As published in Playboy Magazine, January 1989
Forum
The Hugh M. Hefner
First Amendment Awards

Although the First Amendment has been part of the Constitution since 1791, it was not truly part of the American experience until this century. In 1920, a scholar preparing a book on freedom of speech would have had about 20 Supreme Court cases to ponder. In 1949, he would have had about 100 cases; in 1974, more than 400. Jamie Kalven, in his introduction to A Worthy Tradition: Freedom of Speech in America (Harper & Row), concludes that freedom of speech is an adventure that is unfolding in our lifetime; the court cases reflect "the law working itself pure."

What we can't tell from these statistics is that the heroes of the grand tradition of freedom of speech are not always lawyers and judges -- and that not every First Amendment battle is fought in court.

Ten years ago, the Playboy Foundation under the direction of Christie Hefner established the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards to honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the protection and enhancement of First Amendment rights. The Foundation wanted to celebrate the men and women who had given, in Karl Llewellyn's words, "living body, toughness and inspiration to . .. what is now the worthiest tradition in American law, the tradition of freedom of speech, press and political action."

The judges for this year's awards were: Anthony Lewis, syndicated columnist for The New York Times; Charlayne Hunter-Gualt, New York-based national correspondent for The NacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour; Steven Pico, First Amendment advocate/lecturer and past award winner; and Thomas Wicker, political columnist for The New York Times. Co-chairs for the award are: Christie Hefner, President and Chief Operating Officer, Playboy Enterprises, Inc.; Stanley Sheinbraum, immediate past chair, A.C.L.U. Foundation of Southern California; and Burton Joseph, chair, the Playboy Foundation.

BOOK PUBLISHING

Jamie Kalven, editor of A Worthy Tradition, is this year's winner. Harry Kalven, Jr., Jamie's father, was among the country's "most perceptive First Amendment commentators, known for his insights into the law and for the grace with which he expressed them." When he died in 1974, he was at work on this book. Jamie spent more than a decade completing his father's manuscript. His contributions to this critical examination of the American tradition of free speech, from which come the statistics quoted above, earned him a First Amendment award.

EDUCATION

Herbert Foestel, head of the branch libraries at the University of Maryland, received an award for resisting FBI intrusions into libraries. Under its so-called Library Awareness Program, the FBI sought to have librarians report suspicious patrons, especially those with foreign accents or names, who might be collecting information for the Soviet Union. The program, which Forestel successfully battled, was in direct violation of American Library Association's library code of ethics and of the library confidentiality laws of 37 states.

PRINT JOURNALISM

David G. Arnett, a student at Tulsa Junior College, was honored for his efforts to defend the right to a free press. After being removed from the editorship of the campus newspaper, the Horizon, for defying an administration ban on publication of editorials, Arnett founded the Independent Student News, which, with the help of donations, is now distributed on five northern Oklahoma campuses -- a considerably wider readership than the 200 journalism students to whom Tulsa Junior College officials had limited distribution of the Horizon. It was that limitation that Arnett had protested in the offending editorial.

INDIVIDUAL CONSCIENCE

The First Amendment guarantees the right to criticize -- it does not provide the courage to do so. Roy Woodruff is a former director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and head of the nuclear-weapons development program, which included the X-ray-laser project. In theory, the laser weapon could channel the power of an exploding nuclear device into multiple beams that would destroy enemy targets. In 1983, after Reagan's famous Star Wars speech, scientists questioned whether or not this weapon could be developed and, if so, whether or not it would work. Edward Teller, co-founder of Livermore and father of the H-bomb, lobbied enthusiastically for it, even going so far as to state that the development of the X-ray laser was a reason for delaying agreement at the Geneva arms talks. Information that did not support Star Wars was suppressed. As head of the project, Woodruff knew how misleading Teller's position was. Rather than participate in selling Star Wars to the Administration and Congress, he resigned.

LAW

Rex Armstrong, attorney and volunteer counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, has successfully argued a number of cases on behalf of free expression. In one such instance, he convinced the Oregon Supreme Court that the state could not impose zoning restrictions on bookstores and theaters based on the content of the materials offered by those establishments (a position more protective of civil liberties than those expressed in several U.S. Supreme Court decisions).

GOVERNMENT

Convincing the Government that the public has the right to know requires skill and perseverance. Eric Robert Glitzenstein, staff attorney with the Public Citizen Litigation Group in Washington, D.C., has worked for five years to ensure public access to the workings of Government. He has won victories giving citizens access to the records of former Presidents, and prisoners the right to obtain copies of their pre-sentence reports.

In addition to our respect and gratitude, each winner received a plaque and a $3000 award at a ceremony at Playboy Mansion West in November.

The First Amendment is best exemplified in practice.