James Lawrence Fly
Encyclopedia
James Lawrence Fly was an influential American
lawyer
, famous as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
and, later, director of the American Civil Liberties Union
. He helped inaugurate standards for commercial television broadcasting, and vigorously opposed wiretapping throughout his career.
and graduated from North Dallas High School
in 1916. He then graduated from the United States Naval Academy
before serving three years in the United States Navy
. He resigned to earn a law degree from Harvard Law School
. After a short time in private practice, Fly took a position prosecuting antitrust
cases for the government. He joined the Tennessee Valley Authority
in 1934, rising from solicitor general to general counsel. Fly married Mildred Marvin Jones in 1923, with whom he had two children, James Lawrence, Jr., and Sara Virginia.
had not yet begun in the U.S. In April of that year, RCA
attempted to broadcast commercial content in New York City
using standards set by the Radio Manufacturers Association (now the Electronic Industries Alliance
), but these broadcasts were unauthorized and experimental. In December 1939 the FCC announced it would authorize limited commercial broadcasts, but it was not clear what standards should be used. By early 1940 RCA made aggressive moves to dominate the industry, and many of their competitors objected. The FCC halted all commercial broadcasts, and insisting that the television industry as a whole develop standards before broadcasting continue. To break this impasse, Fly urged Walter R. G. Baker to found the National Television System Committee, or NTSC
, and negotiations were soon reached. This became the model that the FCC has used repeatedly when developing new standards for nascent technologies.
As chairman of the FCC, Fly became the ex officio chairman of the Defense Communications Board, later the Board of War Communications, when it was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt
in September, 1940.
That same month, J. Edgar Hoover
of the FBI asked the FCC to wiretap all communications to and from Axis powers
and the United States, despite the fact that wiretapping had been outlawed by Section 605 of the Communications Act of 1934
, and Fly refused to comply. Fly wrote a letter to President Roosevelt explaining his lack of cooperation. Roosevelt renominated Fly to a new seven-year term of office beginning July 1, 1942; Fly's appointment was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate on June 29 of that year.
In 1941 Sam Hobbs
, U.S. Representative
from Alabama
, introduced a bill that would legalize wiretapping by the FBI, or any other government agency, if it was suspected that a felony
was occurring. The bill was supported by Attorney General Robert H. Jackson
, and seemed likely to pass, until Fly testified against the bill to Congress. Due in large part to Fly's testimony, the bill did not pass. This testimony garnered Fly national attention, and earned Roosevelt's and Hoover's disapproval. The FBI conducted wiretaps in contravention of the law, and began to collect a file on Fly. Hoover publicly attacked Fly and questioned his loyalty to the United States. In 1943, a House committee investigating the FCC accused Fly of allowing the attack on Pearl Harbor
by preventing wiretap legislation.
, accused of spying for the Soviet Union
. The trial uncovered extensive wiretapping being conducted illegally by the FBI, and became a major embarrassment for the agency. These wiretaps included conversations between Coplon and her lawyer. The bureau then destroyed recordings before the court could hear them, violating further statutes. Coplon was convicted, but the case was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
. Judge Learned Hand
conceded that "the guilt is plain," but overturned the conviction due to the evidence collected through illegal methods, as well as other misconduct, including the fact that Coplon had been arrested without a warrant
.
, who faced deportation due to accusations that he had lied when saying he had never been a Communist. This case eventually went before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1953, which ruled against the government. As retribution for this case, Fly faced numerous legal and business difficulties; newspaper columnists questioned his patriotism, and he was named a "concealed Communist" by a loyalty board
In 1953 Fly debated House Majority Leader Charles A. Halleck
on the use of wiretaps, on Edward R. Murrow
's "See It Now
" television program. Fly also wrote numerous print editorials speaking against wiretapping, and testified before a Senate subcommittee about the practice.
Fly died of cancer
in Daytona Beach, Florida
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, famous as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
and, later, director of the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
. He helped inaugurate standards for commercial television broadcasting, and vigorously opposed wiretapping throughout his career.
Early life
Fly grew up in TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and graduated from North Dallas High School
North Dallas High School
North Dallas High School is a public secondary school located in the Oak Lawn area of Dallas, Texas, .North Dallas enrolls students in grades 9-12 and is a part of the Dallas Independent School District...
in 1916. He then graduated from the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
before serving three years in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. He resigned to earn a law degree from Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
. After a short time in private practice, Fly took a position prosecuting antitrust
Antitrust
The United States antitrust law is a body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are intended to encourage competition in the marketplace. These competition laws make illegal certain practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers or both,...
cases for the government. He joined the Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
in 1934, rising from solicitor general to general counsel. Fly married Mildred Marvin Jones in 1923, with whom he had two children, James Lawrence, Jr., and Sara Virginia.
FCC chairmanship
When Fly was appointed to replace Frank McNinch as FCC chairman in 1939, commercial televisionCommercial Television
Commercial Television was the third free-to-air broadcast television station in Hong Kong. It first went on air in 1975, and ceased transmissions in 1978.-History:...
had not yet begun in the U.S. In April of that year, RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
attempted to broadcast commercial content in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
using standards set by the Radio Manufacturers Association (now the Electronic Industries Alliance
Electronic Industries Alliance
The Electronic Industries Alliance was a standards and trade organization composed as an alliance of trade associations for electronics manufacturers in the United States. They developed standards to ensure the equipment of different manufacturers was compatible and interchangeable...
