The Rapp-Coudert Committee was the colloquial name of the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an officia ...

's Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate the Educational System of the State of New York. Between 1940 and 1942, the Rapp-Coudert Committee sought to identify the extent of communist influence in the public education system of the

state of New York New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state ...

. Its inquiries lead to the dismissal of more 40 instructors and staff members at the City College of New York for their political affiliations, actions the committee's critics regarded as a political "witch-hunt."

Background

The government of the state of New York had a long record of activity in the investigation of alleged

seditious Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, establ ...

activities long before the establishment of the Rapp-Coudert Committee in 1940. Two decades earlier, in March 1919, the state had launched a Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate Seditious Activities, headed by Senator Clayton R. Lusk, which had orchestrated raids to seize documents and conducted prosecutions in an effort to publicize and neutralize radical influence in the state. In the halls of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

, New York Representative

Hamilton Fish III Hamilton Fish III (born Hamilton Stuyvesant Fish and also known as Hamilton Fish Jr.; December 7, 1888 – January 18, 1991) was an American soldier and politician from New York State. Born into a family long active in the state, he served in t ...

had chaired a Congressional investigative committee in 1930 that took and published extensive testimony on

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

in America, which Fish deemed "the most important, the most vital, the most far-reaching, and the most dangerous issue in the world."

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, with its massive size and extensive immigrant population, was the headquarters of the Communist Party USA except for a handful of years in the mid-1920s, when the party moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and a focal point for American communist activity.

Establishment

The abrupt change of the American Communist Party line following the signing of the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939 thrust the role and influence of the roughly 60,000-member organization into the public eye. Within days after the signing of the political agreement between

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, headed by

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

, and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, headed by

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

, American Communists moved as one from vocal public opposition to

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

as part of a broad

Popular Front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition ...

to advocacy of non-intervention in the erupting European conflict, characterizing the fight between Germany and Britain as an "imperialist war" of little import to the American working class. The almost instantaneous shift of fundamental policy views of American Communists was seen by many as indicative that the CPUSA was a disciplined organization owing its allegiance to the foreign policy exigencies of an aggressive foreign power, the Soviet Union. With war in Europe now foremost in the public consciousness, the longstanding

anticommunist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...

orientation of many political leaders gained new urgency and a mini- Red Scare gripped the public. In April 1940, the New York State Legislature voted to establish a new investigative body, the Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate the Educational System of the State of New York, which was given the task of publicizing the Communist Party's influence in the publicly funded higher educational bodies of the state. The committee was patterned after the House Un-American Activities Committee, a special committee chaired by

Martin Dies Jr. Martin Dies Jr. (November 5, 1900 – November 14, 1972), also known as Martin Dies Sr., was a Texas politician and a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives. He was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-second and after ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

.Andrew Hartman, ''Education and the Cold War: The Battle for the American School.'' New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008; pg. 41. The so-called "Dies Committee" was the successor to the Fish Committee of 1930 and forerunner of the House

standing committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

on un-American activities which was to gain fame and notoriety in the years after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The new investigative committee came to be known as the "Rapp-Coudert Committee" after its chairmen,

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Assemblyman Herbert A. Rapp (1891–1964), of Genesee County, and Republican State Senator Frederic René Coudert, Jr. (1898–1972), a lawyer from New York City. New York was one of four states establishing "little Dies Committees," being joined by

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, Oklahoma, and

in that distinction. In addition, by 1940 some 21 American states had passed legislation requiring

loyalty oath A loyalty oath is a pledge of allegiance to an organization, institution, or state of which an individual is a member. In the United States, such an oath has often indicated that the affiant has not been a member of a particular organization or ...

s for teachers.

Activities

The Rapp-Coudert Committee held its hearings from September 1940 to December 1942,Carol Smith et al.
"Rapp-Coudert Committee,"
in "The Struggle for Free Speech at CCNY, 1931-42," page 15, City College of New York. Retrieved June 2, 2010. focusing on New York City's four public universities — Brooklyn College, City College of New York, Hunter College, and Queens College.Leberstein, "Purging the Profs: The Rapp Coudert Committee in New York, 1940-1942," pg. 94. Primary attention was placed on the state of affairs at City College, the oldest, largest, and best known of the four New York schools. In all more than 500 faculty, staff, and students of New York's universities were

subpoena A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...

ed and interrogated during the course of the investigation. The Rapp-Coudert Committee's investigation was carried out by a subcommittee headed by Senator Coudert, making use of the New York City's former corporation counsel,

Paul Windels Paul Windels Sr. (December 7, 1885 – December 15, 1967) was an American lawyer and government official. He served as Corporation Counsel of New York City under Fiorello La Guardia from 1934 to 1937. Biography Windels was born in Brooklyn, Ne ...

