Lecture: “The Jewish Civil Libertarian Arthur Garfield Hays”

Arthur Garfeld Hays—a grandchild of German-Jewish immigrants—was a leading advocate of civil liberties in American society. As UAlbany Professor of History Richard Hamm discusses, Hays was often embroiled in controversies over Zionism, group libel laws, and defenses of American Nazis’ free speech rights. Hays also consistently stuck to his view that the best way for Jews to protect their own civil liberties was to come to the defense of other groups who were persecuted.