The National Committee to Uphold Constitutional Government (NCUCG), also known as the Committee for Constitutional Government (CCG), was founded in 1937 in opposition to

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

's Court Packing Bill. The Committee opposed most, if not all, of the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

legislation. Founders of the Committee were

Frank Gannett Frank Ernest Gannett (September 15, 1876 – December 3, 1957) was an American publisher who founded the media corporation Gannett Company. He began his career in 1906 as half owner of the ''Elmira Gazette''. He soon added newspapers in Ithac ...

Amos Pinchot Amos Richards Eno Pinchot (December 6, 1873 – February 18, 1944) was an American lawyer and reformist. He never held public office but managed to exert considerable influence in reformist circles and did much to keep Progressivism, progres ...

and

Edward Rumely Edward Aloysius Rumely (1882 – November 26, 1964) was a physician, educator, and newspaper man from Indiana. Education Rumely was born in La Porte, Indiana, in 1882. He attended University of Notre Dame, Oxford University and the Univers ...

. The organization enjoyed considerable success in opposing the Bill, also because of large mailing list campaign targeted at legal professionals. Pinchot would later lead an America First chapter in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, although the committee itself was silent on the foreign policies of Roosevelt, and included many interventionists as its members. Gannett would become a presidential candidate in 1940. Other people associated with the Committee were

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

Samuel B. Pettengill Samuel Barrett Pettengill (January 19, 1886 – March 20, 1974) was a United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from Indiana, representing Indiana's 3rd congressional district and nephew of William H. Clagett, William Horac ...

, John M. Pratt,

Ralph W. Gwinn Ralph Waldo Gwinn (March 29, 1884 – February 27, 1962) was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from New York. Gwinn was born in Noblesville, Indiana. He graduated from DePauw University in 1905 and Columbia Unive ...

John T. Flynn John Thomas Flynn (October 25, 1882 – April 13, 1964) was an American journalist best known for his opposition to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and to American entry into World War II. In September 1940, Flynn helped establish the America Fi ...

and

Robert E. Wood Robert Elkington Wood (June 13, 1879 – November 6, 1969) was an American military officer and business executive. After retiring from the U.S. Army as a brigadier general, Wood had a successful career as a corporate executive, most notably ...

. The Committee was thrice investigated by Congress for suspected lobbying activities. Most notably, Rumely was twice indicted for Contempt of Congress. In 1946, he was acquitted in the second Congressional investigation. In 1953, he was cleared in the third Congressional investigation, a case he pleaded all the way to the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

on appeal.

References

* {{cite journal , last=Polenberg , first=Richard , year=1965 , title=The National Committee to Uphold Constitutional Government, 1937-1941 , journal=The Journal of American History , volume=52 , issue=3 , pages=582–598 , doi=10.2307/1890849 , publisher=The Journal of American History, Vol. 52, No. 3 , jstor=1890849 1937 establishments in the United States Old Right (United States) Conservative organizations in the United States

See also

References