vol. 21, no. 2

American

Civil Liberties |

Union-News

A

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

Free Press

Free Assemblage

Free Speech

VOLUME XxX]

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, FEBRUARY, 1956

7 NUMBER 2

Only 33 Out of 100 Willing

To Sign Bill of Rights

The "Denver Post" has found a growing ac-

ceptance of the Bill of Rights, but most people

still regard it as a suspicious document.

These findings grew out ofan experiment con-

ducted by the `Post' last Bill of Rights Day.

Typewritten copies of the document were circu-

lated on the streets of Denver and 100 persons

were asked to sign it. Following are the results:

Only 16 of the 100 recognized the Bill of Rights

as part of the U.S. Constitution.

Only 33 were willing to sign it after reading it.

Of the remainder, 52 were suspicious and gave the

excuse that they were "`too phony'' to read or sign.

The rest made comments like these:

"That's communistic! What red outfit are you

with?" -

"T don't believe in any of this. If we adopted

these statements, we'd destroy our entire system

of democracy. Say, who are you anyway?"

"This looks fishy," said a man and a woman.

A similar experiment in Madison, Wisconsin,

several years ago, found only a few willing signers

of the Bill of Rights.

@ @

Maerin Chapter Holds First

e e

Membership Meeting Feb. 7

_ The Marin Chapter of the American Civil Liber-

ties Union of Northern California will hold its

first membership meeting at 8:15 p.m. on Tues-

day, February 7, at the Jewish Community Center,

1618 Mission Avenue (corner of Fourth Street),

San Rafael, Calif.

The main business of the meeting is to elect a

. Board of Directors, and to act on proposed By-

Laws heretofore approved by the chapter and

branch boards. Copies of the proposed By-Laws

have been sent to the Marin county membership.

The meeting will also receive reports and recom-

mendations from its present appointed Board,

meet Priscella Ginsberg, the Union's new Public

Relations Director, and hear briefly from the

. Executive Director, Ernest Besig, on "What We

Do In the Northern California Office and Why!"

Milen Dempster, Chairman of the Chapter's board,

will preside.

The public is welcome to attead the membership

meeting. There is no admission charge. However,

only members of the Northern California branch

are entitled to vote.

San Francisco Housing

Oath Case Argued -

On January 20, volunteer Attorney Franklyn

Brann and ACLU Staff Counsel Lawrence Speiser

orally argued the constitutional questions raised

by the Gwinn Amendment's "loyalty oath" for

housing tenants before the Appellate Department

of the San Francisco Superior Court. They argued

that whether or not a tenant belonged to an or-

ganization on the Attorney General's list had

no reasonable relationship to protecting the secur-

ity of the country, but such an inquiry did infringe

upon the freedoms of speech and assembly pro-

tected by the First Amendment.

The three members of the court, consisting of

Presiding Judge Preston Devine and Superior

Court Judges Edward Molkenbuhr and Daniel R.

Shoemaker, seemed mainly interested in the tech-

nical argument of Housing attorney William A.

O'Brien that constitutional arguments may not be

raised in eviction proceedings. Speiser and Brann

pointed out that this had been done in at least

five other cases which went to the highest courts

of other states. All of these courts have held the

housing tenant oath invalid for various reasons.

However, the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet

granted a hearing in any case involving this issue,

so housing authorities are still enforcing the oath

in areas where State courts have not made final

rulings.

ACLU's 35th Annual Report Cites

improvements in Civil Liberties

The federal courts' defense of due process and

equal treatment under the law was cited last

month by the national office of the American

Civil Liberties Union as the key civil liberties de-

velopment in the past year.

The civil liberties group released its 35th an-

nual report, `Clearing The Main Channeis," which

pointed to judicial decisions limiting the State

Department's power to deny citizens a passport

without fair hearings and continuing to break

through barriers of discrimination and segrega-

tion in education and places of public accommoda-

tion. :

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-Yes, Eight

Victories in Security Cases

January was a big month for- victories

scored by the ACLU of Northern California (c)

in security cases. Throughout this issue of

the "News," the reader will find accounts of

favorable decisions in 8 security cases: 4

Port Security cases; 2 Federal employee's

security cases; 1 Army security case involv-

ing 2 draftee, and 1 Passport security case.

There were no losses.

The ACLU was also successful last month |

in a number of other situations reported in

this issue of the "News." It was a big month

for civil liberties and the ACLU of Northern

California!

Clearance Won in Case Based

On Civic Unity Activities

Eleven months after being suspended on secur-

ity charges, a civil service employee of the Military

Sea Transportation Service was cleared and re-

instated to his job on January 18. `

Separation from his job goes back all the way

to October 22, 1954 when it was proposed to dis-

miss the employee for "failure to be cleared for

sensitive duties." That proceeding was eventually

dismissed on procedural grounds, but the em-

ployee was immediately served with security

charges. In all, he was suspended from his job for

over fourteen months. He will receive back pay

only from February 11, 1955 when he was sus-

pended on the security charges, less anything he

earned in any other job.

