vol. 23, no. 12

American

Cuil Liberties

Union

Volume XXIII

San Francisco, California, December, 1958

Number 12

The Army last month dismissed two security cases

brought against honorably separated veterans who are serv-

ing in the inactive reserve. All three cases of this type, which

arose early in the year, have now been decided favorably.

In the first case, it was charged that "During the period

from June to August 1955, you

attended lectures at the Califor-

nia Labor School, San Francisco,

California." The veteran admit-

ted the charge but explained

that he knew little or nothing

about the school. He had seen an

announcement about a psychol-

ogy course and, as a result of

further inquiry, he registered for

the course and attended two lec-

tures. Since the course did not

measure up to his expectations

he had dropped out.

Conditioned Reflexes

At the same time, there was

no discussion of politics in the

classroom. In fact, they talked

about dogs, and especially about

Pavlov's experiments on condi-

tioned reflexes. The book used in

the course was by Pavlov, en-

titled, "Lectures on Conditioned

Reflexes." g

The Army also claimed that

the veteran had falsified a form

by stating he knew of nothing

which reflected upon his loyalty.

They contended he should have

indicated his association with

the California Labor School.

The third, and final, charge

was that he had refused to exe-

cute certain Army forms and had

stated he had "completed the

forms while a member of: the

United States Army and could

see no reason for having to fill

them out again." As a matter of

fact, no formal request had been

made to execute the forms, and

' the request in question came

merely from a couple of CIC

agents. ; :

Second Case

In the second case, the veteran

was charged with membership

in the San Francisco Chinese

American Democratic Youth

League (actually the Chinese-

American Youth Club. This or-

ganization is not on the Attorney

General's subversive list but the

Army claims it is one "which

supports and serves the inter-

ests of the People's Republic of

China and the Union of Soviet

Socialist Republics in preference

to the interest of the United

States." The evidence presented

by the Army in support of its

claim that the group was sub-

versive was the same as intro-

duced in an earlier hearing on

the same issue. (See last month's

ACLU NEWS).

It was also charged that the

veteran-falsified two Army forms

by withholding information about

his membership in the "League."

Six Security Cases Remain _

The foregoing decisions almost

exhaust the ACLU's pending

Army security cases. Three cases

are still resting before the Army

Discharge Review Board in which

it is sought to replace General

discharges (under honorable con-

ditions) with Honorable dis-

charges, and an appeal has been

taken to Washington from the

decision of a local security board

holding that a draftee was inelig-

ible for the Army because of se-

curity reasons. A fifth case, in-

volving an Undesirable discharge

from the Navy has been referred

to Washington, D. C. counsel and

may result in court action. A

sixth case has just arisen and is

reported elsewhere in this issue

of the News.

P.O. Now Gives |

Notice of Seizure

Of Foreign Mags

A new wrinkle has been added

to the Federal Government's ef-

forts to decide what political lit-

erature from abroad citizens may

or may not read.

Notices are now being sent to

addressees from Washington ad-

: vising them that the "Postal Ser-

vice has received foreign mail

addressed to you consisting of

certain publications (noted be-

low) which contain foreign polit-

ical propaganda." The addressee

is requested to inform the Ser-

vice within 15 days from the date

of notice "whether the listed

- publications were subscribed for,

ordered, or otherwise requested

by you."

Two notices of this kind have

thus far come to the attention of

the ACLU of. Northern Califor-

nia. In the first instance, the ad-

dressee was notified that the Pos-

tal Service was holding a maga-

zine cailed "Soviet Woman." On

two previous occassions, the ad-

dressee has had difficulty receiv-

ing this publication when it was

sent in a sealed envelope. On the

first occasion, the San Francisco

Customs Service wanted permis-

sion to open the envelope on the

ground that it was thought to

contain dutiable merchandise,

while on the second occasion the

mail was held up by the Customs

Service in New York City. In

both instances, the mail was re-

leased after the ACLU interven-

ed.

The second notice involves

three issues of a Czechoslovakian

publication, "Kultura." The local

Post Office Department had not

been informed of the new pro-

cedures and referred the ACLU.

to their national office. In both

instances, the ACLU has request-

ed the Postal Service in Wash-

ington to release the magazines

and not to detain future issues.

~ California

- Graham during his

Freedom to Know

Meetings Get

Under Way

Members taking ACLU's new

Freedom to Know course repre-

sent a wide variety of profess-

ions. And their divergent view-

points promise to make the

meetings really stimulating, says

Mrs. Alice G. Heyneman, chair-

man of the Education Committee,

which planned the program as

an experiment.

The 30 registrants, who held

their first meeting November 12,

include attorneys, newspaper-

men, housewives, a retired

nurse, office workers, a psychol-

ogist and a bill collector. Their

first session concerned philoso-

phical aspects of freedom, and

the remaining five will cover

specific issues, as reported in

last month's News.

As announced, the group will

meet again on December 3 at the

Sandor G. Burstein home, 2651

Baker Street, San Francisco.

Then, in a departure from the

schedule, the January 7 and 21

meetings are to be held at the

Maxwell Keith home, 133 Com-

monwealth Avenue (Jordan Park

section, between Euclid and

Geary). The February 4 and 18

meetings again will be at the

Burstein home.

By mid-November, nearly 20

members had requested that

their names be put on a waiting

list for future ACLU courses.

They include several Eastbay

residents, and the Education

committee soon will meet to con-

sider their requests, Mrs. Heyne-

man reported.

Other members interested in

similar programs for their areas

are asked to contact the office.

Ban Religious

Meetings On Public

Property In San Diego

The city Attorney of San Diego

last month ruled that under the

Constitution public

property may not be used for

Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter

or other religious services.

The ruling resulted from a

citizen's protest against use of

municipal Balboa Park by Billy

California

tour.

In San Francisco, City Attor-

ney Dion Holm stated that the.

issue had never been raised, "so

. our office has never, had to ren-

der an opinion." In Los Angeles,

the City Attorney said the issue

had been raised but an opposite

conclusion had been reached.

Barefoot Wendy Murphy

-"Vagged' For Refusing to

If you're a barefoot young lady

of 20 and don't obey the order of

a San Francisco police officer to

go home, you may be arrested

as a vagrant. At least, that's

what happened to blonde, and.

pretty Wendy Murphy of Berke-

ley.

A month ago, accompanied by

two male U. C. graduate students,

she `visited San Francisco, end-

ing up at the Co-Existence Bagel,

Shop on Grant Avenue, capitol

of the Beat generation .She also

arrived without footwear.. When

the thong on one of her sandals

broke, it would no longer stay

on her foot. Rather than have one

shoe on and one shoe off, she re-

moved both sandals. That was her

downfall!

Perfectly sober but unshod, she

attracted the attention of a San

Francisco police officer. The of-

ficer wanted to see her identifi-

cation, which she was able to pro-

duce in the form of a driver's

license. It established that she

was 20 and, consequently, not

subject to the curfew ordinance.

