This letter is referenced in a chapter about Professor Jones in “The Second Generation of African American Pioneers in Anthropology” as written by Dr. Elgin Klugh and edited by Ira E. Harrison.
June 1959 – Notice of Action to Determine Suitability for Service in the Army Establishment
May 1959 – Summary of Information
Dear Sir,
Most of your charges against me I did not deny. As a matter of fact, I supplied the information myself. Some of your charges I have to deny as being untrue or a gross elaboration of the truth.
In you first charge, you stated that I was a member of the Junior Youth League in San Francisco in 1955-1956. The fact is that I did not come to San Francisco until September of 1956.
I never denied association or connection with leftist groups. This I admitted when I signed form 98 which I filled out to the best of my ability at the time. I am not in the habit of assuming that I am disloyal to the United States government. When form 98 was presented to me I did not know what to do, knowing I had been involved with groups which were on the Attorney General’s List. My only recourse was to sign with reservation. I had no preceding knowledge of the forms or the procedure. My aim, in signing the forms the way I did, was to proclaim my loyalty and also to reveal my association with leftist groups.
I protest being classified as a security risk. I protest it on the grounds that the charges against me, some admittedly true, do not make me less loyal.
You would not declare a man a criminal because he was a juvenile delinquent when he was a youth. You judge him as a mature person. Perhaps I am not yet a mature person, and perhaps I will never think just as others would have me think but I wish you to take under consideration that most of the things with which you charge me occurred when I was a teenager. To be branded for the actions of ones youth is a little unfair.
You have not given me the benefit of the doubt. You have assumed that I am guilty.
I never joined the Writer’s workshop. I did go to meetings and if this makes me a member then I would have to admit that I was a member.
I was on the Youth Recorder and wrote all of the three articles, including one story. In neither one of these articles is there anything more radical than what you could read in the daily Chronicle. Read them. I wrote under the name of Aaron Harris.
I am not sorry for my past nor do I apologize for it. It is there. In judging my case, please judge it on the present. Perhaps you will find that I am no more loyal than many “pure” Americans.
Respectfully,
Delmos Jehu Jones
Notes
Delmos Jones was drafted by the US Army, he did not apply to join the army. He had no children at the time that he was turned down although he was expecting his first child. Any misunderstanding or misinformation given to the author was unintended.
In response to this letter, the US Army sent the same letter back to Dr. Jones
October 1959 Notice of Action to Determine Suitability for Service in the Army Establishment