Comments on: Are Conservatives the New Communists?

By: paulmatzko

paulmatzko — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 05:21:50 +0000

Thank you Master Barnett! This sort of blog interaction makes me happy. An idea stimulates someone to pose another question, which then encourages somebody else to track the answer down…very cool.

It appears that my original hypothesis fails close scrutiny. However, it is hard to appreciate the consuming preoccupation of many folks in 1953 over the danger of communism until we read that the defense attorney found it necessary to pre-empt the prosecution by asking Mrs. Turner if she was a Communist. Subversion of law and order practically equaled communism in the popular imagination.

I wonder what similar biases we carry with us today?

By: John Barnett

John Barnett — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:02:21 +0000

I found an LA Times article about the Turner case.

From ‘Mother Defends Educating Child’ on 2/7/53:

Under questioning from her attorney, Milo V. Olsen…(Olsen) asked
Mrs. Turner flatly “Are you a communist?”
“No!” Mrs. Turner replied quickly. Asked, “Do you teach your children
any Communistic doctrine?” she retorted: “I certainly do not!”
–
The Dep. City Atty. Fulton Haight objected to the question and Judge
Pfaff upheld him saying: “That would open up such a field of
discussion that we would be here until next Easter.”
–

The rest of the article details the ongoing trial and mentions that Mr. Turner was a grad of RI State College and was an aeronautical engineer in CA. They had 7 children who were 5 months to 14 years old at the time of the trial.

By: Uncle Jack

Uncle Jack — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 22:04:40 +0000

I’d bet the Los Angeles newspapers covered the case.

By: paulmatzko

paulmatzko — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:35:59 +0000

Even if both the law and the decision turn out to be neutral, the Turner family’s background could still be worth investigating. But short of seeing the original court transcripts in some Los Angeles courtroom archives I don’t see how I could do so.

By: Uncle Jack

Uncle Jack — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:10:30 +0000

You’ve made a good surmise, Paul, although there’s nothing in the language of the 1953 decision to indicate any political (or for that matter, religious) issue at stake.