- pacts. criminatory clauses. Legislative efforts in Congress to The law can be considered a ma- repeal the Oriental Exclusion Act jor acco*mplishment, although, un- were unsuccessful, although both fortunately, the anti-Communist houses of Congress did approve a drive made impossible efforts to re- b’ll1 granting naturalization to Japa- move from the bill sections prevent- nese, Koreans and other Orientals ing ex-Communists, now inveterate resident in the U.S. since 1924. The opponents of Communism, from tacking on of restrictive proposals being included among those eligible for alleged security reasons, how- for entry. ever, which drew a presidential The Union undertook defense of veto, left the issue still undecided. Kurt Walther, who sought natural- , (As these provisions parallel sec- ization, and faced deportation to tions of the McCarran Act, a new Mexico or Germany. In 1950, when start for enactment of this bill is the New York Circuit Court of Ap expected in the 1951 session.) Still peals, ordered a stay of deportation, unsettled is the question of immi- the question was raised as to wheth- gration for these people. The Judd er the McCarran Act, which permits bill, which approves immigration, deportation in the face of naturai- passed the House, but was pigeon- ization proceedings, would cause 59 cancellation of this order. The New branches of the Sailors’ Union of York District Court ruled that the the Pacific, afhliated with the Sea- new law superseded the court rul- men’s International Union of the ing, but an appeal is now pending AFL, prompted an ACLU investi- in the circuit court. (In June, 1951, gation into expulsions and disci- the court affirmed the decision). plinary action taken against anti- administration forces in Seattle, 5. LABOR Wash. and San Francisco, Calif. The results of this investigation, (a) Right to Organize and Strike which have been submitted to Mr. The Wisconsin Utility Law, Harry Lundeberg of the Sailors’ which forbade strikes by public util- Union of the Pacific for comments, ity workers and required compul- are presently being studied by the sory arbitration for their disputes, ‘ACLU Committee on Civil Rights was subjected to constitutional at- in Labor Relations. tack by an AFL union of streetcar and motor bus employees.The Wis- (b) Internal Democracy consin Supreme Court held that the Two casesconcerning internal de- statute did not violate the due mocracy in unions arose over dis- process clause of the Fourteenth putes within the United Mine Amendment as being a violation of Workers Union. ACLU aid was freedom of contract, nor did the offered the workers, but they did statute restrain the right of free- not press the issue through court speech or public assembly, and did action. not constitute a violation’ of the One of these incidents involved Thirteenth Amendment, prohibit- Lloyd H. Sidener, ousted Canton, ing involuntary servitude. Finally, Illinois, UMW president, who de- the Court held that the Wisconsin fied Lewis and obeyed the court in- statute did not conflict with the fed- junction in the 1950soft coal strike. eral Taft-Hartley Act, despite the He was fined $50,000by the union, absencein that law of any prohibi- but the NLRB found this, and his tion! of strikes by public utility subsequent discharge by the coal workers of companies whose busi- company, violative of the Taft- ness affected commerce. Hartley Act. Sidener’s experience On appeal, the U.S. Supreme provided impetus for a House Labor Court reversed the Wisconsin Committee subcommittee studying court, holding. that the statute did undemocratic labor union practices contravene federal policy as estab- to subpoena Lewis for further in- lished in the Taft-Hartley Act. It quiry. A dispute developed over the declined to consider the other con- subcommittee’s subpoena power, stitutional points raised. , and the sub-group was abolished by Internal disputes in West Coast Committee Chairman John Lesin- 60 ski. ACLU strongly protested the 7. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA extinction of the subcommittee and Home rule for Washington, D.C., the full committee reversed its chair- which, despite its prominence as the man’s action. world’s greatest political center, is still disenfranchised and is ruled, in 6. WOMEN effect, by a Congressional commit- A special rider to the proposed tee, continued as an issue. h bill to Equal Rights Amendment for grant the Capital District home rule Women, which safeguarded exist- passed the Senate, but was bogged ing benefits, rights and exemptions, down in a House Committee. Legis- overcame objections in the Senate lation to outlaw segregation in and was approved. ACLU, which schools and places of public accom- had opposed the original amend- modation in Washington was simi- larly delayed. Several suits were ment because of what it regarded as filed to test the validity of such confusion between identical rights segregation. and basically equal rights-which might or might not be identical- X more detailed account of devel- was satisfied with the Senate ver- opments in the civil rights field is sion. The matter moved to the presented in the 1950 report of the House of Representatives, where it National Association for the Ad- must be approved before the issue vancement of Colored People and is finally decided in state legisla- and American Jewish Congress : tures. Three-fourths of the states “Civil Rights in the U.S. in 1950- must ratify it before it is included A Balance Sheet of Group Rela- in the Constitution. tions.”

INTERNATIONAL CIVIL LIBERTIES

IN THE international field the year the United Nations in Paris in De- was highlighted by the progress to- cember 1918, high hopes were raised ward an “International Bill of for implementing it by an enforce- Rights” and the ratification of the able covenant. X draft of a covenant Genocide Convention by more than was prepared in 1919 and submitted the twenty nations required - the to the member governments of the U.S. unhappily not yet among U.N. for comment. them. The State Department invited Following the adoption of the comment by United States private Universal Declaration of Human agencies, and also held conferences Rights by the General Assembly of in Washington with their represen- 61 tatives. The American Civil Liber- fully urged reference back to the ties Union submitted its own com- General Assembly for further in- ment criticizing the draft as inade- structions. The Assembly in De- quate, and took part in the confer- cember 1950 instructed that the ences, urging particularly effective covenant should include economic handling of complaints of violations and social as well as political and of human rights in order to give the civil rights, should apply to non- peoples of the world confidence in self-governing countries of signa- the declarations of principle. tory states, and, by implication, Most of the governments replying should provide for private petitions took cautious positions concerning and effective action. 1951 is sched- enforcement. The United States and uled to see completion of an “Inter- Great Britain led the way in caution national Bill of Rights.” by insisting that only governments The U.N. Convention on Geno- should have the right to complain cide, adopted unanimously by the of violations, and that the handling General Assembly in 1948, was sub- of complaints should be confined to mitted to the Senate for ratification mere inquiry and conciliation. The in June 1949. Hearings were held Soviet bloc opposed all internation- in January 1950 at which the Union al action in any form. was represented among the host of Not only the American Civil Lib- agencies supporting ratification erties Union but other U.S. agen- against opposition confined almost cies, organized in a Joint Commit- wholly to the American Bar Asso- tee on Human Rights, urged en- ciation. A favorable report from a largement of the U.S. position, but Senate sub-committee followed, but without success. The session of the no action has been taken by the full Human Rights Commission in Foreign Relations Committee. In Lake Success in the spring of the interim, the Convention became 1950 followed largely the lead of effective (as of Jan. 12, 1951) when Britain and the United States in re- more than the required twenty na- drafting the covenant. It excluded tions ratified. the right of private petition. It The only progress made on a con- omitted all social and economic vention to promote international rights. Its final form gravely disap- freedom of press, radio and news- pointed the hopes it had raised. reels was apointment by the U.N. That disappointment was reflect- General Assembly of a special com- ed in the session of the Economic mission to wrestle further with the and Social Council in Geneva in controversy over limitations that 1950, where many non-government- would not weaken freedom. The al organizations (the ACLU repre- Union is supporting the U.S. posi- sented by Roger Baldwin) succcss- tion against crippling provisions. 62 A. AMERICAN OCCUPIED AREAS Close contact has been maintained gations of Japanese lawyers and by the Union with civil rights agen- jurists have been aided by the cies in Germany and Japan and ACLU in their study of civil liber- with U.S. officials concerned with ties in the United States. Close con- civil rights in those occupied coun- tact has been maintained with the tries. The main object is to assist Japanese Civil Liberties Union in new citizen agencies playing the Tokyo, formed during the visit of same role in relation to Germany Roger Baldwin in 1947. and Japan as the American Civil Several occasions arose for the Liberties Union in the United ACLU to protest acts of Occupation States. authorities in Japan in violation of In relation to Germany, the civil liberties: (1) the exclusion of Union acted as host and guide to Mrs. Margaret Sanger, birth control two delegations of Germans, select- advocate, on the ground that the ed by German agencies and spon- Occupation authorities did not wish sored by the Occupation author- to sponsor propaganda for or ities, visiting the United States to against birth control; (2) bans on study civil rights. The German republication in Japanese of two movement itself has taken national books published in the United shape, growing out of numerous lo- States critical of the Occupation. cal organizations formed following the visit of a Civil Liberties Union Apparent contradictions between delegation invited by General Clay U.S. policies on civil rights in Japan in 1948. Its first national conference and Germany led the ACLU to sug- was held in September in Frank- gest to the President in the spring furt, where the Union was repre- of 1950 -but without effect-that sented by Roger Baldwin, invited consideration be given to unifying again both by the German organi- the U.S. approach to the promotion zation and the State Department to of civil rights under the Occupation. assist. The late William F. Soll- While the controls have been pro- mann, an American citizen of Ger- gressively relaxed, arbitrary Occu- man origin, formerly a minister of pation measures restricting civil state in the Weimar Republic, rep- rights outside the legitimate sphere resented the Union in preparing the of security of the Occupation forces, conference. still prevail in Germany, Japan, and In relation to Japan, several dele- Austria. B. AMERICAN COLONIES Expansion of self-government during the year. A bill to provide and civil rights in three American for self-government in Guam island colonies made some headway through an organic act, with U.S. 63 citizenship for the formerly state- The measure has wide support in less natives, was passed by Congress the island, opposed by the small and signed by President Truman. Nationalist Party and some of the A civilian governor replaced the iudependence advocates. Navy command. The Union long An uprising in the Island by the supported the change. fanatical Nationalist Party at the time of the attack on President Tru- A bill for a Resident Commis- man by two of its members in the sioner in Washington for the Virgin fall of 1950, brought several hun- Islands, similar to the Commission- dred arrests, with prosecutions of er for Puerto Rico in Congress, was leaders for political violence, and urged on Congress with prospects others for advocacy of it. The Union of favorable action, and support by is following the prosecutions with a the Union. A native governor was view to intervene where issues of appointed by the President for the civil rights may be involved. first time since the U.S. acquired the The Pacific Islands, formerly un- islands in 1917. der Japan, now controlled by the The Puerto Ricans, who have U.S. as a trusteeship territory under progressed toward greater self-gov- the U.N., were placed under a civil- ernment under an elected governor, ian governor with the appointment got through Congress another meas- of former U.S. Senator Elbert ure to extend self-government by Thomas of Utah. Legislation to ex- framing their own constitution. A tend civil rights to the natives, as popular vote on whether to do so well as to the Samoans, is scheduled will be held in June 1951. If favor- for the 1951 session of Congress. able and a constitution is framed, Samoa is to be transferred wholly it would not give Puerto Rico either from Navy jurisdiction on July 1, independence or statehood, but 1951. would create an autonomous area The Union follows and aids under the U.S. federal system, re- wherever possible the extension of placing the present sole power of civil government and civil rights in Congress to determine basic policy. all American colonies.

