Biography
Dr. Willard Uphaus was the director of World Fellowship, a religious pacifist organization, targeted by New Hampshire's one-man subversion probe under Attorney General Louis Wyman for running peace seminars. He refused on First Amendment grounds to turn over the names of seminar guests; fined in 1955 and fighting the inquiry, he was later jailed for a year for contempt.
In a letter published April 17, 1961, written while travelling by train toward Seattle, Uphaus thanked supporters who had stood by him and Ola during his year in prison and said he had been free for about three months. He described resuming peace and civil-liberties speaking appointments and preparing another World Fellowship summer in New Hampshire. The rounded recollection is not converted into a different exact release date. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/national-guardian/1961-04-17-13-27-nat-guardian.pdf#page=2
On June 8, 1959, the Supreme Court affirmed the contempt judgment against Uphaus by a 5–4 division. The contemporary report identifies the disputed demand as New Hampshire's request for guest and speaker lists from World Fellowship and explains the ruling's distinction between state subversion investigations and the federal Smith Act. This appellate decision is not treated as a new sentencing or prison-admission date.
