Title: William Moses Kunstler Speech
Inclusive Dates: 1968

Creator:

• Kunstler, William Moses, 1919-

Call Number: Audio 821A

Quantity: 2 tape recordings

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Speech, June 24, 1968, by William Kunstler, a lawyer well known for his defense of radical clients and issues. The speech, which was presented before an unidentified national meeting of Unitarians, concerns political repression of dissent, especially that of black activist H. Rap Brown (Jamil Al-Amin), a Kunstler client.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-audi00821a

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

The attorney William Kunstler first became a public figure in the early 1960s when he went to the South to work in the civil rights movement. But events in 1968 compelled Kunstler to begin taking on clients who promoted a full variety of radical causes. Only about two months after these tapes were recorded, eight prominent radical protesters were arrested in Chicago following disturbances at the Democratic Party National Convention. Kunstler later defended the group in court and became as fully identified with the charges in the public mind as were the defendants themselves. His flamboyance and didactic approach to the law made Kunstler many journalists' favorite radical lawyer.

Kunstler was born in 1920 in New York City. He attended Yale University and Columbia University Law School. In the 1950s he maintained a small conventional law practice with his brother but also wrote, lectured, and taught. Through most of the 1960s he worked primarily in support of civil rights. His autobiographical book of 1966, Deep in My Heart, was devoted entirely to civil rights issues and was prefaced with essays by James Foreman and Martin Luther King Jr.

These tapes record a speech Kunstler presented to a national meeting of Unitarians (location unknown) on June 24, 1968. Its subject is the trend toward political repression of dissent; its special focus is the numerous federal prosecutions of H. Rap Brown, a well-known black activist who was briefly chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. The speech itself is complete on Tape No. 1. A short question-and-answer session is recorded on Tape No. 2, Side 1. (The audio introduction on the three sides of user cassette tapes refers to Tape 1, Side 1, Parts 1, 2, and 3 rather than to Tape 1, Side 1 and 2 and Tape 2, Side 1. That audio introduction pertains to the original reel-to-reel tape, not to the cassette copies used by researchers.)

The tapes of this presentation have two tracks: a voice track containing the presentation itself and a time track containing time announcements at intervals of approximately five seconds. The abstract below lists, in order of presentation, the topics covered on the tape, and indicates the time-marking at which point each particular segment begins.

Thus, the researcher by using a tape recorder's fast-forward button may find expeditiously and listen to discrete segments without listening to all of the taped presentation. For instance, the user who wishes to listen to the remarks about “SUBSEQUENT ARRESTS AND PROSECUTIONS OF H. RAP BROWN” should locate the place on the second track of side one where the voice announces the 11:50 time-marking (the voice says at this point, “eleven minutes, fifty seconds”), and at this point switch to the first track to hear the commentary. The discussion on “SUBSEQUENT ARRESTS AND PROSECUTIONS OF H. RAP BROWN”, continues until approximately 13:30 at which point the next topic (“RECENT TRIAL IN NEW ORLEANS”) begins.

Notice that in many cases sentences beneath each headline explain more about the content of the topic. For example the sentences underneath “SUBSEQUENT ARRESTS AND PROSECUTIONS OF H. RAP BROWN” give further details on what appears on the tape between 11:50 and 13:30.

Statements, questions, and answers that have been transcribed verbatim from the tape to the abstract are given in quotation marks. Other entries in the abstract are either paraphrases or condensed topical statements. At certain points the abstract may give the researcher information about the quality of the sound on the tape, the identity of a speaker, the continuity of a discussion or answer, or other aspects of the recorded presentation as they occur. Information of this kind appears in brackets.

The abstract is designed to provide a brief outline of the content of the tapes and cannot serve as a substitute for listening to them. However, the abstract will help the researcher easily locate distinct topics among the many minutes of presentation.

Acquisition Information

Donated anonymously. Accession Number: M72-028

Processing Information

Processed by Thomas S. Flory, July 25, 1980.

