FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 5): New York – The “Divorce Racket Busters” are after me – and I’m not even divorced.
They’re after every man that’s got a wife and want to warn
him of the doom they claim is awaiting him.
They’re trying to free husbands from alimony slavery.
Especially in California. Where, they claim, it’s scandalous.
They’ve got headquarters on Citrus Heights, Calif., and
Reuben P. Kidd writes that “We need to impress upon all ‘happily married men’
that their freedom is in jeopardy and is entirely dependent upon the whims of
their wives.”
They’re circulating a cartoon titled “The Alimony Joy Ride”
which shows the ex-wife, her lawyer and the judge celebrating her divorce, with
the poor husband pushing the car in which all three having their joy ride.
“Don’t be a pushover,” says the cartoon. They then want to
change the California laws.
I’d like to show this to my wife – but I’m afraid to.
[Earl Wilson, “Divorce Racket Haters Calling All Husbands,”
syndicated, The Hammond Times (In.), Jul. 31, 1961, p. A-7]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 5): Sacramento, Calif.— Former Army Maj. Reuben Kidd who survived four years of military combat and came home to face a divorce action, has opened a nationwide attack on alimony, community property and women's right to custody of the children.
He
says he is encouraged by “at least 1,000'” sympathizers in California
and “hundreds” elsewhere in the nation, and adds be has begun the
initial mailing of membership applications for his new organization.
It is called United States Divorce Reform, Inc. (USDR), and was chartered Nov. 20, 1961, by the California secretary of state.
Kidd
contends that divorce laws in many states encourage marital breakups by
making them easy, if not downright profitable for women. He is not
opposed to divorce, but he favors enforcing “responsibility” on the
female partner.
USDR
was conceived early last year in a Sacramento attorney's office. There,
Kidd learned that his wife's divorce action would enrich her by
$22,500, or half his total wealth.
He
started modestly with letters to the editors of local newspapers, and
said he gradually found supporters in California, Nevada. Michigan,
Wisconsin, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and the Panama Canal
Zone.
Kidd
said most supporters are men like himself who believe themselves
victimized, by a divorce settlement, but he said “many, many” women had
written to him.
Kidd
said that USDR would seek changes in current law with the usual
political tools: letter writing, lobbying, financial support for
sympathetic candidates. Basically, Kidd wants:
—Community property laws that give each partner the property that he or she brought to the marriage.
—Eventual abolition of alimony.
—Recognition
of a father's equal right to custody of the children, based on the
father's equal ability to use modern child care services.
[“Organization Asks Divorce Law Reforms,” syndicated (UPI), Oshkosh Daily Northwestern (Wi.), Dec.
30, 1961; same article with different headline: “Major Declares War on Divorce
Laws, Battles Alimony, Right to Custody,” syndicated (UPI), Ogden
Standard-Examiner (Ut.), Jan. 5, 1961, p. 9]
***
***
EXCERPT (Article 3 of 5): Alimony
payers are collectors of injustice stories. They seem to derive some black
enjoyment from tales of legal maltreatment. Reuben Kidd, for instance, a big
dark-haired man with a vague resemblance to Robert Ryan, begins his bitter
narrative by mentioning he was awarded a medal for combat heroism for World War
II. “I fought for freedom,” he says. “Freedom for almost all Americans,
including my wife – but not including me.”
Kidd consulted a
lawyer when his childless marriage began to break up. Listen, said the lawyer,
“whatever you do, don’t bring the money question to court. California courts
will murder you. Negotiate a private settlement with your wife beforehand.
Whatever she asks for, take my word, it’ll be less than a court would award
her.”
Kidd’s wife asked
for, and got, a substantial share of Kidd’s property. What seems to have stabbed
Kidd most deeply is the fact that his settlement included some Army pay he had
saved during the war, before marriage. “One of the things we were fighting for
in that war,” he notes gloomily, “was the right to own property – freedom from
legal confiscation.” Reuben Kidd came out of this experience howling mad and
promptly organized U.S.D.R.
[Gunther,
Max, “The Fraternity of Crippled Men,” The New York Times Magazine,
Sep. 19, 1965, p. 34]
***
For a detailed history of Reuben Kidd’s history, see: Dads America, “Founding Fathers”
***
***
Here is a report from 1964 on one of the regional offices,
in West Virginia.
