NYC Police Ban Peace Rally – NYCLU Protests
The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) on this day protested a police ban on a peace rally that had been scheduled for August 2nd at Union Square.
The NYCLU criticized Mayor Paul O’Dwyer for not overruling the police ban and failing to protect freedom of speech.
The Korean War had broken out two months earlier and the peace rally was sponsored by left-wing and Communist-affiliated groups. The national ACLU warned that the Korean War had led to a “frightening contempt for constitutional rights by municipal officials and others” across the country.
Learn more about freedom of assembly: http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/category/assembly
Visit the NYCLU web site.
Learn more about the violations of civil liberties during the Cold War: Ellen Schrecker, Many Are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America (1998)
Learn about the 100 Year fight for free speech in America: Lee C. Bollinger and Geoffrey Stone, The Free Speech Century (2018)