the american civil liberties union (aclu) was founded in response to what

by: Professor Samuel Walker

Schoolhouse of Criminal Justice

University of Nebraska at Omaha

This is the first part in a series that was introduced earlier.

World War I ended on November 11, 1918, but the repression of civil liberties continued unabated. The most well-known event was the and then-chosen "Palmer Raids," which actually involved two sets of federal mass arrests of alleged radicals, in November 1919 and early January 1920. The leaders of the NCLB began thinking near transforming the organization into a permanent 1 devoted to the defense of civil liberties. The primal person was Roger Baldwin, who was convicted of violating the Selective Service Act in Oct 1918 and sent to prison. Afterward his release in the summertime of 1919, he made a cross land trip to work equally an industrial laborer. Upon his return to New York in tardily 1919 he began the planning for the new organisation, which was established as the American Civil Liberties Matrimony (ACLU) in January 1920.

Reel16/Vol.120/p.19-xx

This undated and unsigned memorandum, Suggestions for Reorganization of the National Civil Liberties Bureau, was probably written by Roger Baldwin (see his initials in the upper correct hand corner), probably in late 1919. It represent his thoughts on reorganizing the National Civil Liberties Agency into a permanent civil liberties organisation. Notation that in the first paragraph the primary focus is on working people ("the cause we serve is labor"). No name for a permanent organization is suggested at this time. When the ACLU is officially constituted, it is evident that discussions about the agenda for a national organization had expanded to include a broader range of civil liberties issues.

Reel14/Vol.108/p.188

Reel14/Vol.108/p.189

Reel14/Vol.108/p.190

This undated memorandum by Roger Baldwin was probably written in early January 1920 and summarizes the work of the NCLB from Oct 1917 to Jan 1920. Information technology was undoubtedly written as part of the discussions to reconstitute the NCLB into a permanent civil liberties organization.

Reel16/Vol.120/p.7

The decision to create the American Ceremonious Liberties Union is recorded in these Minutes of the Conference to Reorganize the National Ceremonious Liberties Bureau, Jan 12, 1920. Notation the business organization (Item #three) about including the names of Roger Baldwin and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn because they had been prosecuted and bedevilled of federal crimes during the state of war. The objections were rejected, and their names were included. The showtime activity by the new ACLU was to protest the proposed peacetime sedition law being considered by the House of Representatives (Item #seven). The 1918 sedition law had expired with the end of the war, but the proposed peacetime law did non pass.

Reel16/Vol.120/p.6

These Minutes of the Temporary Committee, January 13, 1920, the day post-obit the decision to create the ACLU, record the selection of the Executive Committee (Calendar #1). Over the course of the next several decades, the Executive Committee directed the activities of the ACLU through weekly meetings. Calendar Item #8 indicates continued attention to the sedition pecker and other bills in Congress.

Reel16/Vol.120/p.5

The Minutes of the National Committee of the American Civil Liberties Union, January xix, 1920, correspond the outset official meeting of the ACLU. The bodily business of the ACLU was conducted by an Executive Committee that met weekly (see Certificate #4). The National Committee became more than of an advisory group that met annually. This initial coming together was devoted to organizational matters such as the upkeep, renting an office, arranging for a clipping service then on. As Item #fourteen indicates, Albert De Silver was treatment legislative matters in Congress.

Reel16/Vol.120/p.8

This Letter to Members of the ACLU National Committee, Feb half dozen, 1920, is probably the starting time official communication to ACLU members, and information technology describes the first work of the ACLU. Particular #5 divides those activities into three master areas: legal defense; publicity; seeking amnesty for political prisoners. Item #3 describes the attempts to develop relations with people in other cities to brand the ACLU an "effective nation-wide organisation."

Reel16/Vol.120/p.11-12

The Position of the American Civil Liberties Union on the Problems in the United states Today,is probably the first detailed argument of the ACLU's civil liberties agenda. The ten items include free voice communication, free press, the right to strike, and racial equality.

Reel 7/Vol. 69/p. 155L

Maintain Your Rights is an early handbill issued by the ACLU. Through its early on years, most of the ACLU's work involved public education through protests and distributing materials to inform people about violations of civil liberties.