Nevertheless, the officer wasn't

satisfied. Without stating any

reason, he ordered her to go

home.

Wendy said she wasn't going

home but into the coffee shop.

Again the officer ordered her to

go home, and again Wendy re-

fused to obey the order. There-

upon the officer seized her by

the shoulder and placed her un-

der arrest. Like a true Irishman,

the 105 pound Wendy resisted

this unjust treatment. In the

struggle both she and the officer

fell to the sidewalk.

Wendy was taken to the sta-

tion by Grant Avenue's ever-pres-.

ent paddy wagon. When the ar-

resting officer entered the room,

Wendy cried out, "Keep that

man away from me!" But the of-

ficer didn't keep away and Wen-

dy hurled a paper punch at him

- engage

`J

Grady'

The Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties

Union of Northern California has agreed to have its attorneys

represent Louis Earl Hartman in a contempt prosecution

stemming from hearings of the House Committee on Un-

American Activities in San Francisco on June 19, 1957.

Dismissal of

Union Chief by

P.O. Upheld

The Regional Office of the U.S.

Civil Service Commission last

month upheld the dismissal of

Conrad C. Eustace as Distribu-

tion Clerk at the San Francisco

Post Office. The dismissal result-

ed from picketing of the main

Post Office in San Francisco on

November 27, 1957 by the United

Postal. Workers Union, Local

1136, of which Eustace is Presi-

dent. The pickets urged the pub-

lic to brand the Post Office as

"Unfair" because of low wages

and poor working conditions.

An appeal has been taken to

the Board of Appeals and Review

of the U. S. Civil Service Com-

mission in Washington, D. C. If

the Board upholds the dismissal,

the case will be taken to the

courts.

Eustace had a hearing last

September 10 before John F.

Jackson, Appeals Examiner.

Jackson rarely fails to uphold

Management. In this case, he`sus-

tained eight of the nine charges

virtually without setting forth

any reasons. Jackson ignored the

main contentions of the employee

that the matters complained

about "did not occur during

working hours .. . and were in

fact the lawful and proper activ-

ities of a labor union..." He

agreed that the placards carried

by the pickets and the printed

handbills did not create the false

impression that a strike was in

progress at the Post Office.

At the same time, the Exam-

iner held that the pickets had

advocated the right to strike,

even though the literature stated

that because the workers do NOT

enjoy the right to strike and to

in political campaigns

they had to turn for help to other

workers.

The Secretary-Treasurer of the

Union, Thomas H. Monroe, was

also dismissed because of his Un-

ion activities. The Appeals Board

has ruled that it had no jurisdic-

tion in his case because he was

not a veteran.

Both men were represented by

Ernest Besig, local director of

the ACLU.

30 Home

which hit him in the back. An-

other struggle ensued, in the

course of which a typewriter was

knocked from a desk. |

Wendy was finally subdued

and four charges were placed

against her: vagrancy, resisting

arrest, battery and malicious mis-

chief. She was bailed out and on |

her arraignment she _ pleaded

"Not Guilty,' and asked for a

jury trial.

The ACLU Board of Directors

have voted to allow the ACLU

staff counsel to represent Wendy

Murphy. After all, being barefoot

didn't make Wendy a vagrant.

And neither did Wendy's refusal ~

to obey the police officer's im-

proper order to go home. Clear-

ly, this was a false arrest which

she could legally resist.

Wendy's case was scheduled to

go to trial the day before

Thanksgiving, too late for the re-

sults to be reported in this issue

of the News.

- House

Following his refusal to testi-

fy, Hartman, who resides in

Berkeley, was dismissed from his

job conducting the "This Is San

Francisco" broadcast on KCBS.

On that program he was known

as Jim Grady.

Several Changes in Counsel

At the Committee hearings,

Hartman was represented by

Lawrence Speiser. When Speiser

withdrew from the case, he was

succeeded by Bertram Edises of

Oakland. After the latter dropped

out of the case because of illness,

Frederic Campagnoli of San

Francisco was appointed by the

U. S. District Court to represent

him. The appointment was made

because Hartman was without

funds. In the meantime, Hartman

had appealed to the ACLU for

help. ACLU counsel was unavail-

able unless the trial was post-

poned until January. Recently,

Judge Goodman did postpone the

trial until January 28 and per-

mitted Campagnoli to withdraw

as counsel and to be succeeded

by Albert M. Bendich, the ACLU

staff counsel.

Indicted Last April

Hartman was indicted by a

Federal Grand Jury on April 24, -

1958 under a_ statute which

makes it a misdemeanor for: a

person who has been summoned

as a witness by the authority of

any committee of either

of Congress,' to refuse

"to answer any question pertin-

ent to the question under in-

quiry."

There are seven counts to the

indictment, each count represent- -

ing one question which Hartman

refused to answer. Included were

the following typical questions:

"Have you been a member, and

are you a member now, of a pro-

fessional cell of the Communist

Party at Berkeley?" "Will you

tell the committee, please, how

many professional cells of the

Communist Party there are in

Berkeley?" "Now, sir, will you

advise the committee of propa-

ganda activities that are now be-

ing carried on by the Profession-

al Section or group of the Com-

munist Party in Berkeley?"

First Amendment Case

In refusing to answer the Com-

mittee's questions, Hartman did

not rely on the right against self-

incrimination under the Fifth

Amendment. Instead, he claimed

that the questions "abridge my

rights of freedom of speech and

association protected by the first

amendment." He also challenged

the Committee's mandate as be-

ing vague and indefinite, and

claimed that he was being tried

without due process of law, and

that the proceeding invaded the `

jurisdiction of the judiciary.

There were other objections as

well.

The Government has indicated

that Frank S. Tavenner, Jr.,

counsel for the Committee, will

be its sole witness.

e

In This Issue...

600 Hear Alan Barth at

Annual Meeting ...... p. 3

Beliefs of Students Denied

to Investigators ....... p.3

Dismiss Charges in `'Vag"'

and "Move On" Cases .. p. 3

Liberty im a Cold Climate,

by Alan Barth ........ p.2

Membership Hits Record

High: 4078 .......... p.2

Racial Issue In Army

Loyalty Discharge ...... p. 3

Reception for Clem Miller

December 12 ......... p. 3

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION NEWS ae

Published by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern Caifornia,

503 Market Street, San Francisco 5, California, EXbrook 2-4692.

Second Class mail privileges authorized at San Francisco, Calif.

