Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biography
Scope and Content
Seperated Material
Related Material at the Southern California Library for Social
Studies and Research
Descriptive Summary
Title: Alexander Pennes Papers (Committee for Medical
Freedom Records),
Date (inclusive): 1946-1968
Collection number: MSS 048
Creator:
Pennes, Alexander
Extent:
2 boxes, 1 half-box, 1 legal
half-box
1 ½ linear feet
Repository:
Southern California Library for Social Studies and
Research
Abstract: The majority of this collection concerns the
blacklisting of doctors and other medical professionals during the Cold
War/McCarthy Era, particularly the dismissal of three doctors by the Cedars of
Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles in December 1951.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Provenance
Donated to the Library by Alexander and Rose Pennes in the
mid-1980s.
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 items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be
obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Alexander Pennes Papers (Committee for
Medical Freedom Records), Southern California Library for Social Studies and
Research, Los Angeles, California.
Biography
Blacklisting and the McCarthy Era
The Anti-Communist fervor of the Cold War Period and what is
commonly referred to as the McCarthy Era serves as a backdrop to this
collection. After the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet
Union engaged in the ideological battle known as the Cold War. The
identification of communists and other radicals through the use of federal and
state legislative investigative committees and the punishment of those
identified through firing and blacklisting comprised a successful U.S. tactic.
The investigations spread from federal and other government employees to the
entertainment industry, the professions, labor unions, and the private sector.
The major players in these campaigns included, on the Federal level, Senator
Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). In
California major players included California State Assemblyman (later State
Senator) Nelson S. Dilworth, and State Senators Jack B. Tenney and Hugh M.
Burns. All three served on the Joint Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American
Activities in California (1945) and first Tenney and later Burns chaired the
[California] Senate Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities. After
passing the Levering Act, which required loyalty oaths from all state
employees, the California Legislature made several attempts at passing
legislation that would have required lawyers, physicians and other
professionals to take loyalty oaths or lose the right to practice their
profession. In 1951 HUAC held hearings into the "Communist Activities Among
Professional Groups in the Los Angeles Area."
Biography
Alexander Pennes, M.D. was a prominent Los Angeles physician who was
dismissed from St. Joseph's Hospital in Orange, California in September 1951,
and from Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles in December, as a result of
having his name mentioned in a House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
hearing. Two other physicians, Dr. Murray Abowitz and Dr. Richard W. Lippman,
were dismissed from Cedars of Lebanon the same day. Dr. Abowitz had consulted
on the case of a Smith Act defendant, and Dr. Lippman had refused to testify
before HUAC. The Committee for Medical Freedom was formed in January 1952 to
organize the protest of the Cedars' firings. Rose Pennes, Dr. Pennes' wife, was
the Executive Director of the Committee.
In October 1951, Pennes and other doctors were called before the
HUAC hearings being held in Los Angeles. Pennes received a certificate from
Citizens Committee to Preserve American Freedoms for his appearance before
HUAC. Pennes and his wife were actively involved in anti-HUAC organizations.
They were also involved in fighting Burns-Tenney and Burns-Chapel legislation
attempting to institute loyalty oaths for professionals in California. The
Bush-Tenney Bill, SB 1665, would have amended the state Business and
Professions code to require the signing of an oath to uphold the Constitution
and swearing that he or she did not belong, had not belonged within the last
five years, and would not join any organization or party that "advocates the
overthrow of the Government of the United States or the State of California by
force or violence or other unlawful means." Signing of the "affidavit" was
required for licensure, and lying about past affiliations or joining in the
future was made a felony.
Pennes was a progressive physician interested in social welfare and
the movements toward creating affordable health coverage. He was one of the
founding members of the short-lived (1946-1956) Community Medical Foundation, a
prepaid health insurance and group medical practice. The Foundation attracted
the attention of the California State Un-American Activities (Burns) Committee
in 1954. Pennes remained interested in social and civil rights issues.
Scope and Content
This collection contains minutes, correspondence, flyers, petitions,
hearing transcripts, testimony, articles, notes, newsletters, and clippings.
Though the provenance of this collection is uncertain it appears to contain
materials created or collected by Dr. Alexander [Alex] Pennes, and his wife
Rose Pennes, including records of the Committee for Medical Freedom which was
formed to challenge the loyalty-based dismissals of Pennes, Abowitz, Lippman
and other physicians. Rose Pennes was Executive Director of the Committee and
Stella (Mrs. Dan) Rugetti served as chairman. The Committee organized letter
writing, petitions, and large informational and protest meetings (including one
featuring B.Z. Goldberg, columnist for the national Jewish newspaper,
The Day). Dr. Frank Weymouth of Stanford was also
prominent in the protests. Linus Pauling withdrew his name from the protest
meeting due to a technical problem. According to one source, Pauling later
arranged research projects with Dr. Lippman at the City of Hope Hospital.
The Committee for Medical Freedom and information on the Cedars of
Lebanon dismissals make up just under half of the material. The majority of the
rest concerns the response of Pennes ( and the medical community) to loyalty
oath legislation directed at doctors and other professionals (Burns-Tenney and
Burns-Chapel Bills), and the Los Angeles HUAC hearings, which focused on
professionals. Materials in the collection include copies of testimony from
several Dilworth (state) and HUAC hearings, materials from various anti-HUAC
groups including the Citizens Committee to Preserve American Freedoms, and
speeches, notes, correspondence by Alex Pennes, Frank Weymouth and others.
Other concerns ranged from the execution of the Rosenbergs to concerns
over Doctors Draft Bill and the treatment of military doctors who failed
loyalty challenges, and a variety of other medically related civil rights
issues.
There is one folder of information concerning the Community Medical
Foundation (1946-1956), a non-profit pre-paid insurance and group medical
practice, and the establishment of the pre-paid system.
Arrangement
The collection is divided into 3 series:
1.
Committee for Medical Freedom/Cedars of Lebanon, Laws
,
2. HUAC Hearings and Protests, and
3. Articles And Clippings. One box of legal-sized
materials is found at the end of the collection (Box 4). Each folder is listed
within the appropriate series in the container list.
Seperated Material
Two copies of a poster-sized announcement of the BZ Goldberg meeting
have been added to the Poster Collection.
Related Material at the Southern California Library for Social
Studies and Research
Title: Smith Act Collection,
Date: 1950s-1960
Physical Description:
5 boxes
Title: First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles Records,
Date: 1938-1981
Physical Description:
2 boxes
Title: Blacklisted Teachers of Los Angeles Collections,
Date: 1928-1996
Physical Description:
9 Collections