ABSTRACT
In December 1936 Harold Lord Varney wrote critically about the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in the American Mercury. In the ACLU's first annual report in 1920, it flatly stated that it "puts no limit on the principle of free speech". The ACLU's policies regarding free speech in broadcasting address the issues of equity and diversity in television and radio. However, the ACLU, which does not subscribe to punitive measures in general, opposes many of the attempts to restore civility in the classroom. The ACLU's political interest in defending laws that afford a desired social outcome is not limited to blockbusting statutes. Not all liberals are prepared to defend the free speech rights of those who would silence dissent if they came to power. It is necessary for liberals—and certainly civil libertarians—to defend Klansmen and Nazis in the United States: the truth, being relative, can be established only by allowing it to emerge through open discourse.
