Register of the Leo Gallagher Papers, 1922-1963
Processed by The Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research staff; supplementary encoding and revision supplied
by Xiuzhi Zhou.
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
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© 2000
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. All rights reserved.
Register of the Leo Gallagher Papers, 1922-1963
Collection number: MSS 012
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
Los
Angeles, California
Contact Information:
- Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
- 6120 S. Vermont Avenue
- Los Angeles, California 90044
- Phone: (323) 759-6063
- Fax: (323) 759-2252
- Email: archives@socallib.org
- URL: http://www.socallib.org
- Processed by:
- Victor Zazueta
- Date completed:
- 1987
© 2000 Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Leo Gallagher Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1922-1963
Collection number: MSS 012
Creator:
Gallagher, Leo, 1887-1963
Extent: 2 record storage boxes
2 cubic feet
Repository:
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
The collection is available for research only at the Library's facility in Los Angeles.
The Library is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Researchers are encouraged
to call or email the Library indicating the nature of their research query prior to making a visit.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the Southern California Library for
Social Studies and Research. Researchers may make single copies of any
portion of the collection, but publication from the collection will be
allowed only with the express written permission of the Library's
director. It is not necessary to obtain written permission to quote from
a collection. When the Southern California Library for Social Studies
and Research gives permission for publication, it is as the owner of the
physical item and is not intended to include or imply permission of the
copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Leo Gallagher Papers, MSS 012, Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, Los
Angeles.
Biography
Leo Gallagher was a Los Angeles attorney who specialized in labor law, and was known throughout his nearly 40-year practice
for the defense of the rights of labor unionists, minorities and the poor. He was active during his life with the vigilant
defense of the people's rights to free speech and assembly, and was associated with the active defense of Communist Party
members and sympathizers in the United States and abroad during the length of his law practice, beginning in the mid-1920s
in California.
Gallagher was born July 11, 1887 in St. Mary's, Kansas. After his family moved to Texas he attended grammar school in El Paso
from 1898 until 1902. At 15 years of age he transferred to Canisius College in Buffalo, New York where he graduated from high
school in 1905. After obtaining an A.B. degree from the Catholic University in Washington, D.C. in 1907, he went to Yale University
Law School; he graduated with a law degree in 1910. He went to the St. Bernard's Theological Seminary, a Jesuit-run school
in New York state for the next two years, and in 1912 he continued his studies for the priesthood at the Innsbruck Philosophical
Institute in Austria, from which he graduated in 1915 with his doctorate degree. In total he spent six years of his early
twenties studying to become a Catholic priest. After a brief trip to Italy Gallagher returned to the United States, working
briefly as an agricultural worker in California in 1916 before entering a military-training school. During World War I he
entered the army and was assigned to a medical unit but was transferred to the headquarters staff at Camps Travers, Funston,
and Lee before he was discharged in 1919 at Camp Funston, Kansas with the rank of second lieutenant.
Gallagher returned to Texas after the war and taught a short time at Creighton University. In 1922 he passed the Texas bar
exam and was admitted to the State Bars in Texas and California. He began his law practice in 1922 in California and joined
the faculty at the Los Angeles Southwestern University Law School in 1923. His interest in labor causes and progressive politics
began in the mid-1920s when he attended meetings of the Industrial Workers of the World during the dock strikes in San Pedro.
He began his association with the International Labor Defense (ILD) in 1925. The ILD, the U.S. branch of the International
Red Aid, headquartered in the Soviet Union, was dedicated to the active defense of political and labor activists.
In 1931 Gallagher acted as counsel to the defendants in a criminal syndicalist trial in Imperial Valley, California. However,
the following year Gallagher was forced to voluntarily resign his position at the Southwestern University Law School for his
defense of the Mooney Runners, students who staged a protest at an event during the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. In 1933
he defended Tom Mooney, a San Francisco labor unionist convicted for the 1916 Preparedness Day bombing. Gallagher forced a
reluctant San Francisco court to try Mooney on a remaining indictment against him. Mooney was acquitted of this charge because
the trial showed that fraudulent testimony was used to indict him in the first instance. In 1934, he defended A. E. Smith,
general secretary of the Canadian Labor Defense, in his sedition trial. He was also an attorney for defendants in the Sacramento
Criminal Syndicalist trial held in 1934 and 1935.
