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The Courage to Put God FirstAwake!—1993 | July 22
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Going to Court
In the meantime the Society wanted to bring the abuses in connection with the flag-salute issue to the courts. The hundreds of us who had taken a stand had now become thousands. One family after another was chosen, but the state courts refused to accept their cases for trial. Our family was approached, and the Society’s lawyer and the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer filed suit in the Federal District Court in Philadelphia in May 1937. A trial date was set for February 1938.
Bill and I would have to take the stand. I can still remember the cold, clammy feeling I got over that prospect! The Society’s lawyer briefed us over and over with possible questions. At the courthouse, Bill took the stand first. They asked him why he wouldn’t salute the flag, and he replied quoting Exodus 20:4-6. Then my turn came. Same question. When I replied, “1 John 5:21,” the opposing lawyer barked: “I object!” He felt that one scripture was enough! Then Professor Roudabush took the stand, claiming that we had been indoctrinated and were spreading “disregard for . . . flag and country.” But Judge Albert Maris decided in our favor.
‘Don’t even try to come back to school!’ was the message from the school board. ‘We are going to appeal the case.’ So it was back to Philadelphia, this time to the U.S. Court of Appeals. In November 1939 the three-man court decided favorably for us. The school board was incensed. On to the U.S. Supreme Court!
The Supreme Court
We were thrilled to hear that Brother Rutherford himself would argue our case! A group of us met him at Union Station in Washington, D.C., the night before the trial. What a moment! It was April 1940 and still a little cool. The next day the courtroom was absolutely packed with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Finally it was our turn, and Brother Rutherford rose to speak. I’ll never forget how he compared us Witness children with the faithful prophet Daniel, Daniel’s three Hebrew companions, and other Bible characters. It was electrifying, and the audience listened with rapt attention.
It never really occurred to us that the court’s decision would be anything but favorable. After all, we had won the previous two cases. But on the morning of June 3, 1940, Mom and I were working in the kitchen with the radio playing in the background. Suddenly a newscast came on. The judges had decided against us—and not by a mere margin, but by 8 to 1! Mom and I just stood there, frozen in disbelief. Then we ran downstairs to tell Dad and Bill.
This decision unleashed an almost unimaginable wave of terror. Across the country, it was open season on Jehovah’s Witnesses. People thought they were doing their patriotic duty by attacking us. Within days the Kingdom Hall at Kennebunk, Maine, was torched. In Illinois a mob attacked 60 Witnesses as they were preaching, turning over their cars and destroying their literature. In the Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, area, the coal mine, the clothing factories, and the schools all held flag-salute ceremonies in quick succession. Thus, Witness children were expelled from school, and their parents lost their jobs all within one day.
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The Courage to Put God FirstAwake!—1993 | July 22
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A Change at Last
By 1942, though, some of the Supreme Court justices felt that they had decided wrongly in our case. So the Society brought forward the case of Barnett, Stull, and McClure, a group of Witness children who had been expelled from school in West Virginia. The U.S. District Court of West Virginia decided unanimously in favor of Jehovah’s Witnesses! Now, on appeal by the State Board of Education, the case went to the U.S. Supreme Court. Our family was there in Washington, D.C., when the Society’s lawyer, Hayden C. Covington, argued powerfully before the Supreme Court. On Flag Day, June 14, 1943, came the decision. It was six to three in favor of Jehovah’s Witnesses!
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