The specifications of charges in both proceed-

ings were essentially the same. First, it was

claimed that he had maintained a continuing as-

sociation with four named persons "all of whom

have been reliably reported to be members of the

Communist Party." Second, it was claimed that

on March 21, 1954, he had attended a benefit din-

ner for Wesley Robert Wells at the home of a

woman who was reported to be a Communist.

Third and last, he was alleged to have presided at

a meeting in Marin City which was addressed by

two persons `both of whom have been reliably re-

ported to be members of the Communist Party."

The meeting in question was under the auspices

of the Marin County Council for Civic Unity. The

bad associations were alleged to have resulted

from the employee's activities on the Executive

Board of the Council.

Consultant Re-Hired by VA

The Veterans Administration employee who

was cleared as a security risk the day before

Christmas, after security charges had been pend-

ing more than two years, was finally restored to

his job ag a consultant late last month. It was in

this case that the employee was charged with

being a member of the San Francisco Council for

Civic Unity.

" But the ACLU warned in its 144-page report

that the effort to eliminate discrimination and

segregation will need to be fought for a long time

to come.

Unfinished Business

*... a terrifying lot of unfinished business will

face us .. . Emmett Till is kidnapped and killed

in Mississippi, neo-Klan organizations exert

various kinds of coercion on Negroes in many

parts of the South; and in the North-whose often

holier-than-thou bluff is being called by the rapid

increase of its Negro population-discrimination

in public housing takes on an alarming propor-

tion."

While noting that the executive branch of gov-

ernment had acted in the civil rights struggle with

general success,. especially in the Armed Forces

and the area of government contracts, the ACLU

reminded that "Congress has done nothing.

"The political situation, the complexities of the

Democratic and Republican party solidarity, con-

tinue to paralyze any move toward significant

federal civil rights legislation. The progress in

legislation which has been made has been at the

state level--in those states which understand and

support the Constitutional guarantee of equality."

The report emphasized that while the current

civil rights pressure is in respect to Negroes, the

"principles at stake govern the treatment of other

races, national origin groups, the sexes, adherence

to different faiths, and the non-religious, This

must be remembered because although there are

different victims of discrimination at different

`

erises in history, the fundamental value remains

unchanged-equality before the law."

_ Passport Problems

In the passport area, the report asserted, for

over 100 years the government had insisted that

the granting of passports was wholly a matter

of "absolute discretion for the executive branch

. . . But within the past three years, and with

explosive suddenness in the Spring of 1955, the

federal courts have profoundly modified this prin-

ciple and qualified its application in the direction

of greater freedom for the individual... . It is

essential that the State Department formally

recognize what the courts have made crystal

clear-that the right to travel is fundamental to

our democratic concept of freedom of movement."'

The report specially hailed the decision of Federal

Judge Luther Youngdahl attacking the system of

denying passports without revealing to the appli-

(Continued on Page 4, Col. 1)

Priscilla Ginsberg Named

Public Relations Director

Priscilla Ginsberg, former assistant director -

for the American Youth Hostels, and account

executive for the public relations firm of Roy

Madison Associates, has been appointed Public

Relations Director for ACLU of Northern Cali-

fornia, the Board of Directors has announced.

Following her graduation from MRandolph-

Macon Woman's College in 1951, Mrs. Ginsberg

spent three years in New York City, setting up.

the public relations program for the American

Youth Hostels, New York Council. Subsequently,

she spent a year in Cincinnati, Ohio, as account

executive, working on the public relations pro-

grams of United Cerebral Palsy, The Heart Asso-

ciation of Greater Cincinnati, Children's Interna-

tional Summer Village, and commercial accounts.

She also served as alternate correspondent for the

New York TIMES.

Her husband, Herbert Ginsberg, is a candidate

for the doctoral degree in mathematical economics

at Stanford University.

%

Page 2

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

February, 1956

Court Martial Trials of

Ex-Servicemen Outlawed |

In a 6-3 decision handed down recently, the

U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitu-

tional for the Armed Forces to try an ex-service-

man for offenses committed while he was a serv-

iceman, whether or not the offense was known to

the military before the ,person was discharged

from the service.

The case involved Robert W. Toth, who had

received an honorable discharge after serving

_ with the U. S. Air Force in Korea. Five months

later he was arrested by the military authorities

on a charge of murder and conspiracy to commit

murder while he had been in Korea, and was

taken to Korea to stand trial by court-martial.

This action was taken under the authority of a

1950 federal law which provided that an ex-serv-

iceman could be tried for a military offense pun-

- ishable by 5 years or more imprisonment if he

could not be tried in any court in the U. 8. The

Supreme court's decision held this 1950 law to be

unconstitutional.