ERNEST BESIG .. . Editor

Subscription Rates-Two Dollars a Year

Twenty Cents Per Copy

Helen Salz

Philip Adams

Theodore Baer -

Prof. James R. Caldwell

William K. Coblentz

Richard De Lancie

John M. Fowle

Howard Friedman

Julian R. Friedman

Rev. Oscar F. Green

Zora Cheever Gross

Alice G. Heyneman

Mrs. Paul Holmer

- J. Richard Johnston

Prof. Van D. Kennedy

Prof. Theodore J. Kreps

Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union

of Northern California

CHAIRMAN: Prof. John Henry Merryman

VICE-CHAIRMEN: Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn -

SECRETARY-TREASURER: William M. Roth

HONORARY TREASURER: Joseph M. Thompson

HONORARY MEMBER: Sara Bard Field

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Ernest Besig

Rey. F. Danford Lion

Seaton W. Manning

Rev. Robert W. Moon

Lloyd L. Morain

Rt. Rev. Edward L. Parsons

Clarence E. Rust

Mrs. Alec Skolnick

Fred H. Smith, IV

Theodosia B. Stewart

Stephen Thiermann

Franklin H. Williams

GENERAL COUNSEL

Wayne M. Collins -

STAFF COUNSEL

Albert M. Bendich

Classroom Rights

For the Student

The Academic Senate on the Berkeley campus, composed

of the upper rank of the teaching staff, has voted not to give

out information about beliefs of individual students as indi-

cated in the classroom.

This is a reaffimation of traditional academic freedoms.

Students are in college to learn; part of that learning is ar-

guing on any side of any question. The speaker does not

necessarily believe what he says, but seeks to test his facts

by argument. A class in political theory, for example, should

debate the case for anarchy in order to develop the case

against it.

The particular interest in this vote of the Academic Sen-

ate lies in the fact that it was an issue at all. The arguments

and convictions of college sophomores or seniors would, a

generation ago, be thought of.as worthy only of amused tol-

erance. Clemenceau expressed a general attitude when he

said: `""A man who is not a Socialist at 20 has no heart; a man

who is still a Socialist at 40 has no head."

What has happened is that we live today in a

security-

conscious society. Government contracts have been so widely

spread through industry that nearly every major corporation

has its share; many industries have established a policy of

"making security checks" on all employees at hiring time,

just in case they later want to transfer them into a Govern-

ment project without delay. The result of this has been an

army of investigators swarming through the populace, dig-

ging up information about beliefs and associations. They

meet with little resistance; most people feel somewhat flat-

tered at being asked for their opinions.

We believe it is time that a halt is called to this kind of

activity. The action of the Academic Senate in reasserting

the right of a student to speak freely in the classroom has

made a contribution to that end.-EKditorial, San Francisco

Chronicle, October 30, 1958.

Religious :

Services in Jail |

Brings Protest

The ACLU of Northern Calif-

ornia last month protested to

Sheriff Larry Gillick of Oroville,

Butte county, against compelling

prisoners to listen to religious

services. In a letter to Sheriff

Gillick, Ernest Besig, local ACLU

director, declared that even pris-

oners are entitled to religious

freedom.

The issue arose when Donald

Smith sent a petition to both the

State and U. S. Attorney General

complaining that he was "sub-

mitted to the intolerable and fa-

natical rantings and ravings of

a fanatical religious group." -

The jailer claims that the ser-

vices, conducted Tuesday eve-

nings in the cell block by about

a half dozen "well-meaning and

religious citizens" of Oroville,

have been non-sectarian in char-

acter, consisting of preaching

and hymn-singing. Smith, who is

awaiting trial on charges of writ-

ing bad checks, declared he was

not against religion, "But relig-

ion can be torture when one does-

n't want to listen."

ACLU NEWS

December, 1958

Page 2

Membership

Hits Record

High: 4078

Membership in the ACLU of

Northern California climbed to a

record high of 4087 at the end. of

the fiscal year on October 31. The

net gain for the year was 314

members, It took exactly six years

for the membership to grow from

3000 to over 4000 members. Dur-

ing the past twelve years, the

membership has quadrupled. It

took the ACLU 12 years before

: gained its first thousand mem-

ers.

_Following are the membership

figures at the end of each fiscal

year (October 31), beginning in

1946:

Year Members Gain

1946 1058 187

1947 1225 167

1948 1378 153

1949 1441 63

1950 1660 219

1951 1855 195

1952 3029 1174

1953 3221 192

1954 3474 253

1955 3347 (127)

1956 3539 192

1957 3764 225

1958 314

4078

iberty

The following speech was de-

livered by Alan Barth, distin-

guished author and _ editorial

writer of the Washington Post and

Times Herald, at the 24th Anni-

versary Meeting of the American

Civil Liberties Union of North-

ern California, held at the Sir

Francis Drake Hotel, San Fran-

cisco, November 7, 1958:

Although I am a newcomer to

Northern California, I am not ig-

norant of the extraordinary reso-

lution and resourcefulness which

have characterized the American

Civil Liberties Union of this area.

Under the exuberant and tough-

minded executive direction of Er-

nest Besig, the ACLU here has

been ready at all times to take on

all comers. It has been a great

and stout-hearted champion of

.the libertarian tradition. I take

it, therefore, as a very high com-

pliment indeed that you have in-

vited me to be your speaker-

and thus, in a certain sense, your

spokesman-at this 24th anniver-

sary meeting this evening.

Following Meiklejohn

The magnitude of the compli-

ment is augmented for me by the

fact that I find myself a succes-

sor in this role to Alexander

Meiklejohn. It is, of course, very

gratifying to follow him in any-

thing. But it is also disconcert-

ing. By way of preparation for

my task this evening, I had the

forethought to go and read the

address which Dr. Meiklejohn de-

livered here at your 23rd anni-

versary meeting just a year ago.

The effect was deflationary. I

can hardly hope to fill his shoes.

I ean but try to do what all of us

have been trying to do for many,

many years-that is, to follow in

his footsteps. Ripest of us all in

wisdom and experience, though

still the youngest and doughtiest

of us all in mind and spirit, he

continues, as always, to blaze a

trail for all the rest of us to

travel.

Calculated Ambiguity

I have chosen as the title for

my talk tonight, "Liberty in a

Cold Climate"-a calculated am-

biguity which I hoped would

serve to titillate your curiosity

while leaving me free at the

same time to decide, at leisure,

what I wanted to say. My pur-

pose is a fairly simple one-a pur-

pose which I trust you will con-

sider appropriate to this occasion.

Militant organizations, like the

ACLU, have a compelling need,

it seems to me, to make an assess-

ment from time to time of their

goals and of the conditions un-

der which these goals are being

pursued. Only by doing so can

they avoid the pitfall of letting

zeal degenerate into that sort of

fanaticism which Santayana says

"consists in redoubling your ef-

fort when you have forgotten

your aim."

So, I should like, if I can, to

make some sort of diagnosis of

the nation's emotional health.

What I want to do is to put a

hand, as it were, on the national

forehead-in much the manner

that a mother sometimes puts. her

hand on the forehead of a child

to determine if he is well enough

to go off to school-and thus ar-

rive at some kind of rough, rule-

of-thumb judgment as to the na-

tional temperature regarding civil

liberties.

Amateur Temperature-Taking

This kind of amateur tempera-

ture-taking seems to be a common

game nowadays. Everybody ap-

pears to be asking everybody

else whether the fever which we

called McCarthyism has abated.

