Documenting the American South Logo
Collections >> Oral Histories of the American South >> Document Menu
Oral History Interview with Daniel H. Pollitt, November 27, 1990. Interview L-0064-1. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).
Audio with Transcript
  • Listen Online with Text Transcript (Requires QuickTime and JavaScript)
  • Transcript Only (43 p.)
  • HTML file
  • XML/TEI source file
  • Download Complete Audio File (MP3 format / ca. 170 MB, 01:33:20)
  • MP3
  • Abstract
    This is the first interview in a nine-part series of interviews with civil liberties lawyer Daniel H. Pollitt. Pollitt begins the interview with a discussion of his family history. Born in 1921, Pollitt was the son of World War I veteran and lawyer Basil Hubbard Pollitt and Mima Riddiford Pollitt. After describing his father's career as a professor and lawyer, Pollitt explains his mother's pursuit of her own legal career. In 1938, Pollitt's mother earned her law degree and went to work for the Justice Department. Shortly thereafter, she divorced Pollitt's father and became the sole provider for her family, working as a civil liberties lawyer well into her eighties. Pollitt describes how he met his wife, Jean Ann Rutledge, and offers a brief overview of her family history, noting that both Jean Ann and her father were lawyers, as well. Pollitt then turns his attention to his own decision to pursue a degree in law. After serving in World War II, Pollitt—though not initially drawn to the legal profession—earned a law degree at Cornell University in 1949. Following his graduation, Pollitt worked for the law firm MacFarland and Sellers for one year, where he helped to represent the National Association of Manufacturers. In 1950, Pollitt went to clerk for Judge Henry Edgerton at the United States Court of Appeals, hoping to establish credentials appropriate for the pursuit of a career in legal education. After his clerkship, Pollitt went to work with Joseph Rauh, head of Americans for Democratic Action, and spent the next several years defending liberals accused by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) of having communist ties. Pollitt devotes considerable time to a series of lively anecdotes regarding the loyalty and security cases he worked on during the early McCarthy era. In particular, he describes his work in defending the Brooklyn Eagle (a newspaper that HUAC accused of communist affiliations), playwright Lillian Hellman, and the United Auto Workers, and he briefly outlines the "passport hearings" of former communist Max Shachtman. The interview concludes with Pollitt's discussion of his decision to become a professor at the University of Arkansas in the mid-1950s, at which time he joined the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and also became involved with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1955, Pollitt refused to sign the state's required loyalty oath for educators because it asked teachers and professors to disclose involvement in groups like the NAACP.
    Excerpts
  • Legal career of Mima Riddiford Pollitt
  • Defending various writers against HUAC
  • Tactics of defense against HUAC
  • Refusal to sign loyalty oath at the University of Arkansas
  • Learn More
  • Finding aid to the Southern Oral History Program Collection
  • Database of all Southern Oral History Program Collection interviews
  • The Southern Oral History Program transcripts presented here on Documenting the American South undergo an editorial process to remove transcription errors. Texts may differ from the original transcripts held by the Southern Historical Collection.

    Funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this title.