The only constitutional authority for the enact-

ment of the 1950 law, said the high Court, would

be Congress' power under Article I of the Consti-

tution "to make rules for the government and

regulation of the land and naval forces" together

with Congress' power to enact laws necessary

and proper for the fulfillment of its powers. The

court ruled that Article I did not give Congress

the power to enact the law in question, the lan-

guage in its natural meaning seeming to restrict

court martial jurisdiction to persons who are

`actual members or part of the Armed Forces. It

pointed out that the 1950 law encroaches on the

_ jurisdiction of civilian federal courts, prevents

trial by jury which "ranks very high in our cata-

logue of constitutional safeguards," that military

tribunals could not have the same kind of qualifi-

cations necessary to fair trial of civilians and that

trial of an ex-serviceman is not necessary for

Army discipline. The Court pointed out that the

1950 law would deprive three million ex-service-

men of the rights of jury trials, and that three

million men and women now in uniform would also

be deprived of that right. The Court pointed out

that this might apply to crimes ranging from

murder to dueling or making false statements to

`officials. : oF

sAlluding to the fear that discharged soldiers

might escape punishment, together for crimes

committed while they were in the military, the

Court pointed out that the Army itself had op-

posed the passage of the 1950 law and had asked

the Congress to confer jurisdiction in such cases

on the. civilian federal courts, which Congress

could have done. If civilian ex-servicemen can be

tried only by court martial or not at all, this is

so, said the Court, "only because Congress has

not seen fit to subject them to trial in federal

district courts."

Naturalization Policy

For C.0.s Reversed

In a dramatic reversal of its previous position,

the Immigration and Naturalization Service re-

cently issued new instructions opening citizenship

to conscientious objectors previously barred by

the Service's interpretation of the McCarran-

Walter Act. Under the former interpretation, con-

scientious objectors were forced to promise to

work in munitions plants. This effectively barred

most of them from citizenship.

. The Department of Justice has just instructed

all Naturalization Examiners that no inquiry will

be made as to the type of work conscientious ob-

jectors are willing to do when they take the oath

of allegiance. In the future, conscientious objec-

tors must merely promise to do work of national

importance in lieu of military service. This new

- ruling should have an important effect on the

- ACLU cases presently pending in northern Califor-

nia courts.

Ilse Scaccio, a Jehovah's Witness, was denied

naturalization by Federal Judge Louis Goodman

because she was unwilling to promise to work in

munitions plants. Her case, presently on appeal to

the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, has been re-

ferred to the Department of Justice in Washington

by the local United States Attorney for further

instructions.

Gunther Schmitt, a Mennonite medical student,

initially received an unfavorable recommendation

from Naturalization Examiner Harmon E, Hosier

because on religious grounds he refused to prom-

ise to do war work. A protest from ACLU Staff

Counsel Lawrence Speiser was followed by a

change in Naturalization Service policy, after

which a favorable recommendation for naturali-

zation was filed. Schmitt's case should be heard

in a few months in the Alameda County Superior

Court.

8

Challenge Loss of Citizenship

For Army Deserter

Counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union

last month filed a complaint in the Federal District

Court in New York challenging a section of the

1940 Nationality Act which requires loss of citi-

zenship to native-born Americans convicted by

court martial for desertion from the Armed

Forces in time of war.

Osmond K. Fraenkel, one of the organization's

three general counsel, filed the complaint in behalf

of Albert L. Trop of Long Beach, N. Y. The com-

plaint asserts that Section 1418 (8) of the 1940

law is "unconstitutional as in excess of the power

of Congress to deal with native born citizens," and

asks the federal court for a judgment declaring

that Trop has not lost his United States citizenship

"and for such other and further relief as to the

Court may seem just and proper."

Passport Denied

The complaint noted that when Trop applied

in October, 1952 for a passport, he was informed

by the State Department on November 19, 1952

that the passport could not be granted because

he had lost his citizenship as a result of his World

War II conviction as a deserter.

"The action of the Department of State," the

complaint states, "rested on a sentence by a court

martial of the United States Army and dishonor-

able discharge from the United States Army on

the ground of desertion in time of war, which the

Department of State claimed resulted in a loss of

American citizenship by virtue of Section 401 (g)

of the Nationality Act of 1940, now being Section

. 1481 (8) of Title 8 of the United States Code.

No Contact With An Enemy

"The acts charged against plaintiff which con-

stituted the basis for the court martial conviction

of desertion in time of war did not involve any con-

tact with an enemy of the United States. The cir-

cumstances were as follows: plaintiff was in con-

finement as a result of previous breach of military

discipline in a hospital in Casa Blanca (North

Africa). Plaintiff left the hospital without author-

ization for the purpose of moving freely in Casa

Blanca and was then picked up by the Military

Police and placed in solitary confinement, Plain-

tiff found the conditions there so intolerable

that in desperation he escaped, but after a few

days surrendered. At no time did the plaintiff

attempt to desert to the enemy, nor did he even

attempt to reach the Spanish Moroccan border

although he was within 30 miles of it."

Trop was born in Akron, Ohio on February 7,

1924 and has been a long-time resident of Nassau,

N. Y. "At no time did he intend to expatriate him-

self or to become a national of any other country,"

the complaint states.

