William Albertson (May 7, 1910 – February 19, 1972) was a 20th-century American leader in the
Communist Party of the USA
The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
who battled federal and state courts, and who in 1964 was
framed by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
, which was only discovered posthumously in 1975. His widow made an out-of-court
settlement
Settlement may refer to:
*Human settlement, a community where people live
*Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building
* Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction
*Settlement (fin ...
in 1989 with the
U.S. Government for $170,000.
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Background
![Oakland (Pittsburgh) from the air](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Oakland_%28Pittsburgh%29_from_the_air.jpg)
William Albertson was born on May 7, 1910, in
Odessa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
(then in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
, now in
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
). On February 10, 1911, arrived in Philadelphia with his mother, Esther Dashevsky, from whom he received derivative citizenship (June 29, 1927). Starting in 1923, he attended
Schenley High School
Schenley High School, located in the North Oakland neighborhood at the edge of the Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a historic building opened in 1916 that was a part of the Pittsburgh Public Schools. The Schenley High School building ...
in Pittsburgh. In September 1927, he began pre-med studies at the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
. In 1928, he joined the
Young Communist League of America. In 1929, he was expelled for activities with the university's "Liberal Club" for organizing a meeting in support of labor leader
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 ...
.
Career
Communist Party
![Zack-Joseph-1938](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Zack-Joseph-1938.jpg)
In 1927, Albertson joined the Communist Party of the USA.
On January 15, 1931, Albertson was to serve as secretary of a "Provisional Anti-War Youth Committee" of New York State to hold a rally for a
Liebknecht Memorial and Anti-War Demonstration at the Star Casono at Park Avenue and 117 Street in Manhattan; CPUSA executive
William Weinstone
William Wolf Weinstone (1897–1985) was an American Communist politician and labor leader. Weinstone served as Executive Secretary of the unified Communist Party of America, the forerunner of today's Communist Party USA, from October 15, 1921, to ...
and
YCL leader
Gil Green were to attend.
By 1932, Albertson had moved to New York City, where he lived until 1947. He worked there as a labor union official and organizer through 1940.
In 1932, Albertson stood as Party candidate for the senate of the
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits.
The Assem ...
.
In 1934, Albertson stood as Party candidate for
House
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
Representative from
New York's 17th congressional district
New York's 17th congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives located in Southern New York. It includes all of Rockland County and portions of central and northwestern Westchester County, i ...
.
On October 1, 1939,
Joseph Zack
Joseph Zack Kornfeder (1898–1963), sometimes surnamed "Kornfedder" in the press, was an Austro-Hungarian-born American who was a founding member and top leader of the Communist Party of America in 1919, Communist Party USA leader, and Cominter ...
, former Party official and witness for the
Dies Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...
of the
U.S. House
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
named Albertson in a list of Party directors and seven out of 40 CIO directors of the
Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...
(CIO) union. On October 17, 1939, former Party co-founder
Benjamin Gitlow
Benjamin Gitlow (December 22, 1891 – July 19, 1965) was a prominent American socialist politician of the early 20th century and a founding member of the Communist Party USA. During the end of the 1930s, Gitlow turned to conservatism and wrote t ...
named Albertson as a Party leader.
In 1942, he served a year as secretary and treasurer of the
Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union
The Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) was a United States labor union representing workers of the hospitality industry, formed in 1890. In 2004, HERE merged with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UN ...
Local 16,
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutu ...
.
(In 1934, his name had appeared in ''The Red Network: A Who's Who and Handbook of Radicalism for Patriots'' by
Elizabeth Dilling
Elizabeth Eloise Kirkpatrick Dilling (April 19, 1894 – May 26, 1966) was an American writer and political activist.Dye, 6 In 1934, she published ''The Red Network—A Who's Who and Handbook of Radicalism for Patriots'', which catalogs over 1,3 ...
: "ALBERTSON, WILLIAM: Communist Party functionary; organizer Food Wkrs. Indust. Un.") During the same period, he supported the candidacy of
Israel Amter
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
for governor of New York on the Communist Party ticket.
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In 1943, he served a year as labor secretary of the national CPUSA and also as member of the Party's New York State Committee.
In 1944, he served a year as vice president of the Brooklyn Communist Political Association.
In 1945, Albertson's name appeared among many others assembled by Father
John Francis Cronin
John Francis Cronin (1908–1994) was a Catholic priest of the Society of Saint Sulpice, who was an early advisor on anticommunism to freshman U.S. Representative Richard M. Nixon.
