Speech #810293521

Bridges filed a Form A2213. which is entitled "Preliminary Form for Declaration of Intention." It might be stated that on all of these forms. Bridges made the misstatements as to his exact marital status and the number of children he claimed to have had. In a release dated March 1938. the Department of Labor stated briefly that Bridges had first been charged with communism in 1934 and that an investigation was made at that time and a report was filed on February 2. 1935. but that no action was taken until the fall of 1937. when certain persons filed new complaints against Bridges in the Seattle District of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. which was then operating under the Department of Labor. An investigation of these new charges was made during the winter of 1937 and on March 5. 1938. Bridges was served with a warrant and was given a preliminary examination at the Baltimore Office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. As a result of this hearing. Bridges was held for a hearing on deportation charges. During the summer of 1939. a deportation hearing involving Harry Bridges was held before James M. Landis. who at the time was dean of the Harvard Law School. On December 28. 1938. Dean Landis turned in his verdict in which he said. "The evidence. therefore. establishes that Harry R. Bridges neither is a member of. nor affiliated with. the Communist Party of the United States of America." On February 14. 1941. Harry Bridges was again arrested and held for deportation on a charge that after entering the United States he had been a member of. or affiliated with. an organization. association. society or group that believes in. advocates or teaches the overthrow by force and violence of the Government of the United States. From March 3. 1941. through June 12. 1941. hearings were held in connection with this second deportation charge. A New York Times review of the Bridges case notes that in 1941. Special Immigration Examiner Sears ruled that Harry Bridges was a Communist. but that in 1942. the Board of Immigration Appeals found that he was not. On May 28. 1942. Hon. Francis Biddle. Attorney General of the United States. in a deportation proceeding entitled "Re: Bridges" made a finding that the Communist Party is an organization that advocates the overthrow by force and violence of the Government of the United States. On the same date. an order of deportation was made by the Attorney General against Bridges. On January 30. 1945. the Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments on the Bridges case. On April 2. 1945. the Court reviewed the facts of the Bridges case. On June 19. 1945. the Supreme Court ruled. 5 to 3. that the deportation order issued against Harry Bridges was illegal. Justices Douglas. Black.