Audio 821A Tape/Side   1/1 Time   00:00	Introduction
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   00:45	Preliminary Remarks
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   01:25	Time to Speak Truth About Repression Scope and Content Note: Trend toward repression today irresistible.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   02:50	Everyone Participates in Repression Scope and Content Note: All are “malefactors”, but with different motives.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   03:40	Meaning of First Amendment Scope and Content Note: First amendment aims to protect right of dissent even at risk of turning speech into action. Jefferson's concept of first amendment: every twenty years established structure of government should be replaced.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   05:00	H. Rap Brown Is Best Example That Advocates of Change Are Persecuted Today Scope and Content Note: Biographical background on Brown, Chairman of SNCC. Became publicly known for flamboyance, not for his program.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   06:40	Brown's Legal Troubles Started in Cambridge, Maryland, July 24, 1967 Scope and Content Note: Indicted for “counselling arson” when elementary school set afire after Brown's speech. Brown shot by deputy sheriff that day and left Cambridge.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   09:30	Brown Arrested by FBI in Washington, D.C., July 26, 1967 Scope and Content Note: FBI broke agreement to allow Kunstler to deliver Brown to them. Charges dropped when Kunstler arranged for writ of habeas corpus.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   11:50	Subsequent Arrests and Prosecutions of H. Rap Brown Scope and Content Note: Immediately re-arrested by Alexandria, Virginia, police. Thereafter “rain of prosecutions” designed to silence Brown.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   13:30	Recent Trial in New Orleans Scope and Content Note: Charged with carrying rifle across state boundaries while under indictment. Indictment timed to make firearms offense unavoidable.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   15:55	Remarks About National Firearms Act Scope and Content Note: Unique and obsolete law. Invoked only to silence Brown. Brown generates more fear than others who violate same law repeatedly but are not charged.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   18:05	First Amendment Repeatedly Violated in U.S. History Scope and Content Note: One may speak openly only if no one fears he may succeed. Brown incited fear.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   19:40	Brown Said Only What Kerner Report Had Already Said
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   20:25	Tragedy of the H. Rap Brown Case Scope and Content Note: Success in prosecuting Brown will have “chilling effect” on free speech. In 1965 U.S. Supreme Court warned such an effect could occur. Now even Supreme Court becoming fearful.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   22:25	Violence Is “Only Political Weapon the Black Man Has” Scope and Content Note: Whites becoming increasingly afraid of black violence, but negotiated progress in race relations no longer possible.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   23:45	Same Kinds of Repression Are Being Used Against Vietnam War Dissenters Scope and Content Note: Indictments against Benjamin Spock and William Sloane Coffin signal new wave of repression.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   24:55	Student Protest Against Racism and War Scope and Content Note: Serious revolutionary thinking. All levels of government now in action against students. Prejudicial remarks of Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   26:50	Columbia University Protests Scope and Content Note: Comparisons of students' methods with those of the suffragettes and of Walter Reuther and the UAW. Sit-ins necessary and successful.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   28:05	A Fundamental Problem of Our Age Scope and Content Note: What does mankind do when protests go unheard? People have right to change system in any way, by any means.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   29:00	End of Tape 1, Side 1
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   00:00	Introduction
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   00:30	[Continuation of Remarks Begun at 28:05, Side 1]
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   00:55	Columbia University Protests Scope and Content Note: Summary of events. Protest over displacing local residents to build new gymnasium. Students Imitated Walter Reuther's methods. Black students wanted their protest to be separate. White students agreed. Police reaction created dramatic confrontation: Martin Luther King's formula. Thereafter student strike had wide support. Survival of university not necessary.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   05:20	First Amendment Originated in Revolt Scope and Content Note: Summary of revolutionary events in colonial America. Institutional violence was necessary. Protests will be heard one way or another. Civil War: violence was last but necessary resort.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   08:10	Revolutionaries Are Born out of Blocked Protest Scope and Content Note: Violence has been selective so far but many become general. Repression will become comprehensive. Government will tolerate only “pleasant protest.”
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   10:45	Current Failure to Stand Up for Basic Principles Scope and Content Note: Comparison with Nazi Germany: if Americans do not fight for principles they have no right to criticize Germans for not overthrowing Hitler. Comparison of H. Rap Brown to Patrick Henry: everyone has right to speak out as they did. Today's revolutions just as natural as those past.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   16:40	Americans Losing Right of Dissent Scope and Content Note: Current period worse than Joseph McCarthy years. Ramsey Clark today's enemy.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   17:55	Closing: Two Literary Illustrations of His Points
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   18:55	Robert Browning's Poem “The Ring and The Book” Scope and Content Note: Every man fights inner battle. Will he be able to do the just thing if it will ruin him and if no one will know if he chooses not to do it?
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   23:50	Melville's Idealization of Good and Evil Scope and Content Note: Man must always rise up against evil, even if winning is not possible.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   26:35	Browning and Melville Exemplify Kunstler's Message
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   28:40	End of Tape 1, Side 2
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   00:00	Introduction
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   00:35	[Answer to Question from Floor, Begun in Progress.] Demerits of U.S. Senate Bill Now Under Consideration Scope and Content Note: Bill has effect of repealing important Supreme Court decisions affecting civil rights and liberties. Recently signed “Crime Bill” includes some of current Senate bill's provisions. Crime Bill is racist.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   01:55	[Answer Continues.] Senate Bill Designed to Incite Fear Scope and Content Note: Refers to “world-wide Communist conspiracy.” Has effect of reinstating McCarren Act. List of bill's sponsors.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   05:30	Question: What Is the Bill's Number?
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   05:30	Answer: Senate Bill 2988 Scope and Content Note: Introduced in February.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   05:55	Question: Doesn't the Bill Also Attempt to Repeal Decisions of Supreme Court Striking Down Laws Against Subversive Teachers?
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   06:15	Answer: Yes, and Many Other Supreme Court Decisions Scope and Content Note: Crime Bill, now passed, even denies right of judicial review of Crime Bill itself.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   06:50	Question: [Inaudible.]
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   06:55	Answer: Supreme Court Can Ignore That Provision of Crime Bill
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   07:10	Question: Doesn't Supreme Court Have Constitutional Privilege of Judicial Review?
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   07:15	Answer: No; Supreme Court “Usurped” That Privilege
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   08:00	Comment from Audience: Constitutional Amendment Necessary to Deny Judicial Review
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   08:15	Reply: “There Is Another Way” Scope and Content Note: President may choose to ignore Court ruling. Congress could limit Court's jurisdiction.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   10:00	[Reply Continues.] Marbury vs. Madison Scope and Content Note: Description of case that established judicial review.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   13:25	Question: [Missed by Recorder Operator]
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   13:30	Answer: “What Is Constitutional and Unconstitutional Is...What The Judges Say...”
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   14:30	Question: [Missed by Recorder Operator]
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   14:30	Answer: A Current Trend Among Black People Is Strong Urge to Separate Scope and Content Note: Not Elijah Muhammad's kind of separatism. Blacks want to resist feelings of dehumanization and inferiority. Growing evidence blacks want to be separate but equal.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   19:10	Question: [Inaudible]
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   19:15	Answer: Black Separatism Is Meant to Last for Generations
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   20:45	Question: [Missed by Recorder Operator]
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   20:45	Answer: Separatism Threatens White Americans Scope and Content Note: Separatism shows dissatisfaction with established values and with idea of America as land of “one people.” Working within system puts blacks at mercy of whites.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   22:45	End of Presentation and Responses to Questions