Early life
He was born October 4, 1908, in Glens Falls, New Yo ...
in a privately circulated report called ''The Problem of American Communism in 1945: Facts and Recommendations''.
[
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In 1946, Albertson served as Assistant National Labor Secretary of the CPUSA.
In 1947, Albertson returned to Pittsburgh as Organizational Secretary of the CPUSA's District 5 (Western Pennsylvania).
That same year, his name appeared in an appendix of principal officers of the national Communist Party under "National review board" as secretary.
In 1950, the Party transferred him as Trade Union Secretary of the CPUSA's District 7 (Detroit).
In the 1950s and 1960s, Albertson was a prominent national Party official, based in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where he became state Party secretary in 1958.
In 1950, FBI informant
Matt Cvetic named "William Albertson, district secretary of the Communist Party in western Pennsylvania." Cvetic managed to work his testimony into an attack on former U.S. Vice President and presidential candidate
Henry A. Wallace. As the ''New York Times'' reported, "A former undercover agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation testified today that Henry A. Wallace once conferred with two well known Pittsburgh Communists about support for his third-party Presidential campaign. Matthew Cvetic was the agent. He told the
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...
that he himself was one of the pair of well-known Communist party members." Cvetic also named both
Steve Nelson, who would face arrest with Albertson and four other third-tier Party leaders the following year.
On January 22, 1962, the
State Department
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
revoked the passports of Albertson and several other leaders of the Communist Party.
In a June 1, 1963, report on subversive activities,
U.S. Attorney General
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...
referred to Albertson several times, in part because Kennedy had filed petitions to force Albertson and others to register as Party members.
Arrest and first Supreme Court ''Albertson v. Millard''
![Oblique facade 2, US Supreme Court](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Oblique_facade_2%2C_US_Supreme_Court.jpg)
On July 23, 1950, a Pittsburgh Common Pleas Court asked State Attorney General
J. Howard McGrath
James Howard McGrath (November 28, 1903September 2, 1966) was an American politician and attorney from Rhode Island. McGrath, a Democrat, served as U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island before becoming governor, U.S. Solicitor General, U.S. Sen ...
to "intern" Albertson and Nelson among eleven western Pennsylvanian Party officials as "dangerous to the best interests of our country."
On August 17, 1951, the FBI held a fourth roundup of Party leaders since the
Foley Square Trial
The Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders in New York City from 1949 to 1958 were the result of US federal government prosecutions in the postwar period and during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. Leaders of the ...
which included Albertson and five others. who soon found themselves indicted by a federal
grand jury
A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...
.
The ''New York Times'' detailed his arrest: Albertson was arrested near
Flat Rock, Michigan
Flat Rock is a city mostly in Wayne County of the U.S. state of Michigan. A very small portion of the city extends into Monroe County. At the 2010 census, the city population was 9,878.
History
Flat Rock began as a Wyandot settlement. It was la ...
, while driving with his wife and two children" by the FBI.
The FBI also arrested Nelson, "accused by the House Committee on Un-American Activities of setting up a Red cell at the University of California. Radiation Laboratory, during World War II and obtaining atomic secrets for Russia."
In November 1952, his trial started in Pittsburgh. In August 1953, he was convicted under the
Smith Act
The Alien Registration Act, popularly known as the Smith Act, 76th United States Congress, 3d session, ch. 439, , is a United States federal statute that was enacted on June 28, 1940. It set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of th ...
for conspiring to advocate violent overthrow of the U.S. government. He received a five-year prison. He served 60 days in jail for contempt of court.
Albertson's case reached the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
, whose opinion stated:
United States Supreme Court
345 U.S. 242
ALBERTSON v. MILLARD
Argued: Feb. 2, 1953. --- Decided: March 16, 1953
On April 17, 1952, the Governor of Michigan signed the Michigan Communist Control Bill. On April 22, 1952, the Communist Party of Michigan and William Albertson, its Executive Secretary, filed a complaint in the United States District Court or the Eastern District of Michigan. Sections 2-5, inclusive, and Section 7 of the Act were alleged to violate various provisions of the Federal Constitution. A declaratory judgment to that effect was sought, along with an injunction to prevent state officials and officers from enforcing the Act. A three-judge District Court, 106 F.Supp. 635, found the Act constitutional and an appeal was taken to this Court.
Section 5 of the Act requires the registration of Communists, the Communist Party and Communist front organizations, and Section 7 prevents them from appearing on any ballot in the State. 'Communist,' 'Communist Party,' and 'Communist front organization' are given a statutory meaning by the Michigan Legislature. Mich. Acts 1952, No. 117.