And we all go running around,

figuratively speaking, with fin-

gers on our collective pulse and

a thermometer in our collective

mouth trying to figure out how

well we are. We are like the psy-

choanalyst who ran into a col-

league in the corridor of a medi-

cal building one morning, shook

his hand warily, and then said,

"You're well, how am I?"

There seems to be a prevailing

in

belief that we are recovering

from the raging fever of the early

1950's. But we are not very com-

fortable or confident in our con-

valescence. And we feel a des-

perate need to reassure each

other.

Improvement in Health .

For my own part, although I

am not at all sure that Washing-

ton, D. C., affords a very good

vantage point for this kind of

diagnosis, I think there can be no

doubt whatever that there has

been a marked improvement in-

the emotional health of the Amer-

ican people in the last few years.

You have all, I am sure, ob-

served symptoms of this conval-

escense. The censure of Senator

McCarthy by the Senate of the

United States in 1955-however

tardy and reluctant that censure

may have: seemed-was a most

impressive symptom and perhaps,

indeed, a decisive one. Since

then, there has been a steadily

discernible enlargement of free-

dom in public discussion-a rec- |

ognition that subjects are not

necessarily taboo simply because

they are controversial. And of

course the common feeling of

convalescence about which I have

spoken indicates, of itself, a

rather sheepish sense that we

made fools of ourselves over sub-

version and security in the early

days of the decade.

Libertarian Court Decisions

But perhaps the most signifi-

can symptoms of convalescence

are to be found in the series of

libertarian decisions handed down

by the Supreme Court in 1957

and 1958.

You need have no anxiety that

I will attempt at this time to re-

view the whole roster of recent

Supreme Court cases. I shall tax

your attention with the citation

of no more than a few. On June

17th, 1957, a memorable day, the

Court handed down a group of

decisions which, taken together,

struck a tremendous blow for the

civil liberties of Americans.

For one thing it considerably

modified its 1951 decision which

upheld the Constitutionality of

the Smith Act. In reviewing the

conviction of several California

Communists, the Court adopted

the view that men may be pun-

ished for advocating the over-

throw of the government by force

and violence only when those to

whom the advocacy is addressed

are urged "to do something, now

or in the future, rather than

` merely to believe something."

`This still leaves the possibility,

as Mr. Justice Black pointed out,

that men may be convicted for

"agreeing to talk as distinguished

from agreeing to act." Neverthe-

less, it goes a long way toward

restoring to the clear and present.

danger doctrine some of the orig-

inal meaning given to it by Jus-

tices Holmes and Brandeis. The

Court put its emphasis on the

protection of free speech rather

than on the protection of national

security.

Investigatory Power Limited

On the same day the Court re-

asserted a long-settled doctrine

that. the Congressional power to.

investigate is a limited power,

subject to the same limitations

that the Constitution imposes on

the power to legislate, of which it

is an adjunct. In very strong lan-

guage indeed, the Chief Justice

decried the use of the investigat-

ing power to punish by publicity.

There can hardly be any doubt

that the Court, through this deci-

sion, put a real crimp in the con-

duct of the House Committee on

Un-American Activities and the

Senate Internal Security Subcom-

mittee.

The Court acted also to check

encroachment upon individual

rights by the executive branch of

the government. Although it has

never passed on the constitution-

ality of the Federal Loyalty-Secu-

rity Program, nevertheless it

imposed a check on arbitrary dis-

missals under the program. It

Climate

had already limited application

of the program to sensitive posi-

tions actually affecting the na-

tional security.

Passport Decision

More recently, in its passport

decision this spring, the Court

put a stop to another instance of

executive arbitrariness. The De- .

partment of State had long arro-

gated to itself absolute authority

to forbid Americans to go abroad

-acting often on the basis of un-

disclosed information from anon-

ymous sources.

The Supreme Court has now

denounced this practice as violat-

ing a clearly recognized consti-

tutional right to travel. It held

that the Secretary of State may

not withhold passports in the ab-

sence of legislation fixing stand-

ards for their issuance.

Now there can be no doubt, I

think, that these decisions had a

tonic effect on public opinion.

They reminded Americans of

their own great tradition of civil

liberties. At the same time, how-

ever, they indicated a lowering

of the McCarthyist fever in the

American body politic. They

were, themselves, a heartening -

_ symptom of a return to a normal

temperature.

Judicial Statesmanship

It is an attribute of judicial

statesmanship to wait until time

has ripened the readiness of so-

ciety to accept new directions in

the law. The feverish atmosphere

in which the Supreme Court func-

tioned during the early years of

the present decade no longer pre-

vailed when the decisions of 1957

and 1958 were handed down..And -

perhaps the greatest significance

of these decisions lies in their

reflection of a renascence among

Americans of confidence in their

own institutions, and of respect

for the utility of freedom.

I do not mean by anything I

have said so far to suggest that

I think the country's convalesc-

ence is complete or that the

American Civil Liberties Union

can shut up shop and take a holi-

day. There is still plenty for us

to do. There are still some very

alarming symptoms which call

for our most zealous care. If the

country has gotten over that stage

of delirium tremens in which it

was seeing pink elephants-or

donkeys, or bears-its hangover

is still, nevertheless, a severe

one.

Security Program Remains

It is well, for example, to re-

mind ourselves that, although the

Supreme Court imposed a check

on some of its extravagances, the

Federal lLoyalty-Security Pro-

gram remains in full force and

effect. The standards and proce-

dures of this program were adopt-

ed and justified at its inception

as emergency measures to meet a

crucial condition. They have been

in operation now for eleven and

a half years. And although these

standards and procedures have

been modified in superficial ways,

their central vice-reliance on

information from faceless accus-

ers-remains altogether unh-

changed.

We no longer hear the atrocity

stories which used to keep us

alert to the dangers of the loyal-

ty-security program. We no long-

er hear about cases in which a

government employee is dis-

missed as a security risk because

he associated with his mother

who once bought an insurance

policy from a company said to be

tainted with communism. But the

absence of such atrocity stories

may serve only to promote com-

placency. The inescapable truth

is that the standards and the pro-

cedures of the loyalty-security

program are becoming institu-

tionalized. And to a very large

degree the country appears to be

embracing, as a permanent part

of American life, the judgment

and punishment of citizens

through star-chamber hearings

which deny them any semblance

(Continued on Page 4)

ieeti

600 Hear Alan

Barth at Annual |

Although this country is no longer in that stage of delir-

ium tremens in which it was seeing pink elephants - or

donkeys - or bears -we are facing some alarming new

disorders and suffering from a severe hangover.

So Alan Barth, author an

audience of nearly 600 at the

Northern California ACLU

Branch's 24th anniversary meet-

ing Friday evening, November 7,

in the Sir Francis Drake Hotel.

(The complete text of the dis-

tinguished guest speaker's ad-

dress appears on page 2 of this

issue, and mimeographed copies

of the speech are available at the

_ office.)

Merryman Chairman

Dr. John Henry Merryman, be-

ginning his second term as ACLU

chairman, introduced Barth and

. the two other speakers of the eve-

ning, Ernest Besig, branch direc-

tor since 1935, and Lawrence

Speiser, former staff counsel.

