Quick Facts
Biography
Joseph P. Kamp (1900–1993) was an American political activist from New York who ran the Constitutional Educational League and was jailed in 1950, for contempt of Congress.
Background
Kamp was born Joseph Peter Kamp.
Career
Kamp was a contributor to The Awakener before the Second World War.
In the 1944 presidential campaign, the Constitutional Educational League published a brochure, Vote CIO and Get A Soviet America. A congressional investigation into the 1944 campaign expenditures sought to find out who the financial backers were of the League, as it deemed this brochure to be political. Kamp, vice-president of the league, refused to hand over this information. Because Kamp refused to act on a subpoena, he was tried for Contempt of Congress.
Starting June 16, 1950, Kamp was jailed for four months for refusing back in 1944 to answer questions regarding campaign activities, asked by the House Campaign Expenditures Committee.(He was also "in trouble" with the House Lobby Investigating committee for refusing to share his organization's records.)The United States Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal earlier in 1950.
Kamp was tried another time for congressional defiance in 1952, when he failed to produce records for the House Lobby Investigating Committee. This time, Kamp was acquitted of the charge, as the House Committee failed to orderly disclose why Kamp was in default.
Others who also defied Congress over similar issues include:Edward A. Rumely of the Committee for Constitutional Government and Merwin K. Hart of the National Economic Council, Inc..
Kamp was acquitted of a second contempt charge in relationship with the lobbying activities of the Constitutional Educational League, an anti-communist organization.
Kamp also served as a policy advisor to the Liberty Lobby.
Personal life
Kamp was a great-uncle of actor Jon Voight through his mother, making him the great great uncle of actress Angelina Jolie.
Kamp was associated with Alfred Kohlberg, Merwin K. Hart, Edward A. Rumely, J.B. Matthews, and William F. Buckley Jr..He also associated with Elizabeth Dilling, author of The Red Network—A Who's Who and Handbook of Radicalism for Patriots (1934).
Gerald L. K. Smith (1898–1976) far-right clergyman and leader of the Christian Nationalist Crusade called Kamp a "well-informed and fearless patriot."
