Roger Nash Baldwin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Executive Director of theAmerican Civil Liberties Union | |
| In office 1917–1950 | |
| Succeeded by | Patrick Murphy Malin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1884-01-21)January 21, 1884 Wellesley, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | August 26, 1981(1981-08-26) (aged 97) Ridgewood, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Education | Harvard University (BA,MA) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Sociology |
| Institutions | |
Roger Nash Baldwin (January 21, 1884 – August 26, 1981) was an American author, pacifist, and anti-communist who co-founded theAmerican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He served as executive director of the ACLU until 1950.[1]
Many of the ACLU's original landmark cases took place under his direction, including theScopes Trial, theSacco and Vanzetti murder trial, and its challenge to the ban onJames Joyce'sUlysses.[2][3] Baldwin was a well-knownpacifist and author.
Baldwin was born inWellesley, Massachusetts, the son of Lucy Cushing (Nash) and Frank Fenno Baldwin. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees atHarvard University; afterwards, he moved toSt. Louis on the advice ofLouis D. Brandeis. There he taught sociology atWashington University in St. Louis, worked as asocial worker and became chiefprobation officer of theSt. Louis Juvenile Court. He also co-wroteJuvenile Courts and Probation withBernard Flexner at this time; this book became very influential in its era, and was, in part, the foundation of Baldwin's national reputation.
Baldwin was a member of theAmerican Union Against Militarism (AUAM), which opposed American involvement inWorld War I. After the passage of theSelective Service Act of 1917, Baldwin called for the AUAM to create a legal division to protect the rights ofconscientious objectors. On July 1, 1917, the AUAM created theCivil Liberties Bureau (CLB), headed by Baldwin. The CLB separated from the AUAM on October 1, 1917, renaming itself theNational Civil Liberties Bureau, with Baldwin as director. In 1920, NCLB was renamed the American Civil Liberties Union, with Baldwin continuing as the ACLU's first executive director.[4]
In the meantime, on 30 October 1918, as a conscientious objector himself, refusing even to register for the draft, undergo medical examination, or accept anyalternative service such as farming, was sentenced at theFederal Court inNew York City to a year in apenitentiary.
As director of ACLU, Baldwin was integral to the shape of the association's early character; it was under Baldwin's leadership that the ACLU undertook some of its most famous cases, including theScopes Trial, theSacco and Vanzetti murder trial, and its challenge to the ban onJames Joyce'sUlysses. Baldwin retired from the ACLU leadership in 1950. He remained active in politics for the rest of his life; for example, he co-founded the International League for the Rights of Man, which is now known as theInternational League for Human Rights.
In St. Louis, Baldwin had been greatly influenced by the radical social movement of theanarchistEmma Goldman. He joined theIndustrial Workers of the World. Roger Baldwin oversaw, documented and supplied funding for a large number of defense cases for I.W.W. members and investigations throughout the United States. A fully accessible archive of his correspondence with I.W.W branches, investigators and attorneys has been published by Princeton's Mudd Manuscript Library.[5]
In 1927, he had visited the Soviet Union and wrote a book,Liberty Under the Soviets. Later, however, as more and more information came out aboutJoseph Stalin's regime in theSoviet Union, Baldwin became more and more disillusioned with communism and in 1953 called it "A NEW SLAVERY" (capitalized in the original).[6] He condemned "the inhuman communist police state tyranny, forced labor."[7] In the 1940s, Baldwin led the campaign to purge the ACLU of Communist Party members.[7]
In 1947, GeneralDouglas MacArthur invited him toJapan to foster the growth of civil liberties in that country. In Japan, he founded theJapan Civil Liberties Union, and the Japanese government awarded him theOrder of the Rising Sun. In 1948, Germany and Austria invited him for similar purposes. He was elected a Fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1951.[8]
In 1968,Washington University awarded Baldwin an honorary doctorate of Laws degree.[9]
PresidentJimmy Carter awarded Baldwin theMedal of Freedom on January 16, 1981.[10]
A resident ofOakland, New Jersey, Baldwin died ofheart failure on August 26, 1981, atThe Valley Hospital inRidgewood, New Jersey.[1]
He is the subject ofJohn G. Avildsen's 1982 documentaryTraveling Hopefully.
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