, as committee counsel. The choice of the widely respected and high-profile Windels, himself a partisan Republican, was intended to lend instant legitimacy and credibility to the controversial work of the committee. Those called to give testimony by the committee were interrogated at private hearings. They were not allowed legal counsel, the right to cross-examine other witnesses, or even to maintain transcripts of the proceedings.Leberstein, "Purging the Profs: The Rapp Coudert Committee in New York, 1940-1942," pg. 101. Only one indictment was ever sought by the committee from a grand jury, with Morris U. Schappes indicted, tried, and convicted of

perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

in 1941 for his testimony before the Rapp-Coudert Committee. While the committee did not itself have the power to terminate instructors implicated as members of the Communist Party in its hearings, it served as an impetus to action for the New York Board of Higher Education, the governing body of the City's public colleges (the predecessor to today's City University of New York Board of Trustees). As the committee's work gained increasing public notoriety, the initially resistant Board of Higher Education began to yield to public pressure, resolving itself in November 1940 to fully cooperate with the investigation. Legal advice was sought from the city's current corporation counsel, W.C. Chanler, who advised that faculty and staff members refusing to testify before the committee stood in defiance of the Board's policy directive to cooperate and were thus subject to dismissal.Leberstein, "Purging the Profs: The Rapp Coudert Committee in New York, 1940-1942," pg. 102. After hearing extensive testimony, the Rapp-Coudert Committee made its report in 1942 to the New York State Legislature. The committee boasted that it had "exposed" 69 instructors as Communists and gathered additional evidence implicating as radicals another 434 members of the faculty and staff of New York City's college system.Leberstein, "Purging the Profs: The Rapp Coudert Committee in New York, 1940-1942," pg. 100. While there were no laws banning Americans from membership in the Communist Party, the committee argued that the mere fact of membership indicated that an individual was under the improper discipline of an external conspiratorial power, and thus stood unfit to work in public schools or colleges. In spring 1941, this opinion was given the force of official policy, when the New York Board of Higher Education prohibited membership of teachers and staff in the Communist Party USA. Refusing to testify before the committee was already a firing offense, giving false testimony to the committee made one subject to perjury, and admission of membership in the Communist Party likewise served as grounds for immediate termination. The committee's method was to gather accusations from friendly, cooperating witnesses concentrating on Communist Party membership status. One of the committee's chief informers was William Canning, a former member of the Communist Party who taught history at City College. Avidly anti-communist after leaving the CPUSA, Canning bore witness against 54 others for alleged Communist Party ties. In the wake of the Rapp-Coudert hearings, the Board of Higher Education formed a Conduct Committee that brought charges against faculty and staff members, based on allegations raised in the hearings. Proceedings in the Board of Higher Education trials were led by a three-person committee, composed of members of the Board, that reported its findings and made a recommendation about action to be taken. The charges typically concerned Communist Party membership, with details of related activities, as well as giving false or misleading testimony at the hearings. No charge was ever related to instances of misconduct as a teacher. Historian Stephen Leberstein has neatly summarized the dilemma facing the accused:

Dismissals

By the end of 1942, 19 individuals had been dismissed from City College of New York alone, with another 7 handing in their resignations on their own. Other cases remained pending at the end of the year. Among those affected were

Max Yergan Max Yergan (July 19, 1892 – April 11, 1975) was an African-American activist notable for being a Baptist missionary for the YMCA, then a Communist working with Paul Robeson, and finally a staunch anti-Communist who complimented the government ...

, the first Black faculty member ever hired at one of New York City's public colleges; the brothers

Philip S. Foner Philip Sheldon Foner (December 14, 1910 – December 13, 1994) was an American labor historian and teacher. Foner was a prolific author and editor of more than 100 books. He is considered a pioneer in his extensive works on the role of radical ...

, Jack D. Foner, Harry Foner, and the English tutor Morris U. Schappes. In all, over 40 teachers and staff members lost their jobs in the early 1940s on account of their political affiliation with the Communist Party or for refusal to co-operate with the legislative inquiry into the same.Leberstein, "Purging the Profs: The Rapp Coudert Committee in New York, 1940-1942," pg. 119.

End of committee and legacy

The first serious academic study of the Rapp-Coudert Committee was conducted in the early 1950s by Lawrence Chamberlain, a political centrist who was granted access to the private papers of Frederic R. Coudert. Chamberlain held those dismissed in high scholarly esteem: In October 1981, more than four decades after the launch of the Rapp-Coudert Committee, the dismissed employees won a small measure of vindication when the City University Board of Trustees passed a resolution expressing "profound regret at the injustice done to former colleagues on the faculty and staff of the university" who were fired or forced to resign for their political affiliations. A reception was held for the surviving victims and their families on December 17, 1981, hosted by City College of New York President Bernard Harleston. Unpublished documents of the Rapp-Coudert Committee reside at the

New York State Archives The New York State Archives is a unit of the Office of Cultural Education within the New York State Education Department, with its main facility located in the Cultural Education Center on Madison Avenue in Albany, New York, United States. The Ne ...

in Albany. Rapp-Coudert Committee counsel Paul Windels left an oral record of his activities with the committee as part of the

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Oral History Research Project in New York City. Morris Schappes's experiences with the Rapp-Coudert Committee are documented in Schappes's personal papers at the

American Jewish Historical Society The American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) was founded in 1892 with the mission to foster awareness and appreciation of American Jewish history and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation an ...

in New York and the

Tamiment Library The Tamiment Library is a research library at New York University that documents radical and left history, with strengths in the histories of communism, socialism, anarchism, the New Left, the Civil Rights Movement, and utopian experiments. The R ...

of New York University. Materials documenting the trials conducted by the Board of Higher Education subsequent to the Rapp-Coudert hearings are held in the Board of Higher Education of the City of New York Academic Freedom Case Files, also at the Tamiment Library, and in the Records of the Board of Higher Education of the City of New York, at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.''Board of Higher Education of the City of New York: Academic Freedom Case Files''
TAM.332; Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, New York University Libraries, New York, N.Y
''Records of the Board of Higher Education of the City of New York''
RG 1368; YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, New York, N.Y.

Background

Establishment

Activities

Dismissals

End of committee and legacy

See also

Footnotes

Further reading