Dr. Merryman enumerated some

of the accomplishments of the

guest speaker, an editorial writer

for the Washington Post and

Times Herald who is now on

leave as a Visiting research pro-

fessor at the University of Cali-

fornia. Barth is also a member

of the ACLU National Committee.

An associate professor of law

and law librarian at Stanford Uni-

versity, Dr. Merryman. praised

Barth's two books, "Government

by Investigation" and "The Loy-

alty of Free Men," as "stimulat-

ing," "exciting" and characterized

by thorough integrity.

Security Issues Predominate

As chief executive, Besig re-

ported on branch accomplish-

ments of the past year. Loyalty

and security issues continued to

be a major concern of the branch.

So were cases arising from Cali-

fornia's outmoded vagrancy law,

lawless police action, high-handed

practices of the Immigration

Service and denial of due proc-

ess of the law, he said. -

The Northern California AC-

LU also came to the defense of

postal union members denied

their rights to organize and pub-

licize their grievances, and to vic-

tims of racial discrimination.

Other cases involved censorship

by local and Federal agencies and

questions of separation of Church |

and State, Besig reported.

Speiser Speaks

Speiser, who won the most

noted of recent ACLU suits-vet-

erans' and church tax exemption

cases decided in the U. S. Su-

preme Court last June-spoke on

`the implications of the decision

and the present character of the

Court. ee

The high court ruling which

outlawed California's tax exemp-

tion loyalty oath probably will

limit Congress and the states in

extending loyalty oaths into

crackpot areas having no relation

to national security. And this

soon may lead to challenges of

existing lunacies, such as the loy-

alty oath required for junk deal-

ers in Washington, D. C., said the

former ACLU staff member, who

now is in private practice.

Appeal by Fred Smith

Fred H. Smith IV, a board

member from Marin, briefly ap-

pealed for new memberships. He

pointed out that the branch fi-

nances all civil liberties efforts,

including free iegal counsel, in

Northern California and is sup-

ported only by membership con-

tributions.

As program and arrangements

chairman, Mrs. Alec Skolnick of

San Mateo worked with a commit-

tee of other board members, lead-

ers of the spring membership

drive, serving as hosts, and Ma-

rin Chapter members, who pro-

vided decorations and flowers for

the committee.

Volunteers

These other volunteers were:

Mrs. George R. Stewart and Mrs.

Fred Lenway, Berkeley; Dr. D.

G, Edwards, Concord; Theodore

F, Baer, Los Altos; Robert J.

d journalist, told an overflow

Greensfelder, Mrs. Thomas W.

Stone and Mrs. Herman Schwartz,

Mill Valley; Mrs. Paul Holmer

and Mrs. Frederic S. Coolidge,

Kentfield; Mrs. H, J. Lewenstein,

San Carlos;

Mrs. Helen Salz, Mrs. Arthur

Bierman, Mrs, Frances Pain,

Lloyd Morain and Shelby Cooper,

San Francisco; Mrs, William A.

Page, Antioch; Mrs. Edward Mc-

Hugh, El Cerrito; and Mrs. Con-

nie K, Grothkopp, Menlo Park,

Thanks to so much enthusiastic

and competent help, the meeting

and social hour ran smoothly, de-

spite the large turnout, which

overflowed into anterooms and

later packed the refreshment

room, Mrs. Skolnick reported.

No admission was charged for

the meeting, and the branch bore

expenses, including the $125 rent-

al paid. to the Sir Francis Drake.

Members and guests contributed

about $130 towards the refresh-

"ments, which came to a total of

$254.

10th Anniversary

Of Declaration

Of Human Rights

December 10th will mark the

tenth anniversary of the Univer--

sal Declaration of Human Rights.

While the Declaration is much

too long to be reprinted here, it

should be noted that:many of its

provisions are similar to those in

our own Bill of Rights. Follow-

ing are a few of the 30 articles

from the Declaration:

Art. 4: No one shall be held

in slavery or servitude; slavery

and the slave trade shall be pro-

hibited in all their forms.

`Art. 5: No one shall be subject-

ed to torture or to cruel, inhum-

an or degrading treatment or

punishment.

Art 9: No one shall be subject-

ed to arbitrary arrest, detention

or exile.

_ Art. 18: Everyone has the

right to freedom of thought, con-

science and religion; this right

includes freedom to change his

religion or belief; and freedom,

either alone or in community

with others and in public or pri-

vate, to manifest his religion or

belief in teaching, practice, wor-

ship and observance.

Art. 19: Everyone has the right

to freedom of opinion and ex-

pression; this right includes

freedom to hold opinions with--

out interference and to seek, re-

ceive and impart information and

ideas through any media and re-

gardless of frontiers.

Dismiss Charges In "Vag"

And "Move On" Cases

For some seven months, the

failure to "move on" charge

against Stanley Weitzer had

been pending in San Francisco

Municipal Court; on November

21st, the D.A.'s office decided

there awas no case and the charges"

were dismissed.

The May NEWS carried a front

page story headlined, "Cops Ha-

rass `Beat Generation'," which

described how Weitzer and his _

date, together with another cou-

ple (who were holding their

four-month-old baby), were stand-

ing on the corner of Grant and

Green, in North Beach, where

they had halted momentarily in

order to make one of those typ-

ically difficult decisions: should

they call it an evening (having

seen some Charlie Chaplin

"shorts'") or should they have a

cup of coffee first and, if so,

where? While thus engaged, they

were told to "move on" by police

officers who explained that un-

der San Francisco law persons

could not "stand and talk" on

the streets, but must "walk and

talk". When Weitzer, speaking

for the "crowd" declined the offi-

-cer's advice, on the grounds that

he and his friends were perfectly

well behaved and _ peaceable,

causing no one inconvenience, |

and using the streets for the

very purpose for which they ex-

ist, he was arrested and booked

on a charge of violating section

157 of the San Francisco Police

Code, which provides that when

crowds obstruct the free flow of

traffic along the streets or high- -

ways, failure to disperse and

move on when so ordered by the

police constitutes a misdemean-

or. No one else in Weitzer's group

was arrested.

Demurrer Overruled

ACLU staff counsel, Albert M.

Bendich, filed a demurrer to the

complaint contending that the

ordinance was much too broadly

`and vaguely phrased, that it pen-

alized perfectly legitimate con-

duct as well as possibly illegiti-

mate conduct and should there-

fore be declared unconstitution-

al. The demurrer was overruled,

and trial was prepared for, the

main defense being that "crowd" .

and "obstruct" must mean that

a street is so blocked that per-

sons could not use it in normal

fashion, for otherwise, persons

waiting for a bus or looking at

a window display as well as

friends greeting each other would

be misdemeanants.

Apparently the D. A.'s office

agreed; at least, that office has

refused to apply the ordinance

under these facts even though

notice of claim for false arrest

was filed by Weitzer, and even

though the District Attorney

was informed that civil rights

would not be waived in exchange

for dismissal of the charges.