Suspected Communist Given -

Passport To Study Buddhism

The Passport Division recently reversed itself

and granted a passport to a Bay Area resident

who had been turned down ten months ago,

The reason for the original refusal was never

given. However, the young man's father was the

subject of a loyalty proceeding several years ago

in which allegations had been made against the

son, It was claimed that the son had closely asso-

ciated with members or supporters of the Com-

munist Party, that he had admitted being a card

carrying member of the Party, and that he said

"he would rather go to a concentration camp than

be drafted." a

The young man addressed himself to these

charges in his dealings with the Passport Division.

He denied Communist Party membership, but ad-

mitted interest in Marxism and politics while he

was a student. Since 1951 he has been a Buddhist

and the purpose of the passport is to enable him

to journey to Japan to study Zen Buddhism.

The ACLU of Northern California not only

represented the young man in connection with his

passport problem but also with respect to the

action of the Coast Guard in screening him as a

security risk under the Port Security Program

in 1952. When he discussed his passport problem

with the ACLU the Coast Guard issue was re-

vealed and the Union at once filed an appeal for

him. Three months later he was cleared without

a hearing. Indeed, the Coast Guard action caused

the Passport Division to take a second look at

its refusal to grant the young man a passport.

Hearing in Mass Case Feb. 6

On February 6, the California State Supreme

Court will hear oral arguments in the case of John

W. Mass, who was discharged by the San Francis-

co Board of Education for refusing to answer

questions about his past Communist Party mem-

bership put to him by the House Un-American

Activities Committee.

Biennial Conference In

Washington, Feb. 29-Mar. 4

The biennial conference of the American Civil

Liberties Union will be held February 29 to March

4 at the Dodge Hotel, North Capitol Street at E,

Washington, D.C. -

Attendance at the conference will be restricted

to members of the corporation,-members of the

national board and national committee and repre- .

sentatives of 22 local affiliates.

Total cost of the conference (travel and living

expenses) is estimated at $7,186, of which the

local branch has been asked to pay about 1012%

or $762, on the strength of two delegates. Actual

-eost of sending these two, delegates is $542, so

the branch would thus be expected to contribute

$220 towards: the expenses of other delegates. The

local board has not yet determined what repre-

sentatives it will have at the conference.

, The main item on the conference agenda was

supposed to be proposed changes in the ACLU's

constitution but it now looks as though that mat-

ter would receive less attention than was ex-

pected. Various proposed changes were referred

to a Constitutional Committee by the 1954 bien-

nial conference, but the Committee was not ap-

pointed until December 1954 and thus far no

material has been submitted to the Committee by

the national office. Dr. Alexander M. Meiklejohn,

local vice-chairman, is a member of the committee.

The ACLU's local board suggested a postpone-

ment of the conference in order to allow the Com-

mittee to prepare a report which could be con-

sidered by delegates before they went to Wash-

ington, but the suggestion was turned down by

most of the affiliates, apparently because the

national budget and their own budgets (begin-

ning February 1) will be determined at the con-

ference and any delay would interfere with proper

planning of their programs.

Another important item on the agenda is con-

sideration of the report of a special Affiliates

Committee on National Operations, charged with

making a survey of national office operations.

Also to be considered is an important report from

a Finance Commission which is to make recom-

mendations on various financial problems within

the ACLU.

Victory Scored in Army

Civil Service Security Case

An Army civil service employee was cleared

on security charges last month after being sus-

pended for seven months. She will collect back

pay for that period of time. :

At her hearing September 1 and 2, she was rep- -

resented by Ernest Besig, Executive Director of

the ACLU.

_ The principal charge against the employee was

that of close association with her husband who

had had a brief and tenuous association with the

Communist Party in the late thirties. Otherwise,

she was charged merely with being active in

Labor's Non-Partisan League and particularly

with having signed a letter in 1939 urging Con-

gressmen to vote against the "Hobbs Bill," pro-

viding for the detention of aliens whose deporta-

tion could not be effected by the Immigration

Service.

Unfortunately, the employee has not been re-

stored to her former job but to another position

which requires a special security clearance be-

cause she will deal with classified military in-

formation, The particular installation where she

is employed claims that her former position no

longer exists. As a matter of fact, it does exist,

but since she occupied it, it has been upgraded

without new duties being added. The employee

does have a Civil Service rating that makes her

eligible for the higher grade job. The ACLU has

asked the Army to review the matter. ee

Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn

Celebrates 84th Birthday

Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn will be 84 years old

on February 3.

Dr. Meiklejohn is the beloved vice-chairman of

the local ACLU. He is former President of Am-

herst College, and distinguished educator, writer,

lecturer and civil liberties expert. Last December

he testified as an expert before the Senate Sub-

committee on Constitutional Rights (The Hen-

nings Committee). He has been associated with

the local branch of the ACLU since its inception

in 1934.

Dr. Meiklejohn and his wife Helen reside in

Berkeley, but they are presently sojourning in

New York because of the latter's illness. Friends

may write to the Meiklejohns at The Beaux Arts

Hotel, 310 E. 44th St., New York 17, New York. .

