Book Review: National Security and Individual Freedom

Abstract

This challenge is from an eloquent letter addressed to a section of the American Bar Association at its 1951 convention by a well-known layman, Harry S. Truman. The section meeting, like the book here under review, was concerned with "The Protection of Individual Rights and Government Security in Times of Stress." If the meeting had done nothing more than convene, read the President's letter, and adjourn, it would have been worthwhile. For some listeners might have been stirred to take on their special responsibilities. They might, as the President suggested, give "searching scrutiny" to such activities as the security and loyalty programs of his administration. They might, as he urged with respect to the current sedition prosecutions, even revive "the notable tradition of willingness to protect the rights of the accused" to "adequate representation by competent counsel."