The Home Front:
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn Echoes of Thunder From Washington On April 17, I let loose with a column entitled "Thunder on the Far Right." My subject was Robert Welch and his...
...I would, however, like some discussion about one of Lewis' ideas...
...I would draw the line more tightly in the case of Communists because they are engaged in a conspiracy organized to help foreign governments destroy ours...
...Practically all true liberals swear by him...
...I would have no hesitation in denouncing it, even though it professes to be organized for the purpose of fighting Communism, a cause in which I am much interested...
...But," the letter went on, "assuming for the moment that what the papers are saying about the John Birch Society is true, I still cannot get myself to concur in the statement you make that 'the simplest procedure would be to prosecute Welch and some of his underlings for criminal libel' because they called certain people Communists, or the statement you make that 'to throw a few of these blatherskites into jail would be the simplest and sharpest way of dealing with them.' "Those who call Eisenhower a Communist, and demand the impeachment of the Chief Justice on the same ground, are doing the antiCommunist cause, to which they profess to be dedicated, a great disservice...
...But that is not the situation now...
...In New York state, for example, does anyone have a right to call anyone else a Communist...
...There is no grave emergency that would require putting people in jail because they are blatherskites...
...Marx Lewis has the judicial temperament...
...My subject was Robert Welch and his McCarthy-like John Birch Society...
...Now no matter what we may think about this or that point, I feel sure that my readers will agree that the mood of this letter is right...
...The name of Justice Holmes is, of course, one to conjure with...
...The weakest point about his case is the charge that the newspapers and television may not have given him accurate information about the Birch Society...
...I alluded to what seemed to me like the emergence of a new sort of McCarthyism or Ku-Klux-Klanism and went on to suggest that a resort to the libel laws might be appropriate...
...No intelligent man will deny that in the long run this course of action will lead to the best results...
...If there is no way of preventing a careless fellow from calling an innocent citizen a Communist, there ought to be...
...But I do feel a bit strongly on what you say in 'Thunder on the Far Right.' "If what I have seen in the papers on the John Birch Society, its program and leadership, is true...
...I always enjoy reading your pieces in The New Leader," he wrote, "even if I have never told you so...
...But I have seen nothing to indicate that the John Birch Society is trying to impose a dictatorship on us for the benefit of a foreign country...
...But under our form of government and the freedom of speech which is an inherent part of it they have a right to do so, and should be protected in that right...
...And how often have we, in our fanatical devotion to a cause, called others names which were not justified...
...Its belief in dictatorship is advertised far and wide...
...Calling a man a liar in print is certainly either slander or libel— and Communists are commonly liars...
...I gave a general description of the Society and mentioned, incidentally, that in books, articles and speeches Welch and his followers had denounced former President Eisenhower, Chief Justice Warren and other distinguished citizens as Communists...
...On this point, I would like to hear from a lawyer or two...
...We have news of this outfit from every kind of source, including Welch's own book, The Politician...
...One response to this little essay came from Marx Lewis, a Washington attorney whom I have long valued for his level-headedness...
...As far as I know, the charges made against the Society have never been denied...
...Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes stated that there must be "a clear and present danger" to justify the imposition of such limitations and to impose penalties for their violation...
...He states that Welch and his followers "have a right" to call Eisenhower a Communist or to advocate that the Chief Justice be impeached...
...I make the reservation I do about trusting the newspapers because in the course of almost 50 years of participation in minority causes I have learned that very often any resemblance between what the papers say and the causes they condemn is purely coincidental...
...All of this, of course, is good...
...And Lewis might well have added the authority of John Milton, who urged us to let truth and error fight it out...
...I know," Lewis concluded, "that there are limitations on freedom of speech which in times of danger must be imposed...
...It was this sort of indiscriminate name-calling which did much to win converts to Communism, because it blurred the issue and made Communism look, at times, respectable...
...How often have we been called blatherskites or worse...
Vol. 44 • May 1961 • No. 21
