 ACLU leadership was split on whether to purge its leadership of communists. Norman Thomas, John Haynes Holmes, and Morris Ernst were anti-communists who wanted to distance the ACLU from communism; opposing them were Harry Ward, Corliss Lamont and Elizabeth Flynn who rejected any political test for ACLU leadership. A bitter struggle ensued throughout 1939, and the anti-communists prevailed in February 1940, when the board voted to prohibit anyone who supported totalitarianism from ACLU leadership roles. Chairman Harry Ward immediately resigned, and – following a contentious six-hour debate – Elizabeth Flynn was voted off the ACLU's board. The 1940 resolution was a disaster for the ACLU, and considered by many to be a betrayal of its fundamental principles. The resolution was rescinded in 1968, and Flynn was posthumously reinstated to the ACLU in 1970.
