members included John McTernan and Ben Margolis of Los Angeles. Another early member was Bartley Crum, defender of the Hollywood Ten. The first Executive Secretary of the organization was Mortimer Riemer.<ref name=Decker>Mark Decker, "A Lot Depends..." in Harold Bloom (ed.), "Richard Wright's Native Son. Langhorne, PA: Chelsea House, 1998; p. 180.</ref> President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a letter of support: I am sure that the results of this meeting will be worth while. It is a time for progressive and constructive thinking, and having known most of you intimately for many years, I have every confidence that your deliberations will affect the welfare of your own profession and the well-being of the country at large. I send to you my hearty felicitations and warm personal regards. According to Victor Rabinowitz, head of the NLG in the 1960s, the original membership of the organization came from two camps — established liberal attorneys with a labor-oriented perspective and "a militant segment of the bar, mostly young and sometimes radical." The National Lawyers Guild was the nation's first racially integrated bar association. Among the NLG's first causes was its support of President Roosevelt's New Deal, which was opposed by the American Bar Association (ABA). NLG assisted the emerging labor movement, and opposed the racial segregation policies in the ABA and in society in general. Following the Nazis' invasion of the Soviet Union, the Guild gave its support to President Roosevelt's wartime policies, including that of Japanese American internment. According to historian Harvey Klehr, the NLG was allied with the Communist Party; in the 1930s a significant number of NLG founders had been members or fellow travelers of the Communist Party USA, including Riemer and Joseph Brodsky of the CP's International Labor Defense auxiliary. During the McCarthy era, the NLG was accused by Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr. as well as the House Un-American Activities Committee of being a Communist front organization. In 1937, Allan R. Rosenberg joined the NLG and remained a member as late as 1956 during his second appearance before HUAC. In 1937, Ferdinand Pecora was a founding member of the NLG. On March 1, 1938, Pecora become NLG president, noted as a "forceful speaker." Pecora resigned from the NLG during its third annual convention in 1939 after the vote against his resolution disavowing communists failed to carry in the national vote. By 1939, Assistant Secretary of State Adolf A. Berle