Marc on the Smith Act

Rep. Vito Marcantonio had no use for the Smith Act.

Marc told the House, in debate over the bill: “In a period as trying as this period, the test of democracy lies in the ability of that democracy to maintain its liberties, to preserve those liberties, and to have more freedom rather than less freedom.” 

Rep. Joseph Gavagan (D-N.Y.) asked Marcantonio if a democracy didn’t have a right to defend itself, which was something like a fastball down the middle that wasn’t so fast.  

“A democracy has a perfect right to protect itself,” said Marcantonio, “but remember this: you are not protecting democracy by this legislation. Spies and saboteurs will not register nor submit to fingerprinting… I believe spies and saboteurs and anybody who engages in illegal activity should be immediately apprehended and severely punished. You do not accomplish that end by this bill. You only undermine American freedom.” 

Law already existed to root out spies and prevent sabotage, Marcantonio noted.

In “Vito Marcantonio: Radical in Congress,” Alan Schaffer wrote that to the East Harlemite, the Smith Act was nothing more than an attempt at legislative intimidation of the politically unpopular, especially that běte noire of the Congress, the radical left.” 

The imprisonment of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, among others, under the act confirmed Marcantonio’s suspicions. 

Marc was one of four congressmen who voted against the bill.

“Nothing illustrates the temper of the times more than that overwhelming defeat,” Schaffer concluded.  

"The Goodfather (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here: MARC LIVES