LETTER T0_PRESIDENT JOHNSON
[The following is the full text of a “letter sent. to .President Johnson by the Alexander Defense Committee protesting a Justice Department move to compel | phe committee to register as an "agent of a foreign principal.' ; maa
en May 28, 1966
The White House .= -_ OOTE Washington, D.C. ete Mr. President:
The “Internal ‘Security Division of the United States Department of Justice, by means of a communication. dated May 20, 1966 and signed by Assistant Attorney General J. Walter Yeagley, has ordered the Alexander Defense Committee to register as an "agent of a foreign principal" under the provisions of the Foreign’ * Agents Registration Act of 1938.
Counsel ‘for the Committee, civil- liberties attorney Stanley Faulkner, has advised us that we do not fall under the provisions of the Act, and he will so inform Mr.'-Yeagley.
We therefore request that you, as Chief Executive, ultimately responsible for the conduct of the Justice .Department, order an end to this harassment of the Alexander Defense Committee.
The "foreign principal" whose "agent" Mr. Yeagley. alleges us to be is’ Dr. Neville Alexander. Who is Neville, Alexander? Is he the head of some foreign state or the leader of a conspiratorial network devoted to the subversion of democratic institutions? Hardly. He is a young teacher of German literature who received : his Ph.D. degree in West Germany. Together with ten of his comrades, he was "convicted" in the Republic of South Africa, not of attempting to destroy or subvert democratic institutions, but of the "crime" of trying to create them,.of the "crime" of being ¢ an opponent of apartheid. 7
He was. sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, which, in today' s South Africa, really means an indefinite term, since any prisoner can be held after serving his sentence as-long as his further detention is deemed by the Minister of: Justice to*be in the "interest of public order." He was thrown into the notorious Robben Island concentration camp. in 196%. And he is still there.
And the Alexander Defense Committee: Is it a tightly knit = organization of highly trained and well-paid professional agents, ©...
financed from -abroad, and directed, perhaps,. by Dr. Alexander from. his’ Robben Island cell? Not -quite. Rather it- is a group of men and women who, incénsed at the savagery of the oppression in South Africa and, in particular, moved by the plight of Dr. Alexander and his ten comrades, formed the Committee in February, 1965 to help finance the court appeal of these eleven courageous fighters for demdcracy and human dignity.
After: the appeal was lost, the members of the Committee felt an obligation to aid the families of the Eleven, who had been | left: ‘pénniléss ‘by the imprisonment of their breadwinners. And, having become aware of the extent of the need, we further felt it our duty to contribute to the legal defense of other victimized opponents of the Verwoerd regime, to aid the families of those who were hauled off to Verwoerd's dungeons, and to help in the resettlement of political exiles from South Africa.
The A.D.C. has no salaried personnel, and every cent collected, above minimal operating expenses, is sent to the victims of the racist barbarism in South Africa. The A.D.C. has no "agency agreement," explicitly or otherwise, with Dr. Alexander or anyone elsé;~it determines for itself what cases it will support, in . response to specific pleas for help. This is the organization,:Mr. President, that your Justice Department is attempting to stigmatize as a "foreign agent.
In a speech you made on May 26th at a White House reception commemorating the third anniversary of the Organization of African Unity, you pledged the people and the government of the United States to the cause of the peoples of Africa in their efforts to win "freedom, equality, justice and dignity."
You expressed repugnance at "the outmoded policy which in some parts of Africa permits the few to rule at the expense of the many," just as your Ambassador to the United Nations has several times expressed repugnance at the South African government's apartheid policy, truly a policy whereby "the few rule at the expense of the many « " a
Further, you declared: "Just as we are determined to re~move the remnants of. inequality from our own midst, we are alsowith you - heart and soul - as you try to do the same," and you. promised that "we shall continue to provide our full share of assistance to refugees from social and political oppression:
Mr. President, we take the sentiment you expressed with utmost seriousness. But how can the people of Africa, or the people of America, believe that you do likewise. when, at the very moment you were uttering these things, your Department of Justice” was moving to harass an American organization devoted to translating into reality, in whatever limited way, these very. principles?
‘There is another aspect to the matter, Mr. President. Not long ago, the South African government liquidated. Defense and.
egy Africa which offered legal aid to opponents of the Verwoerd regime. We trust you would not wish to imitate Verwoerd by suppressing our organization.
In the address on the third anniversary of the Organization of African Unity, you stated "The foreign policy of the United States is rooted in its life at home. We will not permit human rights to be restricted in our own country....We will not live by a double standard - professing abroad what we do not practice at home, or venerating at home what we ignore abroad."..If you should permit the Justice Department to proceed against the Alexander’ Defense Committee, you would demonstrate that American policy | abroad is indeed consistent with American policy at home, but, . alas, not in thedefense of human rights but in their suppression; you would deny Americans the right to aid those abroad. who are ~ suffering for the cause of human rights, and you would deprive those who are struggling for vuman rights in Africa of support by their American friends.
'We, in any case, will not be deterred; we will go about our work, confident in the justice of our cause, and, if necessary, we will fight this attempt to destroy us by using every. legal means at our disposal.
Sincerely yours,
Paul B. Boutelle, Chairman ~
~. Robert H. Langston, Executive Secretary
Berta Green, Corresponding Secretary
Dave Dellinger, Treasurer
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