Nazis, Skokie, and the A.C.L.U.

• Position: PAIRING A PRIMARY & SECONDARY SOURCE - American Civil Liberties Union

Forty years ago, the town of Skokie, Illinois, was at the center of a compelling First Amendment debate. A group of American neo-Nazis sought to march in Skokie, which was nearly 60 percent Jewish. While Skokie fought to prevent the march, the American Civil Liberties Union defended the Nazis' right to assemble and speak. The dispute was ultimately decided by the courts, which upheld the Nazis' right to march under the First Amendment. Below is an editorial on the controversy that appeared in The New York Times in early 1978. Use the editorial along with the Upfront article to answer the questions.

Editorial in The New York Times; January 1, 1978

Every so often, civil libertarians put themselves in the uncomfortable position of antagonizing those who consider themselves friends of freedom by supporting its enemies, such as Communists or Ku Klux Klanners. In recent months, the American Civil Liberties Union has lost members and money as a result of its defense of the right of American Nazis to parade through Skokie, Illinois.

The Nazis' choice of this Chicago suburb was no accident, and the opposition it has aroused is understandable. Most of the residents of Skokie are Jews, several thousands of them survivors of Hitler's concentration camps. The Nazis selected Skokie because they knew that the ensuing protests would give publicity to their miniscule movement. Opponents of the march argue that for a group displaying swastikas to stage a parade through such a town constitutes a provocative act that goes beyond the right to freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment.

The Civil Liberties Union disagrees, holding to a principle that has guided it for many years. Its executive director, Aryeh Neier, himself a refugee from Nazi Germany, asks, "Did the Wobblies* have a right to speak in company towns? Did Jehovah's Witnesses ... have a right to pass out leaflets in Catholic neighborhoods? ... Did Martin Luther King Jr. have a right to march in Selma, Alabama, or Cicero, Illinois? To all of these questions, the A.C.L.U.'s answer is 'Yes.'"...

Perhaps the oldest lesson in the civil liberties primer is...