Editing Roger Nash Baldwin

{{short description|American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) co-founder}}
{{About|the ACLU leader|19th-century American lawyer|Roger Sherman Baldwin}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Roger Nash Baldwin
| image               = Roger Nash Baldwin.jpg
| office              = Executive Director of the [[American Civil Liberties Union]]
| term_start          = 1917
| term_end            = 1950
| successor           = [[Patrick Murphy Malin]]
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1884|1|21}}
| birth_place         = [[Wellesley, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1981|8|26|1884|1|21}}
| death_place         = [[Ridgewood, New Jersey]], U.S.
| education           = [[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Master of Arts|MA]])
{{Infobox academic | child=yes
  | alma_mater        = 
  | thesis_title       = 
  | thesis_url         = 
  | thesis_year        = 
  | doctoral_advisor   = 
  | academic_advisors  = 
  | discipline         = [[Sociology]]
  | sub_discipline     = 
  | workplaces         = {{plainlist|
* [[Washington University in St. Louis]]
}}
  | doctoral_students  = 
  | notable_students   = 
  }}
}}
'''Roger Nash Baldwin''' (January 21, 1884 – August 26, 1981) was one of the founders of the [[American Civil Liberties Union]] (ACLU). He served as executive director of the ACLU until 1950.<ref name=NYTObit>{{cite news |title=Roger Baldwin, 97, Is Dead; Crusader for Civil Rights Founded the A.C.L.U. |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/27/obituaries/roger-baldwin-97-is-dead-crusader-for-civil-rights-founded-the.html |date=August 27, 1981 |access-date=May 16, 2016 |archive-date=November 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128120822/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/27/obituaries/roger-baldwin-97-is-dead-crusader-for-civil-rights-founded-the.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Many of the ACLU's original landmark cases took place under his direction, including the [[Scopes Trial]], the [[Sacco and Vanzetti]] murder trial, and its challenge to the ban on [[James Joyce]]'s ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]''.<ref>Attributed to Harvard Class Book of 1935, entitled "Thirty Years Later", spotlighting Baldwin's class of 1905 on its 30th anniversary, as quoted in a 1997 ''Insight on the News'' article.</ref><ref>See [[Crystal Eastman]], a co-founder of the [[American Civil Liberties Union]], and her brother [[Max Eastman]] (and, particularly, his criticism of [[James Joyce]]).</ref> Baldwin was a well-known [[pacifist]] 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]]; afterwards, he moved to [[St. Louis]] on the advice of [[Louis D. Brandeis]]. There he taught sociology at [[Washington University in St. Louis]], worked as a [[social worker]] and became chief [[probation officer]] of the [[St. Louis Juvenile Court]]. He also co-wrote ''Juvenile Courts and Probation'' with [[Bernard Flexner]] 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]]. 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]]s. On July 1, 1917, the AUAM created the [[Civil Liberties Bureau]] (CLB), headed by Baldwin. The CLB separated from the AUAM on October 1, 1917, renaming itself the [[National Civil Liberties Bureau]], with Baldwin as director. In 1920, NCLB was renamed the American Civil Liberties Union, with Baldwin continuing as the ACLU's first executive director.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://infoshare1.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/finding_aids/aclu1920/ |title=Archived copy |access-date=2006-03-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060216161717/http://infoshare1.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/finding_aids/aclu1920/ |archive-date=2006-02-16 }}</ref>

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 [[United States district court|Federal Court]] in [[New York City]] 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 [[Sacco and Vanzetti]] murder trial, and its challenge to the ban on [[James Joyce]]'s ''[[Ulysses (novel)|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 [[anarchism|anarchist]] [[Emma Goldman]]. He joined the [[Industrial Workers of the World]]. 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://findingaids.princeton.edu/collections/MC001.01/c000001|title=Series 1: Reel Contents - American Civil Liberties Union Microfilm; American Civil Liberties Union Records: Subgroup 1, The Roger Baldwin Years, MC001.01|publisher=Public Policy Papers, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library|year=1912–1950|access-date=2019-02-16|archive-date=2016-03-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324223115/http://findingaids.princeton.edu/collections/MC001.01/c000001|url-status=live}}</ref>

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]]'s regime in the [[Soviet Union]], Baldwin became more and more disillusioned with communism and in 1953 called it "A NEW SLAVERY" (capitalized in the original).<ref name=Slavery>{{cite book| url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?view=image;size=100;id=mdp.39015028140096;page=root;seq=22;num=18| author=Baldwin, Roger N| title=A New Slavery: Forced Labor ; the Communist Betrayal of Human Rights| publisher=Oceana Publications| year=1953| pages=18–21| access-date=2010-12-09| archive-date=2017-02-02| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202160307/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?view=image;size=100;id=mdp.39015028140096;page=root;seq=22;num=18| url-status=live}}</ref> He condemned "the inhuman communist police state tyranny, forced labor."<ref name="Unitarians">Robert C. Cottrell [http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/roger-baldwin-2/ "Roger Baldwin: Founder, American Civil Liberties Union 1884–1981] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213075518/http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/roger-baldwin-2/ |date=2015-02-13 }}. ''Notable American Unitarians''.</ref> In the 1940s, Baldwin led the campaign to purge the ACLU of Communist Party members.<ref name="Unitarians"/>