Gallagher was sent in 1933 as part of an ILD delegation to assist in the legal defense of communist George Dimitroff, charged
in Nazi Germany with the arson fire that destroyed the Reichstag building. He was later excluded from the trial and in early
1934 was deported as an undesirable alien. He returned to California and resumed his law practice in association with other
progressive attorneys. From 1937 to 1939, he was in practice with Abraham Lincoln Wirin and Grover Johnson, continuing for
another two years with Wirin after Johnson left the firm. From 1941 to 1947, as part of Katz, Gallagher, and Margolis, Gallagher
practiced with Charles Katz and Ben Margolis. After Katz left, Gallagher and Margolis were associated with John McTernan and
Milton Tyre. In 1949 Gallagher left to go into practice by himself.
He was a charter member of the National Lawyers Guild and a sponsor of the Civil Rights Congress after the ILD merged with
the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties to form this organization. Gallagher was active in many electoral campaigns.
Although he belonged to groups associated with the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) such as the ILD, and he took
an active interest in defending party members in court, he remained outside of the Party during his life. Moreover, he ran
many times on the Democratic Party ticket in the state primaries. From 1948 to 1952 he was a member of the Los Angeles County
Democratic Central Committee.
He first ran in 1933 in the primary race for a seat on the Los Angeles Municipal Court bench and lost. He subsequently ran
for associate justice on the California Supreme Court in 1934, and for the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 1936, losing
the primaries in both races. In 1938, he entered the California Secretary of State campaign on a combined Democratic and Communist
Party ticket and lost. Not until 1949 did he choose to run again in a primary race, and this time it was for a seat on the
Los Angeles Board of Education. He was never elected to office although he used his campaigns as a platform to advocate progressive
programs and ideas.
Gallagher was married in 1938 to the former Hannah Block, a native of Germany whom he had met when she visited the United
States in 1923. They had one daughter, Monica. The family resided in Los Angeles for many years. Gallagher retired in 1961
after many years of working in progressive organizations and defending political prisoners and labor unionists. In the early
1960s his health deteriorated and he was hospitalized in Los Angeles where he died on September 28, 1963.
Scope and Content
The Leo Gallagher Papers are divided into five series. They are: PERSONAL, J. B. MCNAMARA, CASES, INVESTIGATIONS, and POLITICAL
INTERESTS. Folder 1 in the PERSONAL series contains biographical material on Gallagher, a resume prepared during his 1949
campaign for the Los Angeles Board of Education and newspaper clippings. The clipping pertain to his resignation from the
Southwestern University Law School for his defending Tom Mooney supporters who protested his imprisonment by running onto
the Los Angeles Coliseum track during the 1932 Olympics; to a 1933 Los Angeles City Council riot; and to his retirement in
1961. There are also obituaries after his death in September, 1963.
Folder 2 in this series has correspondence and other material from Gallagher's passport denial in 1953. He was denied a passport
under a 1952 provision that allowed the government to withhold passports from persons who supported or were identified with
the communist movement. Folder 3 contains a single passport photograph of Gallagher circa 1958.
