Marshall, George, 1904-2000

George Marshall, born in 1904, was the son of Louis Marshall, noted constitutional lawyer and co-founder of the American Jewish Committee, and Florence Lowenstein. He was raised in Manhattan with his sister, Ruth, and brothers, James and Robert. Marshall attended the Ethnical Culture School, continued his education at Columbia University and the Brookings Institution, where he received his PhD in economics. From 1934 to 1937, Marshall worked as an economist for the National Recovery Administration under Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Along with his wife, Elisabeth Dublin, Marshall shifted focus to left-wing politics in New York City and served as chairman of the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties and the Civil Rights Congress. In 1950, he was convicted of contempt for refusal to turn over records of the organization and sent to federal prison for three months. During the 1950s and 1960s, Marshall lived in Los Angeles where he raised his son, Roger, and daughter, Nancy. George Marshall also had a career as a leading conservationist. He spent his childhood at along the shores of Saranac Lake, New York, where he and his brother, Bob, climbed all 46 Adirondack peaks taller than 4,000 feet, an accomplishment that made him a charter member of the "46ers." After his brother's early death, Marshall became a trustee of the Robert Marshall Wilderness Fund, which supported conservation activities. Marshall made major contributions for over 50 years to both The Wilderness Society, which was founded by his brother, and the Sierra Club. Throughout those years, he served in many official capacities as well as editing The Wilderness Society's magazine, The Living Wilderness. He also compiled and edited Bob Marshall's notebooks on the Alaskan wilderness and published, Alaska Wilderness: Exploring the Central Brooks Range. Marshall moved to London, England until late in his life and returned to the United States following the death of his wife in 1993. He died on May 2000 in Nyack, New York.

George Marshall was a leading advocate for the abolition of the Un-American Activities Committee of the United States House of Representatives (HUAC), a noted conservationist, and a pioneer in the U.S. civil rights movement. He chaired the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties (NFCL) between 1941 and 1946 and its successor organization, the Civil Rights Congress, between 1946 and 1950. He was also a trustee and the manager of the Robert Marshall Foundation. He was cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over lists of NFCL contributors to HUAC and served three months in jail in 1950. He died in 2000.

The National Federation for Constitutional Liberties was founded at a national conference on civil liberties held in Washington, D.C. in June 1940. Its mission was to coordinate the activities of its member organizations toward the realization of greater democratic freedoms. Under Marshall's stewardship, it supported vigorous prosecution of the war effort and made the fight against "native seditionists" and their supporters in Congress one of its chief concerns. It also led numerous anti-lynching, anti-poll tax and anti-discrimination in employment legislative campaigns. Its legal work through hired attorneys and public opinion campaigns encompassed the defense of Communist leaders Harry Bridges and Earl Browder, and victims of Jim Crow justice Samuel Buckhannon and Willie McGee. Its labor advocacy included protection of the Wagner Act against encroachments from anti-New Deal legislative proposals, and the defense of government employees labeled as subversive by the Kerr Committee.

NFCL merged with the International Labor Defense in 1946 to form the Civil Rights Congress. The Congress continued the Federation's fight against discrimination, and organized the legal defense of victims of Jim Crow justice and advocates of radical causes. It also inherited the enmity of the Wood-Rankin Committee in Congress which labeled it a "Communist front." Marshall was elected CRC chairman at CRC's founding conference in 1946. He was active in the McGee case and in the campaign to save the Trenton Six. William Patterson, CRC National Secretary, called him "one of the outstanding leaders in the fight against Jim Crow." Marshall was also Secretary of the CRC Bail Fund, established in 1946 as a separate body with five trustees responsible for its operation. He resigned from the Bail Fund in September 1949 and from the Civil Rights Congress in June 1950.

Biographical Information

George Marshall, born in 1904, was the son of Louis Marshall, noted constitutional lawyer and co-founder of the American Jewish Committee, and Florence Lowenstein. He was raised in Manhattan with his sister, Ruth, and brothers, James and Robert. Marshall attended the Ethnical Culture School, continued his education at Columbia University and the Brookings Institution, where he received his PhD in economics. From 1934 to 1937, Marshall worked as an economist for the National Recovery Administration under Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Along with his wife, Elisabeth Dublin, Marshall shifted focus to left-wing politics in New York City and served as chairman of the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties and the Civil Rights Congress. In 1950, he was convicted of contempt for refusal to turn over records of the organization and sent to federal prison for three months. During the 1950s and 1960s, Marshall lived in Los Angeles where he raised his son, Roger, and daughter, Nancy.

George Marshall also had a career as a leading conservationist. He spent his childhood along the shores of Saranac Lake, New York, where he and his brother, Bob, climbed all 46 Adirondack peaks taller than 4,000 feet, an accomplishment that made him a charter member of the "46ers." After his brother's early death, Marshall became a trustee of the Robert Marshall Wilderness Fund, which supported conservation activities. Marshall made major contributions for over 50 years to both The Wilderness Society, which was founded by his brother, and the Sierra Club. Throughout those years, he served in many official capacities as well as editing The Wilderness Society's magazine, The Living Wilderness. He also compiled and edited Bob Marshall's notebooks on the Alaskan wilderness and published, Alaska Wilderness: Exploring the Central Brooks Range.

Marshall moved to London, England until late in his life and returned to the United States following the death of his wife in 1993. He died on May 2000 in Nyack, New York.