64 BALANCE SHE.ET OF COURT CASES

FAVORABLE DECISIONS IN U.S. SUPREME COURT The 8-O decision reversing the con- publication of unauthorized news tempt conviction of a Denver concerning pending criminal cases. woman for refusing to tell a federal The unanimous decision revers- grand jury about connections with ing the conviction of a man for the Communist Party on the sending an allegedly obscene letter ground that such answers would through the mails to his wife. violate her privilege against self- The four decisions outlawing incrimination. segregation in interstate transpor- The decision of Mr. Justice Jack- tation and higher education, and on son admitting to bail the eleven public golf courses, on the ground Communist leaders convicted under that actual equal facilities were not the Smith Act of 1940, pending their afforded to Negroes. appeal to -the United States Su- The 6 to 3 decision reversing preme Court, on the ground that the action of the Wisconsin SLI- there was a substantial question of preme Court upholding a law for- law to be reviewed on appeal. bidding strikes by public utilit) workers and requiring compulsory The 8-l decision reversing the arbitration of labor disputes, on the New York Court of Appeals deci- ground that t h e statute was in con- sion upholding the constitutionality flict with the Taft-Hartley Law. of a conviction for preaching at a The 6 to 3 ruling that an alien New York City religious street pacifist can be naturalized even meeting without a license, where though he refused to agree to non- the license had been denied because combatant military service in war in the past the speaker had ridiculed time. and denounced certain religions. The refusal to review the decision The refusal to review the deci- of the Maryland Court of Appeals sion of the Maryland Court of Ap- holding that a state must provide peals which had voided a rule by equal facilities for Negro students the Baltimore City Court barring within its own borders.

FAVORABLE DECISIONS IN LOWER FEDERAL COURTS The decision of the Circuit Court munist in a strategic position in a of Appeals in San Francisco grant- time of military conflict. ing the right to bail pending appeal The decision of the Circuit Court where there was a substantial ques- of Appeals in New York holding tion of law to be reviewed, even that a federal conviction must be though the defendant was a Com- reversed when the government fails 65 to show that its evidence stems from The decision of the Circuit Court sources other than illegal wiretaps of Appeals at New Orleans invali- (on appeal). dating a Birmingham, Ala. ordi- The decisions of the District nance ‘barring Negroes from white Courts in Washington, D.C. and in residential communities (on ap- Hawaii holding that the privilege peal). against self-incrimination protected The decision of the Circuit Court witnesses in refusing to answer of Appeals in San Francisco de- questions about Communist Party nouncing the forced renunciation membership before congressional of citizenship of Japanese-Ameri- committees. cans in World War II, opening the In the federal district court in way to their regaining citizenship. New York City, a refusal to deny The decision of the Circuit Court the right of Paul Robeson and of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio, out- others to collect damages for de- lawing segregation rules of bus privation of their civil rights if they companies as applied to interstate proved their allegations regarding commerce. the Peekskill riots of 1949. The decisions of several federal The decision of the Circuit Court district courts ordering the furnish- of Appeals in Philadelphia holding ing of equal university educational that television broadcasting is inter- opportunities to whites and Ne- state commerce, its regulation per- groes, and directing admission of empted by Congress, and therefore Negroes to previously all-white in- state censor boards cannot control stitutions. T.V. films (on appeal). The decisions of district courts The decision of the Circuit Court in Minneapolis and Washington of Appeals in San Francisco holding barring collection of damages for that under the federal civil rights violation of restrictive covenants. statute, private parties may sue for The decision of the District Court damages for violation of their civil in St. Louis banning segregation in rights by other private parties (on city-owned outdoor swimming appeal). pools.

FAVORABLE DECISIONS IN STATE COURTS The decision of the New Jersey oaths could not ‘be required of can- Supreme Court that loyalty oaths c!idates for federal public o&e. could not be required of candidates Decisions of numerous lower and for public office because they con- intermediate appellate state courts flitted with the required oaths of holding unconstitutional various allegiance in the state constitution. municipal Communist-registration The decision of the Supreme ordinances and similar “anti-sub- Court of Maryland that loyalty versive” statutes. 66 The decision of the Supreme forbid wearing of religious garb. by Court in New York City holding public school teachers (on appeal). that so-called peace rallies might be The decision of the City Court held during the Korean conflict in in Portland, Oregon revoking a ban spite of police fears that it would on the film, Tlze Bicycle Thief. incite anti-Communists to riot. The decision of a Supreme Court The decisions of several lower in New York City defeating the at- courts holding constitutional the tempt to ban Oliver Twist and The distribution of Communist-spon- Merchant of Venice from public sored literature, including the so- schools. called Stockholm Peace Petition. The decision of the Supreme The decision of the Supreme Court in Idaho reversing the sen- Court in Washington holding un- tence of four Indians for 14 years constitutional the use of public each for theft of a sheep, on the funds for transportation of paro- ground that they had been deprived chial school students. of their right to counsel. The decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court clearing seven pop- The decision of the District Court ular books of obscenity charges. of Appeals in California holding The decision of the Illinois Su- that a state law restraining land preme Court upholding the right of ownership by aliens conflicted with parents to educate their children at the U.S. charter and the U.N. Dec- home, when sending them to school laration of Human Rights. would be a violation of the parents’ The decisionof a lower state court religious principles. in Illinois holding the American The decision of a district court in Bowling Congress guilty of violat- New Mexico halting the holding of ing the federal and state constitu- public school classes in parochial tions and the Illinois Civil Rights schools, the teaching of sectarian Acts by its Jim Crow policies. doctrines in public school classes, The decisions of several state and the granting of free text books courts requiring admission of Ne- and bus transportation to parochial groes into graduate divisions of uni- schools, and refusing to bar ail versities. members of Roman Catholic reli- The decision of the Common gious orders from public school Pleas Court in Oxford, Ohio, ban- teaching. Only unfavorable part of ning segregation in a municipal the decision was that it refused to swimming pool.

