LIBERTY & SECURITY

...They all deplore recent inroads upon freedom as a consequence of widespread anxiety about security...

...2.85...

...Pfeffer's book, The Liberties of An American, is an orderly analysis of the content of the main civil liberties of Americans as enunciated by the U. S. Supreme Court...

...For men whose rights are secure are not likely to withhold or withdraw their loyalty to a system which cares deeply about their rights...

...But the criticism assuredly does not apply to the authors of the four books here reviewed, for while they are scholars of high distinction, these books are obviously designed for the general reader...

...His book is the eleventh in the series of Cornell Studies in Civil Liberty of which he has served as advisory editor, and to which we are all deeply indebted for reliable surveys and analyses of a variety of pressing problems...

...For it would be difficult to find writers in the civil liberties field with better credentials...

...Leo Pfeffer is an able and learned lawyer, associate general counsel for the American Jewish Congress, and author of Church, State, and Freedom, which is a truly monumental book on the subject of church-state relations in the United States...

...The Liberties of An American, by Leo Pfeffer...

...At the same time, these authors realize that a free system must necessarily take some risks, although they do not doubt for a moment the viability of free institutions, and are wholly free from the unwholesome and corrosive taint of cynicism...

...While the book is primarily descriptive, the style is lively and the information is solid without being dull...

...As Pfeffer writes: "History has shown that the search for a riskless security is futile, and that democracy is more likely to survive and grow if it willingly accepts some risks in order to preserve unimpaired the sole reason for its existence—the protection of its people's liberties...

...Men should have higher values than mere wealth and comfort, and freedom requires self-control...

...Almost no attention is given to state law, on the theory that ultimately the meaning of basic rights is determined by the nation's highest tribunal...

...While he expresses his great love of country and of its historic democratic principles in a moving discussion of "Why I Like America," he deplores the current pressures upon fundamental liberties...

...They are genuinely committed to the goodness of liberty...

...Arguing that political freedom "is the prerequisite and framework alike for all other freedoms and liberties," he expresses the view that we have come to take our liberties too much for granted...

...Little, Brown...

...While Chafee is deeply disturbed about the gradual erosion of cherished human rights, he is basically optimistic about the future, and has faith that liberal principles will prevail in the long run...

...A persistent theme in Morison's book is the contention that freedoms are most secure if founded upon a substratum of religious and ethical beliefs which will encourage people to respect integrity and justice, and practice honesty and fair dealing...

...They are accused of inhabiting ivory towers too far removed from life's daily realties to exert any direct influence upon the course of public affairs...

...Robert E. Cushman, Goldwin Smith Professor of Government at Cornell University, has long been an eminent figure in his profession, and has written extensively on many aspects of American constitutional government...

...While the style of these books is direct and uncluttered, it is obvious that they represent a distillation of an impressive body of solid scholarship...

...for a universal bill of rights...

...They believe in intellectual freedom and the rights of man...

...156 pp...

...Author of many books, including the classic American study of freedom of speech, and representative of the United States at U.N...

...The lectures deal with political, economic, and academic freedom...

...Beacon Press...

...Freedom in Contemporary Society, by Samuel Eliot Morison...

...conferences on freedom of information, he not only possesses an unrivalled store of knowledge about the literature and problems of freedom, but also a profound wisdom which shines through every page of his new book...

...Reviewed by David Fellman SCHOLARS, and particularly distinguished scholars, have often been criticized for not making their findings available to the general public...

...Analyzing academic freedom, the newest and most fragile of our freedoms, Mori-son expresses his concern for the growth of an ugly anti-intellectualism in recent times...

...It is not an either-or proposition...

...On the contrary, they hold to the view that the preservation of liberty is the most essential ingredient of security...

...They all maintain that our choice is not between freedom and security, since they do not believe that freedom and security are necessarily incompatible...

...While classic laissez faire is a thing of the past, Morison shows that we still have a great deal of free enterprise, and that we are likely to have even more in the future, because that is what our people want...

...Nevertheless, he argues that the greatest enemies of academic freedom today in this country are neither the Communists nor the red-baiters, but rather abuses in university government, the efforts of professional "educators" to control higher education, and the general mediocrity of the teaching profession...

...Chafee's book, The Blessings of Liberty, consists of a number of essays previously published in various journals...

...And Harvard historian Samuel Eliot Morison hardly requires identification as one of the top figures in his craft...

...There has always been some measure of truth in this criticism, varying a great deal, of course, according to the circumstances of time and place...

...They are aimed at popular enlightenment and education in regard to a wide variety of current civil liberties issues and problems...

...3.50...

...For a quick, painless, and systematic survey of the legal content of our fundamental liberties this is probably the best book now available...

...Morison's Freedom in Contemporary Society is of a different genre...

...Prepared at the request of the Fund for the Republic, Cushman's book, Civil Liberties in the United States, is designed to outline the present status of each of our civil liberties, in the light of the experience of the past decade, and to call attention to unsolved problems...

...Written with the lucidity of style which has always characterized his writings, Cushman reviews briefly the rights of conscience, such as freedom of speech, press, assembly and petition, academic freedom, freedom of religion, the right to personal security, the rights of defendants, the impact of national security upon civil liberties, and the problem of racial discrimination...

...He stresses the impact of the anti-Communist crusade of the past ten years upon our liberties, and deplores the use of "rough and ill-considered methods," and especially the growth of the doctrine of guilt by association, which he regards as the most dangerous to liberty "because it permits publicity-mad inquisitors to blacken the good names of good citizens almost at will...

...Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is that which explains how the security program has deviated from traditional civil liberty principles...

...He draws attention to the inroads made into the doctrine of the separation of powers, the indefiniteness of loyalty and security standards, the proliferation of presumptions of guilt, including guilt by association, the lack of procedural fair play, the development of "justice by politicians," and the growth of vigilantism on the part of private organizations, business corporations, patriotic groups, and commercial Communist-hunters...

...These authors share a common point of view...

...He reviews the recent history of freedom of speech and press, and analyzes the McCarran Act of 1950, the proposed loyalty oath for lawyers, the right not to speak, academic freedom, religious liberty, and the movement in the U.N...

...It consists of three essays originally delivered as the Chancellor Dunning Trust lectures at Queens College in Toronto, and it bears the unmistakable marks of the lecture style in expression and organization...

...In addition to describing the Court's interpretation of basic rights, Pfeffer gives a brief historical survey of each right, as well as a description of its utility...

...Chafee has long been one of the great stars of the faculty of the Harvard Law School...

...And clearly, he believes, the country has exaggerated the strength of the American Communists, and the utility of repressive measures in dealing with them, for he believes that the best protection for freedom lies in freedom itself and in the good sense of the American people...

...309 pp...