Turner "Vag" Charges

The same day that charges

against Weitzer were dropped,

the vagrancy case against John-

nie D. Turner was dropped, too.:

This case, like Weitzer's, had

been pending - almost half a

year. Turner had filed notice of

claim for false arrest and had

refused to waive civil rights in

return for having charges dis-

missed.

There was an interesting diff-

erence in the way ACLU became _

involved, however. Turner asked.

for help in overcoming a judg-

ment of guilty that had been en-

tered against him without a trial

and without a plea of guilty. This

claim sounded fantastic, but af-

ter investigation proved true.

Municipal Judge Edward O'Day

set aside the judgment and

granted Turner a jury trial on

the motion of ACLU's staff coun-

sel.

Seeking Work

But the trial never occurred;

undoubtedly because there was

absolutely-no basis for the charge

against Turner. Turner had been

unemployed at the time of his

arrest, but he had been register-

ed for work with the State De-

partment while drawing unem-

ployment insurance benefits, and

was likewise registered for work

with his union and with the U. S.

Military Sea Transportation Ser-

vice.

This case illustrates the truly

anachronistic character of the

vagrancy law and also the dan-

ger of the arbitrary use of power

which it places in the hands of

the police. As the California Dis-

_ trict Court of Appeals has said,

speaking of the "visible means of

support" section of the vagrancy

statute: "That subdivision .. . is

apparently based on the outdated

concept that it is a criminal of-

fense not to work. Under it, ev-

ery unemployed person, every

housewife, and every retired per-

son conceivably could be arrest-

ed for vagrancy."

`birth of the Son

U.C. FACULTY |

University of California faculty members recently took a

unique and significant stand on a civil liberties issue when

they decided that it was wrong for a teacher to give informa-

tion on a student's belief's, attitudes. and associations regard-

ing religion, politics and public affairs.

Letters fo

The Editor

NATIVITY SCENE

Editor: In my November AC-

LU NEWS I read of your support

of the NYCLU's stand in raising

Ned about the erection of a Na-

tivity scene on the Ossining, N. Y.

High School grounds during the

Christmas season, because "a re-

ligious symbol is an eloquent,

though mute, method of teaching

religious doctrine." a

To carry the purpose of this.

suit to its logical conclusion, we

must prepare ourselves for a

great deal of work.

All public school art books

must have weeded from them

most Renaissance, and nearly all

pre-Byzantine, art reproductions,

to begin with.

Music courses, in the public

schools, should no longer be per-

mitted to study Bach's Mass in A

Minor, nor the Masses of Schu-

bert, Mozart, Pergolesi, Hayden,

etc. Above all-no more singing

of the Halleluja Chorus from

Handel's Messiah!

And there are religious sym-

bols fully as eloquent, and not-so-

mute, in a vast quantity of poetry.

Dante, Milton, William Blake,

Shakespeare, Tennyson, most of

the 17th Century poets-all will

have to have their works: expur-

gated, if not banned entirely.

Drama classes in high schools

that are public should not, ergo,

be exposed to the religious sym-

bolism of the Miracle and Passion

plays, or to "Everyman," or `"Mur-

der in a Cathedral." Even "Wait-

ing for Godot" is risky, though

fortunately not required reading

in many public-schools.

It's a tremendous job that we

supporters of the ACLU have

ahead. Furthermore, when one

takes away an art form, one has

an obligation to replace it with

another.

In this replacement matter, an

answer to the removal of the

creche, which is probably a pretty

clumsy piece of work by high

school students, we could substi-

tute an impressive burning of

books, pictures and music scores

from the high school library

which contain religious symbols.

Certainly there will be enough

material to keep the blaze going

through the Christmas season.-

Helen B. Kerr.

NYCLU REPLIES

Editor: %

Thank you for the opportunity

to comment on Miss Kerr's letter.

Our objection to the display of

religious symbols on school or

other public grounds is their use

. for the promotion of a particular

`religion or religious purposes.

Those same symbols, used in

other situations and. circum-

stances, such as the theatre, mu-

sic hall, art museum or in litera-

ture, are quite a different matter,

for then they are judged in the

context in which they are pre-

sented.

Miss Kerr is aware that the

purpose of the erection of a

creche portraying the nativity

scene on the grounds of the Os-

sining, New York, High School

during the Christmas season was

to inspire and induce reverence.

for a basic Christian tenet-i.e.,

the miracle of the Immaculate

Conception, the virgin birth, the

of God, the

Saviour. This is Christian doc-

trine. Both the federal and state

The powerful Academic Sen-

ate's Representative Assembly

passed a resolution to this effect

on October 28 in Berkeley. And

it is the first of its kind, as far

as ACLU knows.

The release of such infor-

mation obtained in the course

of student-teacher relationships

would seriously endanger the es-

sential freedom of the university,

the resolution said.

Student Petition

This decision resulted from a

student petition of last spring

which objected to questions by

prospective employers on student

political attitudes. (R)

Prof. David Rynin of the

Speech Department, an ACLU

member, originally introduced a

resolution condemning this type

of questioning. It was turned

over to the Assembly's Commit-

.tee on Academic Freedom, which

revised the resolution and got it

passed. 0x00B0

Reactions were emphatic but

mixed, and certain groups on

campus are working to have the

`resolution reconsidered, a Daily

Californian

ports.

The San Francisco Chronicle

warmly praised the faculty group

for its action, while the Oakland

Tribune condemned it. The stu-

dent Daily Californian seconded

the Chronicle, and even the New

York Times reported passage of

the resolution.

Here is the text of the resolu-

tion submitted by a five-man

committee headed by Prof. F. C.

Newman of Boalt Hall:

"This Faculty asserts that free-

dom. of discussion in the class-

room and in academic consulta-

tion is fundamental to higher

education. The essential freedom

of a university can be seriously

jeopardized if argument and ex-

staff member re-

pression of opinion are inhibited,

particularly in those' subjects

which are held controversial in

some quarters and at some mo-

ments in history. Therefore, re-

ports by a teacher concerning

the beliefs, attitudes, activities

and associations of a student re-

garding religion, politics and

public affairs in general are not

permissible when the reports are

based on information acquired

by the teacher in the course of

instruction or in the course of

other student-teacher relations

that involve the student's aca-

demic program."

At this writing, student and

faculty groups were still debating

the issue. Both Prof. Rynin and

a spokeman for the opposition,

Prof. Raymond Sontag of the

History Department, appeared

before the executive committee

of the ASUC (Associated Stu-

dents) on November 18.

And, by late November, the

issue had spread to another cam-

pus, San Francisco State College.

There a proposal was before a

student body asking that a reso-

lution be presented to the faculty

similar to the one adopted at UC.

constitutions prohibit aid to reli-

gion or a particular religion.