Happy Birthday, Alec! ;

February, 1956

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

Page 3

ACLU Protest Causes Revision

Of P.O. Censorship Policies

In a drastic revision of its censorship policies,

the Post Office Department has agreed to end its

practice of confiscating imported mailable books

(such as Shakespeare's works printed in Russian),

which are packaged with what it regards as for-

eign political propaganda. The ruling followed

protests by the local ACLU office in the case of

Jeremiah Feingold, the proprietor of a San Fran-

cisco bookstore called Russky Kustar.

Rotten Apple Theory

The Department's previous ruling was based on

"the rotten apple theory.''.Under that theory, if

one "bad" book was found in a package, then all

other books packed with it were treated as con-

taminated and were confiscated.

Assistant Solicitor William C. O'Brien notified "

the ACLU late last month that `The postmaster

at San Francisco is being instructed to release to

Russky Kustar any books still being held by his

office which were found not to be nonmailable per

se, but were withheld because contained in a par-

cel with books of a nonmailable character.

"In the future, delivery will be made of any

other mailable books received for Russky Kustar

in parcels also containing nonmailable propa-

ganda."

Future Notice |

Mr. O'Brien also agreed that in the future the

Department would notify Feingold when books

_ addressed to him were confiscated and give him

an opportunity to argue against the Department's

determination that they contained foreign poli-

tical propaganda. `Such registered parcels are

held by the post office for a period of six months

after a nonmailable ruling is received..."

However, Mr. O'Brien concluded his letter by

stating that the Post Office Department, in con-

junction with the Customs Bureau, will continue

its policy of censorship over foreign mail. There-

fore, still unsettled is the question of the power

of the Post Office Department to act as a censor,

and, in any case, the validity of the unknown yard-

stick it uses in determining what is foreign poli-

tical propaganda.

Feingold's Customers

Feingold's business of selling Russian language

books printed abroad has been seriously hurt by

_the Post Office Department's censorship policies.

Among his customers are the U.S. Army Lan-

guage School at Monterey, University of Califor-

nia, Stanford University, the Library of Congress

and many Russian-speaking residents of San

Francisco.

_ _ Further action in the matter is being studied by

Lawrence Speiser, ACLU Staff Counsel, who has

thus far handled the case.

ink Co. Withdraws Request for

Security Data From Employees -

R. H. Wellington, Secretary-Treasurer of the

California Ink Co., which has a plant in Berkeley,

promised the ACLU last month that he would ad-

vise his employees that a mistake had been made

in asking all of them to fill out Defense Depart-

ment Personnel Security Questionnaires and Cer-

tificates of Nonaffiliation with Certain Organiza-

tions (the Attorney General's list).

In presenting the questionnaire to his workers,

Mr, Wellington stated that a representative of the

Defense Department had instructed them to have

the forms filled out by ali persons who at some

future time might be engaged in work on contracts.

requiring access to classified military information.

On checking with the office of the Inspector of

Naval Material at Treasure Island, it was dis-

covered there had been a misunderstanding, The

California Ink Co. was about to bid on a security -

contract, and the security information was re-

quired of only the few people who would have a |

hand in submitting the bid, and particularly the

officers of the company. =

Inductee Who Sang in Cal.

Labor School Choir Is Cleared

The ACLU was notified last month that an

Army inductee whom it represented in a security

hearing at Fort Ord last September 29 has re-

ceived a security clearance and will, therefore, re-

ceive an honorable discharge in due course.

The charges against the soldier were very flim-

sy. He had sung in the California Labor School

choir when he was 16 years old. Otherwise, he was

accused of close association with his mother, who

belongs to the wrong organizations, his grand-

father, who himself has been cleared in a Govern-

ment loyalty proceeding, and a classmate of his

deceased father, who had also received Govern-

ment security clearances.

Favorable

Decisions in Four

Long Pending Port Security Cases

The Commandant of the Coast Guard last month

handed down favorable decisions on four long

pending port security cases handled by the ACLU

of Northern California. Three of the cases were

heard by local Security Appeals Boards in April

1955, while the fourth case was heard last June.

Out of Work 414 Years

One of the men, who holds a Chief Mate's

license, was screened 4% years ago, Since that

time he has been unable to obtain work because

he has had to tell prospective employers that he

was screened from the maritime industry as a

security risk, and who wants to employ a security

risk. Fortunately, his wife has been empioyed.

This man admitted that he was a member of the

Communist Party from 1934 to 1936. His wife had

also been a member of the Party, for one month

in 1934, and in 1940, while he was at sea, a friend

ae oe her to subscribe to the `People's

orld.

Questioned About His Religion

In 1951, at his first hearing, in which he was

not represented by counsel, the board spent con-

siderable time in questioning him about his reli-

gious views. The board chairman explained, `We

go into their church affiliations quite strenuously

and the fact that you don't have any regular

church affiliations-I'm not criticising you as an

individual, but that is in keeping with my under-

standing of all dictatorships." Needless to say,

there was no interrogation of this kind at the

second hearing in 1955.

