Abraham J. Isserman
{{Short description|American lawyer (1900–1988)}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Abraham J. Isserman
| honorific_suffix =
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| birth_name = Abraham J. Isserman
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1900|5|11}}
| birth_place = Belgium
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1988|4|22|1900|5|11}}
| death_place = New York City, US
| nationality = American
| other_names = A.J. Isserman, Abraham Isserman, Abe Isserman
| citizenship =
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| occupation = Labor lawyer
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| known_for = Defended Gerhart Eisler (1947) and CPUSA leaders in Foley Square trial (1949)
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| children = 1
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| relatives = Maurice Isserman (nephew)
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}}
Abraham J. Isserman (May 11, 1900 – April 22, 1988) was an American lawyer and activist who defended Gerhart Eisler in 1947 and CPUSA leaders in the Foley Square trial (1949): he was found in contempt of court by Judge Harold Medina, sentenced to four months in jail (1952), and disbarred.
{{cite news
| title = A.J. Isserman, a Labor Lawyer, Dies at 88
| newspaper = New York Times
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/25/obituaries/a-j-isserman-a-labor-lawyer-dies-at-88.html
| date = 25 April 1988
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}}
{{cite book
| first = Scott
| last = Martelle
| title = The Fear Within: Spies, Commies, and American Democracy on Trial
| publisher = Rutgers University Press
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jES6c0GQkzIC
| pages = xv (firm), 53 (birth, clients), 223 (contempt)
| date = 2011
| isbn = 9780813549385
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}}
Background
Career
Abraham J. Isserman and Morris Isserman were private attorneys at Isserman & Isserman, 24 Commerce Street, Newark, New Jersey.
{{cite web
| title = National Labor Relations Act: Hearings Before the Special Committee to Investigate National Labor Relations Board
| publisher = U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1hXRAAAAMAAJ
| page = 5071
| date = 1940
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}}
{{cite web
| title = Hearings, May 10-Aug. 1, 1940. II. Supplemental appendix to hearing of Aug. 1,.1940
| publisher = U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=17VFAQAAMAAJ
| page = 5071
| date = 1940
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}}
His clients included Edith Berkman, the New Jersey chapter of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and the union called the American Newspaper Guild.
{{cite web
| title = House Reports: 78th Congress, 2nd Session, Vol. 2
| publisher = U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WuFTAAAAIAAJ
| page = 51
| date = 1944
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}}
In the 1930s through 1941, he served as counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.
="Communist lawyer"=
File:Communist_Party_USA_(Alternate_Logo).png members during the McCarthy Era.]] Isserman was a member of the Communist Party and identified by the Federal government as one of several "communist lawyers."
{{cite web
| title = Communist Legal Subversion: The Role of the Communist Lawyer
| publisher = U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)
| url = https://archive.org/details/communistlegalsu1959unit
| date = 1959
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}}{{cite web
| title = Communist Legal Subversion: The Role of the Communist Lawyer
| publisher = U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)
| url = http://www.usasurvival.org/home/docs/NLGrprt1959.pdf
| date = 1959
| accessdate = 28 November 2016
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151014120526/http://www.usasurvival.org/home/docs/NLGrprt1959.pdf
| archive-date = 14 October 2015
| url-status = dead
}}
In 1939, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) reported that Isserman was a member of the national committee of the International Juridical Association, a communist-leaning group co-founded by Carol Weiss King and Shad Polier among others.
{{cite book
| title = Investigation of Un-American Activities and Propaganda: Report of the Special Committee on Un-American Activities
| publisher = U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)
| url = https://archive.org/details/investigationofu1939unit
| date = 1939
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}}{{cite book
| title = Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States: Hearings Before a Special Committee on Un-American Activities
| publisher = U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=VZ1YAAAAMAAJ
| date = 1944
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}}{{cite book
| title = Publications Relating to Various Aspects of Communism
| publisher = U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iLAnAQAAMAAJ
| date = 1946
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}}
In 1939, ACLU chief Roger Nash Baldwin asked Isserman to prepare a legal brief on whether witnesses could invoke the Fifth Amendment to help witnesses called before the Dies Committee (predecessor to HUAC).
{{cite book
| first = Samuel
| last = Walker
| title = In Defense of Civil Liberties: A History of the ACLU
| publisher = SIU Press
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hdkrBVJ37I4C
| page = 121
| date = 1999
| isbn = 9780809322701
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}}
In April 1943, Walter Gellhorn, then New York Regional Attorney and Assistant General Counsel (later professor of law at Columbia University, also brother of photographer Martha Gellhorn) testified before HUAC as follows:
Mr. MATTHEWS: Do you know Abraham J. Isserman?
Mr. GELLHORN: Yes.
Mr. MATTHEWS: Do you have any personal views on whether Mr. Isserman is a Communist or a communist sympathizer?
Mr. GELLHORN: I imagine the latter. I have no information on the former. I know him to be a competent attorney. I have consulted with him on one or two labor matters.{{Cite book |url=http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/metabook?id=diescommittee |title=Hearings before a Special Committee on Un-American Activities |date=1943 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) |pages=3564 |access-date=28 November 2016}}
= Gerhart Eisler trial =
In 1947, with Carol Weiss King, Isserman defended Gerhart Eisler in a trial for fraudulent passport.
