Biography
James S. Tate was a Hartford contractor prosecuted in the New Haven Smith Act case. A jury convicted him on March 29, 1956, but the court suspended his sentence. He did not serve the suspended prison sentence, and the government later ended the Connecticut prosecution after the appellate court dismissed the related defendants’ indictments. Arrested May 29, 1954 in the Connecticut Smith Act roundup. On June 16, 1954, he remained in New Haven County Jail because he could not raise bail; the previous day his bail had been reduced from $20,000 to $10,000. He was subsequently released on bail, and a February 23, 1955 court ruling confirms that all seven original defendants were then at liberty. His exact jail admission and release dates, and total time detained, remain unverified.
Documented pretrial detention
Arrested May 29, 1954 in the Connecticut Smith Act roundup. On June 16, 1954, he remained in New Haven County Jail because he could not raise bail; the previous day his bail had been reduced from $20,000 to $10,000. He was subsequently released on bail, and a February 23, 1955 court ruling confirms that all seven original defendants were then at liberty. His exact jail admission and release dates, and total time detained, remain unverified.
Sources: Manchester Evening Herald, June 16, 1954, page 14, “State Reds Unable To Raise Cut Bail”; United States v. Silverman, February 23, 1955, 129 F. Supp. 496, 514; UConn Archives, original seven-defendant leaflet (May 29 arrest date and identities).
James Sherman Tate, a Hartford defendant in the Connecticut Smith Act prosecution, was among seven men still held in New Haven County Jail on June 16, 1954 because they could not raise bail. The contemporary newspaper gives his historical age as43 and reports that Judge Robert P. Anderson reduced his bail from $20,000 to $10,000 the previous day, over prosecutor Francis J. McNamara’s objection. It dates the group arrests only to late May and the indictment to June4. The DOJ bulletin reports his March29,1956 conviction in the same case. Neither source establishes his eventual physical jail discharge, exact admission day, total time confined or service of any later judicial sentence. No current custody, life dates or political membership is inferred. Held in New Haven County Jail after late-May1954 arrest and still jailed June16 unable to raise reduced bail. Exact admission, final release and completed custody duration unknown. The1956 conviction is not proof of service of a prison sentence.
Manchester Evening Herald June16,1954, printed14 / PDF8; DOJ bulletin April13,1956 printed247/PDF8.
The Manchester Evening Herald’s June 4, 1954 front page reports that Judge Robert P. Anderson read the Connecticut Seven’s original Smith Act indictment from the bench. It identifies this defendant among the seven arrested the previous Saturday. This supplies the judge for the original indictment stage, not necessarily the later trial. The supplied file is labeled June 3 but its final facing page is explicitly dated June 4; the source date is taken from that original page. The report’s maximum five-year penalty is not an imposed sentence, and bond amounts do not establish a completed physical release. Existing later outcomes and custody limits remain unchanged.
Manchester Evening Herald, June 4, 1954 front page, supplied PDF page 10 (filename June 3).
