Roger Nash Baldwin (January 21, 1884 – August 26, 1981) was one of the founders of the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

(ACLU). He served as executive director of the ACLU until 1950. Many of the ACLU's original landmark cases took place under his direction, including the Scopes Trial, the

Sacco and Vanzetti Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, ...

murder trial, and its challenge to the ban on

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...

's '' Ulysses''. Baldwin was a well-known

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campai ...

and author.

Life and work

Early years

Baldwin was born in Wellesley, Massachusetts, the son of Lucy Cushing (Nash) and Frank Fenno Baldwin. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

; afterwards, he moved to St. Louis on the advice of Louis D. Brandeis. There he taught sociology at Washington University, worked as a

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

and became chief probation officer of the

St. Louis Juvenile Court ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...

. He also co-wrote ''Juvenile Courts and Probation'' with

Bernard Flexner Bernard Flexner (1865–1945), a New York lawyer, was a prominent member of the Zionist Organization of America. Flexner was born in Louisville, Kentucky to a family that immigrated from Europe in the early 1860s. He studied law in the University o ...

at this time; this book became very influential in its era, and was, in part, the foundation of Baldwin's national reputation.

Career

Baldwin was a member of the American Union Against Militarism (AUAM), which opposed American involvement in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. After the passage of the Selective Service Act of 1917, Baldwin called for the AUAM to create a legal division to protect the rights of

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to objec ...

s. On July 1, 1917, the AUAM created the

Civil Liberties Bureau The National Civil Liberties Bureau (NCLB) was an American civil rights organization founded in 1917, dedicated to opposing World War I, and specifically focusing on assisting conscientious objectors. The National Civil Liberties Bureau was the r ...

(CLB), headed by Baldwin. The CLB separated from the AUAM on October 1, 1917, renaming itself the

National Civil Liberties Bureau The National Civil Liberties Bureau (NCLB) was an American civil rights organization founded in 1917, dedicated to opposing World War I, and specifically focusing on assisting conscientious objectors. The National Civil Liberties Bureau was the r ...

, with Baldwin as director. In 1920, NCLB was renamed the American Civil Liberties Union. with Baldwin continuing as the ACLU's first executive director. In the meantime, on 30 October 1918, as a conscientious objector himself, refusing even to register for the draft, undergo medical examination, or accept any alternative service such as farming, was sentenced at the Federal Court in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to a year in a penitentiary. 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 the Scopes Trial, the

murder trial, and its challenge to the ban on

's '' Ulysses''. 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 the International League for Human Rights. In St. Louis, Baldwin had been greatly influenced by the radical social movement of the

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessar ...

Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...

. He joined the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines general ...

. 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. 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 about

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...

's regime in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, Baldwin became more and more disillusioned with communism and in 1953 called it "A NEW SLAVERY" (capitalized in the original). He condemned "the inhuman communist police state tyranny, forced labor."Robert C. Cottrel
"Roger Baldwin: Founder, American Civil Liberties Union 1884–1981
''Notable American Unitarians''. In the 1940s, Baldwin led the campaign to purge the ACLU of Communist Party members. In 1947, General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was ...

invited him to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

to foster the growth of civil liberties in that country. In Japan, he founded the

Japan Civil Liberties Union The is a Japanese non-profit organization founded in 1947. Roger Nash Baldwin of the ACLU played an important role in its founding. The JCLU aims to protect human rights, and bases its operation on international human rights standards, principa ...

, and the Japanese government awarded him the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight f ...

. In 1948, Germany and Austria invited him for similar purposes. He was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1951.

Later years

In 1968, Washington University in St. Louis awarded Baldwin an honorary doctorate of Laws degree.

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

awarded Baldwin the Medal of Freedom on January 16, 1981.

Death and legacy

A resident of

Oakland, New Jersey Oakland is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States and a suburb of New York City. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 12,754,heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

on August 26, 1981, at

The Valley Hospital The Valley Hospital is a 451-bed, acute-care, not-for-profit hospital in Ridgewood, Bergen County, New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east ...

Ridgewood, New Jersey Ridgewood is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 24,958,John G. Avildsen John Guilbert Avildsen (December 21, 1935 – June 16, 2017) was an American film director. He is perhaps best known for directing ''Rocky'' (1976), which earned him the Academy Award for Best Director, and the first three ''The Karate Kid'' fil ...

's 1982 documentary '' Traveling Hopefully''.

References

Works

Books and pamphlets

''Juvenile Courts and Probation.''
With Bernard Flexner. New York: The Century Company, 1914.
''Liberty Under the Soviets.''
New York: Vanguard Press, 1928. * ''Civil Liberties and Industrial Conflict.'' With Clarence B. Randall. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1938. * ''The Rights of Man are Worth Defending.'' With Pauli Murray. New York: League For Adult Education, 1942. * ''Democracy in Trade Unions: A Survey, with a Program of Action.'' New York, American Civil Liberties Union, 1943. * ''Human Rights: World Declaration and American Practice'' New York, Public Affairs Committee, 1950.
''A New Slavery: Forced Labor: The Communist Betrayal of Human Rights.''
New York, Oceana Publications, 1953.

Articles

"Freedom in the USA and the USSR,"
New York: ''Soviet Russia Today,'' 1934. * "Liberalism and the United Front," in Irving Talmadge (ed.), ''Whose revolution? A Study of the Future Course of Liberalism in the United States,'' edited by

Irving Talmadge Irving may refer to: People *Irving (name), including a list of people with the name Fictional characters * Irving, the main character's love interest in Cathy (comic strip) * Lloyd Irving, the main protagonist in the ''Tales of Symphonia'' video ...

New York: Howell, Soskin, 1941. * "The Making of a Reformer: The Roger Baldwin Story: A Prejudiced Account by Himself," in Woody Klein, ''Liberties Lost: The Endangered Legacy of the ACLU.'' Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2006.

Books edited

* Peter Kropotkin,
Revolutionary Pamphlets: A Collection of Writings
'' New York: Vanguard Press, 1927.

External links

Roger Nash Baldwin Papers: Finding Aid
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ. * Robert C. Cottrell
"Roger Nash Baldwin, Unitarian."
Harvard Square Library.
Roger Baldwin, ACLU Founder at 93 Years Old
A Film b
Tom ChamberlinPost-War World Council Records
fro
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwin, Roger Nash 1884 births 1981 deaths Activists for African-American civil rights American anti-war activists American conscientious objectors American pacifists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Harvard University alumni American Civil Liberties Union people Industrial Workers of the World members People from Mahwah, New Jersey People from Oakland, New Jersey People from Wellesley, Massachusetts Probation and parole officers Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun Washington University in St. Louis faculty Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients