The Kutcher Civil Rights Committee was organized in August 1948 by George E. Novack, secretary of the Civil Rights Defense Committee, to win justice for James Kutcher. Kutcher, a Purple Heart veteran and a double amputee, was dismissed from his position as a clerk in the Veterans Administration because of his membership in the Socialist Workers Party, one of several hundred groups included in the Attorney General's list of subversive organizations. Kutcher's case became the first real challenge to the government's loyalty program, giving rise to numerous court actions before Kutcher won a victory on procedural grounds in 1952. However, not until 1958 was he finally awarded a substantive victory and returned to his former position without prejudice. Two related cases involved the attempt by the government to revoke Kutcher's veteran's pensions and to evict him from a federal housing unit. In its initial phases the committee was headed by Novack, but during the early 1950s, leadership passed to George Breitman, editor of The Militant. The activities of the committee consisted of fund-raising for the legal defense and enlistment of non-partisan support from labor unions, religious organizations, educators, and civil libertarians.