We believe that the reasons

' why we are opposed to state aid

to religion are sound because it

would be impossible to deter-

mine which of all the religions ,

practiced in our pluralistic soci-

ety is acceptable to all-and I

don't mean a majority-of our

citizens. George E. Rundquist,

Executive Director, New York

Civil Liberties Union.

ACLU NEWS

December, 1958

- Page 3

: @ fe

(Continued from Page 2)

of due process and which are at

variance with the most elemen-

tary concepts of fair play.

Un-Americans Continue

Consider, for another example,

that, although Mr. Chief Justice

Warren said for the Supreme

Court in the Watkins case that

"there is no congressional power

to expose for the sake of expos-

ure," the simple truth is that the

House Committee on Un-Ameri-

can Activities and the Senate In-

ternal Security Subcommittee

continue to go up and down the

_ country, each of them function-

ing as a kind of itinerant auto-da-

fe, intruding its inquisitorial nose

into almost every aspect of Amer-

ican life; they continue to be un-

restrained by any jurisdictional

limitations imposed by Congress;

and they continue to be wholly

unconcerned about Constitution-

al rights of privacy. Those pro-

posed codes of fair investigating

procedure about which we heard

so much when McCarthyism was

in flower were all filed and for-

gotten.

The House Committee on Un-

American Activities only recent-

-ly undertook its annual spring-

time hunt for headlines by in-

quiring into the political pasts of

a number of more or less cele-

brated names in the New York

entertainment industry. And

some of these entertainers lost

their jobs as a result. The Sen-

ate Internal Security Subcommit-

tee, under the chairmanship of

that noted Constitutional author-

ity, Senator James O. Eastland of

Mississippi, undertook just a few

months ago to uncover commu-

nism among those in the South-

land who presumed to argue that

the Supreme Court had been

right in outlawing school segre-

gation.

McCarthyism in Election

Anyone who thinks that the

McCarthyist infection has com-

pletely disappeared from the

American bloodstream had bet-

ter take a look at some of the

practices in the California cam-

paign just completed. Some of

the attacks made on Pat Brown

-accusing him of guilt by ludic-

rously remote association and of

being soft on communism because

the bibliography of a police hand-

book issued by the Attorney Gen-

eral's office included the names

of some authors alleged to have

had subversive associations -

were McCarthyism of the rankest

and shabbiest sort.

Consider, finally, the violent

and bitter reaction to the Su-

preme Court which has devel-

oped in and out of Congress dur-

ing the past year. I have no

; - doubt that this reaction was in-

stigated in large part by Southern

segregationists, angry about the

public school decisions of the

Court and eager to find any

means of attacking and discredit-

ing it; nevertheless, they reflect,

and attempt. to exploit, a latent

fear of freedom in the American

people.

Hue and Cry Against Liberties

The hue and cry against the

Court has been a hue and cry

against civil liberties. It has

been, indeed, a hue and cry

against the Bill of Rights. Some

of it has been outright nonsense

-as when a Congressman from

Alabama declared, "I fear more

the Supreme Court of the United

States as presently constituted

than I do Russia." Some of it,

from supposedly more sober

sources, has been just about as

silly-as, for example, the mis-

chievous statement issued not

long ago by the Conference of

Chief Justices of State Supreme

Courts.

But some of it is deeply dis-

quieting and dangerous. Various

attempts were made during the

last session of Congress-some of

them nearly successful-to cur-

tail the Court's jurisdiction. Leg-

islation was actually passed mod-

ACLU NEWS

December, 1958

Page 4

erty in a Cold

ifying the Court's 1957 decision

in the Jencks case -a decision

which held no more. than that

when a witness testifies for the

government in a criminal prose-

cution, and acknowledges that he

had made earlier reports to the

FBI, the defendant is entitled to

see those reports in order to de-

termine if they contradict the

witness's testimony. Legislation

was introduced-and in fact

passed the House though not the

Senate-to upset three other im-

portant Court decisions: the rul-

ing in the passport cases, the rul-

ing limiting the scope of the secu-

_rity program, and the Mallory

ruling that confessions may not

be admitted as evidence in Fed-

eral courts if obtained during a

period of unreasonable detention

prior to arraignment of a defend-

ant.

Threat Shifting

' These congressional efforts to

curb the Court reflect an impa-

tience with the procedural pro-

tections of the Bill of Rights-a

tendency to dismiss these protec-

tions as mere legal technicalities.

I have a strong feeling that the

threat to civil liberties in this

country has shifted somewhat in

_ the last couple of years from a

panic anxiety about Communist

subversion to an excessive anx-

iety about protection of the com-

munity against crime.

This is a shift which, I think,

commands the most earnest con-

cern of the American Civil. Lib-

erties Union. "The history of lib-

erty," as Mr. Justice Frankfurter

once observed, "has largely been

the history of observance of pro-

cedural safeguards. And the ef-

fective administration of crimi-

nal justice hardly requires disre-

gard of fair procedures imposed

by law."

Oppressive Police Power

Protection of the community

against crime is, of course, im-

mensely important. The authors

of the Constitution were not in-

different to the maintenance of

law and order. They were men

with a lively regard for property

rights. But they were also men

who had an overriding regard for

individual rights-for protection

of: the individual against poten-

tially oppressive power.

There is nothing sentimental

about this emphasis on the pro-

tection of individual rights. It

constitutes one of the essential

distinctions between a _ police

state and a free state. Those who

so glibly dismiss as "mere legal

technicalities" the Constitutional

guarantees against unreasonable

searches and illegal detention of

suspects by the police, forget that

nothing is more basic to civil lib-

erty than freedom from the fear

of an ominous rap on the door at

night and an arbitrary arrest by

policemen who are masters, not

servants, of the law. We are com-/

ing once more, I think, into a

period when the American Civil

Liberties Union will have to con-

cern itself very earnestly with

protection of the procedural, as

well as the substantive, rights of

the American people.

Independent Judiciary

- The country's courts,

der Hamilton wrote in the Fed-

eralist, were intended to be "an

intermediary body between the

people and the legislature in or-

der, among other things, to keep

the latter within the limits as-

signed to their authority." Ham-

ilton had no great confidence in

the effectiveness of judicial re-

straints on legislative power; he

declared, indeed, that "the judi-.

ciary is beyond comparison the ,

weakest of the three departments

of power." He recognized, never-

theless, as did the whole Consti-

tutional convention, that an inde-

pendent judiciary is indispensa-

ble to any ordered system of lib-

erty. And he declared that the

restraints which the Constitution

"sought to impose on Congress

"can be preserved in practice no

other way than through the me-

dium of courts of justice whose

duty it must be to declare all acts

contrary to the manifest tenor of

Alexan-.

a

the Constitution void. Without

this, all the reservations of par-

ticular rights and privileges would

amount to nothing."

The Supreme Court of the

United States has vigorously and

valiantly fulfilled this concept of

its role. It has served as a sen-

tinel and champion of individual

liberty against the potentially op-

pressive power of the state.

But free men can never rely

upon courts alone for the preser-

vation of their freedom. Courts

can give warning of danger. But

they are powerless to protect us

from ourselves. They can remind

us of our heritage but they can-

not preserve that heritage for us.

