Today in New Jersey history
April 23, 1936: Bruno Richard Hauptman was executed at the New Jersey state prison in Trenton for the Lindbergh baby’s kidnapping and murder.
April 23, 1965: At an anti-Vietnam War “teach in” at Rutgers University, Professor Eugene Genovese said, “Those of you who know me know that I am a Marxist and a socialist. Therefore, unlike some of my distinguished colleagues here this morning, I do not fear or regret the impending Viet Cong victory in Vietnam. I welcome it.” His words became a campaign issue with Democratic governor Richard Hughes defending Genovese’s First Amendment right to say what he said, without endorsing his view, and his Republican opponent Wayne Dumont claiming that supporting the enemy was not appropriate for a professor at a taxpayer-funded state university. Hughes won the election, but Genovese, unhappy with Rutgers, moved on to Sir George Williams College in Montreal in 1967.
