Sarah Lawrence College Professor Joseph Barnes was accused of being a Communist and Russian espionage agent during the Red Scare
By Mary Hoar, City of Yonkers Municipal Historian, 1977 recipient of the Key to the City of Yonkers, President Emeritus Yonkers Historical Society, recipient of the 2004 Key to History, Yonkers Landmarks Preservation Board Member, Founder of Revolutionary Yonkers 250 and President Untermyer Performing Arts Council
Monday, April 6th
April 6, 1928: Banker A. R. Martine of 357 North Broadway announced he would finance a three-continent flight with a transatlantic crossing, a tour of Europe and a quick trip to Liberia. Two African American aviators, Lieutenant Hubert Julian and Lieutenant Herbert Wilkie would pilot the excursion. Julian later headed Emperor Haile Selassie’s Air Force for a few months.
Martine made one of his planes available and shared the cost with the famous 369th Regiment of Harlem, known as the Harlem Hellfighters. Named “The 369th Rattlesnake,” the plane had regimental numerals and a rattlesnake on each side of the plane.
Unfortunately, the flight never happened.
April 6, 1934: Although Herbert, the tame, well-mannered pheasant friendly to strangers seemed happy in his downtown Yonkers pad, SPCA Agent Butler ruled he had to go back to nature. Yonkers Game Warden John Canepi was tasked with taking Herbert from his comfortable Yonkers “flat” to the wilds of Pleasantville.
Herbert never did say why he had dropped by Getty Square.
Tuesday, April 7th
April 7, 1911: “Belvoir,” the Lilienthal estate at 615 North Broadway, was sold to the Jesuit Order. After their seminary in Maryland closed, students and faculty moved to Yonkers.
April 7, 1952: After spending the weekend with Elinor Roosevelt in Hyde Park and Scarsdale’s Louis Marx family, Netherlands’ Queen Juliana was met by Prince Bernhard in Yonkers, then escorted by dozens of FBI agents, New York State Troopers, motorcycle police officers, photographers, reporters and hundreds of fans to the New York City line. Juliana and Bernhard’s American aide Admiral Forrestel and Netherlands Consul-General John Simmons met them on the Saw Mill River Parkway and escorted the Royal Couple to a NYC Ticker Tape Parade. The Royal couple relaxed at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel for three days.
Wednesday, April 8th:
April 8, 1944: Habirshaw Cable and Wire Company opened a new plant just north of the City Pier to assemble pipeline for Operation Overlord, what the British called Operation PLUTO, Pipe Line Under The Ocean. The plant assembled miles of pipeline made in Yonkers and company factories in Connecticut and New Jersey.
This pipeline sent millions of gallons of fuel from England to France and Germany and was credited for the success of the Allies D-Day Invasion!
Wednesday, April 9th
April 9. 1935: Speaking at the annual Holy Trinity School Alumni Association Communion Breakfast, YPD Captain Dennis Cooper demanded a boycott on newsstands selling indecent and immoral papers and magazines in Yonkers. Cooper was head of Yonkers Traffic Division. He stated he had seen these periodicals sold at newsstands near public and private schools; he also believed stage and screen productions were “reservoirs of filth.”
April 9, 1943: After Yonkers received five 500-gallon pumps from the National Office of Civilian Defense, Fire Chief William Garvin and Assistant Chief Arthur Spring supervised a demonstration at the Recreation Pier. The pumps were unmounted, so Yonkers Water Bureau employees used five auto chassis from junk dealers to mount the pumps. Seven more pumps were expected, all for any emergency caused by any acts of war.
The demonstration, attended by City Manager William Walsh and other city officials, showed the pump drawing water from the Hudson and feeding two hose lines, pumping 550 gallons per minute!
Friday, April 10th
April 10, 1952: The Westchester American Legion’s Americanism Committee charged Yonkers’ Sarah Lawrence College with Communist infiltration by a unanimous vote of the 100 delegates. They represented 7,000 Legion members. Five witnesses testified that instructor Joseph Barnes at Sarah Lawrence was a Communist and Russian espionage agent.
Barnes, also a Simon & Schuster editor, strongly denied the charges. He stated, “I have denied all these charges under oath before the Senate Committee on Judiciary and the subcommittee on Internal Security. I also denied under oath that I am now a Communist or have ever been a member of the Communist Party.”
The Legion called for the House Un-American Activities Committee to investigate the college, and for NYS to activate its Feinberg Law to force the Yonkers college to fire all subversive teachers or lose its tax exempt status. Both resolutions were forwarded to the State American Legion for approval.
Saturday, April 11th
April 11, 1923: The Yonkers Common Council gave Otis Elevator Company permission to build an enclosed bridge over Atherton Street 38 feet above the street. The bridge would connect the manufacturing building with the shipping and storage building.
April 11, 1971: Thirty-year Yonkers resident Philip Bookbinder passed away; his Yonkers home was 309 St. Johns Avenue. A leading foreign language typographer, he recognized the US would become more concerned with the rest of the world. He established a foreign language division of his King Typographic Service Corporation; his company’s equipment could handle more than 600 languages and dialects.
During World War II, he worked with the Office of War Information to produce and print pieces in many languages.
Sunday, April 12th
April 12, 1930: US Under Secretary of War F. Trubee Davison told the Yonkers Forum of Gold Star Mothers scheduled to visit France during the summer, they were divided by necessity, not race.
The Yonkers Forum registered a protest when they learned Black mothers would be in separate ship accommodations. Davison said the large number of mothers and widows traveling overseas made it necessary to send the women in more than one group.
April 12, 1976: The Yonkers Parks Board approved and appointed 31 Yonkers residents to the Untermyer Performing Arts Council, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
Any questions on this column, email yonkershistory1646@gmail.com.
For information on the Yonkers Historical Society, the Sherwood House Museum on Tuckahoe Road or their upcoming events, please visit their website www.yonkershistoricalsociety.org, call 914-961-8940 or email info@yonkershistoricalsociety.org.