Today in Jacksonville History: June 3, 1949

No say, no pay.

The city of Jacksonville purged itself of the Red Menace by requiring all employes to take a loyalty oath.

Every official or employee of the city would be required to sign an oath of loyalty to the United States and the state of Florida, the City Commission ruled.

The signed oath would be a prerequisite to the paycheck, City Auditor J. E. Pace said.

The commission action complied with a bill enacted by the 1949 Legislature.

It coincided with the espionage trials of Judith Coplan in Washington and Alger Hiss in New York City, when many Americans wondered, "What next?"

Coplon had been arrested for stealing 12 papers from the Justice Department, where she formerly worked, and passing them to Russian U.N. employee Valentine Gubichev.

Hiss was accused by Whittaker Chambers of giving State Department secrets to the Soviets in a deal worked out over a table in a dimly-lighted restaurant in New York's Chinatown.

Pace said the necessary blanks to protect the city from security risks had been prepared and would be issued to department heads.

The policy required that those failing to sign the oath be immediately disscharged.

The oath read:

"I, (name), a citizen of Florida and the United States and being employed as an officer of the City of Jacksonville and the recipient of public funds, do hereby swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the State of Florida, that I am not a member of the Communist party, that I do not believe in the overthrow of the government of the United States or the State of Florida by force or violence."  

Also on June 3, 1949

- Four legendary Duval County principals retired, ending careers that dated to 1903: West Riverside's Florence Hughes, Lackawanna's Aaron Roberts, and two who already had their schools named for them, Ruth N. Upson and Annie Beaman.

- The Coast Guard banned the use of amphibious vehicles at Jacksonville's beaches. The ruling followed the sinking of a "Duck" offering recreational rides in the surf the previous summer. No lives were lost.

- Nifty knuckle-baller Hoyt Wilhelm four-hit the Savannah Indians 5-0 to notch his sixth consecutive win of the season for the Jacksonville Tars.

Bill Foley was a Times-Union reporter, editor and columnist for more than 40 years. He’s best known for his quirky columns about Jacksonville and Northeast Florida’s history. He wrote this series of Millennium Moments columns in 1999 leading up to the year 2000. Foley died in 2001 at age 62.