In another case, involving a longshoreman, there

was also an allegation of Communist Party mem-

bership in 1934 and 1935, but the man vigorously

denied the charges.

Federal Agencies Disagree

In a third case, involving a seaman, there were

allegations of membership in the American Rus-

Rowland Watts Appointed

ACLU National Staff Counsel

The appointment of Rowland Watts as national

staff counsel of the American Civil Liberties

Union was announced last month.

Watts, national secretary of the Workers De-

fense League, will succeed Herbert Monte Levy,

who is resigning to devote full time to the private

practice of law. Levy has been ACLU staff coun-

sel since 1949. Watts will assume his post around

February 1. 3

Associated With W.D.L.

Watts has been associated since 1946 with the

Workers Defense League, a group that secures

direct legal defense for workers and minority

group members who seek to correct injustices

growing out of their status.

As the WDL's national secretary, Watts was

responsible for several major projects that the

group undertook in the civil liberties field. His

personal study of the Army's personnel security

program, entitled "The Draftee and Internal Se-

curity," placed the spotlight on the Army's prac-

tice of giving less than honorable discharges to

soldiers on the basis of their pre-Army political

beliefs and associations. This study of 110 indi-

vidual cases was taken under serious advisement

by the Army and subsequently it announced that

the practice would be discontinued and other -

changes made in the security program,

Watts has also been active in the WDL's work

in other aspects of the government employee

security program and in the immigration and

naturalization field.

Investigated Peonage

Under his direction, the WDL investigated

peonage in the South, resulting in a successful suit

for civil damages in 1948 against the sheriff of

Braward county, Florida, and initiated the Com-

mission of Inquiry into Forced Labor. This was a

study of slave labor conditions throughout the

world, which produced the first documented rec-

ord of the Soviet Union's use of forced labor as an (c)

integral part of its economy. The data was later

supplied to the United Nations,

In his WDL position, Watts directed all the legal

defense work and co-ordinated the activities of the

organization's volunteer lawyers throughout the

country.

Watts, 43, was born in Baltimore and received

his primary and secondary education there. He

attended Chicago University and obtained his law

sian Institute, a subscription. to the "People's

World," and membership in the Communist Party

_ in 1949, The membership charges were denied, but

the subscription to the `People's World" was ad- -

mitted. While this man is not now regarded as a

security risk by the Coast Guard, the Armed

Forces Industrial Security Program regards him

as such. The latter program reached that con-

clusion a couple of years ago and the man may not

be employed by private industry working on clas-

sified military contracts.

The fourth and finai favorable decision in-

volved a longshoreman. He was accused of having

attended public Communist Party meetings in

1938-1940 and with "close association" with un-

named Communist Party functionaries in 1943

_and 1944.

~"

degree from the University of Baltimore. He now |

lives in Pleasantville, New York with his wife and

three children, and also maintains a law office

in Baltimore. His post with the Union will be on a

full-time basis.

Labor Activity

_ It was also charged that in 1940 he had been

"a member of the Communist dominated Indus-

trial Union Council, that his name appeared as a

supporter of a Communist candidate for supervi-

sor of San Francisco in 1941, that in 1943 he

signed "a petition to the President expressing

protest and shock over the order of the Attorney

General to deport Harry Bridges," and that in

1945 he was a member "of the San Francisco

Coordinating Council for Peace,'? which he had

never heard of,

Harlier, he had also been charged with being

an honorary pall bearer at the funeral of Tom

Mooney, but that charge was finally dropped.

Exec. Committee Becomes

The Board of Directors

After more than 20 years, the Executive Com- -

mittee of the ACLU of Northern California, the

local governing group, has changed its name. On

January 5, as a result of an amendment to the

By-Laws, it became the Board of Directors.

Last year, the maximum membership of the

Board was raised from 25 to 30. At present, there

are four vacancies on the Board. f

' On January 6, the Board also adopted the fol-

lowing amendment to the By-Laws: "The Union

by a majority vote of its Board of Directors may

grant a charter to any petitioning local group in

Northern California which has given satisfactory

evidence of vitality, leadership and devotion to

the objectives and program of the Union, Char-

ters may be revoked for cause by a two-thirds

vote of the Board of Directors, but only after a

statement of reasong has been sent by the Board

_ of Directors to the chapter officers and members

of the chapter board and a full hearing accorded.

Chapter By-Laws shall not go into effect until

they are approved by the Board of Directors."

