Biography
James Frederick Forest was a Communist organizer, Army veteran, and chairman of the Missouri Communist Party. Raised in Massachusetts, he worked as a tree surgeon and became involved in organizing unemployed workers. In St. Louis he campaigned against racial discrimination and the Korean War. He was indicted with four other Missouri Communists in September 1952 and sentenced to five years on June 4, 1954. His son’s memoir documents two distinct jail periods: late September 1952 to early February 1953, and June to mid-August 1954, separated by release on bail. His conviction was reversed April 4, 1958, and the prosecution was dropped that October. He later worked in construction and senior-housing activism in California. He was the father of peace activist and writer Jim Forest.
