Home
Search transcripts:    Advanced Search
Notable New     Yorkers
Select     Notable New Yorker

John B. OakesJohn B. Oakes
Photo Gallery
Transcript

Part:         Session:         Page of 512

Q:

Let me ask you a question about the McCarthy period at the Times. What was your position on the taking of the Fifth Amendment by people who were accused of being Communist?

Oakes:

I felt that the Fifth Amendment should not be considered the equivalent of admitting you were a Communist. In other words, I did not feel that people should be fired from their jobs or be dropped from their jobs or attacked for availing themselves of the Fifth Amendment.

Q:

But at one time the Times had taken that position, hadn't they?

Oakes:

Yes. I actually wrote Arthur Sulzberger Senior a long memo once. I don't know if this has ever -- [Knock on Door] maybe we should stop for lunch -- I did feel that it was wrong to fire people if they took the Fifth Amendment, because that was a constitutional protection anybody had a right to avail themselves of, even though I thought the probability was that the people who availed themselves of the Fifth Amendment were doing so, probably, because they had some kind of Communist connection at least. But maybe even because they didn't want to be in a position where they'd have to tell on other Communists. In other words, whatever the reasons were, I felt that people should not be penalized for availing themselves of an absolutely clear constitutional protection. I felt that was a civil right that every American had and that it was wrong to drop them.

I wrote Arthur Sulzberger a letter, a memo, somewhat to this effect. I don't remember exactly. I haven't looked at -- I don't even know if I have a copy of it. I doubt that I do. But to the best of my recollection now, without having refreshed my memory on this-- the best of my recollection is that somewhere in the early '50s -- and it was in connection not so much with





© 2006 Columbia University Libraries | Oral History Research Office | Rights and Permissions | Help