UNFAVORABLE DECISIONS IN U.S. SUPREME COURT The 6-3 decision upholding the position becauseof abusive remarks. conviction for disorderly conduct of The refusal to review the decision a speaker who arousedaudience op- of the Washington, D.C. Circuit 67 Court of Appeals affirming the con- oaths for Los Angeles County em- viction of two Hollywood writers ployees on the ground that the em- for refusing to tell the House Com- ployees actually had not yet been mittee on Un-American Activities injured by the law. whether they were or had been The 4-3 decision holding that members of the Communist Party aliens entering the country can be on the grounds that this was an barred without hearings, solely on invasion of their right to freedom of the basis of findings by the Attorney speech and thought. General. The 5-l decision upholding the The refusal to review the decision non-Communist affidavit required of the Maryland Supreme Court of union officials under the Taft- which refused to pass on the con- Hartley Law. stitutionality of the Maryland Ober The refusal of the Supreme Court Law outlawing the Communist to advance the petition for review Party on the ground that the action of decision of the Maryland Su- had been brought prematurely. preme Court holding constitutional The refusal to review the decision the requirement of loyalty oaths for of the Michigan Supreme Court candidates for state public office, that a student in a state university and the subsequent dismissal of the could be constitutionally expelled same case after election on the without a hearing because of off- ground that it had.become moot. campus political activities. The dismissal of two appeals The refusal to review a decision from the decision of the Supreme of the New York courts denying Court of California holding consti- the right of an alien father to take tutional the requirement of loyalty his children to Soviet Russia. The 4-4 decision upholding as a violation of the Selective Service Act, the advising of a conscientious objector who was being arrested to stand by his principles. The refusal to review decision of the Circuit Court of =\ppeals in Kansas upholding the conviction of a conscientious objector who ad- vised his stepson who was below draft age, and who registered any- how later, not to register. The refusal to review the decision of the Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upholding the con- “Uncle Joe’s Ally.” viction for failing to register under 68 the Selective Service Act of a con- who had escaped from Georgia scientious objector who would have where he had been allegedly sub- been denied exemption because he jected to cruel and unusual punish- did not believe in a Supreme Being. ment, on the grounds that he had The 8 to 0 decision holding that to exhaust his state remedies; he peaceful picketing could be prohib- first had to go back to Georgia and ited if it were for an object con- attempt to obtain a writ there. demned as illegal by a state law or The refusal to review a decision court. of a special three-judge federal court The two decisions of the United which dismissed on procedural States Supreme Court refusing to re- grounds a case testing the validity view decisions of the Circuit Court of New York State’s constitutional of Appeals in New Orleans and the amendment permitting court au- Supreme Court of Tennessee up- thorized wiretapping. holding the constitutionality of mo- The refusal to review a decision tion picture censorship. of the New York Court of Appeals The refusal to review a decision upholding the right of landlords to of the New York Court of Appeals bar Negroes from housing projects holding unconstitutional the re- built with state and city aid. quirement of permits for speakers in parks. The 6 to 3 decision holding that aliens held by U.S. authorities The refusal to review the decision in occupied couitries do not have a of the Circuit Court of Appeals in right to writs of habeas corpus in San Francisco that a state court U.S. courts. could deny the right to broadcast a criminal trial to one station while The refusal to review a decision granting it to another. of the Supreme Court of Virginia The decision reversing the grant upholding a death sentence for rape of a writ of habeas corpus to a per- against seven Negroes, though no son who had escaped from Georgia white man had ever been sentenced where he had been subjected to to death for this crime in Virginia. cruel and unusual punishment, thus The refusal of the U.S. Supreme permitting extradition to Georgia, Court to review the decision of the on the ground that he had not ex- Washington, D.C. Circuit Court of hausted his legal remedies within Appeals holding that it is not un- the state. constitutional to deprive naturalized The refusal of the Supreme citizens of citizenship because of Court to review the decision of remaining abroad beyond the legal the Washington, D.C. Circuit Court limit of 5 years, while not imposing of Appeals upholding the denial of such penalties upon native-born a writ of habeas corpus to a person citizens. 69 UNFAVORABLE DECISIONS IN LOWER FEDERAL COURTS The decision of the U.S. Circuit tor who advised his stepson, who Court of Appeals in New York was below draft age, and who regis- holding constitutional the Smith tered anyhow later, not to register Act of 1940 penalizing the advocacy (appeal denied). of the overthrow of the government The decision of the Circuit Court by force and violence in the absence of Appeals in San Francisco uphold- of a jury finding of existence of ing the conviction of a conscientious clear and present danger (on ap- objector for failure to register under peal). the Selective Service Act, who The 2 to 1 decision of the Wash- would have been denied exemption ington, D.C. Circuit Court of Ap- because he did not believe in a Su- peals that a federal government em- preme Being (appeal denied). ployee in a non-sensitive position The decision of the Washington, may constitutionally be denied the D.C. District Court in the Judith right to cross-examine and confront Coplon case holding that govern- the witnesses against her (on ap- ment agents and attorneys had not peal). actively misled the court as to the fact that evidence had been obtained The decisions of the Washington, through wiretapping (on appeal). D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that The decision of the Circuit Court the Attorney General may constitu- of Appeals in New Orleans uphold- tionally list an organization as “sub- ing pre-censorship of motion pic- versive” without a prior hearing tures (appeal denied). (on appeal). The decision of the Washington, The decision of the Circuit Court D.C. District Court upholding the of Appeals in Denver upholding a practice of forced listening in street conviction of a conscientious objec- cars and busses (on appeal).

UNFAVORABLE DECISIONS IN STATE COURTS The decision of the New York preme Court in reversing the deci- Court of Appeals holding constitu- sion of the lower Baltimore court tional the Feinberg Law barring ruling unconstitutional the Mary- “subversive” teachers from the pub- land Ober Law which outlawed the lic schools (on appeal). Communist Party, on the ground The decision of the Maryland Su- that the action had been brought preme Court upholding the consti- prematurely. tutionality of the requirement of The decision of a lower court in loyalty oaths for candidates for state Pittsburgh holding constitutional of&e (appeal denied). the refusal of unemployment insur- The decision of the Maryland Su- ance to a person believed disloyal. 70 The decision of a lower court in The 3 to 2 decision of an Appellate Ohio holding constitutional the re- Division of the New York Supreme quirement of a loyalty oath for ap- Court upholding the released time plicants for unemployment insur- practices of New York City public ance. schools. The decision of the Supreme The decision of the Supreme Court of Illinois upholding the cdn- Court of Florida upholding the con- stitutionality of a group libel law in viction of three Negroes convicted the absence of clear and present of rape in Groveland, Florida, danger (to be appealed). though Negroes were systematically The decision of the New Jersey excluded from the grand and petty Supreme Court upholding the con- juries (on appeal). stitutionality of a law providing for The decision of a lower state recital of the Lord’s Prayer and for court in Virginia upholding the brief Old Testament readings in the constitutionality of the poll tax. public schools (on appeal). The decision of the Supreme The decision of the Massachusetts Court of Mississippi holding that Supreme Court holding the book damages can be recovered for breach “God’s Little Acre” to be obscene. of a racial restrictive covenant.

