Editing Roy Cohn (section)

==Early career==
After graduating from law school, Cohn worked as a clerk for the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York for two years. In May 1948, at age 21, he was old enough to be [[Admission to the bar in the United States|admitted]] to the New York bar.<ref>{{cite web |title=Roy Cohn |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Roy-Cohn |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=15 February 2025}}</ref> He became an [[assistant U.S. attorney]] later that month.<ref name=Gottlieb>
{{cite news
| first = Marvin
| last = Gottlieb
| title = New York Court Disbars Roy Cohn on Charges of Unethical Conduct
| work = [[The New York Times]]
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/24/nyregion/new-york-court-disbars-roy-cohn-on-charges-of-unethical-conduct.html
| date = June 2, 1986
| access-date = August 5, 2019}}</ref><ref name=UPIobit>
{{cite news
| title = Roy Cohn Dies at 59
| work=[[United Press International]]
| url = https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/08/04/Roy-Cohn-dies-at-59/1617523512000/
| date = August 4, 1986
| access-date = August 5, 2019}}</ref> That same year, Cohn also became a board member of the [[American Jewish League Against Communism]].<ref name="Krause">{{cite journal |last1=Krause |first1=Allen |title=Rabbi Benjamin Schultz and the American Jewish League Against Communism: From McCarthy to Mississippi |date=2010 |volume=13 |pages=167, 208 |url=https://www.jewishsouth.org/system/files/sjh_v._13_2010_krause.pdf |access-date=October 29, 2022 |journal=[[Southern Jewish History]] |publisher=[[Southern Jewish Historical Society]] |location=Marietta, Georgia }}</ref>

As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Cohn helped to secure convictions in a number of well-publicized trials of accused [[Soviet]] [[mole (espionage)|mole]]s. One of the first began in December 1950 with the prosecution of [[William Remington]], a former [[United States Department of Commerce|Commerce Department]] employee and member of the [[War Production Board]] who had been charged with [[espionage]] following the defection of former [[KGB]] [[handler (espionage)|handler]] [[Elizabeth Bentley]].<ref name="wmreming">{{cite web |last1=Simkin |first1=John |title=William Remington |url=https://spartacus-educational.com/William_Remington.htm |website=spartacus-educational.com |publisher=Spartacus Educational |access-date=October 29, 2022}}</ref> Although an indictment for espionage could not be secured, Remington had denied his long-time membership in the [[Communist Party USA]] under oath on two separate occasions and was later convicted of [[perjury]] in two separate trials.<ref name="wmreming" />

While working in [[Irving H. Saypol]]'s office for the Southern District of New York, Cohn assisted with the prosecutor's case against 11 senior members of the American Communist Party for advocating for the violent overthrow of the [[U.S. Federal Government]], under the [[Smith Act]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Great Fear: The Anti-Communist Purge Under Truman and Eisenhower|last=Caute|first=David|publisher=[[Simon and Schuster]] |date=1978|isbn=0671226827|location=New York|pages=63|oclc=3293124}}</ref>