Chapter Ten Unpopular Speakers

“I disapprove of what you say,

but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

—Voltaire

Syracuse city officials granted a permit for John Rogge, a former U.S. assistant attorney general, to speak at a public school building on March 8, 1949. The subject of his speech was to highlight racial discrimination and civil liberties. He was coming to Syracuse to talk about a New Jersey case in which three blacks had been sentenced to the electric chair for killing a storekeeper. Mr. Rogge and others believed that the sentences were unjust

On the day that the speech was to be given, authorities cancelled the permit. The Young Progressives, who sponsored the speech, arranged fo...

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