Constitutional Educational League
The Constitutional Educational League, Inc. was an American anti-communist organization, founded in 1919 by returning veterans of the First World War. Ex-President William Howard Taft and Army Chief of Staff General Leonard Wood were an early sponsors of the League.[1] The organization was officially incorporated in 1937. Their offices were located at 831 Chapel Street, New Haven, Connecticut.
In 1942, the organization was listed as one 28 organizations indicated by a special grand jury as having conspired against the United States Army and Navy, being an instrument of the Axis Powers.[2]
In the 1944 presidential campaign, the organization published a brochure, Vote CIO and Get A Soviet America. A congressional investigation into the 1944 campaign expenditures sought to find out who the financial backers were of the League, as it deemed this brochure to be political. However, Joseph P. Kamp, vice-president of the League refused to hand over this information.[3] Because Kamp refused to act on a subpoena, he was tried for Contempt of Congress. In 1950, he was convicted, and sentenced to four months in prison.[4] Kamp was tried another time for congressional defiance in 1952, when he failed to produce records for the House Lobby Investigating Committee.[5] This time, Kamp was acquitted of the charge, as the House Committee failed to orderly disclose why Kamp was in default.[6]
Officers pre-1944
- Florence Byron Swartz. Vice President (Orange, Connecticut)
- Chester A. Hansen, Secretary-Treasurer (Milford, Connecticut)
- Madelyn A. Cannon, Assistant Secretary-Treasurer (New Haven, Connecticut)
- Hazel Huffman
- John E. Waters, Midwest Secretary, (Madison, Wisconsin)
- A. Cloyd Gill, research director who died April 7, 1943 in the offices of the Constitutional Educational League
Officers 1944
- Chairman, Brigadier General Luke H. Callen
- Executive Vice Chairman, Joseph P. Kamp
- Vice Chairman, Florence Byron Swartz
- Vice Chairman, Judge Leonard McMahon (Danbury, Connecticut)
- Secretary Southern Department, Mildred M. Hall (Birmingham, Alabama)
- Assistant Secretary and Assistant Treasurer, Madelyn A. Cannon (Carmon?)
- Midwest Secretary, John E. Waters (Madison, Wisconsin)[7]
References
- ↑ Joseph P. Kamp FBI file
- ↑ "28 Organized Groups Linked to Fascist Plot". The Washington Post. 1942-07-24. p. 4.
- ↑ "Kamp Blames Trial for Contempt on 'Smearbund'". The Washington Post. 1945-12-13. p. 3.
- ↑ "Kamp is sent to Jail for Defying Congress". The New York Times. 1950-06-17. p. 2.
- ↑ "Kamp Again on Trial for Contempt". The Washington Post. 1952-02-05. p. 7.
- ↑ "Kamp Freed in Contempt Case". The Washington Post. 1952-02-07. p. 15.
- ↑ Joseph P. Kamp FBI file
External links
- Strikes and the communists behind them another CEL pamphlet
