standing up for free speech - a publisher faces down mccarthyism at the height of its power

free speech during the red scare

A tale from 1950’s Las Vegas features the most powerful publisher in the city on trial for publishing an editorial that federal prosecutors allege was intended to incite the assassination of the controversial U.S. Senator Joe McCarthy.  The resulting legal proceedings were a national sensation that would involve intrigue at the highest levels of the U.S. government in an effort to defeat the destructive political environment unleashed by McCarthy’s ruthless pursuit of “communists” behind every corner.

hank greenspun: becoming one of the most powerful publishers in the west

Post-war Las Vegas was a place where people could start fresh and make a name for themselves.  One of those was Herman “Hank” Greenspun, who arrived in the small desert town in 1946 from back east.  Greenspun had worked for a period of time as an attorney back in New York City, but he said the legal profession didn’t suit him because it would entail a life “fighting for causes I couldn’t support without making moral and emotional reservations.”  

After serving during World War II, he found work in Las Vegas as a press agent for the Flamingo Hotel and Casino, the first modern-era resort to set up shop on the Strip.  Greenspun worked closely with the brains behind the Flamingo, mobster Bugsy Siegel.  Greenspun later said he had no idea about Siegel’s shady and violent past.  Besides, the job with the Flamingo didn’t last long before Greenspun established a newspaper – the Las Vegas Sun – as the direct competitor to the city’s long-standing local paper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Hank Greenspun did not confine his pursuits to journalistic endeavors. He took pride in his Jewish roots and was an enthusiastic supporter of the newfound nation of Israel. Israel was facing attack by every one of its Arab neighbors shortly after declaring independence in accordance with a U.N. resolution, but the young country lacked any significant military resources. Greenspun worked tirelessly to acquire heavy arms and send them to Israel to assist in building up the country’s military resources. In 1950, Greenspun plead guilty to federal charges of violating the Neutrality Act for his role in arming the nascent Israeli Defense Forces, paying a $10,000 fine but serving no jail time. Greenspun was later granted a full pardon by President Kennedy for violating the Neutrality Act.

joe mccarthy’s witch hunts

Around the same time that Hank Greenspun was using his role as publisher of the Las Vegas Sun to establish a base of power in the growing city of Las Vegas, a junior U.S. Senator from Wisconsin by the name of Joe McCarthy had figured out a way to make a name for himself in national politics when in 1950 he publicly claimed to have in his possession a secret list of known communist infiltrators at the State Department.  The nation was caught in the midst of a Red Scare as largely unfounded concerns about communist infiltration of American government and institutions ran rampant, allowing unscrupulous politicians such as McCarthy to thrive.

By 1953, McCarthy had parlayed what many termed “witch hunts” into becoming head of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, where he ruined the reputations of countless innocent people with false accusations of communist sympathies. It was during this time that works of art such as Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” used motifs like the Salem Witch Trials to highlight the destructive nature of McCarthy’s tactics. McCarthyism destroyed innumerable lives, with many of the targets of his unfounded investigations resorting to suicide or being blacklisted from their profession.

“near riot proportions” - greenspun and mccarthy clash in vegas

McCarthy and Greenspun would experience their first substantial clash during election season in 1952.

McCarthy was on a swing of western States, stumping for candidates he considered fellow travelers in his war on anyone suspected of communist sympathies, that brought him to Las Vegas.  On October 13, 1952, the red-baiting Senator from Wisconsin delivered a radio-broadcast speech from the stage in the auditorium of the War Memorial building before a crowd of 1,000 local Republicans.  Among those in attendance was Hank Greenspun and his wife Barbara – both were registered Republicans and strong supporters of former general Dwight Eisenhower in the upcoming presidential elections.

While McCarthy was advocating for the reelection of Nevada Senator George Malone, he charged Greenspun with being “an ex-communist” and referred to the Las Vegas Sun as being the equivalent of the well-known Communist publication “The Daily Worker.” 

Greenspun and his wife stood from their seats in the middle of McCarthy’s speech and demanded an opportunity to respond to the Senator’s allegations.  McCarthy replied that he intended to finish his speech and went on with his inflammatory rhetoric.  Rather than sit down, Greenspun yelled over McCarthy from the crowd: “You’re the most vicious type of demagogue!” and that the charge of Greenspun being an ex-communist was “the greatest lie ever told by McCarthy.”  A contemporary article in the Review-Journal said the mood in the auditorium had reached “near riot proportions.”

McCarthy attempted to finish his speech, but Greenspun had not only refused to take his seat, he walked up to the stage where the Senator was standing and noticeably waited off to the side of the stage until it was his time to respond.  A furious Joe McCarthy told Greenspun, “I’m not here to debate you!”  With that, Greenspun stormed toward the man he had routinely pilloried in his paper.  The Senator and the publisher exchanged heated words, with their exchange escalating to the point that one of McCarthy’s aides intervened to separate the two men.