These definitions are challenged by the appellants as void for vagueness. The definition of a Communist as '* * * a member of the communist party, notwithstanding the fact that he may not pay dues to, or hold a card in, said party * * *' is said to be vague since once dues and cards are eliminated as criteria there are no readily apparent means of determining who is a member. As to the definition of the Communist Party as an organization '* * * substantially directed, dominated or controlled by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or its satellities' it is contended there are no standards as to what is a 'satellite.' In regard to the definition of both Communist Party and Communist front organization as an organization which '* * * in any manner advocates, or acts to further, the world communist movement' appellants point to the failure to define the 'world communist movement' as creating vagueness. The answers given to these and possibly other problems of construction and interpretation arising under the definitions in Sections 2-4 will determine the ultimate scope of the Act.
Interpretation of state legislation is primarily the function of state authorities, judicial and administrative. The construction given to a state statute by the state courts is binding upon federal courts. There has been no interpretation of this statute by the state courts. The absence of such construction stems from the fact this action in federal court was commenced only five days after the statute became law.
There is pending in the Circuit Court for Wayne County, Michigan, a bill seeking a declaratory judgment that the Act is unconstitutional, both on federal and state grounds. That action is being held in abeyance pending our mandate and decision in this case.
We deem it appropriate in this case that the state courts construe this statute before the District Court further considers the action. See Rescue Army v. Municipal Court of City of Los Angeles, 1947, 331 U.S. 549, 67 S.Ct. 1409, 91 L.Ed. 1666; American Federation of Labor v. Watson, 1946, 327 U.S. 582, 66 S.Ct. 761, 90 L.Ed. 873; and Spector Motor Service v. McLaughlin, 1944, 323 U.S. 101, 65 S.Ct. 152, 89 L.Ed. 101.
The judgment is vacated and the cause remanded to the District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan with directions to vacate the restraining order it issued and to hold the proceedings in abeyance a reasonable time pending construction of the statute by the state courts either in pending litigation or other litigation which may be instituted.
On September 13, 1957, D. Malcom Anderson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, asked U.S. District Judge to dismiss the indictment against five of the six Party leaders, including Steve Nelson and William Albertson, following discovery that one of the principal witnesses in the 1953 trial "may have lied."
New York State ''Matter of Albertson (Lubin)''
![New York Court of Appeals hearing oral arguments](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/New_York_Court_of_Appeals_hearing_oral_arguments.jpg)
In 1960, Albertson sued for unemployment insurance for work for the Communist Party. Albertson won in court, but the case went to the
Court of Appeals of the State of New York
The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Unified Court System of the State of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six Associate Judges who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by ...
on March 28. Representing him were Stephen C. Vladeck and Judith P. Vladeck (parents of
David Vladeck
David C. Vladeck (born June 6, 1951)
is the former director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection of the Federal Trade Commission, an independent agency of the United States government. He was appointed by the chairman of the FTC, Jon Leibowitz, ...
and Anna Vladeck of Vladeck, Raskin & Clark) and Sylvan H. Elias. Representing the Communist Party was
John J. Abt
John Jacob Abt (May 1, 1904 – August 10, 1991) was an Americans, American lawyer and politician, who spent most of his career as general counsel, chief counsel to the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and was a member of the Communist Party and the So ...
.
Isador Lubin
Isador Lubin (9 June 1896 – 6 July 1978) was the head of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics from 1933 to 1946, and president of the American Statistical Association in 1946.
Career
During the First World War, at the U.S. Food Administratio ...
as Industrial Commissioner represented the Appellant. The court summarized the appeal as follows:
Two separate but related questions arise in this consolidated proceeding. We are first to decide whether, on the theory that his employment by the Communist Parties (N. Y. and U. S. A.) was not "covered employment", respondent Albertson is ineligible for unemployment insurance benefits. Second, we must determine whether the Industrial Commissioner was legally justified in suspending the registration of the Communist Parties themselves as "employers" within the meaning of the Unemployment Insurance Law.[
]
On May 26, 1960, came the verdict. On the one hand:
We agree with the Appellate Division that Albertson is not to be denied an unemployment insurance award solely because part of his base period of employment was with the Communist organizations. Nothing was proven beyond that bare fact.
