The Southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union claimed today it had won “the right of free speech” for Ralph Forbes, a member of the American Nazi party who had been barred by the city council of Redondo Beach from holding a meeting in a public park of the city.
When the ACLU chapter challenged the ban, it agreed to act as attorney for the Nazi when he said he did not have money for legal representation. Judge Alfred Gitelson of Superior Court upheld the ACLU contention and issued an injunction to allow him to hold the meeting.
The judge held that Forbes had the rights of free speech and assembly as a citizen of the United States, that the park had previously been used for political meetings and that allowing the Nazi to hold a political meeting did not constitute “a clear and present danger.”
The city had barred the Nazi on advice of its attorney that the facilities could not be used by any individual, group or organization “deemed subversive as defined by the State of California code or which has as one of its objectives the overthrow of the government by force, or other unlawful means.”
The judge, how ever, required Forbes to post a $1, 000 bond and to file an affidavit that he would not knowingly commit an act prohibited by law and that his speech would not be calculated to incite a riot, among several conditions for holding the meeting.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