Folder 4 has a copy of a speech on racism in the United States delivered by Gallagher at a meeting in 1947, and folder 5 contains
a collection of letters from him to the editor of the
People's World. Folders 6 through 20
20 have correspondence. 1931-1949, between Gallagher and a range of individuals with whom he had personal and professional
contact. Folder 7 contains a resolution dated July 18, 1934 and signed by local attorneys protesting the collusion of public
officials with vigilantes in the Imperial Valley. The letters in these folders range over many topics that concerned Gallagher
during these years. There is a letter dated September 30, 1937 in folder 10 from the Eureka, California branch of the International
Labor Defense (ILD) thanking him for his successful effort to free those workers convicted in the Sacramento Criminal Syndicalist
trial of 1935. Folder 11 contains newspaper clippings and letters related to the 1938 State Highway Patrol slaying of a 17-year-old
Mexican American youth. Folder 19 has clippings and a copy of a letter Gallagher sent to a Los Angeles Grand Jury related
to a police killing of a Mexican American youth in December, 1948. Folder 17 has a copy of Theodore Dreiser's funeral services
his widow sent Gallagher in 1946.
The J. B. MCNAMARA series contains an exchange of letters between Gallagher and McNamara, a labor activist sentenced to life
in prison for his part in the bombing of the
Los Angeles Times building in 1910. This series, contained in folders 21 through 25, relates to McNamara's treatment by prison officials and
his personal needs after transfer from San Quentin to Folsom Prison. Folder 26 contains clippings on McNamara from 1936 to
1941, and provides information on the
Times-building bombing, and on McNamara's life. Included is a March 11, 1941 issue of the
People's World that printed a small selection of correspondence between the two men.
The third series in this collection, CASES, contains notes, clippings, court-related documents, and letters pertinent to a
few of many court trials Gallagher was either involved with or had an active interest in. There are letters to elected government
officials and foreign diplomats to whom he expressed his views or his concern for the treatment of defendants. The first case
(folder 27) pertains to Tom Mooney, but has only clippings on Gallagher's successful trial and acquittal of Mooney on the
last remaining indictment against him.
The second case documented in this series (folder 28) contains clippings, minor court documents, transcripts of statements
by labor spies, and affidavits affirming the use of spies. This material is related to Gallagher's defense of 17 of the 18
defendants in the Sacramento Criminal Syndicalist trial of 1934-1935. In addition, this folder holds related ephemera from
organizations opposed to the use of the California Criminal Syndicalist Act. Folders 29 and 30 have clippings and court documents
from cases in which Gallagher tested, in 1925, and in 1933, a citizen's rights to free speech and assembly in Los Angeles.
In folder 30 there are clippings and a 1933 court decision on the legal rights of communists in Los Angeles to hold public
meetings without harassment from city police.
Folders 31 though 34 are related to the German Reichstag Fire trial and contain material collected by Gallagher when he traveled
and toured Nazi Germany from August, 1933 until his deportation in late-February, 1934. He went to Germany as part of an international
delegation of attorneys, arranged by the International Labor Defense, to assist in the preparation of the legal defense of
Bulgarian Communist George Dimitroff, who was charged with the arson fire that destroyed the Reichstag building.
Folder 31 has correspondences related to arrangements for Gallagher to attend Dimitroff's trial. Moreover, folders 32 and
33 contain newspaper and periodical clippings both on the trial and on Gallagher's trip to Germany. Folder 34 contains his
journal and notes on the trial, and an account of his itinerary and expenses.
The folder on Earl Browder contains matter on his 1942 passport case. Gallagher did not participate directly in Browder's
legal defense, but as a supporter, he wrote letters to government officials involved with this case, found in folder 35. Folders
36 and 37 contain publications issued by Browder's defense committees, and clippings related to Browder's case from 1941 and
1942.
Folders 39 through 44 have only a small amount of material related to the activities of the Los Angeles chapter Browder's
legal defense, but as a supporter, he wrote letters to government officials involved with this case, found in folder 35. Folders
36 and 37 contain publications issued by Browder's defense committees, and clippings related to his case from 1941 and 1942.
Folders 39 through 44 have only a small amount of material related to the activities of the Los Angeles chapter of the Civil
Rights Congress. Folder 39 contains correspondence from 1947 through 1951 related to the loyalty check of Los Angeles County
employees.
