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Archie Brown

Released
Gender:Male
Race:White
Era:1960s
State:California
Support
Communism Labor Organizing
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Biography

Archie Brown was an executive-board member of ILWU Local 10 in San Francisco and an open Communist who, in May 1961, became the first person indicted under the Landrum-Griffin Act's provision barring Communists from holding union office — after his union elected him to office. His prosecution became the Supreme Court case United States v. Brown.

Case

Charges: Landrum-Griffin Act
Sentence: Faced up to a year and $10,000; challenged the law Charges as recorded: Landrum-Griffin Act — a Communist holding union office
Convicted: Indicted May 1961; freed on $5,000 bail