CASES PENDING IN U.S. SUPREME COURT hn appeal from the decision of Washington, D.C. Circuit Court of the Circuit Court of Appeals in Appeals holding constitutional the New York City in the case of the listing by the Attorney General of eleven Communist leaders, holding organizations as “subversive” with- constitutional the Smith Act of out a prior hearing. 1910 penalizing the advocacy of the An appeal from a decision of the overthrow of the government by New York Court of Appeals hold- force and violence in the absence of ing constitutional New York’s Fein- a jury finding of existence of a clear berg Law which bars “subversive” and present danger. teachers from the public schools. An appeal from the Washington, A petition to review a decision of D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals de- the Circuit Court of Appeals at cision holding that the government New Orleans invalidating a Birm- could constitutionally refuse to give ingham, Ala. zoning ordinance specific charges and grant the priv- separating white and Negro resi- ilege of cross-examination and con- dential areas. frontation of accusers to a federal A petition to review the decision government employee in a non-sen- of the Circuit Court of Appeals in sitive position in loyalty proceed- Philadelphia outlawing state censor- ings. ship of films on television. Appeal from decisions of the An appeal from a decision of the 71 New Jersey Supreme Court uphold- An appeal from the decision of ing a law providing for recital of the Florida Supreme Court uphold- the Lord’s Prayer and for brief Old iug the conviction of three Negroes Testament readings in the public for rape, though Negroes were sys- schools. tematically excluded from the grand An appeal from a decision of the an,d petit juries. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco holding that under the Petition to review a decision of federal civil rights statute, private the New York State Court of Ap- parties may sue for damages for vio- peals upholding a conviction of two lation of their civil rights by other Jewish dealers for selling merchan- private parties. dise on Sunday.

CASES PENDING IN LOWER FEDERAL COURTS In the New York Federal District of alleged “subversives”. Court, a suit by the Screen Writers In several Circuit Courts of Ap- Guild against major producing peal and District Courts, cases in- companies charged with conspiracy volving segregation at university to restrain trade by their blacklisting and elementary school levels.

CASES PENDING IN STATE COURTS In the Supreme Court of New oaths from all of them. Jersey, an appeal from the action of In a lower court in Pennsylvania, school authorities upholding the dis- a case testing the constitutionality missal of a teacher refusing to take of a law permitting discharge of the prescribed loyalty oath. school teachers who are members In the intermediate appellate of subversive organizations. courts of Ohio, an appeal from a de- In the Criminal Court of Appeals cision of a lower court holding con- in Texas, an appeal from a convic- stitutional the requirement of a loy- tion for showing an unlicensed mo- alty oath for applicants for unem- tion picture film. ployment insurance. In the lower Michigan courts, a In the New York Court of Xp- case to test the requirement of loy- peals, an appeal from a decision of alty oaths from all city employees an appellate division of the Supreme of Detroit. Court upholding the released time In the lower courts of California, practices of New York City schools. test cases of a 1950 statute making In the New Mexico Supreme all state workers civilian defense Court, an appeal from a lower court employees and requiring loyalty decision asking for reversal of that 72 part of the lower court’s decision In a trial court in New Jersey, the which refused to bar all members new trial of the Trenton Six. of Roman Catholic religious orders In a lower court in Virginia, a from public school teaching, and case testing the constitutionality of forbade the wearing of religious the poll tax. garb by public school teachers. In a lower court in Wisconsin, a In the New York Supreme Court, case testing the power of a state in- a suit testing the constitutionality surance fund to refuse to insure of New York’s vagrancy law. Negroes.

73 ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE A. GENERAL MEMBERSHIP AND THE CORPORATION General members are persons or organizations contributing annually two dollars or more, and students in schools or colleges-in groups of not less than 25-each contributing annually one dollar or more. The corporation is composed of the members of the Board of Directors, the members of the National Com- mittee, and the local organizations. The officers of the-corporation follow: C/z&man-Ernest Angel1 Assistant Secverary-Herbert Monte Lrvl- Secretary--Jonathan B. Bingham Twasuwr-B. W. Huebsch Assistant Tveasurers-John F. Finerty and Raymond L. Wise Executive Director-Patrick Murphy Malin Board of Directors Ch&na~z-Ernest Angel1 vice-c/z&men-Prof. Walter Gcllhorn and Whitney North Sepour General Counsel-Morris L. Ernst and Arthur Garfield Hays Mrs. Katrina McCormick Barnes Osmond K. Fraenkel Benjamin F. MacLaurin Jonathan B. Bingham Walter Frank Merle Miller Mrs. Dorothy Dunbar Bromley Varian Fry Herbert R. Northrup Carl Carmer August Hrckacher Merlyn S. Pitzcle Richard S. Childs Rev. John Haynes Holmes Elmer Rice Norman Cousins B. W. Huebsch Norman Thomas Edward J. Ennis Rev. John Paul Jones William L. White John F. Finerty Dorothy Kenyon C. Dickerman Williams H. William Fit&on Cc&s Lament Raymond L. Wise James Lawrence Fly Prof. Eduard C. Lindcman National Committee Chaiwnan-Roger N. Baldwin ~‘ire-cllai~n2e,z--l-‘earl S. Buck, Lloyd K. Garrison, Dr. Frank P. Graham and Rt. Rev. Edward L. Parsons Thurman Arnold Dean Charles W. Gilkey Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer Bishop James Chamberlin Baker Earl G. Harrison Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam Francis Biddle Marvin C. Harrison James G. Patton Prof. Edwin M. Borchard Quincy Home ,4. Philip Randolph Van Wyck Brooks Dr. Robert M. Hutchins Will Rogers, Jr. Dr. Henry Seidel Canby Dr. Charles S. Johnson Elmo Roper Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers Dr. Mordecai W. Johnson John Nevin Sayre William Henry Chamberlin Saburo Kido Rt. Rev. William Scarlett Grenville Clark Benjamin H. Kizcr Prof. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Henry Steele Commager Dr. John A. Lapp Joseph Schlossberg Morris L. Cooke Prof. Harold D. Lasswell O&Ii Shepard Prof. George S. Counts Mrs. Agnes Brown Leach Robert E. Sherwood Prof. Robert E. Cushman Max Lcrner Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver Elmer Davis Prof. Robert Morss Lovett Lillian E. Smith John DOS Passes Prof. Robert S. Lynd Edward J. Sparling Melvyn Douglas Prof. Archibald MacLcish Raymond Swing Sherwood Eddy John P. Marquand Mrs. Dorothy Tilly Thomas H. Eliot William Mauldin Aubrey Williams Walter T. Fisher Bishop Francis J. McConnell L. Hollingsworth Wood Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn Dr. William Lindsay Young Dean Christian Gauss A. J. Mute 74 National Executiue Staff Executive Director-Patrick Murphy Malin Assistant Director-George E. Rundquist Special Counsel--Clifford Forster St& Counsel-Herbert Monte Levy Public Relations Director-Alan Reitman Membership Director-Jeffrey E. Fuller Internatiorzal W/or4 Director-Roger N. Baldwin Washington Reprcsentatiue-Mrs. Mary A. Baldinger, 1637 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C., DUpont 6300 Standing Board Committees IVominatioo-Walter Frank, chairman Badget and Ofice Management-Richard S. Childs, chairman .Ziembership and Afiliates-H. William Fit&on, chairman Pttblic Relations-Mrs. Dorothy Dunbar Bromley, chairman Publications-Norman Cousins, chairman Other Committees National Secwity-Raymond L. Wise, chairman Freedom of Expwssion-Norman Thomas, chairman Due Puocess-Osmond K. Fracnkel, chairman Academic Freedom-Arthur C. Cole, chairman Censorship-Elmer Rice, chairman Radio-Thomas R. Carskadon, chairman Labor-Herbert R. Northrup, chairman Aliens-Edward J. Ennis, chairman Indians-Jay B. Nash, chairman Race Relations-Pearl S. Buck, chairman Iliomen’s Rights-Dorothy Kenyon, chairman International Civil Libe&s-Robert M. MacI~er Civil Rights in Amekan Colonies-A. A. Bcrle, Jr., chairman Occupied Areas--Roger N. Baldwin, chairman Local Organizations California American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (office) 503 Market Street, San Francisco 5. Rt. Rev. Edward L. Parsons, Chairman; Ernest Besig, Director .4merican Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (o&e) 275 South Spring Street, Los Angeles 12. Jcrmone W. MacNair, Chairman; A. A. Heist, Director Connecticut New Haven Civil Liberties Council Prof. Grant Gilmore, Yale Law School, New Haven, Chairman; Mrs. Astrid Totten, 230 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, Corresponding Secretary Illinois Chicago Division, American Civil Liberties Union (office) 19 South LaSalle Street, Chicago 3. Dr. A. C. McGiffcrt, Jr., Chairman; Edward H. Meyerding, Director

