Page 26 - Report on the National Lawyers Guild, legal bulwark of the Communist Party

20 THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD
OFFICERS, WASHINGTON CHAPTER, NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD (as of July 1950)
President, Harry Lamberton
Vice -president, Belford V. Lawson, Jr. Executive secretary, David Rein
Recording secretary, Selma Salmons Treasurer, Charlotte A. Hankin Boardofdirectors: JackBlume
James A. Cobb
Arthur Christopher, Jr.' Milton Freeman Samuel Jaffe
Howard Jenkins Samuel Levine
Harry N. Rosenfeld ^ Herbert S. Thatcher ^
Ruth Weyand Donald M. Murtha *
ORGANIZATIONAL DATA
Headquarters of the National Lawyers Guild are located at 902 Twentieth Street NW., Washington, D. C.
The National Lawyers Guild claimed a membership of 3,891 indi- viduals as of June 1, 1950. Its chapters number 14 and are located
in the following cities: Baltimore, Boston, Albany, Troy, Schenectady, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Washington, D. C, Hollywood, Los Angeles,NewYorkCity,Philadelphia,andSanFrancisco. Forthe purpose of comparison, the Journal of the American Bar Association in 1948 estimated. the total number of attorneys in the United States
at 180,000. To carry the comparison still further, the American Bar Association reported its own membership to be 28,400 in 1937 and 42,000 in 1949, according to the World Almanac.
Since 1946, the National Lawyers Guild has maintained a student
division to permit law students to become members of the guild.
The 3,891 total guild membership figure as of June 1, 1950, includes 702 individuals who are listed as members of the guild's student division. The guild lists the locations of its student divisions as follows: University of Michigan, University of California at San Francisco, University of Southern California (Boalt Hall), University of Chicago, Harvard University, New York University, Columbia University, Brooklyn Law School, Yale University, University of Washington at Seattle, Wayne University, Washington, D. C. (sic).
Dues paid by its members provides the National Lawyers Guild with some of its funds. Another source is contributions from inter- ested individuals and organizations.
The House Committee on Un-American Activities, in a report dated
June 7, 1946, referred to its investigation of organizations which financed communistic and subversive causes in the United States. The committee named the Sound View Foundation, Inc., of New York as a typical example. The National Lawyers Guild received
1 Droppedmembershipthroughnonpaymentofdues,April1049,andrefusednominationtoboardof directors.
2 Dropped membership through nonpayment of dues, April 1949, and refused nomination to board of directors.
3 Dropped membership through nonpayment of dues, April 1949, and has not attended a guild meet-
ing for over three years.
•
Resigned.