Reel16/Vol.120/p.30

Through this exchange of messages in February 1920, Roger Baldwin recruited Felix Frankfurter, Professor of Law at Harvard University, to serve on the ACLU National Commission and to serve as an advisor on specific bug. In the 1920s Frankfurter was the national skillful on injunctions against labor unions and union organizers, which became the principal device for denying working people basic First Amendment rights of liberty of spoken communication and associates. (See Frankfurter'southward 1930 book, with Nathan Greene, The Labor Injunction.) President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Frankfurter to the U.Due south. Supreme Court in 1939. Reel xvi, Volume 120 of the ACLU Records contains correspondence with many other prominent individuals and organizations regarding their cooperation with the ACLU.

Reel16/Vol.120/p.71R

With this letter, James Weldon Johnson, Field Secretary of the National Association for the Advocacy of Colored People (NAACP), enthusiastically agrees to serve on the ACLU National Committee. This reflected the ACLU's early delivery to ceremonious rights issues, and a representative of the NAACP served on either the ACLU Executive Committee or National Committee for decades.

Reel seven/Vol. 69/p. 42L

This handbill, The Truth Most the Centralia Murder Trial, February 1920, describes one of the nigh famous examples of the authorities assail on organized labor during the war and immediate mail service-state of war years.

Reel7/Vol.69/p.45-47

The American Civil Liberties Union (circa 1920) is an early description of the ACLU and its work, designed for public distribution.

Reel7/Vol 69/p.51-54

The championship of this 1920 ACLU pamphlet, The Supreme Court vs. Ceremonious Liberties, captures the civil libertarians' view of the office of the U.S. Supreme Court at this time regarding ceremonious liberties. It states that, with the exception of some search and seizure decisions, the Court "has gone over to the side of repression." The pamphlet quotes from the dissenting opinions of Justices Oliver Wendell Holmes and Louis Brandeis in several important cases where they supported ceremonious liberties principles.

Reel7/Vol.69/p.12L

Reel7/Vol.69/p.13R

The Communist Prosecutions and The Persecution of the I.W.West. These two flyers represent the ACLU's efforts to publicize the government's attacks on the rights of communists and the radial labor union, the Industrial Workers of the World.

Reel7/Vol.69/p.61

Reel7/Vol.69/p.62

Reel7/Vol.69/p.63

Reel7/Vol.69/p.64

From its founding, the ACLU gave considerable attention to racial justice. In the early 1920s the principal issue involved Ku Klux Klan and mob violence against African Americans, including the lynching of persons beingness held in jail. This article, "The Ku Klux Klan" by ACLU volunteer attorney Albert De Silver, describes the pattern of racial violence across the state.

Reel7/Vol.69/p.44

This November 1920 list of publications indicates the scope of the ACLU's concerns in its beginning twelvemonth.

Reel7/Vol.69/p.56L

The Apr 1921 letter from Roger Baldwin (superlative) urges ACLU supporters to write a "brusque pointed" alphabetic character to the president (Warren G. Harding had taken role in March) asking for the release of persons imprisoned during the state of war for the expression of opinion. In December, President Harding did release a number of these prisoners. The June 1921 statement (bottom) asks people to oppose the Sterling Bill which would brand information technology a offense to abet the overthrow of the government by force or violence. The Sterling Pecker did not pass, but in 1940 Congress passed the Smith Act making such spoken language a crime.

Reel7/Vol.69/p.65-67

Reel7/Vol.69/p.68-72

Reel7/Vol.69/p.73-76

Reel7/Vol.69/p.77-79

The Fight For Free Spoken communication (September 1921) is the first annual written report of the ACLU. The report describes the principal ACLU activities in its first twelvemonth, its x point civil liberties agenda, a list of contributors, and the budget.

For more of the collection that has been digitized you may browse the Finding Aid.

evansreplignigh.blogspot.com

Source: https://blogs.princeton.edu/mudd/2012/08/the-founding-of-the-american-civil-liberties-union-1920/

Share this post