The Open Society Institute, the First Amendment Foundation, and the Nation Institute hosted a panel discussion and reception to mark the publication of Robert Sherrill’s First Amendment Felon: The Story of Frank Wilkinson, His 132,000-Page FBI File, and His Epic Fight for Civil Rights and Liberties (Nation Books).
Frank Wilkinson was a lifelong defender of the First Amendment. He was jailed in 1961 after the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) cited him for contempt, a decision the Supreme Court notoriously ratified. From 1956 to 1975, Wilkinson traveled the United States to warn of the liberties under attack by the FBI. His chief antagonist was J. Edgar Hoover, who, it was later discovered, had compiled a 132,000-page dossier on him.
Sherrill's book looks at Wilkinson's life, particularly his efforts to abolish HUAC and to defend the right to dissent in the face of a massive FBI effort to disrupt, discredit, and neutralize his work.
Moderated by Gara LaMarche, OSI vice president and director of U.S. Programs, the panel included:
- Ann Beeson, ACLU;
- Kit Gage, First Amendment Foundation;
- Paul Igasaki, Rights Working Group;
- Victor Navasky, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.