Board of Directors |

American Givil Liberties Union

of Northern California

Sara Bard Field

Honorary Member

Joseph S. Thompson

Honorary Treasurer

Rt. Rey. Edw. L. Parsons

Chairman

Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn

Helen Salz

: Vice-Chairmen

Fred H. Smith, IV

Secretary-Treasurer

Ernest Besig

Director

Lawrence Speiser

Staff Counsel

Priscilla Ginsberg

Pubilc Relations Director

Philip Adams

Prof. James R. Caldwell (c)

William K. Coblentz

Wayne M. Collins

Rabbi Alvin |. Fine

Laurent B. Frantz

Rey. Oscar F. Green

Alice G. Heyneman

Prof. Van D. Kennedy

Ruth Kingman

Seaton W. Manning

Prof. John Henry Merryman

Rey. Harry C. Meserve

Rev. Robert W. Moon

William M. Roth

Clarence E. Rust

Prof. Laurence Sears

Theodosia B. Stewart

Stephen Thiermann

Kathleen D. Tolman

Franklin H. Williams

a ee ee ee

and

Page 4

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

February, 1956

American Civil Liberties Union-News

Published monthly at 503 Market Street, San Francisco-5,

Calif., by the American Civil Liberties Union

of Northern California.

Phone: EXbrook 2-3255

ERNST BHSIG. 2 2 Editor

Entered as Second-class matter, July 31, 1941, at the

Post Office at San Francisco, California,

under the Act of March 8, 1879,

Subscription Rates-One Dollar and Fifty Cents a Year.

Fifteen Cents per Copy -1 lg

New Hearing for Ex-POW

Denied Benefits

Robert L. Simpson, 24-year-old honorably dis-

charged Korean War veteran, on January 16

again denied charges based on secret information,

that he collaborated with the Chinese Communists

while he was their prisoner,

Simpson appeared before Pearl Carter Pace,

a member of the Foreign Claims Settlement Com-

"mission, which earlier had rejected his claim of

$2.50 a day (for 33 months) hardship pay for

repatriated prisoners of war.

Ernest Besig, who represented Simpson, asked

that any evidence against him be produced but

Mrs. Pace refused on the ground that it was classi-

fied information. _

Court Reporter Present

Unlike a hearing held in San Francisco on

- December 19, a stenotypist was present to take

a verbatim record of the proceedings, Moreover,

the hearing was public and reporters attended.

The further hearing with a reporter present

resulted from complaints addressed to the Com-

mission by Senator Thomas C. Hennings Jr. on

January 9 following requests of Congressman

Moss and the ACLU for an investigation into the

case by the Senate Constitutional Rights Subcom-

mittee.

Sen. Hennings Protests

Sen, Hennings' letter to the Commission was

as follows:

"We understand that a hearing was held in San

Francisco on December 19, 1955, and that the

lawyer for Simpson entered an objection to the

denial of reasonable notice of the hearing and to

the absence of a stenographer to take down a ver-

batim record of the hearing. The absence of a

stenographer appears to us to be in violation of

Section 525.5 of your published regulations dated

September 30, 1955.

"We would like to point out that the denial of a

claim on the basis of an unevaluated summary of

information followed by an appeals decision by

Commissioners not present at the hearing and not

possessing even a stenographic transcript of the

hearing scarcely comports with the traditional

view of due process.

Burden of Proof

"We trust that you will inform us of your ulti-

mate decision in this case and that in the event

of an unfavorable decision, you will also state the

policy basis of your decision. We would particular-

ly like to know whether the Commission or claim-

ant has to sustain the burden of proof with regard

to the issue of collaboration, and whether all

claimants, or only some claimants, are required

to prove eligibility by virtue of having suffered

inhumane treatment during all the days of their

captivity."

Mrs, Pace promised that a decision would he

forthcoming by February 4.

cee

ROBERT L. SIMPSON, EX-POW

ACLU's 35th Annual Report Cites

improvements in Civil Liberties

(Continued from Page 1, Col. 3)

cant the source of the derogatory information

against him,

Freedom of Inquiry

The job of maintaining free inquiry-communi-

cation remains the most difficult civil liberties

task of all, the ACLU report said. :

"We can rejoice over relatively uninterrupted

progress in getting rid of official prior censorship

of motion pictures, and ever-growing resistance

to private pressure group attempts to enforce

conformity by boycott throughout the mass com-

munication field. But it will be many a long year

before we can be comfortable about freedom in

the public schools and colleges and universities.

Freedom from the threat of governmental domi-

nation-national or state-as a condition of gov-

ernment aid, and freedom from harassment By

each sub-group in a local community which fails

to understand the fundamental need for variety

and demands the impossible and disastrous-that

the schools should teach everything which the sub-

group wants, and nothing which it does not want."

The ACLU also cautioned that a continuing

fight must be waged to guarantee newspaper

access to government news, "from the national

Department of Defense through the state road

fund centommissions to the county courthouse offi-

cials."

Freedom and Security

The report noted that the nation's preoccupa-

tion with loyalty and security problems, which

had adversely affected civil liberties, had changed

in the past year.

"A general awakening of the public conscience

to the harm done the constitutional rights of

people, the guidance of the federal courts, and

the courage of a number of responsible legislators

and governmental officials have thrown a clear

light on the danger in which we stood, Within

a few weeks the Congress voted funds to a stand-

ing committee on the Bill of Rights and authorized

a national non-partisan committee to reconsider

the security program; the Senate Internal Secur-

ity Sub-committee has stated that the Attorney

General's list is being `widely misunderstood and

misapplied' and such court decisions as those in

the Lattimore and Shactman passport cases have

reaffirmed fundamental due process.

