Access
Use Restrictions
Preferred Citation
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Biography
Scope and Content
Arrangement
Processing Information
Finding aid revision statement
Biographical / Historical
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Title: John E. Thorne papers
source:
Thorne, John E. (John Ebson),
1921-2002
Creator:
Thorne, John E. (John Ebson),
1921-2002
Identifier/Call Number: MS.423
Physical Description:
54.4 Linear Feet
123 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1949-1997
Date (bulk): 1960-1990
Abstract: John Ebson Thorne (January 20, 1921-May
10, 2002) was a San Jose-based attorney and activist who specialized in civil rights and
constitutional law. Over the course of his career, Thorne extended his legal services to
organizations including the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), the American Indian
Movement (AIM), and anti-Vietnam War activists. He also represented Black Panther Party
member and activist George Jackson, and intellectual Angela Davis. Thorne was also a
prominent figure in Santa Clara County and California state Democratic Party politics. The
collection primarily consists of Thorne's correspondence, legal documents, client and
witness interviews, case research materials, and publications related to his professional
and activist work.
Language of Material:
English
Access
This collection is open for research. Access to certain material is restricted due to
attorney-client privilege. Within this guide, restricted material is marked with an Access
note at the file level, specifying the extent of the closure period.
Use Restrictions
Copyright for the items in this collection is owned by the creators and their heirs.
Reproduction or distribution of any work protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair
use requires permission from the copyright owner. It is the responsibility of the user to
determine whether a use is fair use, and to obtain any necessary permissions. For more
information see UCSC Special Collections and Archives policy on Reproduction and Use.
Preferred Citation
John E. Thorne Papers. MS 423. Special Collections and Archives, University Library,
University of California, Santa Cruz.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Nancy Thorne-Chambers in 2011.
Biography
John Ebson Thorne (January 20, 1921-May 10, 2002) was a San Jose, California-based attorney
and activist born in Richmond, Indiana. Throughout his legal career, Thorne specialized in
civil rights issues and constitutional law. He collaborated with African Americans and
Native Americans in their struggles for racial and political justice, pursued legal action
against the United States (U.S.) government as a means of demonstrating the illegality of
the Vietnam War, and was a prominent figure in Santa Clara County and California state
Democratic Party politics.
Thorne attended Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana from 1938 to 1942, and the University
of Hawaii between 1940 and 1941. He joined the U.S. Navy following the December 1941 attack
on Pearl Harbor and served as a bomb disabling officer in the Pacific between 1942 and 1946,
when he was honorably discharged at the rank of Lieutenant. After completing his service,
Thorne attended Stanford Law School and graduated in 1949.
While practicing law in San Jose the 1950s, Thorne ran for a California State Senate seat
as a member of the Democratic Party, and later served as chair of the Santa Clara Democratic
Party. In 1960, he co-founded the law firm of Thorne, Clopton, Herz, Stanek, and Manchester,
and remained with the firm until he moved to Olympia, Washington in the early 1980s.
Thorne was an active member of multiple professional associations that advocated for social
change and civil rights. He raised funds for and traveled on behalf of the National Lawyers
Guild, was a member of the American Civil Liberties Union, and participated in the
activities of the California Farm Research and Legislative Committee. Thorne also worked on
behalf of the Legal Aid Society of Santa Clara and the Human Relations Commission of San
Jose during the 1960s.
Throughout the 1950s, Thorne advocated against the activities of the House Un-American
Activities Committee, and also opposed the McCarran Act, which threatened Communists and
other "subversives" with detention or deportation. He also opposed the use of the death
penalty in California, and sought a reprieve for San Quentin State Prison inmate Caryl
Chessman in a 1960 case that generated national attention. Additionally, in 1964 and 1965
Thorne volunteered his legal services to the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which
challenged the constitutionality of elections in which African Americans were barred from
voting.
Thorne was also involved in anti-Vietnam War activism. He assisted individuals who sought
draft deferments, and defended those who refused military service. Thorne also represented
San Jose State University students who protested against the presence of United States
Marine Corps recruiters on campus in 1967. Additionally, Thorne collaborated with and
represented Stanford Physicist Pierre Noyes in a 1969 lawsuit against the U.S. government in
which he alleged that the Vietnam War was an illegal use of taxpayer money.
