Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers to Step Down as President of the Legal Defense Fund

    10 Columbus Circle 
New York, N.Y. 10019 
JUdson 6-8397 

NAACP 

Legal. Defense and Educational Fund 
PRESS RELEASE 
resident 

q Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers FOR RELEASE 

Director-Counsel 

Tack Greenberg Paces 1, 1965 
Associate Counsel 

Constance Baker Motley 

DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS 
TO STEP DOWN AS PRESIDENT 
OF THE LEGAL DEFENSE FUND 

NEW YORK---Dr, Allan Knight Chalmers has indicated to the Board 

of Directors of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund his 

intention to resign as President of the Board in April of this 

year. 

Dr. Chalmers has served the Legal Defense Fund as an unpaid 

volunteer worker and in a professional capacity for 25 years. 

Advance notice of his voluntary intent to resign. in April 

was to allow the Board time to make necessary adjustments for 

the continuity of the work of the office of President. 

Jack Greenberg, Director-Counsel of the Legal Defense Fund, 

joined the Honorable Francis E, Rivers, former Judge of the City 

Court of New York and Vice-president of the Legal Defense Fund's 

Board of Directors and U.S. Appeals Court Judge William H. 

Hastie in expressing the Board's "deep regret at Dr, Chalmers! 

decision." 

Three years ago, when an attractive offer was made for Dr. 

Chalmers' services in Japan, he was urged to stay on as the 

Legal Defense Fund's President. 

Dr. Chalmers agreed to remain but announced at that time 

that he would like to step down after three years. 

Dr. Chalmers, who formerly held the position of Professor 

of Applied Christianity at Boston University, also served as 

minister of Broadway Tabernacle in New York City for 18 years. 

His life has always been characterized in cause-centered 

activities.-Bhus, his numerous organizational commitments have 

added to the waite ‘Of His services as Chairman of the Legal 

Defense Fund's "Committee of 100"--one of the Legal Defense Fund's 

chief sources of financial support, 

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Jesse DeVore, Jr., Director of Public Information—Night Number 212 Riverside 9-8487 Ss 



~~ pr, Allan Knight Chalmers eae February 1, 1965 
To Step Down As President 
Qf The Legal Defense Fund 

ie Judge Seetie, Judge Rivers, Dr, John A, Davis, Dr. M. Moran 

“Meston ond @Phauncey L. Waddell of the Board, spoke of Dr. % 

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©, “We deeply regret mers’ leaving. We respected 

sjudgment. But, we are hap 

long period of time." 

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ty $ Judge Rivers stated that “his explanation makes us well 

preciate Dr. Chalmers’ decision to give up his office when 

"Of course not to have him with us anymore," Judge y i 

3» a [continues "will occasion great regret since his inspired lead- | 

>) ership over so many years has made his name a byword in the many 

: a ee which are now landmarks in the civil rights 

fe rauggleae 

Mir, Greenberg said, "Dr. Chalmers was a crusader in our work 

when it was still so controversial that many persons hesitated 

to associate with us. | 

"Over the years of his work with the Legal Defense Funds, 

attitudes have changed vindicating his original convictions." 

Dr. Chalmers was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1897, Because 

of World War I, his A. B. college course at John Hopkins was 

completed in three years. He spent ten months overseas with the 

Foyers of the II French Army, living in a dugout on the Verdun ; 
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front, followed by a brief time before the Armistice in the @ 

Motor Transport Corp of the American Army. 

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Dr, Allan big Chalmers -3- February 1, 1965 
To Step Down As President 
Of The Legal Defense Fund 

Riown For his leadership in the Scottsboro Cases, where as 

chairman of the Defense Committee, Dr. Chalmers succeeded in 

having all nine of the boys freed and wrote the definitive 

inside story of the case in 1951. 

At the Oxford (England) Conference on Life and ‘lork, July 

1937, Dr. Chalmers was one of the 71 delegates from the United 

States. 

SMhile in Europe, he revisited the scene of his experiences 

‘in the World War, and then climbed the Jungfrau. His highest 

mountain is Pichincha in Ecuador, South America. 

“He has been the speaker at over two hundred and fifty é 

colleges and boys' schools, and chaplain at more than fifty 

youdg people's conferences. 

He has contributed to papers and magazines including the 

Advance, the Christian Century, the Pulpit, the Pilgrim Highroad, 

the Classmate, Religion in Life, Johns Hopkins Alumni Magazine, 

and the International Journal of Religious Education. 

Dr. Chalmers has written nine books including Ihey Shall Be 

Eree, the inside story of the Scottsboro Case. Two other books 

are in process at the present time. His latest book is That 

Revolutionary -- Christ 

A wide traveller with over 1,200,000 air miles to his credit, 

he has been a speaker or consultant on social conditions in more 

than 50 countries around the world. 

One