Freedom is Political Problem

The maintenance of freedom is

a political problem. It can be

achieved only through political

action. "We have in this country

but one security," Charles Evans

Hughes saidta long time ago

when he was engaged in a politi-

cal campaign for the governor-

ship of New York. "You may

think that the Constitution is

your security-it is nothing but

a piece of paper. You may think

that the statutes are your secu-

rity-they are nothing but words

in a book. You may think that

elaborate mechanism of govern-

ment is your security-it is noth-

ing at all, unless you have sound

and uncorrupted public opinion

to give life to your Constitution,

to give vitality to your statutes,

to make efficient your govern-

ment machinery." The propaga-

tion of a sound and uncorrupted

public opinion is one of the most

vital tasks of the American Civil

Liberties Union.

A great deal is said these days

about the need for a revival of

religious faith. The area is one

about which I profess no compe-

tence. I have a deep conviction,

however, that there is at least an

equal need today for a revival of

political faith among Americans

-a revival of faith in themselves,

in the democratic process, in the

tested values of American life,

and in the free institutions

through which America has

grown to greatness. In the re-

vival of this faith, the American

Civil Liberties Union has a vital

missionary role to fulfill.

Image of What We Abhor

If we allow ourselves to become .

fearful of freedom, if we think of

it as a source of danger rather

than a source of strength, if we

exalt national security above in-

dividual security, and the protec-

tion of the community above the

-protection of individual rights,

we shall end by making ourselves

over into a mirror image of what

We most'abhor. We have moved

a long way in that direction. Let

us go back to our own rich in-

heritance. Let's go back where

Wwe came from.

Reception for

Clem Miller

December 12

The Marin Chapter will hon-

or Clement Miller,, newly-

elected First District congress-

man, and his wife Katherine.

at a reception Friday, Decem-

ber 12, at 8:15 p.m. at the Out-

door Art Club, 1 West Blithe.

dale, Mill Valley.

Congressman Miller, a long-

time ACLU member, will

speak on "Civil Liberties and

the 59th Congress." He is a

former vice-chairman of the

Marin Chapter and headed the

group's Education Committee

before his race for Congress.

Alt) ACLU members and

friends are invited to the ad-

mission-free social and pro-

gram.

To reach the Outdoor Art

Club, go to the center of Mill

Valley. At the end of Miller

Avenue, turn right on Throck-

morton and proceed two

blocks. The club will be to

your left on a corner, behind

an extensive garden.

facial Issue

In Army Loyalty

discharge

An Army "loyalty" case, based in part on discussions of

"racial issues," came to light last month. A veteran, who

served overseas during the last war and who re-enlisted in

_the Army on December 23, 1946, claims he signed a request

for discharge under duress by cic agents. Unless he signed,

Challenge Law

Restricting Free

Association

A test of a state law designed

to hamstring the right of associa-

tion, stemming from the contro-

versy over desegregation, has

been mounted by the Louisiana'

Civil Liberties Union.

The affiliate of the American

Civil Liberties Union has notified

Governor Earl Long that it con-

siders as unconstitutional and

will not comply with a newly-

passed law barring all state and

local organizations from having

affiliation with an out-of-state or-

ganization any of whose officers

are members of Communist, Com-

munist-front or subversive organ-

izations. The new law, passed in

the 1958 legislative session, de-

mands that none of the out-of-

state groups have officers listed

by the House Un-American Ac-

tivities Committee or belong to

groups on the U. S. Attorney

General's list of subversive organ-

izations.

are required to file annual affi-

davits to this effect.

Speaking for the Louisiana

CLU, its president, George Drey-

fous, wrote Governor Long that

the law is "manifestly unconsti-

tutional, being in conflict with

provisions of the Constitution of

the State of Louisiana and with

the Fourteenth Amendment to -

the U. S. Constitution. It is dia-

metrically opposed to the pur-

poses, as declared in the pre-

amble, for which the Constitution

" of Louisiana was ordained, name-

ly: to `secure the civil, political

and religious liberties we enjoy."

Dreyfous declared that the

Louisiana CLU- had concluded

that associations such as "`politi-

cal parties, luncheon clubs, re-

ligious and civic groups engaged

in social and educational activi-

ties, parents and teachers organ-

izations and many other groups

affiliated with national organiza-

tions...are not informed of the

membership of every officer and

director of these associations in

other organizations, and have no

means of becoming informed. It

is obviously impossible for any-

one to truthfully attest to facts

which are not within his knowl-

edge."

Dreyfous told Governor Long

that if he disagreed with the Un-

ion's statement he could begin an

action for declaratory judgment

against the ACLU affiliate, or

against him as its head, "in order

that the question of the constitu-

tionality of the said act may be

determined."

The first right of a citizen

Is the right

To be responsible.

The Louisiana groups'

the agents allegedly threatened

he would be charged with a

fraudulent enlistment because he

had taken his stepfather's name

in enlisting.

On November 29, 1949 he re-

ceived an "Undesirable" dis-

charge because of "Disloyalty,"

and a letter from his Command-

ing Officer setting forth seven

reasons for the discharge. He is

now residing in Oakland.

The Charges

Because of the "request" for

discharge, no hearings were held

with respect to the charges. Here

are the written reasons given for

the Undesirable CSE es (a)

That you:

(1) Participated in the 1947

New York City May Day parade

in Army uniform.

(2) Were in contact with an

individual in New York City in |

1947, who had admitted to you

that he was a Communist and

had fought with the Abraham

Lincoln Brigade.

(3) Were reported to be con-

sidering a proposition to work

for the Communist Party in

France.

(4) Would have heated argu-

-Inents and become very bitter

about racial issues.

(5) Stated that you were

happy because you were to be

kicked out of the Army because

you had marched in the May Day

parade in 1947 and had distrib-

uted pamphlets for the Commu-

nist Party.

(6) Boasted before several peo-

ple of being a Communist and

condemned religion and the

_United States Government.

(7) Often quote Karl Marx and

compare Democracy with Com-

munism and advocate a Commu-

nistic government.

Most Charges Denied

The veteran claims the charges

are untrue, except that he `did

meet a man in the Army who

was a Communist and had fought

with the Abraham Lincoln Bri- |

gade, and that he did have

heated discussions about racial

and religious matters. He denies

that he was ever a Communist,

that he marched in a May Day

parade, that he distributed Com-

munist pamphlets or that he

advocated a Communistic gov-

ernment and condemned the

United States Government.

The letter setting forth the

reasons for the ,discharge was

signed by a Major Frederick D..

Weis, Commanding officer of the

5list Signal Operation Battalion,

Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.

Authority to intervene in the

case will be sought by the office

at the December meeting of the -

Board of Directors.

cae oe

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION"

OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

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Sustaining Membership. .......:...0....00.. 000; 50

Business and Professional Membership ...... see ee 25

Family Membership ............2 0.) 3 oe 12

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