alternatehistory.com

“Earl Warren was simply not the anti-communist critics make him out to be. He played an influential role in the silencing of the McCarthy style anti-communist, and yes, he did allow party men and conservatives to run free in his administration, but this was more due to the power of his party and a lack of focus on such issues. The man was far more liberal in that era than many give him credit for.”


“The appointment of Herbert Brownell Jr. to the position of Attorney General shocked no one really, he was a strong party insider, with a progressive past, and a solid legal career. What was not know was just how much influence he would have on later, much larger events.”


“Many acolytes of President Warren quickly forget his administrations blatant attacks on labor, quickly discourage discussion of the FBI run amuck, and shy away from discussions of what the CIA was doing abroad. These things will not be forgotten in this book though, no, they will be thoroughly examined and prodded”


“There was time for a while where I could tell me and my boys were being watched. A few close friends and associates of mine were taken in, mostly on the grounds of their former support for the Communists. I want it on the record here though, that by 1950, I had sworn of the Red Flag and sworn of Foster, I was never a Communist after Foster took over. But despite all this, allegations began stacking up, I think a few boys said they’d planned or considered or even thought the words ‘general strike’ and that was all that was needed for the FBI to rifle through my files.”


“Warren’s administration was no more particularly anti-labor than even Truman’s had been and where it was, it was more the effect of the trends of the day and the influence of the Taft-McCarthy wings of the party than of Warren himself. His administration fought for numerous causes that would have helped the working man and the fact that he is now remembered for the actions of a very independent FBI is quite a shame.”


“Warren began to take note of the Civil Rights movement sometime in the summer of 1953. He instructed Attorney General Brownell to investigate the previous Bolling v Sharpe case and the numerous new cases that were coming up through the legal system including the now famous Brown v Board of Education. Brownell took up this responsibility and began considering active involvement of the US Department of Justice on these cases but realized this may seem to be overstepping his boundary. Instead, he began drafting legislation on the matter and contacting allies and coworkers in the Justice Department and law in general.”


“Warren pushed for the Congress to, both for the sake of the states and due to a genuine belief in the importance and out of a genuine belief it was the best policy, expand Public Law 280 by adding in additional funding for states that decided to incorporate the Indian Reservations as well as offering federal help. A campaign of governors and senators from states with significant reservations helped push this addition through. This did help soften the blow that Public Law 280 had on the Indian community.”


“The era of racial progress during the 1950’s saw an odd parallel in the Native American community as Natives were now stripped of special protections and in some states, their very nationhood, under the banner of ‘racial equality’. Warren, for his part, came from a state where the Indian Reservations had caused a few issues and so he was no defender of the reservations. While the reservations were imperfect, the state funding to help the transition from reservation to equal citizens was often squandered or worse still spent on white-majority communities. The 1950s, despite attempts at improvement and a sincere spirit of goodwill, were a period of quite heavy damage for the Native American community.”


“The early years of the Warren administration saw little progress on the race question. Warren, as someone who was well versed in law and previously held numerous legal positions, knew his limits as executive. He set aside important resources for those looking into the early civil rights cases and pushed for expansion of important laws, but he was relatively constrained by his own belief he could not overstretch himself lest he lose the support of his party. By Fall of 1953 though, Warren had a real chance to make a lasting impact on US law and the US legal system.”


--------------------------------------------------------