Bartley Crum

Bartley Cavanaugh Crum was born on November 28, 1900, in Sacramento, California, the son of James Henry Crum and Emma Cavanaugh. He was raised Roman Catholic. In 1922, he received a BA and in 1924 a JD from the University of California at Berkeley. ==Career==

Crum started his career as a teacher of English and International Law at UC Berkeley. According to ex-Popular Front, liberal journalist Sidney Roger, Neylan was the "mastermind" for the shipping industry to break the strikes by convincing Bay area newspapers of a "Communist plot", during which time Crum "became a strong supporter of the longshore union and Harry Bridges". His book, Behind the Silken Curtain a Personal Account of Anglo-American Diplomacy in Palestine and the Middle East was published by Simon & Schuster in 1947. Israeli State Archives show that on May 11, 1948, Crum visited President Harry S. Truman: "Crum [Bartley Crum] saw President yesterday, returned fairly optimistic." Crum became chairman of the national council of Americans for Haganah, whose director was David Wahl. The ACAL had been accused of socialist and communist connections, which led to the organization, including Crum, coming under close watch by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The FBI tapped Crum's phones, opened his mail, and shadowed him constantly. On July 9, 1946, Crum appeared on a radio program called "What's On Your Mind About Russia?" followed by Crum and Robert W. Kenny, followed by Martin Popper in Washington and Sam Rosenwein in New York. His daughter recalled:I first learned about the Hollywood blacklist on Nov. 24, 1947. I remember the exact moment. I was standing with my father, Bartley Crum, by a phone booth near Union Square in San Francisco, feeding him nickels and dimes while he made a series of intense phone calls to Dore Schary, who was the head of MGM. If you're wondering why he had to make those calls from a pay phone, it's because our home phone was bugged by the F.B.I. At that point I was too young to quite grasp the significance of those bugged calls, but I did know that my father had been one of six lawyers who had just defended the Hollywood 10 in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in Washington. She also recorded differences between communist and non-communist lawyers (in which latter camp Crum was), contrary to other accounts of greater unity among lawyers. Also in the 1948 United States presidential election, he supported Harry S. Truman (Democrat) over Thomas E. Dewey (Republican) and Henry A. Wallace (Progressive). In the 1952 United States presidential election, Crum supported Adlai E. Stevenson (Democrat) over Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican). In 1953, syndicated columnist Westbrook Pegler wrote of Crum:I telephoned Bartley Crum, a California lawyer with offices in New York and a Red record so bad that he hangs his head in shame, and asked whether Lowenthal had had any real connection with the Hollywood Reds and their friends, the so-called Hollywood Committee on the First Amendment ... Incidentally, he became counsel for Drew Pearson in one of his dragging suits against me but finally came into my lawyer's office to say that he had never forsaken his Catholicism and that he was ashamed of his Red record. During the examination of the Hollywood Reds, Crum consulted Lowenthal because he regarded the man as an expert on the procedures and the authority of congressional committees. Crum says Lowenthal told him the best course was to tell the committee frankly whether this or that one was a member of the Communist Party. By contrast with this advice Lowenthal himself in his appearance before the House committee was remarkably vague on many matters. However, on careful review of his old testimony I conclude that my early impression was incorrect that he positively withheld the names of "organizations" which arranged for his appointment to a job on Gen. Clay's staff in Germany just after the war. He said there were five such "organizations" and named one, but the committee wandered off and did not press him to identify the others. It was not up to him to volunteer the information and I know the committee regarded the subject as a hot potato. He did admit knowing a number of the most notorious Reds of the movement but his voluntary estimate of the political character of his friend, Crum, is laughable in view of Crum's own admission to my attorneys and to Alfred Kohlberg, one of the most effective Red-baiters in the country, that he was ashamed of his activity in the Red movement, Lowenthal said: "I had confidence in his true Americanism." Thus, Lowenthal's notion of true Americanism is peculiar or his knowledge of Crum's activities up to then was faulty. {{cite news Teamsters involvement In 1958, Crum became involved in a controversy with Jimmy Hoffa, head of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters ("Teamsters"). He had been trying to collect $210,000 in legal fees from the Teamsters for a client (lawyers represented by Godfrey P. Schmidt). He testified in before the United States Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field. ==Death==

In 1947 (prior to the HUAC hearings), Crum first took a combination of alcohol and barbiturates, from which he was revived. In the early hours of February 9, 1949, a few days after the New York Star folded, Crum made a second suicide attempt, again with pills and alcohol. Doctors who treated him included Gregory Zilboorg, a psychiatrist who also treated Lillian Hellman. By the late 1950s, long labeled a subversive, Crum had lost most of his clients. Unable to cope with stress from the harassment, he killed himself on December 9, 1959, by washing down an entire bottle of seconal with whisky. His wife discovered his body at their home at 165 East Eightieth Street, New York City. ==Personal life==

Crum married Anna Gertrude Bosworth, an author of novels and (later) a cookbook. The older, daughter Patricia Bosworth, became first a successful actress and then even more successful writer. In 1997, she wrote a family memoir, Anything Your Little Heart Desires, reminiscing about her father. In 2017, she wrote a second memoir about her father, brother, and husbands, called The Men in My Life: Love and Art in 1950s Manhattan. She died from complications of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. In 1941, Crum moved his family from Berkeley to 763 Bay Street, San Francisco. In 1945, they moved again to 2626 Green Street, San Francisco. In 1948, they moved to New York City, where they lived at several addresses. ==Legacy==

In its obituary of Crum in 1959, the New York Times quoted Crum's stance on outlawing the CPUSA: It is unconstitutional and utterly stupid for government to attempt to prevent people from thinking or believing as they wish ... As a non-Communist, I think the most effective answer to the Marxists is to make our democracy work by providing equality and job opportunities for all, strengthening the trade unions, and raising the standard of living. ==Works==

Crum's book was the "President's favorite" (referring to Truman). ==See also==