Bartley Crum was an American lawyer who became prominent as a member of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, his book on that experience, and for defending targets of HUAC, particularly the Hollywood Ten and Paul Robeson.
41 Facts About Bartley Crum
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Bartley Cavanaugh Crum was born on November 28,1900, in Sacramento, California, the son of James Henry Crum and Emma Cavanaugh.
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In 1924, Bartley Crum joined the law offices of John Francis Neylan, chief attorney for newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst.
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In 1938, Crum left Neylan and set up a law office with Philip Ehrlich and David A Silver.
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In 1939, Bartley Crum helped defend Harry Bridges in one of his deportation hearings.
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Bartley Crum criticized the US policy during the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath.
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In 1942, Bartley Crum was a vice president of NLG's local chapter.
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In 1943, Bartley Crum served as president of the NLG's San Francisco chapter.
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Bartley Crum worked in the 1940 and 1944 campaigns of US presidential candidate Wendell Willkie.
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In 1943, Bartley Crum served as special counsel on FDR's Fair Employment Practices Committee.
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Bartley Crum served as Willkie's liaison to FDR via David Niles.
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When Willkie failed to get the Republican presidential nomination in 1944, Crum helped form "Independent Republicans for Roosevelt" and campaigned for FDR, occasionally with Harry S Truman.
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In October 1944, Bartley Crum served as an attorney for Harry Bridges.
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In November 1944, Bartley Crum sent a letter to the Civil Service Commission on behalf of Larry Resner on the subject of loyalty charges.
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On March 18,1945, Bartley Crum signed a statement issued by the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties, advertised in the Daily Worker.
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In September 1945, Bartley Crum chaired a rally of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, which featured an overseas call from Harold Laski.
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Bartley Crum was national vice president of the NLG, national co-chair of the CIO-PAC, and California chair of United China War Relief.
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On January 1,1946, Bartley Crum accepted an invitation to join the Anglo-American Commission of Inquiry on Palestine that advised President Harry Truman to support the opening of the British Mandate of Palestine to unrestricted Jewish immigration and to ease restrictions on Jewish land purchases.
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On February 17,1946, Bartley Crum announced in Vienna, Austria, that he expected to see "mass suicides" if European Jews did not receive permission to emigrate to Palestine.
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In 1946, Bartley Crum answered Paul Robeson in his "crusade call" and endorsed the American Crusade Against Lynching organization.
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The ACAL had been accused of socialist and communist connections, which led to the organization, including Bartley Crum, coming under close watch by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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The FBI tapped Bartley Crum's phones, opened his mail, and shadowed him constantly.
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In 1946, Bartley Crum was a member of the national board of the Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions, which had a large branch in California, the Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions.
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In 1947, Bartley Crum served as attorney for some of the so-called "Hollywood Ten", subpoenaed to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee.
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Bartley Crum recorded differences between communist and non-communist lawyers, contrary to other accounts of greater unity among lawyers.
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In 1948, due to blowback from the HUAC Hollywood hearings, Bartley Crum moved his family from the San Francisco Bay area to New York City.
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In early June 1948, Bartley Crum appeared before the American Russian Institute and expressed his "Soviet sympathy".
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In June 1948, Bartley Crum bought a major interest in the dying PM newspaper with Joseph Fels Barnes from Marshall Field III, who maintained a minority interest.
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In 1950, Bartley Crum's name came up in Congress during investigation into Truman advisor Max Lowenthal.
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Bartley Crum was one of the persons claimed to be a member of the Communist Party or associated with it.
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Bartley Crum says Lowenthal told him the best course was to tell the committee frankly whether this or that one was a member of the Communist Party.
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Bartley Crum said there were five such "organizations" and named one, but the committee wandered off and did not press him to identify the others.
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In 1958, Bartley Crum became involved in a controversy with Jimmy Hoffa, head of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
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Bartley Crum had been trying to collect $210,000 in legal fees from the Teamsters for a client.
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Bartley Crum testified in before the United States Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field.
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In 1947, Bartley Crum first took a combination of alcohol and barbiturates, from which he was revived.
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Bartley Crum's wife discovered his body at their home at 165 East Eightieth Street, New York City.
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Bartley Crum married Anna Gertrude Bosworth, an author of novels and a cookbook.
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Bartley Crum died from complications of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
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In 1941, Bartley Crum moved his family from Berkeley to 763 Bay Street, San Francisco.
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Bartley Crum was no "innocent dupe", nor was his client Dmytryk.