Abstract
Our goal is to analyze the culture within the San Francisco law firm of Gladstein, Andersen and Leonard (circa 1945–1965). For this we utilize archival documents, FBI files, oral histories, and personal interviews. The law firm represented alleged subversives, including Harry Bridges the longtime president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Thus, the law firm partners were stigmatized by the clients they represented and they all had lengthy FBI files. The partners all had working class backgrounds, one was an immigrant and two were Jewish. Clearly, religion and ethnicity were not litmus tests for participation in the firm, nor was educational pedigree. Gladstein and Leonard graduated from elite law schools while Andersen did his legal training at a night school. During the dark days of the Cold War various partners were threatened, shot and jailed for merely engaging in their legal practice. Ironically, as the FBI blacklisted alleged subversives, these attorneys had more clients to defend.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
-
Photo of Harry Bridges in 1963, courtesy of the San Francisco History Center: San Francisco Public Library.
-
Photo of George Andersen in 1934, courtesy of the San Francisco History Center: San Francisco Public Library.
-
Photo of Norman Leonard in 1948, courtesy of the San Francisco History Center: San Francisco Public Library. Leonard’s FBI file contains a summary of an October 22, 1948 newspaper article which states that Leonard was “physically removed” from a “Congressional hearing regarding communism in the maritime strike.” This occurred after Leonard “loudly and angrily” “interrupted” the testimony of a client (David Jenkins) to argue that Jenkins’ “constitutional rights were being violated” (June 2, 1954).
-
Photo of Richard Gladstein, courtesy of the San Francisco History Center: San Francisco Public Library.
References
Andersen, D. (2012). E-mail to John Galliher. July 17.
Auerbach, J. S. (1976). Unequal justice: lawyers and social change in modern America. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
Bailey, P. R. (1982). The case of the National Lawyers Guild, 1939–1958. In A. G. Theoharis (Ed.), Beyond the Hiss case: The FBI, Congress and the Cold War (pp. 129–175). Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press.
Barnes, B. (1990). Obituaries; Longshoremen’s union leader Harry Bridges dies. Washington Post, March 31. B4.
Brown, R. S., Jr. (1958). Loyalty and security: Employment tests in the United States. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Carder, W. (2012). E-mail to John F. Galliher, August 13.
Congress, C. R. (1952). Lawyers under fire. New York: Civil Rights Congress.
Costantinou, M. (2006). Norman Leonard—noted labor, civil rights lawyer. SFGate.com, March 11. http://articles.sfgate.com/2006-03-11/bay-area/17284168_1_mr-leonard-norman-leonard-law-firm.
Declarations of Candidacy. (1935). San Francisco General Municipal Election. November 5.
Declarations of Candidacy. (1937). San Francisco General Municipal Election. November 2.
Dispatcher. (1949). Gladstein withdraws from Bridges case to serve term for contempt. October 28, pp. 1, 12.
Dispatcher. (1951). Immigration service stoolpigeon parade fails to prove charges against local 7-C’s Mensalvas. April 13: 8.
Dispatcher. (1952). Locals ask parole for R. Gladstein. July 4: 6.
Dispatcher. (1962a). K-L-G law case: Union’s right to elect gets first court test. April 6: 1, 8.
Dispatcher. (1962b). Archie Brown is sentenced; appeals case. May 18: 1.
Dispatcher. (1963). Archie Brown appeal argued before 8 judges; may go higher. December 27: 1, 3.
Dispatcher. (1966). George R. Andersen dies; devoted legal career to rights of workers. January 7.
Dispatcher. (1974). ILWU attorney Gladstein suffers heart attack. August 30: 1.
Dispatcher. (1981). Richard Gladstein, ILWU attorney for 35 years, defended Bridges, Hall. June 5: 6.
Gardner, D. P. (1967). The California oath controversy. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Gladstein, J. (2012). E-mail to John Galliher, June 27.
Gladstein, R. (n.d.). Supplement to memorandum of respondent. California District Court.
Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
Honolulu Star Bulletin. (1949). Fear of communist infiltrators engulfed postwar Hawaii. November 18.
Keen, M. F. (1999). Stalking the sociological imagination: J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI surveillance of American sociologists. Westport: Greenwood Press.
Kutler, S. (1978). Interview with Richard and Caroline Gladstein. Bancroft Library. Berkeley: University of California.
Kutler, S. I. (1982). The American inquisition: Justice and injustice in the Cold War. New York: Hill and Wang.
Leonard, N. (1950). Analysis of the Internal Security Act of 1950 (McCarran Act). November.
Pontikes, E., Negro, G., & Rao, H. (2010). Stained red: a study of stigma by association to blacklisted artists during the ‘Red Scare’. American Sociological Review, 75, 456–478.
Raineri, V. M. G. (1991). The red angel: The life and times of Elaine Black Yoneda. New York: International Publishers.
Recorder. (1950). Here are attorneys signing brief in contempt case. February 14.
San Francisco Chronicle. (1934). Attorney for radical gets death threats. July 20.
San Francisco Chronicle. (1949a). Gladstein reported threatened in N.Y. June 28.
San Francisco Chronicle. (1949b). Controversy in Berkeley over speech. November 10.
San Francisco Chronicle. (1949c). Gladstein out as Bridges’ defense attorney. November 25.
San Francisco Chronicle. (1952). Reds’ lawyers go to prison. April 25.
San Francisco Chronicle. (1955a). Gladstein disbarment action delayed. February 1.
San Francisco Chronicle. (1955b). Gladstein wins fight against judge in Hawaii. April 9.
San Francisco Chronicle. (1965). George R. Andersen dies at 65. December 30.
San Francisco Chronicle. (1969). Answer to General Hershey. May 29.
San Francisco Examiner. (1934). S.F. drive on communists to continue. July 26.
San Francisco Examiner. (1941). U.S. arrests Bridges in new ouster case. April 2.
San Francisco Examiner. (1943). “Citizenship plea refused.” May 7.
San Francisco Examiner. (1965). Sit-in arrest tapes assailed by defense. April 14.
Schrecker, E.W. (1994). The age of McCarthyism: A brief history with documents. Boston: St. Martin’s Press. http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/schrecker-blacklist.html.
Selvin, D. F. (1996). A terrible anger: The 1934 waterfront and general strikes in San Francisco. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
Smith, M. S. (1998). Modern American poetry. About the Smith Act trials. www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/jerome/smithact.htm.
State Bar of California. Attorney search. http://members.calbar.ca.gov/search/member.aspx.
Tedford, T. L., & Herbeck, D. A. (2009). Freedom of speech in the United States (6th ed.). State College: Strata Publishing.
United States v. Brown., 381 U.S. 437 (1965).
U.S. Congress. House of Representatives. Committee on Un-American Activities. (1960). 86th Cong., 2nd Sess., May 13th.
Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco. (n.d.). “Red” suspects demand jury: Parade of 350 arrested in police raids starts before Lazarus. http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist4/maritime16.html.
Wiececk, W. W. (2006). The birth of the modern Constitution: The United States Supreme Court, 1941–1953. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Weiner, T. (2007). Hoover planned mass jailing in 1950. New York Times, December 23. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/washington/23habeas.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=FBI%92s%20Hoover%20had%20plan%20to%20jail%2012,000%20%91disloyal%92%20Americans&st=cse.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wark, C., Galliher, J.F. Progressive lawyers under siege: Moral panic during the McCarthy era. Crime Law Soc Change 59, 517–535 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-013-9428-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-013-9428-z