In 1947, General [[Douglas MacArthur]] invited him to [[Japan]] to foster the growth of civil liberties in that country. In Japan, he founded the [[Japan Civil Liberties Union]], and the Japanese government awarded him the [[Order of the Rising Sun]]. In 1948, Germany and Austria invited him for similar purposes. He was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1951.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=20 April 2011|archive-date=18 June 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060618085806/http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Later years===
In 1968, [[Washington University in St. Louis|Washington University]] awarded Baldwin an honorary doctorate of Laws degree.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rooney |first=Sonya |title=Research Guides: WashU Commencement History: Honorary Degrees Awarded by W.U. |url=https://libguides.wustl.edu/wustl-commencement/honorary |access-date=2022-06-16 |website=libguides.wustl.edu |language=en |archive-date=2022-06-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220619052540/https://libguides.wustl.edu/wustl-commencement/honorary |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[U.S. President|President]] [[Jimmy Carter]] awarded Baldwin the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom|Medal of Freedom]] on January 16, 1981.<ref>{{cite web |last=Wolley |first=John T. |author2=Gerhard Peters |date=January 16, 1981 |title=Jimmy Carter: Presidential Medal of Freedom Remarks at the Presentation Ceremony, January 16, 1981. |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/250755 |work=The American Presidency Project |publisher=www.presidency.ucsb.edu |access-date=December 2, 2020 |archive-date=March 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307103052/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/presidential-medal-freedom-remarks-the-presentation-ceremony-0 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Death and legacy===

A resident of [[Oakland, New Jersey]], Baldwin died of [[heart failure]] on August 26, 1981, at [[The Valley Hospital]] in [[Ridgewood, New Jersey]].<ref name=NYTObit />

He is the subject of [[John G. Avildsen]]'s 1982 documentary ''[[Traveling Hopefully]]''.

==See also==

* [[International Labor Defense]]
* [[Workers Defense Union]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Works==

===Books and pamphlets===
* [https://archive.org/details/juvenilecourtspr00flexiala ''Juvenile Courts and Probation.''] With Bernard Flexner. New York: The Century Company, 1914.
* [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001232506 ''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.
* [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001431536 ''A New Slavery: Forced Labor: The Communist Betrayal of Human Rights.''] New York, Oceana Publications, 1953.

===Articles===
* [https://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/blog/baldwin.pdf "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]] 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, ''[https://libcom.org/files/Kropotkin%20-%20Kropotkin's%20Revolutionary%20Pamphlets%20-%20A%20Collection%20of%20Writings%20by%20Peter%20Kropotkin.pdf Revolutionary Pamphlets: A Collection of Writings].'' New York: Vanguard Press, 1927.

==Further reading==

* Robert C. Cottrell, ''Roger Nash Baldwin and the American Civil Liberties Union.'' New York: Columbia University Press, 2001.
* Peggy Lamson, ''Roger Baldwin: Founder of the American Civil Liberties Union.'' Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976.
* [http://debs.indstate.edu/i39i5_1918.pdf ''The Individual and the State: The Problem as Presented by the Sentencing of Roger N. Baldwin.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100720101349/http://debs.indstate.edu/i39i5_1918.pdf |date=2010-07-20 }} New York: Graphic Press, 1918.

==External links==
*[http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/ws859f657 Roger Nash Baldwin Papers: Finding Aid], Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.
* Robert C. Cottrell, [http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/roger-baldwin-2/ "Roger Nash Baldwin, Unitarian."] Harvard Square Library.
{{wikiquote}}
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3epxCAVIHo&t=25s Roger Baldwin, ACLU Founder at 93 Years Old], A Film by [http://www.tchamberlinmovies.com/ Tom Chamberlin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027040809/http://www.tchamberlinmovies.com/ |date=2020-10-27 }}
*[http://archives.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/resources/scpc-dg-062 Post-War World Council Records] from [https://www.swarthmore.edu/peace-collection Swarthmore College Peace Collection]

{{ACLU}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwin, Roger Nash}}
[[Category:1884 births]]
[[Category:1981 deaths]]
[[Category:Activists for African-American civil rights]]
[[Category:American civil rights activists]]
[[Category:American anti-war activists]]
[[Category:American anti-communists]]
[[Category:American conscientious objectors]]
[[Category:American pacifists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:American Civil Liberties Union people]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:Industrial Workers of the World members]]
[[Category:People from Mahwah, New Jersey]]
[[Category:People from Oakland, New Jersey]]
[[Category:People from Wellesley, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Probation and parole officers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun]]
[[Category:Washington University in St. Louis faculty]]
[[Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients]]