Swinburne Hale (1884–1937) was an American
lawyer,
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...
, and
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
, best remembered as one of the leading
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...
attorneys of the decade of the 1920s. Hale was a
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
classmate of
Roger Nash Baldwin
Roger Nash Baldwin (January 21, 1884 – August 26, 1981) was one of the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He served as executive director of the ACLU until 1950.
Many of the ACLU's original landmark cases took place under ...
and law partner of
Walter Nelles and
Isaac Shorr
Isaac Shorr (ca. 1884–1964) was a 20th-century American immigration and naturalization lawyer and philosophical anarchist who worked with other important, radical lawyers in the 1920s–1940s and whose legal partners included: Swinburne Hale, W ...
and was active in the establishment and early work of the
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
(ACLU). Hale also played a role in the progressive politics of the early 1920s as a leading member of the
Committee of Forty-Eight and a spokesman for the fledgling
Farmer-Labor Party.
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][
][
]
Background
Swinburne Hale was born on April 5, 1884, in
Ithaca, New York
Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named ...
, one of four children of
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
scholar
William Gardner Hale, head of the Latin Department at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
.
[ His mother Harriett Knowles Swinburne was college-educated and active in the ]women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
movement.[ In 1905, Hale received his ]Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
from Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, where he lived in Grays Hall
This is a list of dormitories at Harvard College. Only freshmen live in these dormitories, which are located in and around Harvard Yard. Sophomores, juniors and seniors live in the House system.
Apley Court
South of Harvard Yard on Holyoke Stree ...
during freshman year.[ In 1908, he received an LLB from Harvard Law School.][
]
Career
Hale moved to Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
in New York City, where he came to know many writers and artists while practicing as a lawyer.[ By 1912, he was already an outspoken advocate for ]women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
.
Hale was a member of the law firm of Hale, Nelles, and Shorr, which "defended radicals." His partners were Isaac Shorr
Isaac Shorr (ca. 1884–1964) was a 20th-century American immigration and naturalization lawyer and philosophical anarchist who worked with other important, radical lawyers in the 1920s–1940s and whose legal partners included: Swinburne Hale, W ...
and Walter Nelles. Carlo Tresca
Carlo Tresca (March 9, 1879 – January 11, 1943) was an Italian-American newspaper editor, orator, and labor organizer who was a leader of the Industrial Workers of the World during the 1910s. He is remembered as a leading public opponent of fas ...
, a prominent Italian anarchist, was well acquainted with them.[
]
Publishing
In 1917, Hale helped publish a magazine called ''New France'' that focused on American reconstruction France after World War I.
World War I
In 1918, Hale became a captain in the Intelligence Division of General Staff of the United States Army.[
]
Law and politics
After World War I, Hale "became more closely identified with Socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
activities," although his partner Walter Nelles described him as "not a Socialist but interested in socialism."[
In 1919, Hale became a member of the Committee of 48,] a progress party for social reform that went on to support Robert M. La Follette
Robert Marion "Fighting Bob" La Follette Sr. (June 14, 1855June 18, 1925), was an American lawyer and politician. He represented Wisconsin in both chambers of Congress and served as the 20th Governor of Wisconsin. A Republican for most of his ...
as presidential candidate for a Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to:
Active parties
* Progressive Party, Brazil
* Progressive Party (Chile)
* Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus
* Dominica Progressive Party
* Progressive Party (Iceland)
* Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...
in 1924. He also served as counsel for communists taken to Ellis Island
Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mil ...
for deportation as a result of the Palmer Raids that comprised the First Red Scare
The First Red Scare was a period during the early 20th-century history of the United States marked by a widespread fear of far-left movements, including Bolshevism and anarchism, due to real and imagined events; real events included the R ...
.
Hales was very active in 1920:
* He joined Alfred Bettman Alfred Bettman (1873 – 1945) was one of the key founders of modern urban planning. Zoning, as it is known today, can be attributed to his successful arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, which resulted in the 1926 decision in favor of the Vil ...
, former Special Assistant United States Attorney General in charge of sedition, in testifying before the Rules Committee of the United States House of Representatives.
* In July, he was active during a convention of the Committee of 48.[
* In the fall, he served as publicist for the newly formed Farmer-Labor Party (FLP). In his efforts on behalf of the FLP, Hale was careful to delineate the differences between his fledgling organization and the rival Socialist Party of America (SPA), noting that while the SPA included only "simon-pure socialists," the FLP made a broader appeal, targeting not only wage-workers but also farmers, small business proprietors, and professionals.][
]
* He wrote to Tom Mooney
Thomas Joseph Mooney (December 8, 1882 – March 6, 1942) was an American political activist and labor leader, who was convicted with Warren K. Billings of the San Francisco Preparedness Day Bombing of 1916. It quickly became apparent that Mo ...
, "We are in a hot bed of repression here, with only a very few lawyers who are willing and able to handle the situation, and who are hopelessly overworked."
Personal life and death
Walter Nelles was a personal friend of Hale's.
Hale married twice. In 1910, he married Beatrice Forbes-Robertson; they divorced in 1920.[ They had three daughters.][ In 1921, he married Marie Tudor Garland Green, a disinherited heiress.] Between 1922 and 1924 while living mostly in Taos, New Mexico, Hale had an affair with artist Greta R. Hercz.
In 1925, Hale bought a coal yard in Westport, Connecticut
Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census.
History
...
, to remake into a studio with apartments as an artists and writers colony.[
] Also in 1925, Hale suffered a nervous breakdown.
Swinburne Hale died age 53 on July 3, 1937, in a sanitarium in Westport, Connecticut.
Legacy
His papers are housed at the New York Public Library in New York City, where they occupy 8 archival boxes and 1 oversized folder. The papers cover 1908-1924 with "primarily of personal correspondence" and "do not reflect his activities as a lawyer or his socialist sympathies."
Works
Poetry:
* ''The Demon's Notebook: Verse and Perverse.'' New York: N.L. Brown, 1923
Law-Politics:
* ''Do We Need More Sedition Laws? : Testimony of Alfred Bettman and Swinburne Hale before the Committee on Rules of the House of Representatives.'' New York: American Civil Liberties Union, n.d. 920
__NOTOC__
Year 920 ( CMXX) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* December 17 – Romanos I has himself crowned co-emperor of the Byza ...
"Reds, Deportations, and Palmerism,"
in Alexander Trachtenberg and Benjamin Glassberg (eds.), ''The American Labor Year Book, 1921-1922.'' New York: Rand School of Social Science, n.d. 921 pp. 34–39.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hale, Swinburne
1884 births
1937 deaths
American anti-war activists
American Civil Liberties Union people
Harvard Law School alumni
20th-century American poets