Letter from Patrick Murphy Malin to President Harry S. Truman with Attached Statement

6.18 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Ernest Angell AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNIQN Mrs. Katrina McCormick Barnes Mrs. Dorothy Dunbar Bromley FILED DY Carl Carmer 170 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 10, N. Y Richard S. Childs MR. HOPKINS Norman Cousins Edward J. Ennis ORegon 5-5990 Morris L. Ernst John F. Finerty JUL 1952 H. William Fifelson James Lawrence Fly Ernest Angell Roger N. Baldwin Arthur Garfield Hays Morris L. Ernst B. W. Huebsch Osmond K. Fraenkel Chairman, Board of Directors Chairman, National Committee General Counse/ General Counsel Treasurer Walter Frank Varian Fry Walter Gellhorn Patrick Murphy Malin, Executive Director Arthur Garfield Hays August Heckscher Alan Reitman Louis Joughin Herbert Monte Levy Clifford Forster George E. Rundquist Jeffrey E. Fuller Rev. John Haynes Holmes Assistant Director Research Director Staff Counsel Special Counsel Field Director Membership Director B. W. Huebsch Rev. John Paul Jones Dorothy Kenyon James Kerney, Jr. Corliss Lamont June 17, 1952 Prof. Eduard C. Lindeman Merle Miller Herbert R. Northrup Merlyn S. Pitzele Elmer Rice Whitney North Seymour Telford Taylor Norman Thomas The Honorable Harry S. Truman 133 William L. White President of the United States Raymond L. Wise White House TRUAN HR 5678 NATIONAL COMMITTEE Washington, D. C. F. MATIONAL 8 con Sadie Alexander AND Thurman Arnold RECORDS Bishop James Chamberlain Baker SERVICE Roger N. Baldwin Dear Mr. President: A Francis Biddle Van Wyck Brooks Pearl S. Buck James R. Caldwell The McCarran-Walter bill, which has been passed by the Congress Dr. Henry Seidel Canby Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers and is now before you for your action, is of interest to the Ameri- Grenville Clark Prof. Henry Steele Commager can Civil Liberties Union only with respect to its civil liberties Morris L. Cooke Prof. George S. Counts aspects. We considered these points of sufficient interest to cir- Prof. Robert E. Cushman Elmer Davis culate to members of Congress on May 5, 1952 our comments on these J. Frank Dobie John Dos Passos sections, while recognizing that many parts of the bill dealt with Melvyn Douglas Sherwood Eddy matters outside our specialized scope of interest. A copy of this Frederick May Eliot memorandum is enclosed. Thomas H. Eliot Walter T. Fisher Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick Lloyd K. Garrison In our opinion, the bill contains some sections which are a Dean Charles W. Gilkey Dr. Frank P. Graham distinct advance in the continuing effort to end discrimination in Abram L. Harris Earl G. Harrison Quincy Howe our national life by its elimination of present statutory discrimina- Palmer Hoyt Dr. Robert M. Hutchins tion based on race and sex. Moreover, by permitting the entry of Dr. Charles S. Johnson former members of totalitarian parties, if within five years they Dr. Mordecai W. Johnson Benjamin H. Kizer have demonstrated active opposition to totalitarian idealogy, it Dr. John A. Lapp Prof. Harold D. Lasswell relaxes the bitterly harsh provisions of the Internal Security Act Mrs. Agnes Brown Leach Max Lerner of 1950 which prohibits the immigration of ex-totalitarians. Prof. Robert Morss Lovett Prof. Robert S. Lynd Prof. Archibald MacLeish John P. Marquand However, there are provisions in the McCarran-Walter bill which Mike Masaoka William Mauldin do grave disservice to the cause of civil liberties and actually make Bishop Francis J. McConnell Millicent C. Mclntosh our immigration policy more restrictive and harsh. To cite just a Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn Karl Menninger few, these are the retroactivity clause in revoking naturalization A. J. Muste Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer of citizens which makes possible their deportation, the failure to Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam Rt. Rev. Edward L. Parsons continue in its present form - and extend emm the statute of limitations James G. Patton A. Philip Randolph in deportation and exclusion cases, the tremendous amount of dis- Will Rogers, Jr. Elmo Roper cretionary power lodged in the hands of a single governmental John Nevin Sayre Rt. Rev. William Scarlett official - the Attorney General - and new kinds of racial discrimina- Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. tion. Joseph Schlossberg Odell Shepard Robert E. Sherwood Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver Lillian E. Smith While the House-Senate conference committee discarded some Edward J. Sparling George R. Stewart alarming sections which violated due process of law, the bill still Mrs. Dorothy Tilly William W. Waymack contains many provisions which abrogate this basic precept of our Aubrey Williams L. Hollingsworth Wood democratic system. We are particularly concerned with the power of Dr. William Lindsay Young discretion given the Attorney General which we believe could be used LOCAL as a club of oppression. As we urged the Congress, we believe the ACLU ORGANIZATIONS principle of fair and full hearings, with ample opportunities for in Sixteen Areas review, should be included in the bill. Incorporated - Founded 1920 347