In Defense of American Liberties: A History of the ACLU

Samuel Walker wrote IN DEFENSE OF AMERICAN LIBERTIES which is a good history of the ACLU which was started in 1920. Walker's book is an honest assessment of the ACLU including both the ACLU's successes and failures.Those who cherish their civil liberties will have a better appreciation of the work of the ACLU and those civil libertarians who demanded their rights via The Bill of Rights. Walker started this book by citing incidents of mob violence during the 19th. century. There were vigilante mobs who attacked those who were "different." Walker cited attacks on Catholics in an 1856 attack in Chaleston, SC led by "pillars of the community." As bad as these mob attacks were, they were sporadic and not sanctioned by the U.S. government as a matter of policy. According to Walker that changed with the entry of the U.S. into W.W. I. U.S. government officials "deputized" vigilante groups who conducted slacker raids against those who were not drafted or expressed dissent.Such high-handed violence was actually sanctioned by both state and federal government officials. Mr. Walker could have asked why those who conducted the slacker raids were not in the military themselves. An interesting anecdote concerned Roger Baldwin who helped found the ACLU. He resisted the draft, produced himself in court, and admitted what he did. Judge Julius Meyer stated he appreciated Baldwin's class, manners, and courage. The judge politely scolded Baldwin, but also told Baldwin that what was considered wrong in one historical era could be considered right and honorable later. Baldwin did well the short time he was in prison where he "converted" fellow prisoners and befriended the warden who was Irish and did not like the fact that U.S. forces were assisting the British. In dealing with political oppression during and immediately after W.W. I, ACLU spokesmen clearly stated that democracy and individual rights were NOT the same thing. In other words, magoritarian tyranny could suppress individual rights. For example, some of the dissenters who opposed U.S. entry into W.W. I were literally placed in concentration camps without formal charge and without due process often with public approval. Given this background, Some conscientious Americans actually believed that U.S. citizens should be free people and that the U.S. was actually a free country. The ACLU tried to assist Duquesne, Pennsylvania steel workers' rights to assemble in meeting halls. When Al Smith was governor of New York, he vetoed many stupid state laws. One of Pres. Harding's first official acts was to pardon Eugene Debs from a federal prison in Atlanta, Georgia. Debs was convicted for exercising his First Amendment rights in opposing U.S. entry into W.W. I. As an aside, Debs' critics went to Europe and discovered that Debs was right after all. They were gracious upon their return to apologize to Debs and admit he was right. During the early 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan did well in the U.S. They exhibited polit

Samuel Walker has created a wonderful book on the history of the ACLU, In Defense of American Liberties, that is a must for anyone concerned with the history of freedom of speech and the men and women who fought for them in America. This book shows the development from fringe to mainstream of the ideas shared by a group of people in the 1910's. The book is by no means hagiography as the darker moments of the ACLU are presented with clarity, such as their hounding and forcing out of Communist members simply for their beliefs. It is both very informative and truly entertaining. A wonderful book that demonstrates the importance the ACLU has had in the twentienth century shaping political ideas.