Research


Administrative History

During its investigation, the committee charged that the National Civil Liberties Bureau (NCLB) was engaged in a number of seditious activities, particularly in regard to undermining the nation's efforts during World War I.

The NCLB was formed in 1917 as an outgrowth of the American Union Against Militarism, which was formed to work against American intervention in the war. The stated objectives of the NCLB were to protect free speech and civil liberties of citizens and to assist the defense of conscientious objectors during the war. The NCLB also served as a type of national clearinghouse of information relating to the legal defense of conscientious objectors and other individuals charged by the government with various types of seditious activity. In 1920, the NCLB changed its name to the American Civil Liberties Union.

During the hearings, the committee accused the NCLB of many radical activities including: encouraging individuals to register as conscientious objectors to escape military duty; assisting radical groups in obstructing the war effort; issuing propaganda for radical organizations; and furnishing attorneys for those objecting to military service and for those being prosecuted for violating the Federal Espionage Act.

The committee felt strongly that Socialist revolutionaries played upon pacifist sentiments of a large number of well-intentioned individuals to spread radical propaganda and to influence foreign policy decisions of the United States toward Soviet Russia. The committee charged that the NCLB was in the forefront of this pacifist movement and it closely investigated the bureau's activity.