McCarthy wound up his remarks, received a gift of a 10 gallon hat from a local GOP booster, and made his way for the exit of the auditorium.  Greenspun took to the microphone and harangued McCarthy, demanding that the Senator stay to listen to his response.  McCarthy ignored Greenspun and continued toward the exit, with half the audience rising to leave with the Senator.

As McCarthy exited the building, Greenspun began a 27- minute tirade before a statewide radio audience against the abusive policies and tactics of McCarthy.  Greenspun alleged that McCarthy had spent World War II behind a desk and that the Senator had tried to obtain a purple heart after breaking his leg during a beach party.  The publisher even charged that McCarthy had urged leniency for German soldiers standing trial for massacring several dozen captured American airmen during the War.  The Senator exited the hall before Greenspun concluded his response. 

And not being a man to fear the powers-that-be, Greenspun used a portion of his time to lambast Nevada’s powerful senior Senator Pat McCarran, who was also a hardline anti-communist that harbored many bigoted sentiments.  In fact, earlier that year Greenspun had publicly joked that McCarran’s recovery from a heart attack had been one of the biggest disappointments he had experienced during his time in Nevada journalism.   

For good measure, Greenspun went to the county courthouse the following day and swore an affidavit before a district judge that he was “not an admitted ex-communist.”  He offered $1,000 to anyone that could prove he had lied in his affidavit. 

“It would be more befitting the dignities of Joe’s position in society if he leaped from a 29-story building…”

Greenspun was elated when his preferred candidate Dwight Eisenhower won the presidency in November of 1952.  But he was outraged by McCarthy’s continued scorched-earth war against “communists” in American life, as well as Pat McCarran’s support for McCarthy’s crusade.  The outspoken publisher expressed his thoughts in his regular front page editorial section titled “Where I Stand.”  But an edition of “Where I Stand” published on January 8, 1954 would result in the newsman being indicted on federal charges. 

That day, copies of the Las Vegas Sun were delivered with a front-page editorial crafted by Greenspun on his Underwood typewriter that read in part:

“Senator Joe McCarthy has come to a violent end.  Huey Long’s death will be serene and peaceful compared to the demise of the sadistic bum from Wisconsin…But I would hate to see some simpleton get the chair for such a public service as getting rid of McCarthy.”

“The chances are that McCarthy eventually will be laid to rest at the hands of some poor innocent slob whose reputation and life he has destroyed through his well-established smear technique.”

“The poor victim will feel he has little to live for so he’ll get a gun and blast Joe to hades.  It will be a messy job but Joe is used to messiness.  He has created enough of it.  It would be more befitting the dignities of Joe’s position in society if he leaped from a 29-story building…”

In sum, Greenspun urged the Senator from Wisconsin to commit suicide before some “poor innocent slob” wasted his life by assassinating the legislator.  But Greenspun also veered into bigotry in his efforts to tarnish McCarthy – his editorial also charged the Senator with being the “disreputable pervert from Wisconsin” and “an immoral scoundrel” – references to an alleged same-sex relationship McCarthy shared with his top aide Roy Cohn.  Cohn and McCarthy engaged in despicable tactics, and their regular abuses of the power afforded a U.S. Senator were the proper area to attack rather than their sexual orientation.  Regardless of what resorting to such attacks indicates about Greenspun’s character, the fact is that in 1950’s America attacking the homosexual proclivities of a politician was an effective way to take down an opponent, and Greenspun made such charges an integral part of his assault on McCarthy.

free speech on trial

McCarthy got wind of the article and wanted revenge against one of the only publishers in America daring enough to take on the Senator at the height of his power.  McCarthy spoke to his friend, Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield, and demanded Greenspun be stripped of his second-class mailing privileges.  The Department of Justice soon learned of McCarthy’s complaints to the Postmaster General. 

On April 8, 1954 a federal grand jury in Las Vegas returned an indictment against the publisher of the Las Vegas Sun for mailing copies of his newspaper containing an article which tended to “incite arson, murder, or assassination.”  Greenspun faced up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine if convicted.

Greenspun was in Los Angeles when he learned of the indictment.  He responded, “As always, I am ready to stand behind anything printed in the Sun…I wouldn’t want to see [McCarthy] made a martyr.  He’s bound to destroy himself politically sooner or later.”

maneuvering in federal court

Greenspun, in 1954 and for the rest of his life until he passed away in 1989, had a reputation for never backing down.  And the publisher remained true to form even in the face of federal charges.  “We were just performing our duty to our readers to keep them fully informed of the dangers that threaten their government and their way of life,” said Greenspun when he learned of his indictment.

Greenspun retained famed attorney Edward Pierpont Morgan for his defense.  In a sign of Greenspun’s influence and notoriety in Las Vegas, then a town of less than 75,000, the presiding federal judge, Roger Foley, had to recuse himself from the case to avoid the appearance of bias after Greenspun retained both of the judge’s attorney sons for his defense team.  Unfortunately for Greenspun, the federal judge selected to replace Foley had been nominated on the recommendation of one of McCarthy’s close friends in the Senate.  This may explain why efforts by Greenspun to have the charges dismissed before trial proved unsuccessful.

a conspiracy to weaken mccarthy?

