Roger Baldwin: The American Civil Liberties Union

The American Civil Liberties Union is an American non-profit institution that works to defend American rights and liberties provided by laws and the Constitution. They also use court cases and through documentation of verdicts and are a very important protector of liberties and rights of the American people. From its official start in 1920 from the former National Civil Liberties Bureau the ACLU has been focused on the secular rights not of one theme but of all groups, from Civil Rights, free speech for anyone, and the separation of church and state. However the American Civil Liberties Union was not always popular. From its start its founders including Roger Baldwin, an agnostic and socialist, were extremists and most showed radical Communist
“The ACLU was founded in 1920 by Roger Baldwin, an agnostic and socialist who demonstrated Communist leanings” (Sears). “Roger Baldwin was convicted of violating the Selective Service Act in October 1918 and was sent to prison” (Walker) making it known that he disagreed with many government policies, and when he was released he joined the American Civil Liberties Bureau, (CLB), and led the transition to the American Civil Liberties Union. Baldwin’s influence on the organization enhanced its connection with unpopular ideas. As it began its work in the court system the ACLU provided support to those who need it but could not be because of money or unpopularity. The ACLU has always been dedicated to helping the people, no matter the persons views or the views of the ACLU, “The arrest of antiwar dissenters under the Espionage and Sedition acts inspired the formation in 1917 of the Civil Liberties Bureau, which in 1920 became the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). For the rest of the century, the ACLU would take part in most of the landmark cases that helped bring about a “rights revolution.” Its efforts helped give meaning to traditional civil liberties like freedom of speech and invented new ones, like the right to privacy” (Foner), even when against the laws of the American government. “Baldwin thought of the ACLU as a group of elitists, of highly educated people, a few thousand at most
Through its early years, most of the ACLU’s work involved public education through protests and distributing materials to inform people about violations of civil liberties.
A Letter to Members of the ACLU National Committee, February 6, 1920, is probably the first official communication to ACLU members, and it describes the first work of the ACLU. Item #5 divides those activities into three main areas: legal defense; publicity; seeking amnesty for political prisoners. Item #3 describes the attempts to develop relations with people in other cities to make the ACLU an “effective nation-wide organization.” (Walker)
From its founding, the ACLU also had its attention on racial justice. In the early 1920s the principal issue involved Ku Klux Klan and mob violence against African Americans. Another instance of the ACLU’s