ABSTRACT

The United States government would attack a legless veteran made James Kutcher a minor celebrity and helped to generate support that ordinarily was not accorded radicals under attack. His case was fought in the courts for a decade; among his lawyers was Joseph Rauh. Kutcher got his job back in 1956; two years later he won back pay. The Socialist Workers party (SWP) has been in turmoil for the past several years. Hundreds of members have either resigned or been expelled, including a large proportion of the party's veterans whose tenure goes back to the 1930s. Emotionally distraught, Kutcher pleaded that he was unable to meet with an SWP delegation assigned to discuss his errors. Three witnesses testified before the investigating committee – McBride, Langston, and George Breitman, a long-time SWP leader and friend of Kutcher's who gave Kutcher's version of the affair.