Lusk Committee in the United States

Introduction to the Lusk Committee

From 1919 to 1920, the Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate Seditious Activities (commonly referred to as the Lusk Committee) sought to expose those organizations and individuals who allegedly posed a threat to American democracy and capitalism. … socialist, labor, and ethnic organizations were investigated or called before the committee to account for their activities. The Lusk Committee gathered an enormous amount of information on these groups. (1)

History of the Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate Seditious Activities

Background

“In 1919, the New York State Legislature established the Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate Seditious Activities (Concurrent Resolution, March 26, 1919). This committee was given broad authority to investigate individuals and organizations in the State who were suspected of promoting the overthrow of the American government in violation of the criminal anarchy articles of the State’s Penal Code. With the exception of a minor case, this was the first time that these statutes had been implemented since their enactment in 1902 following the assassination of President McKinley by an anarchist in Buffalo. For more than a year, the committee gathered an enormous body of information on suspected radical groups by raiding organization offices and examining documents, infiltrating meetings, assisting law enforcement agents in the arrest of thousands, and subpoenaing witnesses for the committee’s hearings. The investigation generated nationwide publicity and the repressive attitude which resulted throughout the State contributed to the expulsion of five Socialist members from the New York State Assembly and the prosecution of a number of individuals on criminal anarchy charges. The committee’s investigation officially ended when it submitted its final report with recommendations to the legislature in April 1920.” (2)

Red Scare

The Lusk committee’s investigation has its origins on the “Red Scare” which occurred throughout the United States following the spreading in Europe of the ideas of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. See more information about the Red Scare here.

Lusk Committee Activities

“The Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate Seditious Activities consisted of four senators and five assemblymen. Headed by Senator Clayton R. Lusk of Cortland County, it was known popularly as the “Lusk Committee.” While most of its investigation centered on New York City, the committee also undertook investigations in Buffalo, Rochester, and Utica. Private detectives and legislative staff members assisted in the investigations, and the State Attorney General acted as the committee’s general counsel. Additionally, the committee cooperated closely with local police and district attorneys and officials from the United States Immigration Bureau and Department of Justice. During its investigation, the committee raided the headquarters of suspected radical organizations to gather evidence that these organizations advocated the overthrow of the government. Among the organizations raided were the Russian Soviet Bureau, the Rand School of Social Science, the left wing section of the Socialist Party, the Industrial Workers of the World (all located in New York City), and 73 branches of the Communist Party. Using search warrants in the raids, the committee seized thousands of documents from these organizations, retaining the originals (or making copies) for examination and, in some cases, for inclusion in its final report. In addition, the committee seized financial records and membership lists and shared them with local district attorneys throughout the State who, drawing on the lists, indicted many individuals on criminal anarchy charges. The investigation also involved committee investigators who observed mass meetings held by suspected radical groups and reported to the committee on the makeup of the audiences and the content of speeches.” (3)

The Lusk Committee’s Report

After much investigations, the committee submitted its report to the New York Senate on April 24, 1920. Read more about the Lusk Committee Report here.

Results of the Lusk Committee’s Investigation

“The effects of the committee’s investigation were short-lived. While the evidence uncovered by the committee led to the prosecution of criminal anarchy cases, of the thousands who were arrested, only a few score were charged, and only a handful convicted or deported, since little incriminating material was found within the thousands of documents seized by the committee. The proposed legislation calling for teacher loyalty oaths and expanded school licensing, though enacted for a two-year period, had little effect. Clayton Lusk was caught in an embarrassing situation in which he accepted expensive silverware from law enforcement officials; he then chose not to run for re-election. And while the committee’s evidence assisted in the expulsion of five Socialist members from the Assembly, the public outcry over the expulsions eventually led to denunciation of the committee’s work and methods.” (4)

Notes

1. The Lusk Committee: A Guide to the Records of the Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate Seditious Activities: A Guide to the Records Held in the New York State Archives. New York State Archives.
2. Id.
3. Id.
4. Id.

See Also

• Prerogative Court
• Court of Probates
• Surrogate’s Court
• Supreme Court of Judicature
• Court of Chancery
• Secretary of State’s Office
• Department of Taxation and Finance
• Probate

Further Reading

• John Arneson, “The Legal Angle in the Surrogate’s Office,” Tree Talks, 3 (1963), 7-9, 74-76.
• Rosalie F. Bailey, Guide to Genealogical and Biographical Sources for New York City (Manhattan), 1783-1898 (New York: 1954).
• Arlene H. Eakle and L. Ray Gunn, Descriptive Inventory of the New York Collection (Finding Aids to the Microfilmed Manuscript Collection of the Genealogical Society of Utah, Number 4) (Salt Lake City: 1980).
• Estelle M. Guzik, ed., Genealogical Resources in New York, rev. ed. (New York: 2003).
• Leo Hershkowitz, ed., Wills of Early New York Jews (1704-1799) (New York: 1967).
• Herbert A. Johnson, “The Prerogative Court of New York, 1686-1776,” American Journal of Legal History, 17 (1973), 95-144.
• Roger D. Joslyn, “New York [Probate Records],” Ancestry’s Red Book: American State, County & Town Sources, ed. Alice Eichholz, rev. ed. (Salt Lake City: 1992), pp. 526-27.
• Harry Macy, Jr., “New York Probate Records before 1787,” The NYG&B Newsletter, 2:2 (Spring 1991), 11-15; “Library Resources for Research in New York Probate Records since 1787,” same, 3:1 (Spring 1992) , 3-7.
• David E. Narrett, Inheritance and Family Life in Colonial New York City (Ithaca: 1992).
• Franklin C. Setaro, “The Surrogate’s Court of New York: Its Historical Antecedents,” New York Law Forum, 2 (1956), 283-304.
• Royden W. Vosburgh, “Surrogates’ Courts and Records in the Colony and State of New York, 1664-1847,” Quarterly Journal of the New York State Historical Association, 3 (1922), 105-116.