[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 25 (Thursday, February 11, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E215-E216]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO MORRIS B. SCHNAPPER

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                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 11, 1999

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in paying 
tribute to the memory of noted publisher and free press advocate Morris 
B. Schnapper. Mr. Schnapper, who passed away last week at the age of 
86, was a distinguished editor and author, a man devoted to providing 
the American people with more information about their government and 
its policies. The Public Affairs Press, founded by Schnapper, published 
more than 1,000 books and 500 pamphlets during his years at its helm. 
However, his most meaningful legacy rests in his unflinching commitment 
to providing information to the public, frequently in the face of 
intense resistance from government officials.
  In the 1950's, decades before the cloak of secrecy was lifted from 
many government actions, Schnapper passionately fought to allow the 
unrestricted publishing of speeches by government officials. In arguing 
that these addresses merited wide distribution to a larger audience he 
used a wealth of methods, from the courts to the newspapers. He 
affirmed his cause with a determination that originated out of his rise 
from a New York orphanage to one of Washington's most respected men of 
letters. Morris Schnapper's commitment to the First Amendment and his 
recognition of its inherent protections deserve the appreciation

[[Page E216]]

and gratitude of all Members of Congress and of all Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to include in the Congressional Record the 
Washington Post's obituary of Mr. Schnapper, published on February 7, 
1999.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in offering our condolences to Morris 
Schnapper's family and friends.

                [From the Washington Post, Feb. 7, 1999]

             Book Publisher Morris Schnapper Dies at Age 86


                           (By Louie Estrada)

       Morris B. Schnapper, 86, a longtime Washington book 
     publisher and a tenacious challenger of high-level government 
     officials' practice of copyrighting their public speeches, 
     died of renal failure Feb. 5 at the Carriage Hill Nursing 
     Home in Silver Spring.
       He closed his publishing firm, Public Affairs Press, in the 
     mid-1980s but continued until recent years to write articles 
     on government copyright policies. It was a subject he first 
     addressed in the late 1950s, when he sought to publish a 
     series of speeches written and delivered by Navy Vice Admiral 
     Hyman G. Rickover, who had played a major role in the 
     development of the atomic submarine.
       Rickover denied permission for Mr. Schnapper to publish two 
     of his speeches, saying that the texts were copyrighted and 
     that he had made printing arrangements with another 
     publisher. Mr. Schnapper filed suit in Federal District 
     Court, arguing that the speeches were an official act and 
     therefore public property. He lost the court case but pressed 
     ahead anyway, once placing an advertisement in The Washington 
     Post attacking government copyright claims as an infringement 
     of constitutional guarantees of free speech and a free press.
       Before beginning his campaign against government-
     copyrighted publications, which earned him a reputation in 
     some circles as a gadfly, Mr. Schnapper had been known 
     primarily as a publisher of books and pamphlets on government 
     affairs and social issues such as race relations.
       From a one-room office in a dilapidated town house near 
     Capitol Hill, Mr. Schnapper operated his firm with a small 
     staff that often included university professors who served as 
     editors. He began forming the foundation of his business 
     during his lunch hours and at night while working as a press 
     spokesman for the U.S. Housing Authority in the 1930s.
       Born in New York City, he grew up in an orphanage there and 
     later worked as a copy boy for the New York World and the New 
     York Journal-American.
       Over the years, Public Affairs Press published more than 
     1,000 books and 500 pamphlets, including its biggest seller, 
     an autobiography of Indian leader Mohandas K. Gandhi. With 
     the help of his wife, Blanche, who died in 1974, he published 
     his first book, ``Rival Unionism,'' by his friend Walter 
     Gallenson.
       Public Affairs Press printed works by sociologist Vannevar 
     Bush, journalist Dorothy Thompson, financier Bernard Baruch 
     and historian Arnold Toynbee. Mr. Schnapper was the author of 
     several books, including ``Constraint by Copyright,'' which 
     he published in 1960, and ``American Labor: A Bicentennial 
     History,'' published in 1975.
       Survivors include his companion, Esther Potash of Silver 
     Spring; two children, Eric Schnapper of Bellevue and Amy 
     Schnapper of Ashland, Ore.; and a grandson.

     

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