Goldring, Benjamin

Benjamin Goldring (1912-2000) was a graduate of Columbia University Law School and was very active in the fields of civil liberties and civil rights law. He worked on Immigration Board, Court of Appeals and Supreme Court cases, assisted Carol King, Esq. in the Schneiderman Case and worked on the legal appeals of Longshormen's Union leader Harry Bridges. He was also a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, having served in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, and fought in many of the famous battles of the War, where he was seriously wounded five times. During the 1950s he became deeply involved in the defense of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and Morton Sobell, all accused of espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union. For decades after their trials Goldring devoted himself to organized efforts to reverse theirconvictions. In March 1990 he suffered a severe stroke which left himdisabled for the last decade of his life.

Benjamin (Ben) Goldring and Muriel Goodman Goldring were lifelong political activists. Ben Goldring, a lawyer by profession, served in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War, and later in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Both Goldrings were active in the committees organized to fight the conviction and execution of the Rosenbergs and the imprisonment of Morton Sobell. As a specialist in civil liberties law, Ben Goldring gave his time and expertise to the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (VALB) in their legal battle against the Subversive Activities Control Board (SACB) from the 1950s to the 1970s; he was also a active member of the National Lawyers Guild. In addition to her work with the Rosenberg and Sobell Committees, Muriel Goldring became involved in a wide range of local and national political causes. The Goldrings closely followed national political developments in many areas, from the peace movement to immigrants' and prisoners' rights, and were also community activists in Brooklyn, where they lived.

Benjamin Goldring was born in 1912 and died in 2000. He was educated at Erasmus Hall High School and Brooklyn College. He graduated from Columbia Law School and passed the New York State Bar in 1934. A veteran of the Spanish Civil War, he fought on the Republican side as a member of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion from 1937-1938. Arriving in Spain on March 17, 1937, he first saw action at Villaneuva de la Canada and Brunete and was wounded five times, two of which required hospital stays. He was a member of the National Guard of New York State (1936-1937) and then of the United States Army (1940-1941), re-enlisting in 1942 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and serving in the Pacific Theater until his honorable discharge in 1945. He was active in the Civil Rights Congress, and the National Lawyers Guild (NLG). Remaining active in social and political organizations, Ben Goldring wrote many articles and tracts concerning the law and its application. He also wrote in defense of the publication of a minority report on Israeli treatment of Palestinian prisoners as a counter point to the majority paper published by the NLG after a trip to Israel in 1977.

Among his notable legal activities were: assisting Carol King Esq. with the William Schneiderman case, researching the possible transfer of Morton Sobell from Alcatraz federal prison, and representing a fellow Lincoln Brigade veteran before the Subversive Activities Control Board (SACB). He was gratified when, in the 1970s, the Lincoln Veterans finally won their long legal battle to remove the "subversive" stigma from their organization. Benjamin Goldring was also instrumental in obtaining the release of Lencio Pena (a decorated American soldier and Spanish citizen), imprisoned in Spain for anti-Franco activity. In 1982 he secured copies of the testimony of Lincoln Brigade veterans before the SACB and deposited them in the Lincoln Brigade's archives, with his own notes on the case.

Muriel Goodman Goldring (1918-2007) was born, raised, and educated in Brooklyn, NY. She attended Erasmus Hall High School and took classes at Cornell University, City College of New York, and Brooklyn College. She worked at various times as an accountant and as a high school teacher, and was involved in amateur theater and traditional British folk dancing. She was a leading member of the National Committee to Reopen the Rosenberg Case and the Committee to Free Morton Sobell, turning her hand to publicity, letter-writing, and the organizing of public events. These committees agitated first for a stay of execution for the Rosenbergs, and later for their vindication and for the release of Morton Sobell from prison. She became very close to Sobell's wife Helen.

The Goldrings were married in 1951, and stayed connected with their family and friends through extensive correspondence. They shared a passion for social causes and were aware of and or active in many liberal and radical organizations; they also shared a keen interest in cultural pursuits and foreign travel.