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Progressive lawyers under siege: Moral panic during the McCarthy era

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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.

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Notes

  1. Photo of Harry Bridges in 1963, courtesy of the San Francisco History Center: San Francisco Public Library.

  2. Photo of George Andersen in 1934, courtesy of the San Francisco History Center: San Francisco Public Library.

  3. 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).

  4. Photo of Richard Gladstein, courtesy of the San Francisco History Center: San Francisco Public Library.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Sociology, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, MSC 177, 700 University Blvd., Kingsville, TX, 78363, USA

    Colin Wark

  2. University of Missouri, 335 Middlebush Hall, Columbia, MO, 65211-6100, USA

    John F. Galliher

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  1. Colin Wark
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  2. John F. Galliher
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Correspondence to Colin Wark.

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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

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