), but these broadcasts were unauthorized and experimental. In December 1939 the FCC announced it would authorize limited commercial broadcasts, but it was not clear what standards should be used. By early 1940 RCA made aggressive moves to dominate the industry, and many of their competitors objected. The FCC halted all commercial broadcasts, and insisting that the television industry as a whole develop standards before broadcasting continue. To break this impasse, Fly urged Walter R. G. Baker to found the National Television System Committee, or NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
, and negotiations were soon reached. This became the model that the FCC has used repeatedly when developing new standards for nascent technologies.
As chairman of the FCC, Fly became the ex officio chairman of the Defense Communications Board, later the Board of War Communications, when it was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
in September, 1940.
That same month, J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
of the FBI asked the FCC to wiretap all communications to and from Axis powers
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
and the United States, despite the fact that wiretapping had been outlawed by Section 605 of the Communications Act of 1934
Communications Act of 1934
The Communications Act of 1934 is a United States federal law, enacted as Public Law Number 416, Act of June 19, 1934, ch. 652, 48 Stat. 1064, by the 73rd Congress, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, codified as Chapter 5 of Title 47 of the United States Code, et seq. The Act replaced the...
, and Fly refused to comply. Fly wrote a letter to President Roosevelt explaining his lack of cooperation. Roosevelt renominated Fly to a new seven-year term of office beginning July 1, 1942; Fly's appointment was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate on June 29 of that year.
In 1941 Sam Hobbs
Sam Hobbs
Samuel Francis Hobbs was a U.S. Representative from Alabama.Born in Selma, Alabama, Hobbs attended the public schools, Callaway's Preparatory School, Marion Military Institute, and Vanderbilt University at Nashville, Tennessee, graduating from the law department of the University of Alabama at...
, U.S. Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, introduced a bill that would legalize wiretapping by the FBI, or any other government agency, if it was suspected that a felony
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
was occurring. The bill was supported by Attorney General Robert H. Jackson
Robert H. Jackson
Robert Houghwout Jackson was United States Attorney General and an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court . He was also the chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials...
, and seemed likely to pass, until Fly testified against the bill to Congress. Due in large part to Fly's testimony, the bill did not pass. This testimony garnered Fly national attention, and earned Roosevelt's and Hoover's disapproval. The FBI conducted wiretaps in contravention of the law, and began to collect a file on Fly. Hoover publicly attacked Fly and questioned his loyalty to the United States. In 1943, a House committee investigating the FCC accused Fly of allowing the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
by preventing wiretap legislation.
Director of the ACLU
Fly left the FCC in 1944, and became director of the ACLU in 1946. One of the most celebrated cases under Fly's directorship was the case of Judith CoplonJudith Coplon
Judith Coplon Socolov was one of the first major figures tried in the United States for spying for the former Soviet Union; problems in her trials in 1949–50 had a profound influence on espionage prosecutions during the McCarthy era.-Work and arrest:Coplon obtained a job in the Department of...
, accused of spying for the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. The trial uncovered extensive wiretapping being conducted illegally by the FBI, and became a major embarrassment for the agency. These wiretaps included conversations between Coplon and her lawyer. The bureau then destroyed recordings before the court could hear them, violating further statutes. Coplon was convicted, but the case was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals...
. Judge Learned Hand
Learned Hand
Billings Learned Hand was a United States judge and judicial philosopher. He served on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and later the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit...
conceded that "the guilt is plain," but overturned the conviction due to the evidence collected through illegal methods, as well as other misconduct, including the fact that Coplon had been arrested without a warrant
Arrest warrant
An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual.-Canada:Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under the Criminal Code of Canada....
.
Private practice
In 1949 Fly represented labor leader Harry BridgesHarry Bridges
Harry Bridges was an Australian-American union leader, in the International Longshore and Warehouse Union , a longshore and warehouse workers' union on the West Coast, Hawaii and Alaska which he helped form and led for over 40 years...
, who faced deportation due to accusations that he had lied when saying he had never been a Communist. This case eventually went before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1953, which ruled against the government. As retribution for this case, Fly faced numerous legal and business difficulties; newspaper columnists questioned his patriotism, and he was named a "concealed Communist" by a loyalty board
In 1953 Fly debated House Majority Leader Charles A. Halleck
Charles A. Halleck
Charles Abraham Halleck was a Republican leader of the United States House of Representatives from the second district of Indiana....
on the use of wiretaps, on Edward R. Murrow
Edward R. Murrow
Edward Roscoe Murrow, KBE was an American broadcast journalist. He first came to prominence with a series of radio news broadcasts during World War II, which were followed by millions of listeners in the United States and Canada.Fellow journalists Eric Sevareid, Ed Bliss, and Alexander Kendrick...
's "See It Now
See It Now
See It Now is an American newsmagazine and documentary series broadcast by CBS from 1951 to 1958. It was created by Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly, Murrow being the host of the show. From 1952 to 1957, See It Now won four Emmy Awards and was nominated three times...
" television program. Fly also wrote numerous print editorials speaking against wiretapping, and testified before a Senate subcommittee about the practice.
Fly died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in Daytona Beach, Florida
Daytona Beach, Florida
Daytona Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, USA. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city has a population of 64,211. Daytona Beach is a principal city of the Deltona – Daytona Beach – Ormond Beach, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which the census bureau estimated had...
.