May 13, 2013
HUAC RIOT AT SAN FRANCISCO'S CITY HALL WAS THE BEGINNING OF STUDENT PROTESTS OF 1960s
San Francisco, California (JFK+50) On May 13, 1960, 53 years ago today, student protesters opposing hearings held at City Hall here in San Francisco by the House Un-American Activities Committee*, were attacked by local police.
San Francisco City Hall Riot
May 13, 1960
San Francisco History Center
San Francisco Public Library
*HUAC, created in 1938 to investigate disloyal and subversive activities, became a standing committee of the House of Representatives in 1945. The original committee of 9 congressmen was headed by Rep. Edward J. Hart of New Jersey.
The HUAC, made famous by its role in the 1948 subversion trial of Alger Hiss, was disbanded in 1975. President Harry S Truman once called the HUAC the "most un-American thing in the country today."
The hearings, which had been underway for two consecutive days, were part of the HUAC's effort to investigate subversive threats and propaganda.
The students, from the University of California, Berkeley**, Stanford and other local colleges, were denied entrance to the hearings because they did not have the required passes.
**UC, Berkeley had a history of student political activism dating back to the 1930s. In the 1950s, SLATE, a campus political party, raised issues of free speech and academic freedom as well as student rights to hold positions on racial discrimination, capital punishment, civil liberties, war and peace and farm labor.
The protesting students were fire-hosed by San Francisco City Police as they stood on the marble steps of City Hall. According to some reports, students were dragged down the steps beneath the Rotunda.
San Francisco City Hall Riot
May 13, 1960
San Francisco History Center
San Francisco Public Library
64 students were arrested while 4 were hospitalized. 8 police officers also were sent to the hospital.
One student protester, Becky Jenkins, later recalled...
"It felt like a break of tradition...it was like the beginning of building a new coalition in San Francisco...professors and students...trade unionists...telling the HUAC that we had had enough."
San Francisco City Hall Riot
May 13, 1960
San Francisco History Center
San Francisco Public Library
According to another participant, the HUAC called off the rest of their scheduled hearings in San Francisco, left town and, to his knowledge, never held "another public hearing after that."
Charges against those arrested were eventually dropped except for one demonstrator who was acquitted in a jury trial.
William Mandel***, a Soviet affairs expert who was subpoenaed to testify before the HUAC, publicly denounced the committee in the wake of the riot.
***William "Bill" Mandel, born in 1917 in NYC, was a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institute before losing his position in the McCarthy Era. From 1958 to 1995, Mr. Mandel produced a radio program titled "Soviet Press and Periodicals" which aired on KPFA-FM, Bereley.
SOURCE
"The House Un-American Activities Committee Hearings and Riot of 1960," by Chris Carlsson, Digital Archive @ found sf, www.foundsf.org/
You Tube Video
