Charles C. Recht (1887-1965) was born in Bohemia to Jewish parents, emigrated to the United States at age thirteen, and graduated from New York University Law School in 1910. He served as general counsel for the New York Bureau of Legal Advice, which provided free legal service to men who resisted the World War I era draft laws. Recht also represented many radicals who faced deportation at that time, and later served as an officer of a the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born (ACPFB). ACPFB was affiliated with the Communist Party USA, but Recht was never a party member. After Ludwig Martens was deported in 1921, Recht officially represented Soviet interests in the United States until 1933, when diplomatic relations were established. Recht published two novels, Rue with a Difference (1924) and Babylon on Hudson (1932), and a book of poems, Manhattan Made (1930). He also translated the work of August Strindberg and other playwrights, and wrote widely on law, politics, theater and Jewish history. His wife, Aristine Munn Recht, a physician, was at one time Dean of Women at NYU's Washington Square College.
From the guide to the Charles Recht Papers, 1907-1976, (Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive)