IOUU Iowa Civil Liberties Union Edward S. Allen, 509 Welch Avenue, Ames, Chairman; Rev. Charles W. Phillips, 1st Unitarian Church, Des Moines, Secretary 75 Mwylund Maryland Civil Liberties Committee Carl Basset, 225 East Redwood Street, Baltimore 2, Chairman; Mlas Frances French, 425 St. Paul Street, Baltimore 2, Sccretaq

Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts (office) 14 Beacon Street, Boston 8. Prof. .Ilbcrt Sprague Coolidge, Chairman; Luther Knight Mncnair, Director Michigan Michigan Chapter of the Civil Liberties Union Rev. Henry Hltt Cram, Central Methodist Church, Detroit, Chairman; \!‘alrrr M. Nelson, 1438 Dime Bank Building, Detroit, Secrrtaq Alissorrri St. Louis Civil Liberties Committee Malcolm 1%‘. Martin, 407 N. 8th Street, St. Louis, Chairman: Brnjamin Roth, 407 N. 8th Street, St. Louis, Secretary

Erie County Civil Liberties Committee Professor Jacob D. Hyman, University of Buffalo Law School, Chairman; Arnold T. Olena, 800 M si T Bldg., Buffalo, Secretaq New York City Civil Liberties Committee 170 Fifth Avenue, N. Y. Rev. John Paul Jones, Chairman; Thomas Gaines, Secretaq Ohio Cincinnati Chapter, ACLU James Paradise, 2347 Vine Street, Cincinnati, President; Mrs. Frances Schmidt, 1535 Westview Court, Reading, Secretaq Cleveland Civil Liberties Union Oscar H. Steiner, 2630 Payne Avenue, Cleveland 14, President; Miss Emily L. Rounds, 2420 Eaton Road, University Heights 18, Secretary Pennsylvania American Civil Liberties Union, Greater Philadelphia Branch (office) Fellowship Commission Building, 260 S. 15th Street, Philadelphia 2 James Brittian, Chairman Pittsburgh Branch, ACLU Mrs. Marjorie H. Matson, Law Finance Building, Pittsburgh, Chairman Washington Seattle Chapter ACLU Jack Harlow, Smith Tower Building, Seattle, Chairman; Max Nicolai, New World Life Building, Seattle, Secrrtaq B. STATE CORRESPONDENTS (These correspondents do not represent the Union officially, but act in securing infor- mation and giving advice as to local matters). Alabama-Clarence L. Watts, 706 State National Bank Bldg., Huntsville Arizona-C. M. Wright, 128 North Church Street, Tucson Arkansas-Lewis H. Deer, Jr., Pulaski Heights Christian Church, Hillcrest and Spruce, Little Rock California-Ernest Besig, 503 Market Street, San Francisco 76 C&u&--Eugene H. Teplcy, 424 C. .I. Johnson Building, Dcnvrr Connecticut-Ode11 Shepard, Jordan Cove, Waterford Delaware-William Prick&t, 404 Equitable Building, Wilmington No&a-Edgar W. Waybright, Sr., 305 Law Exchange Bldg.. Jacksonville Georgia-Morris B. Abram, 5 11 Connally Building, Atlanta Idaho-Alvin Denman, Idaho Falls Illinois-Rev. Kenneth C. Walker, 201 E. Jefferson Street, Bloomington Indiana-Bernard Stroyman, Security Trust Building, Indianapolis loroa-Edward S. Allen, 509 Welch Avenue, Ames Kansas-Albert C. Eldridge, Kansas State College, Manhattan Kentucky-Grover G. Sales, 607 Marion E. Taylor Building, Louisville Louisiana-George A. Dreyfous, 13 18 Canal Building, New Orleans Maine-William H. NiehoA, 148 Main Street, Waterville .lfaryland-Naomi Riches, 2201 Maryland Avenue, Baltimore Massachrrsetts-Edward Spiegel, 185 Devonshire Street, Boston Michigan-Seymour H. Person, 1902 Olds Tower Building, Lansing Xfinnerota-William Lloyd Shales, 401 Foshay Tower Building, Minneapolis .zlississippi--Jo Drake Arrington, 411 Hewes Building, Gulfport ~~issortr&Jcrome Walsh, Dierks Building, Kansas City Montana-Leo C. Graybill, 609 Third Avenue N., Great Falls N&as@-Philip Schug, Unitarian Society, 12 & H Streets, Lincoln Nevada-Martin J. Scar&n, 130 S. Virginia Street, Reno sew Hampshire-Winthrop Wadlcigh, 45 Market Street, Manchester New lersey-Rev. Harry R. Pine, 1237 Greenwood Avenue, Trenton h’ew Mexico-Sumner Stanley Koch, 18 NcNabb Building, Albuquerque New York-John Braun, 93 State State, Albany North Cauo~~na-James Maddocks, Professional Building, High Point North Dakota-Harold W. Bangert, 404 Black Building, Fargo Ohio-Mrs. Jessie C. Treichler, Antioch College, Yellow Springs O&honza-Prof. Cortez A. M. Ewing, University of Oklahoma, Norman Oregon-Allan Hart, 527 Pacific Building, Portland Pennsylvania-Sidney G. Handler, 22 S. Third Street, Harrisburg Rhode Island--Gurney Edwards, 1109 Hospital Trust Bldg., Providence South Carolina-R. B. Herbert, 3 10 Palmetto Bldg., Columbia South Dakota-U. G. Reininger, 701 S. Menlo Ave., Sioux Falls Tennessee-Jordan Stokes 111, 315 Warner Bldg., Nashville Texas-Prof. Clarence E. Ayres, University of Texas, Austin Utah-D. Howe Moffat, 803 Continental Bank Bldg., Salt Lake City V/crmont-Louis Lisman, 166 College Street, Burlington Virginia-Moss A. Plunkett, Box 492, Roanoke IYashirrgron-Benjamin H. Kizer, 1224 Old National Bank Bldg., Spokane IVest Virginilz--Horace S. Meldahl, P.O. BOX 1, Charleston Wisconsin-Morris H. Rubin, The Progressive, Madison Wyoming-Rev. John P. McConnell, Union Presbyterian Church, Sixth Street and Grand Avenue, Laramie

&ska--James E. Swan, P.O. Box 2088, Anchorage Hawaii-Prof. Allan F. Saunders, University of Hawaii, Honolulu Pnerio Rico-Guillermo Cintron Ayuso, P.O. Box 4566, San Juan Virgin Islnndr-George H. T. Dudley, Box 717, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas 77 C. ADDITIONAL CONTACTS In addition to its local organiza- the Union’s Washington represen- tions and state correspondents, the tative, Mrs. Mary A. Balding&, 1637 Union uses the voluntary service Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Wash- of about one thousand lawyers ington, D.C. It is the American af- throughout the country, and enjoys filiate of the International League the cooperation of a number of local for the Rights of Man, 756 Seventh groups which are not ofIicia1 affili- Ave., New York 19, N. Y. It has ates. Persons desiring to make con- working relations-formal or in- tact with such lawyers or local formal, regular or occasional-with groups should inquire of the na- other organizations, in so far as tional of&e. their activities are concerned with civil liberties and if their policies are The Union is a member of the in accordance with the Union’s National Civil Liberties Clearing democratic belief in civil liberties House, whose executive secretary is for all.

