ACLU Fighting for the American Ideal

Roger Nash Baldwin became head of the National Civil Liberties Bureau (NCLB) in 1917. An independent outgrowth of the American Union Against Militarism, the Bureau opposed American intervention in World War I. The NCLB provided legal advice and aid for conscientious objectors and those being prosecuted under the Espionage Act of 1917 or the Sedition Act of 1918. In 1920, the NCLB changed its name to the American Civil Liberties Union, with Baldwin continuing as its director. Jeannette Rankin, Crystal Eastman and Albert DeSilver, along with other former members of the NCLB, assisted Baldwin with the founding of the ACLU.^[1]

In the year of its birth the ACLU was formed to protect aliens threatened with deportation, along with U.S. nationals threatened with criminal charges by U.S. Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palmer for their communist or socialist activities and agendas^[4] (see Palmer Raids). It also opposed attacks on the rights of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and other labor unions to meet and organize.

In 1940, the ACLU formally barred communists from leadership or staff positions, and would take the position that it did not want communists as members either. The board declared that it was "inappropriate for any person to serve on the governing committees of the Union or its staff, who is a member of any political organization which supports totalitarian dictatorship in any country, or who by his public declarations indicates his support of such a principle."^[5] The purge, which was led by Baldwin, himself a former supporter of Communism, began with the ouster of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a member of both the Communist Party of the USA and the IWW.^[6]

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_Liberties_Union

And a short history of their horrible actions in the protection of American rights:

1920 Opposed attacks by AG on trade union’s right to meet and organize.

1920 Secured release of people jailed for anti-war sentiments

1925 Scopes Trial.   Fought anti-evolution legislation.

1933 long anti-censorship battle which resulted in the lifting on the ban of James Joyce's novel Ulysses.

1939 Took on and won against mayor of NJ City who claimed he had the right to deny free speech to anyone he liked.

1942.  Opposed the forced relocation of Japanese Americans

1950s Decade long battle against Loyalty Oaths

1954 In its commitment to racial equality joined the NAACP to end racial segregation in public schools

1973 Abortion Decriminalized

1980s Active in voting rights

1981 Once again fought Creationism in Arkansas. Creationism was ruled unconstitutional as religion not science.

They continue to fight for the protection of all Americans, most recent issues include.

• Immigrant rights
• Free speech on the Internet
• Racial profiling
• Police brutality
• Race discrimination
• Gender discrimination
• Voting rights
• Reproductive freedom
• Warrantless wiretapping and mail surveillance
• Right for the disabled
• Privacy protection
• Civil Liberties under threat by the ironically named Patriot Act
• Torture, Renditions, Detentions

I can see why someone like you, White Tiger, would be afraid of all these freedoms.