Folders 45 through 50 in Box 1 contain material related to a case handled by Gallagher in 1945-1946 that involved the deportation
of Indonesian seamen after more than 200 refused to re-board Dutch or British ships for political reasons. The Indonesian
seamen had left their ships at several ports in this country. The legal defense for these seamen was handled by various chapters
of the American Committee for Indonesian Independence. Gallagher was chairman of the Los Angeles chapter which aided in the
legal fight to stop the Immigration and Naturalization Service from deporting these men. He was active in advising Awan Soenario,
vice chairman of the San Francisco Indonesian Association, in the government's deportation proceedings against him from 1946
through 1949. Folder 50 contains publications from the American Committee for Indonesian Independence, from the Indonesian
Association, as well as publications from other nations. There are in Box 2, folder 1 and 2, court transcripts related to
the deportation proceedings against the seamen. Folder 3, Box 2 contains photographs of a picket line in front of the Dutch
consulate in downtown Los Angeles, circa 1949.
The series, INVESTIGATIONS, folder 7, contains affidavits from victims of police brutality in Los Angeles County from 1935
though 1938. Folders 8 though 10 contain material related to an investigation into a young 13-year-old inmate's apparent suicide
at the Whittier State School for Boys on August 11, 1939. Gallagher was appointed by former Governor Culbert L. Olsen to chair
this investigation.
Folder 10 contains official photographs of the 1939 inmate's death.
In August, 1937 Gallagher went to Republican Spain as part of a delegation to inspect state-operated children's homes established
to protect the young from the effects of the civil war. In Box 2, folders 11 through 15 have material gathered from his trip
to Spain. Folder 11 has correspondence from foreign diplomats and ILD officials on arrangements for his entry into Spain,
and folder 12 has newspaper clippings on his tour. Folder 13 and 14 have printed matter from the U.S. and Europe on the Spanish
Civil War, and folder 15 has postcards of the various political organization that comprised the Republican forces in 1937.
The last series in this collection, POLITICAL INTERESTS, contains correspondence between Gallagher and Catholic clergy, government
officials, and diplomats on U.S. domestic and foreign policy, communist teachings, and theology. In folders 16 and 17 are
letters exchanged with Catholic clergymen on various social issues, and newspaper clippings from Catholic publications. Folder
18 holds clippings from the years 1935 through 1942 related to the rights of communists to participate in U.S. politics. Folder
19 contains correspondence collected by Gallagher related to his work with the Los Angeles chapter of the United Korean Committee
in America, which supported the Korean people's right to self-determination after World War II, and folder 20 has clippings
on the crisis in Korea, circa 1946.
Folder 21 has class schedules and ephemera from some of the early Los Angeles workers' schools from the late-1940s, predecessors
of the California Labor School. Folder 22 holds catalogs and schedules from the California Labor School, 1948 and 1949. This
folder also holds correspondence between Gallagher and board members regarding his further participation in the operations
of the school.
Folders 25 through 30 contain campaign fliers, brochures, pamphlets, and related ephemera connected to the various primary
races Gallagher entered during his lifetime. Folder 31 contains correspondence from him to persons who participated in a Los
Angeles socialist conference in 1958. Folders 32 and 33 have newspaper clippings on topics that interested him from the 1930s
through the late 1950s.
Box 1, Folder 1
Biographical, 1922-1923, 1933, 1949, 1961, 1963.
Box 1, Folder 2
Passport Denial, 1952-1959.
Box 1, Folder 5
Letters to the Editor,
People's World, 1951-1961.
Box 1, Folder 6-20
Personal Correspondence, 1931, 1934-1939, 1941-1949.
Box 1, Folder 21-25
Correspondence, 1936-1940.
Box 1, Folder 26
Newspaper Clippings, 1936-1941.
Box 1, Folder 27
Tom Mooney Case, Newspaper Clippings, 1933.
Box 1, Folder 28
Sacramento Criminal Syndicalist Trial, Case Documents, 1934-1936.
