Thomas, Norman, 1884-1968

Clergyman, politician.

American socialist, presidential candidate.

Politician.

Politician, clergyman.

Socialist Party leader.

Thomas writes as chairman of the Emergency Committee for Strikers' Relief, established in New York City by the League for Industrial Democracy and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Norman Matoon Thomas (1884-1968), the American Socialist leader, started his career as a Presbyterian minister in New York City. He became active in the peace movement during World War I and founded the National Civil Liberties Bureau (renamed American Civil Liberties Union in 1920) with Roger Baldwin. Thomas became an active member of the Socialist Party of America, was co-director of the League for Industrial Democracy, and edited the socialist magazine, The World Tomorrow. He ran unsuccessfully for the presidency of the U.S. six times on the Socialist ticket and was active in the civil rights, universal disarmament and anti-war movements throughout his life.

The collection contains several thousand black and white prints and negatives, taken by photojournalist Norman Thomas, who was based in New Orleans in the late 1950s to early 1960s. The largest number of photos are from Mexico, with British Honduras, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Nicaragua, and Panama also represented. Included are many images of people in everyday life, street and market scenes, factories, events and parades, and overhead views of villages and citites. There also is an earlier series of photos from the 1948 Nahanni Expedition to northern Canada, and some U.S. photos, including Cape Canaveral, Florida, and a Navajo Reservation Health Program. There is some accompanying documentation for the photos, but not captions for each image.

Norman Thomas (1884-1968) was a socialist and anti-war activist during World War I and World War II. He was a socialist candidate for several New York offices and for president in the elections from 1928-1944. THomas was also involved in the Passaic, New Jersey, textile workers' strike of 1919, in the 1930s strikes of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, and was a founder of the American Civil Liberties Union. He was chairman of the Carlo Tresca Memorial Committee.

Norman Mattoon Thomas (1884–1968), was a leading American socialist, pacifist, author, and six-time presidential candidate on the Socialist Party of America ticket, between 1928 and 1948. Born in Marion, Ohio, he was a graduate of Princeton University, attended Union Theological Seminary, where he became a socialist, and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1911. Thomas opposed the United States' entry into the First World War, a position that earned him the disapproval of many in his socialist circle and in his church. He founded a magazine, The World Tomorrow, in 1918. In 1921-22 he was associate editor of The Nation, and, also in 1922, he became co-director of the League for Industrial Democracy. He was later one of the founders of the National Civil Liberties Bureau (the precursor of the American Civil Liberties Union) and of the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy. At first Thomas was outspoken in opposing the U.S. involvement in the Second World War, and he served on the board of the America First Committee . However, once the United States was attacked by the Japanese, he supported U.S. war effort, while opposing the war-time internment of Japanese Americans. Thomas frequently spoke on the difference between democratic socialism and Communism; his early admiration for the Russian Revolution and later sympathy with Popular Front activity evolved into fervent anti-Communism. He wrote several books, among them his defense of World War I conscientious objectors, Is Conscience a Crime? (1927) and Socialism Re-examined (1963).

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