D. PERSONNEL CHANGES A number of changes in the formerly chairman of the Second leadership of the American Civil Regional Loyalty Board and who Liberties Union have occurred since has been a member of the ACLU our last report: Roger N. Baldwin, Board of Directors since 1943, was the Executive Director of ACLU elected Chairman of the Board as of from its organization in 1920, re- July 1, 1950. Patrick Murphy Malin, tired January 1, 1950, and was elect- formerly Professor of Economics at ed Chairman of the National Com- Swarthmore College, and Vice- mittee at the Annual Meeting of Director of the Intergovernmental the Corporation in March, 1950. Mr. Committee on Refugees 1943-47, Baldwin also serves as International was elected executive director on Work Director. Dr. John Haynes December 19, 1949, and joined the Holmes, Chairman of the Board of staff February 1, 1950. Directors since 1940, retired from The National Committee suffered that office June 30, 1950 because of the loss by death of Oswald Garri- reasons of health, but continues to son Villard of New York and Pro- serve on the Board of Directors. fessor Max Radin of Berkeley, Cali- Professor Edward Alsworth Ross, fornia. The terms of Professor Kirt- Chairman of the National Commit- Icy F. Mather and Dr. Charles Clay- tee since 1940, retired at the Annual ton Morrison expired at the annual Meeting, March, 1950, because of election in March. William L. age. White resigned from the National Ernest Angell, a lawyer, who was Committee upon his election to the 78 Board of Directors. New members Reverend John Paul Jones, Chair- elected to the National Committee man of the New York City Civil during the year were Grenville Liberties Committee and Minister Clark, Fellow of Harvard College, of the Union Church of Bay Ridge, Dublin, N.H.; Henry Steele Com- Brooklyn, N.Y.; and William L. mager, Professor of History, Co- White, author, editor and publisher lumbia University; and Robert E. of the Emporia, Kansas, “Gazette”. Cushman, Professor of Govern- The Board now numbers thirty-four ment, Cornell University. The Na- out of a maximum of thirty-five tional Committee now numbers 67 provided under the by-laws. out of a maximum of 75 provided In the office staff, George E. under the by-laws. Rundquist, who served as Acting The Board of Directors lost a Assistant Director during the pre- generous and devoted member vious year, was appointed Assistant through the death of Miss Florina Director; Herbert Monte Levy, af- Lasker on September 1, 1949. Miss ter a year’s service as Acting Staff Lasker was Chairman of the New Counsel, was appointed Staff Coun- York City Civil Liberties Commit- sel to replace Clifford Forster, who tee for fifteen years, and a member resigned to attend to personal mat- of the Board for the same period. ters but still gives the Union con- Professor Paul F. Brissenden re- siderable time each week; an Asso- signed because of an appointment ciate Staff Counsel, George Soll, to the faculty of the University of served from the middle until the Hawaii and Frederick E. Robin re- end of 1950; Alan Reitman, former- signed because his work took him ly Public Relations Director of the to Washington, D.C. Elected to the CIO Political Action Committee, Board were: Carl Carmer, author was appointed Public Relations Di- and member of the Board 1937 to rector in July, 1949; and Jeffrey E. 1943; H. William Fitelson, lawyer; Fuller, Secretary of the Membership August Heckscher, editorial writer Department since August, 1948, was for the “N. Y. Herald Tribune”; appointed Membership Director. E. ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES 1. IOINT BRIEFS was felt that briefs have greater ef- In response to many requests of fect if filed alone by the ACLU-it organizations for permission to join being concerned solely with the with the Union in sponsoring briefs question of civil liberties, without amicus, the Board on March 20, any special interest; However, the 1950 decided that as a general rule Board decided (a) that ACLU may other organizations should not be add to its brief a paragraph to the allowed to join as sponsors. Such effect that the Union is authorized action was taken simply because it to state that certain other organiza- 79 tions support its brief; (b) or prefer- for a statement of the Union’s pol- ably, that the other organizations icy, the Board rea&med the long- file separate briefs stating their in- understood policy of complete dis- terest in and support of the Union’s closure of any information about brief. In cases in which the Union the Union requested by a govern- wants to join the brief of another mental body. This policy should organization, the Board agreed that not be understood as changing the the Union should instead submit a established position of the Union separate statement of the type men-- tioned above. regarding other groups or individu- als. It still asserts that questions as 2. DISCLOSURE OF to political beliefs or other matters INFORMATION not relevant to a proper govern- In response to a request from the mental inquiry are violations of the Massachusetts Civil Liberties Union Bill of Rights.

F. CELEBRATIONS 1. ACLU 30TH ANNIVERSARY tween general counsel Arthur Gar- This occasion was marked by a field Hays and Harmon Duncombe, series of events, including a public former special assistant to the chief dinner in honor of Roger Baldwin, of military intelligence of the U.S. retiring as director after 30 years of Army, was another attraction. devoted service to the cause of civil The dinner session was high- liberties. The dinner was part of a lighted by an address by Senator day-long anniversary program at Herbert H. Lehman who espoused the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New a “point four program for human York City on February 22, 1950. rights” in line with President Tru- Preceding the tribute to Baldwin man’s economic development pro- was the annual conference at which gram for underprivileged areas in more than 500 members and friends many parts of the world. In his of the Union gathered to hear panel address to the gathering of 800, discussions on such subjects as Baldwin stated that in the confu- “Communists and the Bill of sions of a divided and disordered Rights ” , “Civil Liberties and Trade world, civil liberties stand out for Unions”, “Government and Civil the first time in history as the top Rights”, and “International Civil political issue. “Both in the Con- Liberties”. Distinguished Board gress and the United Nations,” he members and other experts in these said, “they are the fighting front of fields contributed to these discus- democratic expansion.” He pre- sions. A debate on the topic “Is dicted that principles of civil liber- Wire Tapping Ever Justified?” be- ties would win out on both fronts- 80 in adoption “sooner or later” of the screen stars, compared the freedom civil rights programs in Congress contained in the Bill of Rights with and the Declaration of Human the denial of freedom in Commu- Rights in the UN. nist controlled countries. Stress was Announcement was made at the placed on situations in which the dinner of the establishment of the Bill of Rights was not being ob- Roger Baldwin Foundation. A served, and such outstanding issues minimum goal of $25,000 was set to as the University of California Loy- support civil liberties studies in uni- alty Oath Case, the Federal Loyalty versities, both here and abroad, and Program, the McCarran Act, and to sponsor lectures and scholarships, censorship were dramatized. “to carry forward Baldwin’s con- The findings in the seventeen tinuing work.” major cities which conducted the 2 BZLL OF RZGHTS DAY newspaper survey showed that, aside from serious threats to ex- In the period covered in this pression of unpopular views and report, the Union celebrated with academic freedom, the general state special educational campaigns the of civil liberties was healthy. A simi- 158th and 159th anniversaries of the lar project was carried out in co- fnal adoption of the Bill of Rights. operation with campus newspapers On December 15, 1949 a coast-to- in thirty-four colleges. Several col- coast National Broadcasting Com- lege radio groups participated in a pany radio program was offered, college radio contest. A dramatic starring Eddie Albert and other script was prepared for high school radio personalities. Special material groups, and a series of three articles for editorial writers and radio com- was distributed nationally to week- mentators was prepared and ap- ly newspapers. pearances on several radio and tele- vision broadcasts were arranged. A fact book, quoting the Bill of A much more ambitious program Rights and analyzing how it is was carried out for the December being observed today, was distrib- 15, 1950 celebration, marked by an- uted to editorial writers and other other NBC nation-wide broadcast leaders of public opinion, and affili- and a survey of civil liberties in ated groups were given special press seventeen major cities conducted by material. Through the suggestion of leading newspapers in those com- the Union, Governors and Mayors munities. A radio broadcast starring in fifteen states and eight cities is- Burgess Meredith, Melvyn Douglas, -sued Bill of Rights Day proclama- Anita Louise and other stage and tions.

