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Paul Schmidt: A Workingman's Tenacious Pursuit of Religious Liberty*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 October 2015
Extract
Paul Schmidt “came to work uneasy about what might happen.” To avoid losing his job, he had done as much as his conscience would allow. Now on December 19, 1941, faithful to his beliefs as a Jehovah's Witness, Schmidt refused to salute the flag in order to keep his well-paying job. He was a journeyman window-glass cutter at the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Works No. 12 in Clarksburg, West Virginia. The day before, workers at the plant had conducted a flag-salute ceremony at the end of the workday, and the company's managers encouraged all employees to attend. Schmidt and five other Jehovah's Witnesses, in an effort to avoid a conflict, left work before the ceremony started. Schmidt was first of those workers to lose his job for adhering to his beliefs; over the next several days, the other Jehovah's Witnesses were fired or resigned under pressure because others in the plant refused to work with them. On December 24, Schmidt's son, Bernard, was the last Jehovah's Witness to be fired.
The firing of Paul Schmidt and his struggle to defend his religious liberty provide a valuable case study of a citizen pursuing his rights in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Schmidt, a journeyman glasscutter and a factory worker, was clearly intelligent, but not an intellectual. He was not a theologian or philosopher pondering the meaning of religious doctrine; he was an ordinary working man striving to practice his beliefs in daily life. His efforts to regain his job demonstrated how legal rights can be expanded by a non-lawyer, by someone who was concerned not with points of law, but with the pursuit of justice. He aggressively sought legal protection for his right to freely exercise his beliefs and was undaunted by the ineffectiveness of most of the avenues he pursued. Schmidt's insistent, unflagging demands resulted in an unprecedented use of administrative law to expand protection for religious liberties.
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- Copyright © Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University 2000
Footnotes
*
Research for this article was partially funded by The West Virginia Humanities Council, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and by a grant from the West Virginia State College Research Committee.
References
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2. Id at 143.
3. Id at 41.
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22. Id.
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25. Id.
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38. Letter from Paul G. Schmidt to J.E. Mayeur (Feb 19, 1942). Id.
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47. Quoted in Lawrence W. Cramer to William M. Saas (Dec 5, 1942), 1 W Va & Regional History Collection, W Va U Libraries, A & M 2423, Glass, Ceramic, and Sand Silica Workers Local 2, Records, 1934-1974, Series 1 Corresp, Box 5, Folder 31, Gen Corresp, 1939-44. Hereafter referred to as WVRHC, GC&CSW.
48. Id at 2.
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58. Id.
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66. CFEP Hrg. Tr. at 143, NARA RG 228, CFEP Hearing (cited in note 10).
67. Id at 145.
68. Letter from Paul G. Schmidt to Bernard G. Walpin (Jan 23, 1941), ACLU Archives 2428:108 (cited in note 1).
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71. Letter from Harry D. Nixon to Paul G. Schmidt (July 9, 1942), WVRHC Jehovah's Witnesses file (cited in note 4).
72. Letter from Paul G. Schmidt to Clifford Forster (Aug 13, 1942), ACLU Archives 2428:139 (cited in note 1).
73. Id.
74. Francis Schmidt, interview by author, Clarksburg, W Va (Sept 12, 1998). Francis Schmidt is the son of Paul Schmidt.
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79. Agendum (Dec 7, 1942), NARA RG 228, CFEP Office (cited in note 76).
80. Letter from Lawrence W. Cramer to William M. Saas (Dec 5, 1942), WVRHC, GC&CSW (cited in note 47); and Letter from Stanley R. Meredith to J.E. Mayeur (Dec 11, 1942), WVRHC, Jehovah's Witness case file (cited in note 4).
81. Letter from Stanley R. Meredith to J.E. Mayeur (Dec 11, 1942).
82. Minutes (Dec 7, 1942), NARA RG 228, CFEP Office (cited in note 76).
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87. CFEP Hrg. Tr. at 17, 23, NARA RG 228, CFEP Hearing (cited in note 10).
88. Id at 23-142.
89. Letter from Paul G. Schmidt to Clifford Forster (Dec 12, 1942), ACLU Archives 2428:147 (cited in note 1).
90. CFEP Hrg. Tr. at 143-44, NARA RG 228, CFEP Hearing (cited in note 10).
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95. Summary of Action Taken (March 1, 1943) NARA RG 228, Office (cited in note 76).
96. Letter from Lawrence W. Cramer to Leland Hazard (March 5, 1943); and Letter from Lawrence W. Cramer to Leland Hazard (March 15, 1943), both in NARA RG 228, CFEP Gen Corresp (cited in note 75).
97. Letter from Lawrence W. Cramer to Leland Hazard (March 5, 1943), NARA GR 228, CFEP Corresp (cited in note 75).
98. Minutes (March 15, 1943), NARA RG 228, Office (cited in note 76).
99. Letter from William Saas to William Lewis (March 20, 1943), WVRHC, GC&CSW (cited in note 47).
100. W.G. Koupal, Notice of Special Meeting All Union Employees of Works No 12 (March 26, 1943).
101. Jobs Offered To Witnesses, 1 Clarksburg (W Va) Exponent (March 27, 1942); and Witnesses to be Rehired, 99 Business Week (April 10, 1943).
102. Letter from Lawrence W. Cramer to Leland Hazard (April 10, 1943), NARA RG 228, Corresp (cited in note 75).
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104. Letter from Lawrence W. Cramer to Leland Hazard (April 10, 1043), NARA RG 228, Corresp (cited in note 75).
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108. Id.
109. Id.
110. Id.
111. Schmidt interview (Sept 12, 1998) (cited in note 74).
112. For a comprehensive discussion of the legal significance of this case, see Smith, Chuck, War Fever and Religious Fervor: The Firing of Jehovah's Witnesses Glassworkers in West Virginia and Administrative Protection of Religious Liberty, in_44Amer J Legal History (forthcoming 2000)Google Scholar.