{{cite book
| title = The Federal Reporter
| publisher = U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=M9w3AAAAIAAJ
| pages = 754
| date = 1949
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}} (The Federal government believed that the full "Eisler defense committee included: Max Bedacht, Dr. Felix Boenheim, Charles Collins, Eugene P. Connolly, Gustav Faber, Ida Guggenheimer, Isserman, King, Albert Maltz, and Walter Mueller.
{{cite book
| title = Investigation of un-American propaganda activities in the United States. (regarding Leon Josephson and Samuel Liptzen) Hearings
| publisher = U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)
| url = https://archive.org/stream/investigationofu1947aunit#page/76/mode/2up/search/Isserman
| pages = 77
| date = 1947
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}})
In the press, Eisler had been accused of being a mastermind for Soviet spies in the United States. On February 17, 1947, Life (magazine) magazine ran "The Career of Gerhart Eisler as a Comintern Agent" whose subtext read "Prototyp of a professional, Moscow-schooled revolutionary, he is now charged with conspiracy against the government of the U.S."
{{cite news
| first = Hugh
| last = Kay
| title = The Career of Gerhart Eisler as a Comintern Agent
| publisher = Life
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4UkEAAAAMBAJ
| date = 17 February 1947
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}}
During proceedings, Isserman stated, "I charge that this whole procedure is in bad faith and savors to me of something more."
{{cite book
| first1 = Robert
| last1 = Lamphere
| first2 = Tom
| last2 = Schachtman
| title = The FBI-KGB War: A Special Agent's Story
| publisher = Mercer University Press
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4UkEAAAAMBAJ
| pages = 60
| date = 1995
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}}
Eisler skipped bail and left the country by means of a Polish freighter.
In 1949, the court removed Eisler v. United States, 338 U.S. 189, from the docket, pending return of the fugitive Eisler.
{{cite magazine
| title = Review of Recent Supreme Court Decisions
| magazine = American Bar Association Journal
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=eOYTGNZoLn0C
| pages = 46
| date = January 1950
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}}
= Foley Square trial =
File:Benjamin J. Davis NYWTS.jpg and Benjamin J. Davis during Foley Square trial, which Isserman helped defend]] In 1949, Isserman served as one of five attorneys led by Harry Sacher as lead counsel to represent 11 members of the CPUSA's national board, accused of conspiring to teach and advocate the violent overthrow of the Government. The other three attorneys were Richard Gladstein, Louis F. McCabe, and George W. Crockett, Jr.
{{cite book
| first = Ron
| last = Christenson
| title = Political Trials in History
| publisher = Transaction Publishers
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wBdOvs2THGEC
| pages = 101
| date = 1991
| isbn = 9781412831253
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}} (Sometimes, Isserman is cited as chief counsel.
{{cite journal
| first = Gerald L.K.
| last = Smith
| title = The Cross and the Flag
| publisher = University of Michigan
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=I_7lAAAAMAAJ
| pages = 219
| date = 1947
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}}) Isserman was representing Gil Green and John Williamson.
During appeal of the conviction, Isserman and colleagues accused trial judge Harold R. Medina of improperly favoring the prosecution. The defendants lost their appeal and went to prison.
==Contempt, Disbarment==
Further, Isserman and Crockett among other defense attorneys was found in contempt of court. In 1952, Isserman went to jail for four months, despite support from groups like the National Lawyers Guild.
{{cite journal
| title = National Lawyers Guild Lawyer, Volumes 10-16
| publisher = New York Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dtwKAQAAMAAJ
| pages =
| date = 1952
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}}
In 1954, he was disbarred from law practice in the State of New Jersey.
{{cite news
| title = Isserman Disbarred by New Jersey Court
| newspaper = New York Times
| url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1952/03/25/84246242.pdf
| date = 24 March 1954
| access-date = 28 November 2016}}
Following a 1953 order, he was also disbarred from the U.S. Supreme Court (In re Isserman, 348 U.S. 1 1954).
{{cite web
| title = In re Disbarment of Isserman, 348 U.S. 1 (1954)
| publisher = Justia US Supreme Court
| url = https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/348/1/case.html
| date =
| accessdate = 28 November 2016}}
==Restoration==
In 1961, New Jersey's Supreme Court voided the disbarment and had his license restored.
Personal and death
On April 22, 1988, Isserman died in a nursing home in New York City after several strokes.
Maurice Isserman is his nephew.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{cite news
| title = Richard Cleveland Dead at 76; Lawyer Was Son of President
| newspaper = New York Times
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/11/archives/richard-cleveland-dead-at-76-lawyer-was-son-of-president.html
| date = 11 January 1974
| accessdate = 27 November 2016}}
- [http://www.gettyimages.com/photos/abraham-j.-isserman?excludenudity=true&sort=mostpopular&mediatype=photography&phrase=abraham%20j.%20isserman Getty Images]: Abraham J. Isserman
{{Authority control}}
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Category:Disbarred New Jersey lawyers
Category:Anti-communism in the United States
Category:20th-century American Jews
Category:Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government