Workers against the City: The Fight for Free Speech in Hague v. CIO (Working Class in American History) - Softcover

Rogers, Donald W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0252085361 ISBN 13: 9780252085369

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 2020

Synopsis

The 1939 Supreme Court decision Hague v. CIO was a constitutional milestone that strengthened the right of Americans, including labor organizers, to assemble and speak in public places. Donald W. Rogers eschews the prevailing view of the case as a morality play pitting Jersey City, New Jersey, political boss Frank Hague against the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) and allied civil libertarian groups. Instead, he draws on a wide range of archives and evidence to re-evaluate Hague v. CIO from the ground up. Rogers's review of the case from district court to the Supreme Court illuminates the trial proceedings and provides perspectives from both sides. As he shows, the economic, political, and legal restructuring of the 1930s refined constitutional rights as much as the court case did. The final decision also revealed that assembly and speech rights change according to how judges and lawmakers act within the circumstances of a given moment.

Clear-eyed and comprehensive, Workers against the City revises the view of a milestone case that continues to impact Americans' constitutional rights today.

About this title

About the Author

Donald W. Rogers is a lecturer in the department of history at Central Connecticut State University. He is the author of Making Capitalism Safe: Work Safety and Health Regulation in America, 1880-1940 and editor of Voting and the Spirit of American Democracy: Essays on the History of Voting and Voting Rights in America.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0252085361
• ISBN 13: 9780252085369
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 260