81 FINANCES For the fiscal year February 1,1949 through January 31,195O

The Union’s income and expendi- and $1,352 in income from invest- tures were both larger than ever be- ments) did not meet special expen- fore in its 30-year history. Income ditures of $14,708. 1948-49’sSpecial from all sources (except transfers Fund income and expenditures and bequests) amounted to $82,289, were $10,278and $10,926,respective- compared with $72,430the previous 1Y. year. Expenditures for all purposes Income from reserve fund invest- totalled $86,419,as against the pre- ments, other than that assignedto vious year’s $72,474. Special Fund income, totaled $2,325. Operating Fund income of $68,354 Reserve fund expenditures, in ad- (consisting chiefly of membership dition to transfers, totaled $3,893, dues) more than met the operating which included Mr. Baldwin’s sal- expenditures of $67,818,higher than ary from the Maxine Hilson trust the previous year’s because of in- fund. creased costs and the addition of one typist to the staff, which num- Bequests from former members bered sixteen. 1948-49’sOperating of the Union (see page 86), total- income and expenditures were ling $51,140,were added to reserve $58,812 and $57,946, respectively. funds during the year. Net worth Special Fund income of $11,610 as of January 31, 1950 totaled ($9,279 in contributions from mem- $147,716,as compared with $101,015 bers, $979 in sale of tickets to 29th on January 31, 1949. (See Treasur- Annual Conference in March 1949, er’s Report for further details.)

A. MEMBERSHIP The Union’s membership in- Over 8,800 contributions were re- creasedto a total of 9,355 on January ceived from members. By amounts 31, 1950, a net gain of 1,207 or al- they were: 81 of $100 and over; 84 most 15% for the fiscal year. 2,019 between $50 and $100; 341 between new members were enrolled during $25 and $50; 1803 between $10 and the year, while 812 were dropped $25; 3,730 between $5 and $10; and becauseof death, resignation, non- 2,790 of less than $5. The average payment of dues, etc. Approximate- contribution was about $8.70. ly 4,000 additional individuals be-. Contributors of $200 and over longed during this period to local were: William Prescott Allen, chapters, the largest of which are Texas; Mrs. Evelyn P. Baldwin, in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chi- New York; the late Mrs. Geraldine cago and Boston. Boone, New Jersey; Miss Fanny 82 Travis Cochran, Pennsylvania; Ed- Gustavus D. Pope, Michigan; ward T. Cone, New Jersey; Mrs. George D. Pratt, Jr., Connecticut; Margaret DeSilver, New York; In- Mrs. Jane A. Pratt, Connecticut; ternational Ladies Garment Work- J. H. Reinfeld, New York; Harold ers Union, New York; Corliss La- L. Renfield, New York; Renfield mont, New York; Mrs. Thomas W. Lamont, New York; Albert D. Importers, Ltd., New York; Percy Lasker, New York; the late Miss S. Straus, Jr., Texas; Miss Anne L. Florina Lasker, New York: Mrs. Thorp, Massachusetts; Norman Mary Woodward Lasker, New Williams, Jr., New Jersey; together York; the Robert Marshall Civil with two anonymous contributions Liberties Trust, New York; Mrs. of $1,000 each.

TREASURER’S REPORT Fiscal Year ending /anuury 31, 1950

OPERATING FUND INCOK?: Membership dues and contributions ...... $67,552.65 Sale of pamphlets ...... 801.05 Transfer of Book Fund from Special Funds ...... 106.17

Total Operating Fund Income ...... $68,459.87 EXPENDITURES: Executives’ salaries (four employees*) ...... 616,s 1802 Clerical salaries (eleven employees) ...... 2 1,937.37 Pamphlets, Civil L&r&z (quarterly and monthly) ...... 5,846.75 Postage ...... 4,410.19 Membership promotion ...... 3,865.79 Stationery and general printing ...... 2,670.44 Rent ...... 2,605.OO Office supplies and services ...... y ...... 2,419.41 Telephone ...... 1,272.16 Social Security taxes ...... 1,254.67 Audit ...... _, 1,140.oo Newsclippings, books and subscriptions ...... 982.13 Lettershop services ...... 889.73 Telegrams ...... 498.93 Travel ...... 438.03 Board meetings ...... 350.26 Binding ACLU publications ...... 243.00 Insurance ...... 146.65 Bank charges ...... 29.15

Total Operating’ Expenditures ...... $67,817.68 Excess of Income ...... 642.19 Balance, Operating Fund, February 1, 1949 ...... :...... W&907.26

Balance, Operating Fund, January 3 1, 1950 ...... _...... $9,549.45

*Mr. Baldwin’s salary was paid from Trust Funds. See page 86. a3 SPECIAL FUND INCOME: Contributions from members $9,278.89 From 29th Annual Conference, March 1949 979.52 From investments 1,351.82 Transferred from General Reserve Fund 1,069.06 , Transferred from Trust Funds (Special Educational Fund) 965.50 Transferred from Revolving Loan Fund ., 341.07 Transferred from Trust Funds ,. ,.,.,. ...,. ., .,. 239.39

Total Special Fund Income $14,225.25

EXPENDITURES: COURT ACTIONS Japanese-American citizenship renunciants’ cases, federal courts $1,201.11 Williams death sentence appeal, N.Y. Courts and U.S. Su- preme Court ...... 973.15 Steiner loyalty oath test case, California courts and U.S. Su- preme court ...... 500.00 N.J. political carldidates’ loyalty oath test case, N.J. Supreme Court ...... 415.50 “The Nation” vs. N.Y. Board of Education, before N.Y. ad- ministrative agencies ...... 345.40 Ellen Knauff case, and other immigration and naturalization cases, federal courts ...... 290.64 “Trenton Sik” appeal from murder conviction, N.J. Supreme Court ...... 258.20 Kunz street-preaching free speech test case, N.Y. courts ...... 241.29 Leon Johnson, Georgia extradition case, federal courts, Penn- sylvania ...... 207.49 Lapides discrimination against foreign born citizens case, fed- eral courts ...... 204.10 N.J. Anti-Strike Law test case, Bell Telephone Workers, N.J. Supreme Court ...... 150.00 House Un-American Activities Committee constitutionality test case, federal courts ...... 149.80 Cholookian release of children from institution, N.Y. courts 110.70 Terminicllo free speech appeal, U.S. Supreme Court ...... 108.00 Baltimore radio station contempt of court case, Maryland Supreme Court ...... 95.86 Picketing for racial quotas in employment, in California, U.S. Supreme Court ...... 95.23 Constitutionality test of U.S. Attorney General’s Subversive List, Circuit Court of Appeals, Wash., DC...... 90.64 Aid in various loyalty oath cases ...... 81.60 Forty-three cases under $50.00 ...... 329.12

$5,847.83 84 Incurred by ACLU STANDING COMMITTEES International Civil Liberties Committee ...... $203.14 Labor Civil Rights Committee ...... 146.09 National Council on Freedom from Censorship ...... 119.32 Academic Freedom Committee ...... 86.28 Race Discrimination Committee ...... 64.78 Indian Civil Rights Committee ...... 43.90 Radio Committee ...... 25.46

$688.97

Incurred by NEW YORK CITY CIVIL LIBERTIES COMMITTEE $3 10.09

Contributed to COOPERATING ORGANIZATIONS Civil Liberties Clearing House, Washington .,,....,.,,... ., ,..,. ._, $300.00 Committee for Equality in Naturalization 300.00 National Emergency Civil Rights Mobilization, Washington, January 1950 ..,...... _ 200.00

$800.00 WASHINGTON OFFICE expenses Services of part-time Washington reprcscntative .,, $1,073.45 Telephone and telegrams ,... ..,.,, 156.02 Travel .._... .._._...... _._ 123.50 Special clerical expenses ,....,.,...... ,...... ,...,..._.... 30.00

$1,382.97 ORGANIZATIONAL EXPENSES 29th Annual Meeting, and conference of local chapter repre- sentatives, in New York, March 1949 ...... _...... _...... ,...,. $2,618.23 Bill of Rights Day Celebration Project, December 15, 1949 .,.... 1,397.88 30th Anniversary Dinner (February 1950), advance expenses 1,013.47 Advertisement in “The Progressive” magazine’s 40th anniver- sary issue, December 1949 ,...... _...... 150.00 Malin reception expenses .,. .._...... ,...... ,..,.,. 5.84

$5,185.42 PEEKSKILL 1NVESTlGATlON Clerical and mimeographing expenses .,..,,,.,. $200.00 Investigator’s travel and other expenses 99.11 Telephone and telegrams ., .._.....,...... , ,...,.,,,... ,..,. 65.45 Photographs _.. 21.50

