SUBCOMMITTEE NO. 3 OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY EIGHTY-FIRST CONGRESS FIRST AND SECOND SESSIONS ON H. R. 115, H. R. 155, H. R. 365, H. R. 385, H. R. 443, H. R. 788, H. R. 795, H. R. 1351, and H. R. 4683 FOR THE BETTER ASSURANCE OF THE PROTECTION OF H. R. 2182 and H. R. 3553 TO PERMIT THE PROSECUTION OF LYNCHING IN FEDERAL TO PROVIDE MEANS OF FURTHER SECURING AND PROTECTING 62936 JUNE 8, 15, 22, AND 29, 1949; JANUARY 17 AND 24, 1950 Serial No. 18 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1950 CONTENTS Hon. Emanuel Celler, a Representative in Congress from the State of Hon. Kenneth B. Keating, a Representative in Congress from the Hon. Brooks Hays, a Representative in Congress from the State of Hon. Clifford P. Case, a Representative in Congress from the State 1-25 Hon. Tom C. Clark, Attorney General of the United States. Hon. Charles E. Wilson, Chairman, the President's Committee on Mr. Will Maslow, general counsel, American Jewish Congress _ Mr. Herbert M. Levy, staff counsel, American Civil Liberties Union Mr. Samuel Markle, National Civil Rights Committee, Antidefama- Dr. H. M. Griffith, vice president, the National Economic Council, Inc. Hon. Sam Hobbs, a Representative in Congress from the State of 264 Statement by the Attorney General concerning H. R. 4683 (supra) 100 112 Statement of Herbert M. Levy, the American Civil Liberties Union 132 Statement by the National Citizens' Council of Civil Rights Statement of the Board of Christian Education of the Presbyterian ANTILYNCHING AND PROTECTION OF CIVIL RIGHTS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 1949 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a. m. in room 346, Old House Office Building, Hon. William F. Byrne, chairman, presiding. Mr. BYRNE. Gentlemen, we are met this morning to consider H. R. 4682 and various related bills pertaining to civil rights. (The bills referred to are as follows:) [H. R. 115, 81st Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL For the better assurance of the protection of citizens of the United States and other persons within the several States from mob violence and lynching, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the provisions of this Act are enacted in exercise of the power of Congress to enforce, by appropriate législation, the provisions of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States and for the purpose of better assuring by the several States under said amendment equal protection and due process of law to all persons charged with or suspected or convicted of any offense within their jurisdiction. DEFINITIONS SEC. 2. Any assemblage of two or more persons which shall, without authority of law, (a) commit or attempt to commit violence upon the person of any citizen or citizens of the United States because of his or their race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, language, or religion, or (b) exercise or attempt to exercise, by physical violence against the person, any power of correction of punishment over any citizen or citizens of the United States or other person or persons in the custody of any peace officer or suspected of, charged with, or convicted of the commission of any criminal offense, with the purpose or consequence of preventing the apprehension or trial or punishment by law of such citizen or citizens, person or persons, or of imposing a punishment not authorized by law, shall constitute a lynch mob within the meaning of this Act. Any such violence by a lynch mob shall constitute lynching within the meaning of this Act. PUNISHING FOR LYNCHING SEC. 3. Any person whether or not a member of a lynch mob who willfully instigates, incites, organizes, aids, abets, or commits a lynching by any means whatsoever, and any member of a lynch mob, shall be guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $10,000 or by imprisonment not exceeding twenty years, or by both such fine and imprisonment. PUNISHMENT FOR FAILURE TO PREVENT LYNCHING SEC. 4. Whenever a lynching shall occur, any officer or employee of a State or any governmental subdivision thereof, who shall have been charged with the duty or shall have possessed the authority as such officer or employee to 1 |