Party Held to Celebrate Roger Baldwin’s Release from Prison
Roger Baldwin, future head of the ACLU, had been sentenced to prison for refusing as a matter of conscience to cooperate with the World War I draft on October 30, 1918. His statement to the judge, a powerful statement of conscience, was widely circulated and helped establish Baldwin’s national reputation as a person of integrity and courage.
Baldwin’s statement to the court (in part): “The compelling motive for refusing to comply with the draft act is my uncompromising opposition to the principle of conscription of life by the State for any purpose whatever, in time of war or peace.
Upon his release on this day, his friends organized a party at the apartment of Norman Thomas, a friend and fellow civil libertarian. The caterer’s bill for the party later indicated that no alcoholic beverages were provided at the party.
After his release, Baldwin traveled across the country, working in factories to acquaint himself with the conditions of working people. Upon returning to New York City he set about transforming the wartime National Civil Liberties Bureau into what became the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU. On January 19, 1920, he presided over the first meeting of the new ACLU.
Learn more about Roger Baldwin: Robert Cottrell, Roger Nash Baldwin and the American Civil Liberties Union (2000)
Watch a documentary on Baldwin, Traveling Hopefully: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND_uY_KXGgY
Read: Samuel Walker, In Defense of American Liberties: A History of the ACLU (1990)