However:
In so doing, he he Industrial Commissionercould not ignore the Federal Communist Control Act (U. S. Code, tit. 50, § 842) which declared that the Communist Party is "not entitled to any of the rights, privileges, and immunities attendant upon legal bodies created under the jurisdiction of the laws of the United States or any political subdivision thereof; and whatever rights, privileges and immunities which have heretofore been granted to said party or any subsidiary organization by reason of the laws of the United States or any political subdivision thereof are terminated". We take that plain declaration and its absolute language to mean what it says.
Therefore, the Appeals Court denied Albertson's claim. The dissenting vote stated "the Communist Party is subject to registration and taxation as an employer under the Unemployment Insurance Law. And, that being so, it follows that the Appellate Division was also correct in holding, in the proceeding instituted by the respondent Albertson, that he had met all qualifications under the law and was entitled to unemployment benefits."
Supreme Court ''Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board''
On November 15, 1965, the Supreme Court ruled in ''
Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board'' that persons (in this case, William Albertson) believed to be members of the
Communist Party of the United States of America
The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
could not be required to register as party members with the
Subversive Activities Control Board The Subversive Activities Control Board (SACB) was a United States government committee to investigate Communist infiltration of American society during the 1950s Red Scare. It was the subject of a landmark United States Supreme Court decision of th ...
because the information which party members were required to submit could form the basis of their prosecution for being party members, which was then a crime, and therefore deprived them of their
self-incrimination
In criminal law, self-incrimination is the act of exposing oneself generally, by making a statement, "to an accusation or charge of crime; to involve oneself or another ersonin a criminal prosecution or the danger thereof". (Self-incrimination ...
rights under the
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifth Amendment (Amendment V) to the United States Constitution addresses criminal procedure and other aspects of the Constitution. It was ratified, along with nine other articles, in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights. The Fifth Amend ...
.
Winning ''Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board'' was one of
John J. Abt
John Jacob Abt (May 1, 1904 – August 10, 1991) was an Americans, American lawyer and politician, who spent most of his career as general counsel, chief counsel to the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and was a member of the Communist Party and the So ...
's "greatest legal victories."
COINTELPRO, posthumous litigation, settlement
COINTELPRO
On June 25, 1964, the FBI planted a fake document ("like an informant's report"
[
]) with a forged signature of Albertson's to make the Party believe he was an FBI informant.
[
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FBI files record for June 24, 1964:
At approximately 1:00 AM 6/25/64, ALBERTSON was return to his automobile by EDACTEDin EDACTEDcar. At 3:30 AM, after locating EDACTEDcar, agents gained entry to this vehicle and place the informant report in the front seat where ALBERTSON had been seated.
A June 30 document filed by the FBI's
William C. Sullivan and Fred J. Baumgardner explains:
My memorandum dated 6/12/64 was approved, authorizing a unique counterintelligence operation calculated to cast suspicion on Communist Party (CP) National Committee member and Executive Secretary of the New York District Organization, William Albertson. It was our intentional to place Albertson in the unenviable position of being suspected as an FBI informant through the use of a planted bogus informant report prepared by the Laboratory in Albertson's handwriting on paper used by him with a ballpoint pen of the type he uses.
The June 30 document explains that the FBI had chosen Albertson because he was "considered one of the most efficient and capable functionaries." According to the June 30 document, the bogus document had already reached
Gus Hall
Gus Hall (born Arvo Kustaa Halberg; October 8, 1910 – October 13, 2000) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and a perennial candidate for president of the United States. He was the Communist Party nominee in the ...
, secretary general of the Party, who was most concerned.
On July 7, 1964, the Party expelled Albertson and his wife and called him a "
stool pigeon."
[
][
] The Party announced the expulsion on the final eighth page of its midweek edition of its newspaper, ''The
Daily Worker
The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were m ...
'', following a "thorough investigation" based on "irrefutable evidence." The ''Times'' quoted the conclusion of ''The Daily Worker'' that "Because the facts accumulated remove every shadow of doubt that Albertson lived a life o duplicity and treachery–posing as a dedicated defender of the workers' interests while in actuality betraying them–the Communist Party of New York State has expelled him."
The news story was big enough to merit two separate articles in the ''New York Times'' that day.
Next day, Albertson stated, "I was framed by the FBI." He announced, "I never was, I am not now, and I never will be any kind of a police agent." He asserted, "The history of the F.B.I. shows that they will frame anyone if it suits a particular objective." An FBI spokesman had "no comment whatsoever" about Albertson's allegation.
