One of the ACLU of Iowa’s first legislative victories was in 1935. State Representative Bourke Hickenlooper in February introduced a bill that would require a loyalty oath of all Iowa teachers, popular legislation nationally at the time that was seen as a method of somehow ferreting out communist sympathizers.
Hickenlooper was a lawyer from Blockton who went on to become Iowa governor in 1943 and then a U.S. senator from 1945 to 1969. He became known as one of the country’s most conservative congressional members.
The bill required schools and colleges to fire any teachers who did not take the oath. It didn’t have any provisions for demonstrating proof of any violation of the law. And it didn’t allow for an investigation in case a teacher was wrongly accused of violating the law.
Just three other groups opposed it: a group of Iowa college students, The Iowa Conference of University Professors, and the Iowa Academy of Science. But they were effective. The bill eventually died a quiet death in legislative committee.