Box 1, Folder 29-30
Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Los Angeles, 1925, 1933.
Box 1, Folder 31-34
German Reichstag Fire Trial
Box 1, Folder 31
Correspondence, 1933-1934.
Box 1, Folder 32
Newspaper Clippings, 1933, 1959-1960.
Box 1, Folder 33
Newspaper Clippings, Gallagher in Germany, 1933-1934.
Box 1, Folder 34
Personal notes and journal, Germany, 1933.
Box 1, Folder 35
Earl Browder Case, Correspondence, 1942.
Box 1, Folder 36-38
Browder Defense Committees
Box 1, Folder 37
Newspaper Clippings, 1941-1942.
Box 1, Folder 39
Correspondence, 1947-1951.
Box 1, Folder 41
Los Angeles Superior Court transcript, 1949.
Box 1, Folder 42
Ben Margolis testimony Excerpts, 1949.
Box 1, Folder 43
Federal Grand Jury Indictment, 1951.
Box 1, Folder 44
Newspaper Clippings, 1947-1955.
Box 1-2
Indonesian Seamen Deportation Case
Box 1, Folder 45-49
American Committee for a Free Indonesia, Newspaper Clippings, Correspondence, 1945-1949.
Box 1, Folder 50
Publications, ca. 1945-1946.
Box 2, Folder 1-2
Court Documents, 1945-1946.
Box 2, Folder 3
Photographs, ca. 1949(?).
Box 2, Folder 4
Correspondence, 1953, 1960.
Box 2, Folder 5
Defense Committee Publications, ca. 1952(?).
Box 2, Folder 6
Hollywood Studio Strike, L.A. Municipal Court, transcript, 1947.
Box 2, Folder 7
Los Angeles County, Jail Brutality Affidavits, 1935-1938.
Box 2, Folder 8
Correspondence, Reports, Notes, 1939-1940.
Box 2, Folder 9
Newspaper Clippings, 1939-1940.
Box 2, Folder 11-12
Republican Spain Children's Homes Tour
Box 2, Folder 11
Correspondence, Introductions, 1937.
Box 2, Folder 12
Newspaper Clippings, 1937.
Box 2, Folder 14
Periodicals, Ephemera, 1937-1938.
Box 2, Folder 16
Catholicism and Social Issues, Correspondence, 1926, 1949.
Box 2, Folder 17
Newspaper and Periodical Clippings, 1930, 1948-1957.
Box 2, Folder 18
Civil Liberties and Communist, Newspaper Clippings, 1935-1942.
Box 2, Folder 19-24
Korea: United Korean Committee in America
Box 2, Folder 19
Correspondence, 1944-1946.
Box 2, Folder 20
Newspaper Clippings, 1946.
Box 2, Folder 21
Los Angeles Workers' Schools
Box 2, Folder 21
Catalogs, Ephemera, 1944-1948.
Box 2, Folder 22
Correspondence, Catalogs, Ephemera, 1948-1949.
Box 2, Folder 24
Newspaper/Periodical Clippings, 1956.
Box 2, Folder 25
Los Angeles Municipal Court, 1933.
Box 2, Folder 26
Associate Justice, California Supreme Court, 1934.
Box 2, Folder 27
Los Angeles County, Superior Court, 1936.
Box 2, Folder 28
California Secretary of State, 1938.
Box 2, Folder 29
Los Angeles, Board of Education, 1949.
Box 2, Folder 31
California United Socialist Committee, Correspondence, Ephemera, 1958.
Box 2, Folder 32
Anti-Communist Periodical/Newspaper Clippings, 1948-1961.
Box 2, Folder 33
Newspaper Clippings, General. 1933-1937, 1940, 1949-1956, 1958.
Box 2, Folder 34
U.S. Supreme Court brief, Konigsberg v. California State Bar, 1960.
Box 2, Folder 35
The Nation, reprints, 1953-1954.