The tactic is called placing a "snitch jacket" and worked as follows in Alberston's case:
William Albertson was a New York Communist party functionary. A dedicated Marxist since his youth, he was also a hardworking, effective party leader and as such became a prime target for the CPUSA COINTELPRO
COINTELPRO ( syllabic abbreviation derived from Counter Intelligence Program; 1956–1971) was a series of covert and illegal projects actively conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveilling, infiltrati ...
. The Bureau "neutrlized" Albertson by planting what appeared to be an FBI informant's report in his automobile.
The FBI followed the fallout, as related in a July 1964 report:
The "snitch jacket" also asked the FBI for a raise, leading the Party to believe that Albertson he had been a paid FBI informer: as a result, the Party withdrew its scholarship for the Albertson's son. "Over a period of months, Albertson and his wife were the subjects of crank calls and personal harassment tactics. They were forced to change jobs and to move."
Posthumous litigation
![COINTELPRO - Jean Seberg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/COINTELPRO_-_Jean_Seberg.jpg)
In 1975, an FBI document released under the
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request:
* Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act
* ...
revealed the FBI's 1964 act. The FOIA applicant was
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
law correspondent
Carl Stern Carl may refer to:
*Carl, Georgia, city in USA
*Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
*Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name
*Carl², a TV series
* "Carl", an episode of tel ...
.
In 1976, the ''New York Times'' correspondent
Anthony Lewis
Anthony Lewis (March 27, 1927 – March 25, 2013) was an American public intellectual and journalist. He was twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and was a columnist for ''The New York Times''. He is credited with creating the field of legal jour ...
wrote an article called "A Cointel Story," that related the fake document story. The article cited an article by
Frank Donner 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) in a forthcoming in the April–May issue of ACLU's ''Civil Liberties Review''.
Lewis related:
The truth came out by ironic mischance. Last year, a journalist asked the F.B.I. for documents about its past efforts to disrupt white bate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
. When the papers were released, one was on another subject.
It was a report to bureau officials, dated Jan. 6, 1965, that said a high functionary of the Communist Party had been expelled "through our counterintelligence efforts." The name of the "functionary" was deleted at the beginning ginning of the document. But, perhaps through clerical error in the release, it was left in farther down. The name was Albertson.
Lewis then commented:
That same year, Donner showed Alberton's wife (by then, widow) the FBI files.
In 1977, Donner filed an administrative damages claim for Alberton's widow. By 1984, the ACLU filed a lawsuit for damages on her behalf: its resolution took 14 years. First, the government tried to have the case dismissed on the grounds of national security grounds: both a federal district court and the Court of Appeals (District of Columbia Circuit) rejected the government's arguments.
Settlement
In October 1989, the Federal government agreed to pay Albertson's widow $170,000 to settle her claims out of court for a lawsuit against the FBI.
Anthony Lewis of the ''New York Times'' again commented in an article called "Rule of Law?":
I do not know of any previous lawsuit in which the Government has agreed to make a payment to a victim of Mr. Hoover's illegal harassment. His program, known as Cointelpro, used anonymous letters and other devices to destroy the lives of civil rights workers as well as radicals.[
]
In the process, Alberton's widow received more than 30,000 pages of FBI documents about the Albertson family.
Personal life and death
On June 19, 1932, Albertson married Francene (Francine) Schneeberg in Brooklyn, from whom he separated on April 5, 1953; they had two sons. On June 10, 1955, he married Lillian ("Lillie") B. Lewis; she had joined the Party in 1948. In December 1961, they were living in a first-floor flat in Brooklyn with their son.
Albertson died aged 61 in 1972 from an accidental fall that broke his neck.
Works
* ''Gear the Party to Mass Work'': Report Delivered By William Albertson at the New York State Convention, Communist Party, November 26–28, 1959 (1959)
[
]
See also
*
Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board
*
Steve Nelson (activist)
*
COINTELPRO
COINTELPRO ( syllabic abbreviation derived from Counter Intelligence Program; 1956–1971) was a series of covert and illegal projects actively conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveilling, infiltrati ...
*
William C. Sullivan
*
Frank Donner
*
Communist Party of the USA
The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
References
External links
ALBERTSON, William - FBI HQ file 65-38100covering period from July 1951 through December 1990
{{DEFAULTSORT:Albertson, William
1910 births
1972 deaths
American communists
American Marxists
Cold War history of the United States
Communist Party USA politicians
Members of the Communist Party USA
People convicted under the Espionage Act of 1917
20th-century American politicians
University of Pittsburgh alumni
Accidental deaths in Pennsylvania
Accidental deaths from falls
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States