"The civil liberties aspect of the security-loyalty

problem remains critical, and libertarian concern

and pressure should continue in full force. But now,

at least, there are signs that the country may be (c)

turning from an unhealthy preoccupation with its

fears to a practical use of its strengths."

"The increase of governmental activity on the

federal, state and municipal levels creates a host

of due process problems," the report stated, "in

the use of necessary administrative discretion

in applying rules and regulations to civil service

employees ang to ordinary citizens."

Police "Short Cuts"

And the growing size of our cities breeds more

organized crime, which hard-pressed police forces

Army Statement Allows Ross

Immediate GI Benefits

Harley L. Ross has been furnished a statement

by Maj. General John A. Klein, the Adjutant Gen-

eral, declaring that when the character of his

service is finally determined it "will be either

`Honorable' or `General, Under Honorable Condi-

tions,' "'

When Ross was relieved from active duty last

December 2, his "Separation Notice' declared that

the character of his service was "To Be Deter-

mined." In consequence, he received no mustering

out pay nor pay for accrued leave, and he could

not avail himself of benefits due him under the

GI Bill of Rights.

The statement from the Adjutant General now

permits him to continue his graduate school

studies under the GI Bill, but he is still waiting for

the several hundred dollars which is due him from

the Army. . .

The ACLU represented Ross in an Army secu-

rity hearing last year. Thereafter, Ross testified

- before the Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional

Rights in Washington that he was being denied

an honorable discharge because he had refused to

sign the Army's so-called loyalty form. Never-

theless, at the Committee hearing, Ross testified

under oath that he had never belonged to any of

the groups on the Attorney General's list.

The Army has promised a determination as to

the character of Ross' Army service after it re-

vises its security regulations. The new regulations

should be available in the immediate future.

increasingly want to deal with through wire-

tapping and other "short cuts."

"We defenders of civil liberties may say, as we

should: `No wiretapping; we'll take the risk of

such crime as cannot be combatted by other meth-

ods.' But it will take a long time to convert people

in general to that position, unless we also actively

support the development and use of what we

regard as constitutional and wise methods of law

enforcement."'

But in spite of the pressures on American police

forces, the report stated, "looking at the whole

picture, the ACLU can discover no major police

force in the United States which appears to con-

done police brutality; and such known lapses as

occur are matfers of human failure involving in-

dividuals or a limited chain of command.. . .

American police officers are becoming increasing-

ly professional in their attitude toward their work,

and are also more adequately familiarizing them-

selves with constitutional guarantees which pro-

tect all persons, even criminals. ... There is, how-

ever, much to be done in educating police author-

ities to admit and take responsibility for such bru-

tality as does occur."'

Many Subjects Covered

The bulk of the report is devoted to a detailed

review of cases covering the following subjects:

censorship; assembly; loyalty-security; academic

freedom; religion and conscience; the police; wire-

tapping; procedures in the courts, federal execu- -

tive departments and legislative hearings; race,

national origin, color and creed; Alaskan and Ha-

waii statehood; labor; women; and international

civil liberties, Also included is the annual "bal-

ance sheet" of court cases covering the federal

and state courts. .

The price of the report is 50 cents and copies

will shortly be available from the local office of

the ACLU, 503 Market St., San Francisco 5, Calif.

Brownell Backs Change In

Employee Security Program

Attorney General Herbert Brownell, Jr., has -

advised the Association of the Bar of the City of

New York that he will recommend to Congress

that it amend the present law to relieve heads of

executive departments and agencies from the

mandatory requirement of suspending an em-

ployee before granting a hearing under the Fed-

eral Employee Security Program.

Brownell and Assistant Attorney General Wil-

liam F. Tompkins conferred with the Bar Associa-

tion's Committee on Federal Security Procedure,

which is studying the security program.

This proposal would amend Public Law 733

passed on August 26, 1950, upon which the Fed-

eral Employee Security Program is based. The

present law requires that in all cases brought

under its authority the employee be suspended

prior to hearing. -

Tompkins, head of the Internal Security Divi-

sion, said that in the opinion of the Department _

of Justice, heads of departments and agencies

could continue to protect both the national secur--

ity and the rights of the employees if discretion-

ary authority to suspend an employee prior to

hearing was granted to the head of the depart-

ment or agency.

The employee security program has been sever-

ly attacked as harsh because of its mandatory

suspension provision. Since many security cases

are not resolved for many months, it places the

employee in a difficult economic position.

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

American Civil Liberties Union of No. Calif.,

503 Market St.

San Francisco 5, Calif. j

1. Please enroll me as a member at dues of

Doe for current year, (Types of mem-

bership: Associate Member, $3; Annual Member,

$5; Business and Professional Member, $10;

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subscription to the `American Civil Liberties

Union-News'" at $1.50 a year.)

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