| Harold I. Cammer | |
|---|---|
Cammer speaking at a rally in Atlantic City, N.J. |
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| Born | June 18, 1909 Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | October 21, 1995 (aged 86) Mamaroneck, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Known for | Founder, National Lawyers Guild |
Harold I. Cammer (June 18, 1909 – October 21, 1995) was an American lawyer who co-founded the National Lawyers Guild. He was known for his participation in labor law, civil rights, peace and justice issues, and freedom of speech cases; in particular, defending those accused of communist leanings.
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Cammer was born in June 1909 in the borough of Manhattan in New York City to Harry and Anne (Boriskin) Cammer, poor immigrants from the Russian Empire.[1][2] He attended New York City public schools and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1929 from City College.[2] He attended Harvard Law School on a full scholarship,[3] receiving a Doctor of Law degree (cum laude) in 1932.[2] He married the former Florence Glantz on January 25, 1936; the couple had two children, Robert and Margaret.[2]
He began practicing law with the firm of Boudin & Wittenberg from 1932 to 1933, and Zalkin & Cohen from 1933 to 1936.[2][3] In 1936, he joined his long-time friend Lee Pressman in the firm of Liebman, Robbins, Pressman & Leider, and stayed with the firm until 1941.[2] In 1937, Cammer was one of the co-founders of the National Lawyers Guild,[1][4] the nation's first racially integrated bar association and an organization dedicated to achieving economic, racial, and social justice through the legal system.[5] The National Lawyers Guild was branded a communist front by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Department of Justice, and (later) the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).[4][6] After his friend, Nathan Witt, resigned from the National Labor Relations Board following accusations in December 1940 that he was a member of the Communist Party (CPUSA), Cammer formed the law firm of Witt & Cammer in 1941.[2][7]
Cammer interrupted his legal career to serve in the United States military during World War II.[3]
After the war, Cammer returned to the firm of Witt & Cammer. The firm changed its name briefly to Pressman, Witt & Cammer after Lee Pressman joined it in 1948,[8] But Pressman became caught up in the Alger Hiss perjury case, the result of his involvement in the 1930s in the so-called "Ware group" of communist sympathizers at the United States Department of Agriculture. HUAC began investigating Pressman and Witt (also a member of the group) and the stress began to wear Pressman down, even causing him to become paranoid to a degree.[9] Pressmen left the firm peremptorily in 1949.[9] Testifying again before HUAC in 1950, Pressman named Witt as a member of the CPUSA and the Ware group.[10] Cammer represented Witt and fellow attorney John Abt before HUAC in the 1950 hearings.[11]
Cammer's legal practice focused on labor law. Among his clients were the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO),[3] the United Brewery Workers union,[3] the Teachers Guild (a forerunner to the United Federation of Teachers of New York City),[12] the Teachers Union (a local union which had been ejected by the American Federation of Teachers for being communist-dominated and which, in the 1950s, belonged to the United Public Workers of America),[12] the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers,[13] the International Fur & Leather Workers Union,[13] the Bakery, Confectionery and Tobacco Workers union,[13] the International Woodworkers of America,[13] the United Public Workers of America,[13] and the Amalgamated Meat Cutters.[3] In 1945, he also helped represent the Seamen's Joint Action Committee, a CIO-backed insurgent group which allied with three CIO longshoremen's unions to challenge corrupt International Longshoremen's Association president Joseph Ryan.[14] In many cases, he represented union members and others who had been accused of being members of the CPUSA or harboring communist views.[3] In 1968, Cammer played a different role in labor union issues. He served as the New York City Public Schools trial examiner in a case involving several teachers disciplined outside the collective bargaining agreement with the United Federation of Teachers.[15] His involvement was part of the circumstances which led to the Ocean Hill-Brownsville strike.
Cammer was chief defense counsel for Fur and Leather Workers' Union President Ben Gold after Gold was accused of lying when he submitted his Taft-Hartley Act-required anti-communist oath. Cammer was held in contempt of court in June 1954 for sending a questionnaire to potential grand jurors in the case.[16] Although Cammer lost his appeal, a unanimous Supreme Court of the United States overturned his conviction in Cammer v. United States, 350 U.S. 399 (1956).[17][18][19]
Cammer was interested in more than labor law issues. He worked as a pro bono attorney in the civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s.[1][3] He also defended nearly 700 students arrested during the Columbia University protests of 1968.[1][3] Cammer and his son, Robert Cammer (also an attorney) were members of the Lawyers Committee on American Policy Towards Vietnam. In 1965, they wrote a widely circulated memorandum entitled "American Policy Vis-a-Vis Vietnam" which concluded that American involvement in the Vietnam War was illegal.[1][3]
After Witt retired, Ralph Shapiro was elevated to partner and Cammer's firm changed its name to Cammer & Shapiro.
Cammer retired from an active legal practice in the mid-1980s. He died at his home in Mamaroneck, New York, on October 21, 1995.[3] He was survived by his wife, son, daughter, grandson, and two great-granddaughters.
Cammer's papers are held at the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives at New York University.[20]