$386.06

BOOK FUND, transferred to Operating Fund ,, ,.,.,. .,, ,... .,.,. ,. ..,.,,, ,, $106.17

TOTAL, SPECIAL FUND EXPENDITURES .., ,.....,.,,,,.,,,.,, .,...,..,.,, $14,707.51

Excess of expenditures 482.26 Balance, Special Fund, February 1, 1949 . .,._...,..,..,,,.,...... ,,... $1,158.63

Balance, Special Fund, January 31, 1950 ...... _...... _...... -676.37 85 RESERVE FUNDS 1. McMurtrie Fund Balance, February 1, 1949 _. .._...._...... ,..,.....,..,. ..._._...... ,.,...... ,.,...... $19,912.64 INCOME: Interest and dividends ,. .., .._.,.,.,.,.._._.,.,.. .,..._.._._...... _...... 95.03

No EXPENDITURES

Balance, January 31, 1950 .,,.,.,...,.,...,. ..,...,.,..,.,..,,....,..,...,.,,...,...,....,.,. $20,007.67

2. Trust Funds Balance, February 1, 1949 .._...,.,.,...,..,.,, ..,.,...... ,,.. $50,393.67 A. MAXINE HILSON Estate Balance, February 1, 1949 ...... $48,563.56 Income: Profit on sale of securities ...... $13.80 Interest and dividends ...... $1,906.17

1,9 19.97 Expenditures: Transferred: to Special Fund ...... 239.39 Roger N. Baldwin, salary ...... 3,600.OO Balance, January 3 1, 1950 ...... $46,644.14 B. ROBERT MARSHALL CIVIL LIBERTIES TRUST FUND Balance in fund for field investigations February I, 1949 and January 3 1, 1950 (no transactions) ...... $473.54 C. CIVIL LIBERTIES EDUCATIONAL FUND Balance, February 1, 1949 ...... $965.50 Transferred to Special Fund ...... 965.50 Balance, January 31, 1950 ...... _ ...... nil D. REVOLVING LOAN FUND Balance, February I, 1949 ...... $391.07 Expenditures: Loan to Douglas Barth written off ...... 50.00 Transferred to Special Fund ...... 341.07 Balance, January 31, 1950 ...... nil Balance, January 3 1, 1950 ...... $47,117.68

3. GENERAL RESERVE FUND Balance, February 1, 1949 ...... $20,227.19 RECEIPTS: Bequest from Estate of Betsy B. Davis ...... $47,640.22 ‘8 “ “ “ Anne D. Geller ...... 500.00 ‘I #‘ .a “ Joseph Carl Troutman ...... l,OOO.OO “ “ “ “ Oswald Garrison Villard ...... 2,ooo.oo Interest on mortgage, Philadelphia property ...... 3 10.00

TOTAL RECEIPTS ...... $5 L450.22 EXPENDITURBS: Transferred to Special Fund ...... $1,069.06 Redecorating otficc (capital expenditure) ...... 243.25

TOTAL EXPENDITURES ,..,_..._.,._...._.....,,,,...... $1,3 12.3 1 Balance, January 31, 1950 ...... _...... ,,.,,.,.,...... ,.,..,...... $70,365.10 86 BALANCE SHEET AS OF JANUARY 31,195O

ASSETS Cash in banks ,_.....,,...,.,.,.....,....,,.,.. .,,,,... .,...... _,...... $43,382.98 Investments-at book value” 102,659.57 Furniture and fixtures (net value) ._ .,. 2,923.43

TOTAL ASSETS .._...... $148,965.98 LIABILITIES Payroll taxes payable ...... $470.48 Accounts payable ...... 779.23

1,249.71 NET WORTH* Operating Fund Reserve ...... $9,549.45 Special Fund Reserve ...... 676.37 McMurtrie Fund Reserve ...... 20,007.67 Trust Fund Reserve ...... 47,1!7.68 General Reserve Fund ...... 70,365.10

$147,716.27 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND NET WORTH ...... $148,965.98

*Net Worth is subject to adjustment for difference between the book values and market values of the investments.

CERTIFICATE

We hereby certify that the foregoing Balance Sheet and summary of Income and Ex- penditures are in accordance with the books, and, subject to adjustments for the difference between the book and market value of -investments, in our opinion correctly sets forth the financial condition of the American Civil Liberties Union, Inc., as of January 31, 1950, and the results of operations for the fiscal year then ended. APFBL AND ENGLANDER Certified Public Accountants

NOTE:-A complete copy of the auditor’s report will be sent to any member who requests it. The Union’s financial and accounting methods are endorsed by the National Information Bureau, Inc., 205 East 42nd Street, New York 17, N.Y., an agency formed to advise con- tributors. Contributions to the Union are not deductible from personal income for income tax pur- poses. The Treasury Department in Washington has held that “a substantial part of the Union’s activities is directed to influence legislation”, which, under the law, does not permit deductions in income tax returns by contributors. The Union itself pays no taxes other than Social Security, Old Age Benefit taxes, etc., in connection with its own employees’ salaries.

87 MEMBERSHIP AND FINANCES, 195 O-51 SUMMARY The membership of the national ACLU stood at 12,247 on January 31, 1951, a net increase of 31% for the fiscal year. During the fiscal year February 1, 1950 through January 31, 1951, the Union’s income in the form of dues and contributions from members, and interest and dividends from investments (other than the Maxine Hilson Estate from which Mr. Baldwin’s salary was paid-see above) totaled $109,000, representing an increase of 33% over 1949-50’s comparable figure. In addition, about $1,650 was received in bequests. Expenditures, other than Mr. Baldwin’s salary, totaled about $119,000, an increase of 40% over the previous year-due to enlarged activity and staff, higher salaries and other costs, in a transitional and experimental, and crucial, year. Income in the Maxine Hilson Estate-Baldwin Salary Account was about $2,300, while $3,600 was paid to Mr. Baldwin. On January 31, 1951, theeUnion’s net worth aside from the Baldwin count was $94,000, and the separate Baldwin Account’s net worth stood at $44,000. Full details on membership, income and expenditures during the 1950-S fiscal year will appear in next year’s annual report.

88

YOU HAVE AN INTEREST IN CIVIL LIBERTIES! WHY NOT BECOME A MEMBER* OF THE ACLU?

The .lC:LC 1s the only natic,nal non-imrtlsan organization defending the IS11 of Rights for all - mithout chstincrion or cc~nqmmise. It depends on irs members for its entire support. Membership. \vhich brings you Cltg/l L~lw~re~ (the Union’s rnonthl!, publication ). this annual report and future &iticm. and \-our choice of some 30 p,1ni}~hlets. is open to all interested - irl the follo\ving classifications:

I’ \RTlCI P%TlU(, .h’fEMBER . . . $100 C:OOPER.~TI\L MEI\IBER . . . $50 Sr,sTtlxi\c, IVIEZ~BER . . . . . $25 S~~mm.rI\(; MENBER . . . . . $10 (:o\mIBLTi\(; MEAIBER ...... $5 ;\r\<~mti. Atcrnbcrr it SZ rt-ic,\c Cltil I.rbr,virs .md the annual rqmrr The Union’s \veekly Feature Press Service, distributed free to the press, is available on request to contributors of $10 and over. In most in~tancex. by joinirlg the national ACLL! you will automatically become a member- of dn\’ e.viding locirl .4CLG organrzatzon in your 0ea - witlzout pa!‘- tnent of cdditiond driej. Be as generorrj us ,so~r can! YOU CAN HELP DEFEND AMERICAN LIBERTIES! JOIN THE ACLU TODAY!

BEQUESTS Provision is often made in wills for gifts to agencies which serve the public interest. Members are urged to give serious consideration to the

WJrk done bp the Union in defense of civil liberties when planning legacies. Bequests should be drafted to refer to the American C&l Lihertiej Unton, Inc.. a corporation organized under the laws of New York State. with headquarters in New York (Iit!,. -iddress: 170 Fifth Auenlie, h-elf, I’OSl( 10, iA-. ‘I.. lQr