While Greenspun initially engaged in a steadfast defense of his article, his attorneys later attempted to argue Greenspun may not have written the entirety of the inflammatory article in question.  But the prosecution countered by introducing evidence that Greenspun published editorials after his indictment where he voiced his support for the article that caused him to face charges.  

The defense suffered a setback when the presiding judge ruled that the jury did not need to find that Greenspun “intended” for his article to lead to McCarthy’s assassination, but only that the article was “capable of inciting murder.”  Greenspun’s lawyers later developed a theory that the U.S. federal government was engaged in a conspiracy to harass the small-town newsman.  His defense counsel unsuccessfully argued that Senator McCarthy, Senator McCarran, and Postmaster General Summerfield had “framed” Greenspun.  In trademark fashion, Greenspun commented that McCarran had investigated me so many times “his senile brain had turned to jelly.”

Despite the judge’s ruling, there was truth to allegations of a conspiracy – just not the sort that Greenspun had alleged. 

Rumors at the time suggested McCarthy didn’t want things escalated to a prosecution of Greenspun, but that officials in the Eisenhower Administration, which was hostile to McCarthy and his tactics, pushed the prosecution as a way to embarrass McCarthy. 

The theory goes like this.  Attorney General Brownell heard about McCarthy’s complaint to the Postmaster General.  Brownell also was aware that Greenspun, who was a vocal supporter of President Eisenhower, had for some time been making allegations in the Las Vegas Sun that McCarthy was involved in “sexual perversion.”  Normally those type of accusations in the 1950’s would have been met with a libel lawsuit, but McCarthy had not brought Greenspun to court over those accusations – perhaps because the Senator knew the legal discovery process would have opened up his private life to examination.  Despite McCarthy’s lack of litigation against Greenspun, other major newspapers and publications refrained from printing the “sexual perversion” accusations against the Senator, likely preferring to avoid the wrath of the powerful politician.

But Brownell knew anything published in an official court record was privileged, meaning that newspapers could reprint what was found in court documents without fear of being sued for libel.  When Brownell’s prosecutors indicted Greenspun they included the entirety of the January 8th editorial, including a part that accused McCarthy of being a “disreputable pervert” – even though including that portion was unnecessary to support the underlying incitement charges.  Pundits at the time noted Brownell’s motive in making the “sexual perversion” charges against McCarthy privileged is supported by the fact the Department of Justice did not also indict Greenspun for “criminal libel” which prosecutors could have done if they believed the “disreputable pervert” comment to be untrue.

As Brownell expected, once Greenspun’s inflammatory column was made a part of the official court record, publications from Time Magazine to the Los Angeles Times repeated the accusations of “sexual perversion” against McCarthy. 

It is impossible to know if this conspiracy is true, but accounts of Greenspun’s arraignment indicate it was a relaxed affair and that “neither the U.S. Attorney nor the U.S. marshal nor the judge seemed much interested.” Greenspun was released without bail.

trial and verdict

After extensive pretrial procedure Greenspun’s case finally proceeded to a trial before a jury of Las Vegans on April 12, 1955 - over a year after his inflammatory editorial had been published.  Greenspun’s lawyers even made a last-ditch effort to discredit the prosecution by alleging the U.S. Attorney overseeing the case had asked the FBI to investigate prospective jurors to gain an advantage over the defense.  The same federal judge that refused multiple motions to dismiss the charges against Greenspun found no merit to the allegations of improper use of FBI resources during jury selection.

The entire defense against the charges was premised on the First Amendment.  Greenspun’s January 8th editorial, while provocative and incendiary, was in regard to an elected official – exactly the type of speech that was intended to be given the highest level of protection under the Constitution.  But the presiding judge commented freedom of the press does not mean “unbridled license.”

After almost three hours of deliberations, the jury sided with Greenspun and acquitted him of the charges. As Greenspun left from the courthouse a free man, his attorney – a dedicated civil rights advocate - handed him an unpaid bill for $11,000 that read “Paid in Full.”

greenspun and mccarthy: success and ruin

Greenspun went on to contribute to Nevada’s political and cultural life for more than three decades after his acquittal.  He made an unsuccessful run for governor and became one of the largest real estate developers in Southern Nevada. 

Joe McCarthy, on the other hand, was officially censured by his colleagues in the Senate for his cruel tactics while overseeing his Senate committee.  McCarthy became a pariah within the Senate, and in 1957 McCarthy’s addictions to alcohol and heroin led to his death at 48 years of age. 

When some speculated Greenspun’s non-stop attacks in his paper had hounded McCarthy to death, Greenspun said he hoped that was the case.