In 1970, Thorne became Black Panther Party member George Jackson's criminal defense
attorney. Jackson was imprisoned for armed robbery in 1960, and emerged as a prominent
writer, activist, and intellectual while serving his sentence. Thorne became Jackson's
attorney in 1970, after Jackson was accused of participating in the murder of a prison guard
at Soledad State Prison (now known as the Correctional Training Facility) and was
transferred to San Quentin State Prison. Thorne was heavily involved in the Soledad Brothers
Defense Committee and served Jackson in a legal capacity until Jackson was shot and killed
by a prison guard at San Quentin in 1971. Thorne also represented activist and intellectual
Angela Davis during this same period.
Beginning in the mid-1970s, Thorne was one of several attorneys who represented members of
the American Indian Movement (AIM) who were indicted following AIM's 71-day occupation of
the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota in 1973. Thorne argued that, based on the 1868 Treaty
of Fort Laramie, the U.S. government did not have jurisdiction over events that occurred on
Native American reservations, and thus sought the dismissal of the government's charges
against his clients. Furthermore, in the 1970s Thorne served as a delegate to the
International Indian Treaty Conference, an international advocacy group for Indigenous
peoples.
In 1971, he traveled to Iran on behalf of the National Lawyers Guild to advise and meet
with a group of Iranian political prisoners with connections to Iranian student
organizations in the U.S. He traveled to Iran again in December 1979, in the immediate
aftermath of the Iranian Revolution, with the goal of easing tensions and encouraging
understanding between the United States and the new Iranian government.
John Thorne died on May 10, 2002. He was survived by his wife Nancy, his former wife
Jacqui, and his three daughters.
Scope and Content
This collection is comprised of the correspondence and legal papers of John Ebson Thorne,
an attorney and activist who practiced civil rights and constitutional law in the San Jose,
California-area between 1950 and the early 1980s. This holding specifically contains
letters, case files, research materials, court documents, and notes connected to Thorne's
legal service in the 1960s and 1970s. The collection notably includes an extensive amount of
Thorne's personal correspondence and papers relating to his participation in local and state
Democratic Party politics and civil rights advocacy organizations. Particularly amongst the
papers are those related to Thorne's work with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party,
American Indian Movement, anti-Vietnam War activists, and his 1979 trip Iran, in which he
met with Iranian officials as a means of improving relations between the U.S. and the newly
proclaimed Islamic Republic.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into the following series:
Series 1: George Jackson
Series 2: Wounded Knee
Series 3: Vietnam
Series 4: Turner vs. FBI
Series 5: Iran
Series 6: Olympia demonstrators
Series 7: Other cases and activities
Note on the arrangement of resticted materials (due to attorney-client privilege):
restricted folders are physically arranged at the end of the collection, but are presented
in this colleciton guide in the order original to the creator.
Processing Information
Processed by Annie Tang, with assistance from Samantha Williams, graduate fellow in the
Center for Archival Research and Training (CART) at UC Santa Cruz. Initial inventory by Mary
DeVries. Additional processing by Kate Dundon.
Finding aid revision statement
This finding aid was revised in the Reparative Archival Redescription Project in 2021-2022.
Previous versions of this finding aid are available upon request.
Biographical / Historical
Chronology
1921 |
Born January 20, Richmond, Indiana |
1938-1942 |
Attended Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana |
1940-1941 |
Attended University of Hawaii |
1942-1946 |
Served in U.S. Navy as a bomb disabling officer |
1949 |
Graduated Stanford Law School |
1950 |
Ran for California State Senate seat |
1950s |
Advocated against the House Un-American Activities Committee |
1950-1960 |
Served as chair of the Santa Clara Democratic Party |
1960 |
Argued for a stay of execution for inmate Caryl Chessman |
|
Co-founded Thorne, Clopton, Herz, Stanek, and Manchester |
1964-1965 |
Worked with Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party |
1967 |
Represented San Jose State University students protesting thepresence of United
States Marine Corps recruiters on campus
|
1969 |
Sued U.S. government for prosecuting an illegal war in Vietnam |
1970-1971 |
Represented activists George Jackson and Angela Davis |
1971 |
Traveled to Iran to meet with political prisoners |
1973-1976 |
Represented AIM activists indicted in Wounded Knee standoff |
1979 |
Traveled to Iran to improve relations between Iran and the U.S. |
Early 1980s |
Moved to Olympia, Washington |
2002 |
Deceased, May 10, Olympia, Washington |
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Civil rights -- United States -- History
-- 20th century
Thorne, John E. (John Ebson),
1921-2002
Jackson, George, 1941-1971