Bernadette Doyle

Released
Gender:Female
Race:White
Era:1950s
State:California
Support
Communism Communist Party USA
Bernadette Doyle

Biography

Bernadette Doyle was a California Communist Party organizer arrested in the July 1951 Smith Act roundup. High bail kept the California defendants in federal custody while they challenged the bail orders. A jury convicted her on August 5, 1952, and the court imposed five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. She remained free on appeal bond after the trial, and the Supreme Court reversed the conviction on June 17, 1957.

Photo credit

Los Angeles Daily News photograph, November 16, 1950, via the UCLA Library and Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0; existing Commons crop.

Case

Charges: Smith Act — conspiring to advocate the overthrow of the government (California CP leader).
Arrested: Jul 31, 1951
Sentenced: Aug 8, 1952
Sentence: Five years in federal prison and a $10,000 fine. She remained free on appeal bond after trial; the exact endpoint of the 1951 pretrial detention remains unresolved.
Convicted: Yes

Related Cases

Hugh Bryson Hugh Bryson Carl Ross Carl Ross Shirley Kremen Shirley Kremen Albert Lima Albert Lima Dorothy Ray Healey Dorothy Ray Healey Frank Spector Frank Spector Loretta Stack Loretta Stack Oleta O'Connor Yates Oleta O'Connor Yates Rose Chernin Rose Chernin