Waubonsee Community College

Burning the flag, the great 1989-1990 American flag desecration controversy, Robert Justin Goldstein

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 417-442) and index

index present

non fiction

Burning the flag

bibliography

32013424

Robert Justin Goldstein

the great 1989-1990 American flag desecration controversy

In 1989 a political fire storm erupted after the United States Supreme Court declared that dissidents had the constitutional right under the First Amendment to burn the flag. To some, including President George Bush and many members of Congress, the flag was a sacred symbol of American freedoms. They believed its physical destruction posed a serious threat to the country and demanded a constitutional amendment to reverse the Court's decision. For those who defended the Court's ruling, flag desecration was a form of constitutionally protected free speech, and any attempt to forbid such conduct was seen as creating a dangerous precedentBurning the Flag brings together the disciplines of law, journalism, political science, and history to explain and place the development of the controversy in its full context. It is based on extensive research in legal, congressional, and journalistic sources and on exclusive interviews with nearly 100 of the key players in the dispute, among them flag burners, judges, lawyers and lobbyists on both sides, members of Congress, congressional aides, and journalists. A timely addendum chronicles the late 1995 attempts once again to pass a constitutional amendment on flag desecration, adding to the significance of this readable account. Burning the Flag will be of value to both an academic and a general audience, particularly to civil libertarians, flag buffs, and those interested in popular media, American politics, modern American history, and constitutional law

The pre-1984 origins of the American flag desecration controvesy -- The Texas trials of Gregory Lee Johnson, 1984-1988 -- The flag controversy moves to center stage, August 1988-June 1989 -- The immediate post-Johnson flag firestorm -- The 1989 congressional flag desecration debate: to overturn Johnson by law or by constitutional amendment -- The 1989 decline and fall of the constitutional amendment and the passage of the Flag Protection Act -- The Flag Protection Act and the Federal District Courts, October 1989-February 1990 -- The Supreme Court and flag burning, Round two, March-June 1990 -- Flag burning: the sequel, June 1990 -- Epilogue and afterthoughts: the flag desecration controversy in the post-Eichman era, mid-1990 to mid-1995 -- Addendum: The revided struggle over the Flag Desecration Amendement in 1995