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Benjamin (Gilbert G.) Jr. Subversive Activities
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URB.GGB
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: Gilbert G. Benjamin, Jr. Subversive Activities Collection
Creator:
Benjamin, Gilbert G., Jr., 1918-
Identifier/Call Number: URB.GGB
Extent:
8.50 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1918-1975
Abstract: Gilbert G. Benjamin, Jr. became a
Special Agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1946, after serving in the US Navy
during the Second World War. He worked in Virginia and the District of Columbia before being
transferred to the Los Angeles Field Office in 1957. The collection documents "subversive"
and "communist" activities in the United States through printed reports, statements, and
testimony before the House Committee on Internal Security (formerly the House Un-American
Activities Committee), as well as the Senate Committee on the Judiciary's Sub-Committee to
Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security
Laws.
Language of Material: English
Mr. Gilbert G. Benjamin was born in Iowa City, Iowa on 17 October 1918. His family moved to
Los Angeles in 1926, when his father became a member of the History Department at the
University of Southern California (USC). Gilbert Benjamin attended 24th Street Elementary
School, Mt. Vernon Junior High and Los Angeles High School. Upon completion of his secondary
education he entered the University of Southern California.
After graduating from USC, he became employed by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation as an
investigator in their Personnel Department. During World War II, Mr. Benjamin served in the
United States Navy from 1944 until the end of the war. After returning from military
service, Mr. Benjamin applied to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and became a Special
Agent in 1946. Between 1946 and 1956 he served in Virginia and the District of Columbia.
During his tour in the District of Columbia office, he was assigned duties in the Domestic
Intelligence Division.
In 1957, Mr. Benjamin was transferred to the Los Angeles field office. The majority of his
service while in Los Angeles was in the area of Domestic Intelligence. The material on
subversive activities contained in the Gilbert G. Benjamin Collection was collected while on
duty in Los Angeles "either by personal contact or through informants." The McCarthy
Hearings material and related HUAC printed government documents were mailed to Mr. Benjamin
periodically by associates in the FBI during the time of the hearings.
The
Gilbert G. Benjamin, Jr. Subversive Activities Collection
documents "subversive" and "communist" activities in the United States through printed
reports, statements, and testimony before the House Committee on Internal Security (formerly
the House Un-American Activities Committee), as well as the Senate Committee on the
Judiciary's Sub-committee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and
Other Internal Security Laws. Also included are Congressional Record statements made by
Senator Thomas J. Dodd on the Vietnam War, and reports and statements given by J. Edgar
Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to the House Un-American Activities
Committee. The collection has been arranged into three series:
Subversive Activities – California Legislature (1943-1975),
Subversive Activities – Federal Government Investigations (1947-1974), and
Political and Social Movements Literature (1918-1973).
Series I,
Subversive Activities – California Legislature,
consists of materials documenting communist activities, criminal justice and related
"subversive" activities in California written by the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice,
Assembly Interim Committee on Elections and Reappointment, Joint Fact-Finding Committee on
Un-American Activities and the Senate Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities. The
reports are arranged by committee and chronologically therein.
Series II,
Subversive Activities – Federal Government
Investigations
, consists of documentation of various
topics such as the Black Panther Party, college and university civil disorder, Senator
Thomas J. Dodd, Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, J. Edgar Hoover, National Lawyers
Guild, "New Left" movements, Linus Pauling, riots, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, Soviet
propaganda, student/youth movements, and Vietnam. This series has been divided into six
subseries: Subseries A,
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
(1946-1967), consists of documentation from the state of California and the Federal
Government and is arranged alphabetically. Subseries B,
House Committee
on Internal Security
(1970-1974), consists of documentation of subversive
activities after the scope of investigations moved into areas beyond the traditional focus
on communism. The documents are arranged alphabetically. Subseries C,
Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the
Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws
(1951-1975), consists of
documentation of investigations and hearings before this senate body. The material is
arranged alphabetically. Subseries D,
Senate Committee on Labor &
Public Welfare
(1951), contains one report on communist domination of labor unions.
Subseries E,
Congressional Record (1947-1965), consists of
several speeches of Senator Thomas Dodd on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the Vietnam War.
Speeches are arranged alphabetically. Subseries F,
Federal Bureau of
Investigation
(1960-1968), consists of agent field notes giving background history
of communist activities in the United States as well as reports, statements and testimony by
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.
Series III,
Political and Social Movements – Literature,
contains booklets, flyers, pamphlets, political postcards and related printed items
documenting the political ideologies and activities of a large variety of home grown
progressive and right wing organizations. The items were collected by Mr. Benjamin both in
the line of duty and as a personal collection of memorabilia. Groups represented include:
the American Civil Liberties Union, Citizens Committee to Preserve American Freedoms,
Communist Party of California, Constitutional Educational League, Inc., Industrial Workers
of the World (I.W.W.), Labor Research Association, The Trade Union Unity League and Young
Communist League, and others. Examples of Mr. Benjamin's interests include material on the
Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) "New Left" Movements, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg,
Student/ Youth Movements, Trade Union Unity League and the Young Communist League. The files
are arranged alphabetically by name of organization if known, or by author and
publisher.
Series I: Subversive Activities – California Legislature, 1943-1975
Series II: Subversive Activities – Federal Government Investigations, 1947-1974
Subseries A: House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), 1946-1967
Subseries 1: California, 1951-1963
Subseries 2: United States, 1946-1967
Subseries B: House Committee on Internal Security, 1970-1974
Subseries C: Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate the
Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, 1951-1975
Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, 1951-1975
Subseries D: Senate Committee on Labor & Public Welfare, 1951
Subseries E: Congressional Record, 1947-1965
Subseries F: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1960-1968
Series III: Political and Social Movements – Literature, 1918-1973
The collection is open for research use.
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge.
Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires
the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Ruth Benjamin, April 1995.
Other Information:
Processing staff for this collection were supported by a generous gift from the J. Paul
Getty Trust.
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual,
or see the
Citing Archival Materials
guide.
Robert G. Marshall, Carol Gallegos, and Jackie Rojas, August 1995
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Documents