FULL TEXT (Article 4 of 5): (Charleston, W. Va.) – Mrs.
Henry Christy of Camden Drive is fighting for men’s rights “against women who
are making a racket out of divorce and lawyers who are getting benefit out of
this racket.”
An assistant director of the East Coast Woman’s Division
for U. S. Divorce Reform, Inc. Mrs. Christy spends a good deal of time studying
the problem of divorced people and writing and speaking on their behalf.
“There is no equal justice for a man at all the way today’s
laws are written. Just because the law says the man is in the wrong or the wife
says so doesn’t make it so. There are always two sides to every story and one
can be as bad as the other,” Mrs.
Christy said.
Of course, there are
times when men aren’t any good at all but laws are ridiculous when they allow a
woman to take everything.
“Why should a man pay a penalty for the rest of his life
because he has made one mistake? Why should an innocent second family starve
because of a grasping ex-wife?
~ RIGHTS AREN’T RIGHT ~
“Why should a man support children he is not allowed to
see? Visitation rights aren’t upheld, especially in Kanawah County. A father
can’t be a father to a child if he doesn’t see it.” Mrs. Christy continued with
fire in his eyes.
Just because a mother is a mother and a woman doesn’t mean
she is a good parent and it’s not necessarily right for her to have the
children. A father can pay a babysitter just as well as a mother can.
“I don’t say men are always right, but I do say decisions
should be made on facts in the case and not because she is a woman and he is a
man.
~ NEED FAMILY CENTER ~
Mrs. Christy believes, along with the organization which she represents that “The biggest need in divorce reforms is a family center to which a couple may go when they are faced with the possibility of divorce. The center should have specialists in human relations, psychologists, social workers and clergymen of the couple’s faith. The board would take time to investigate and see if the marriage is workable. Ample time should be taken for consideration. Many demanding divorces are angry and upset and say, ‘I’ll just get a divorce! Rather than say ‘Let’s try to work things out.’”
Mrs. Christy believes, along with the organization which she represents that “The biggest need in divorce reforms is a family center to which a couple may go when they are faced with the possibility of divorce. The center should have specialists in human relations, psychologists, social workers and clergymen of the couple’s faith. The board would take time to investigate and see if the marriage is workable. Ample time should be taken for consideration. Many demanding divorces are angry and upset and say, ‘I’ll just get a divorce! Rather than say ‘Let’s try to work things out.’”
Mrs. Christy is the daughter of the late H. B. Sheets, a
city fireman for 23 years. She likes mixing with people and reading books about
children and child psychology.
Her husband works for DuPont’s Belle plant and loves to fly
planes. She met him when he asked her son, Roy, if he would like to take a plane ride. Roy and their own son,
Scottie, share Dad’s enthusiasm about flight. Mother’s an earthling.
When Mrs. Christy ran for the legislature, Mrs. Christy
campaigned right along with him. “We lost this time but we’ll try again,” she
said.
Mrs. Christy has been active in the fight for divorce
reform for about three years and a director since the women’s division was
organized in January, 1964.
She answers mail from people with problems from at least 13
states, Pakistan and Canada.
“Not all people who have joined the fight have divorce
problems,” she said. “Many who work with us are happily married and interested
in preserving the American home.”
[Wilma Higginbotham, “Divorce Law Reform Sought To Provide
Justice For Husband,” Charleston Daily Mail (W. Va.), Jul. 7, 1964, p. 9]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 5 of 5): San Francisco – Divorce American
style, described by its opponents as “trial by combat” and “lawyers’
blackmail,” would go out the window under a proposed amendment to the
California State Constitution.
Court actions with their personal battles, high law fees and
headline publicity would be replaced by decisions of a state department of
family relations run by six elected directors.
Backers of the proposal announced Thursday a drive to get
the required 468,259 signatures by April 12 to qualify for a June 7 ballot.
The amendment is sponsored by United States Divorce Reform,
inc., an organization with chapters in 43 states, Australia, Germany and West
Pakistan. Many of its leaders are losers in state divorce courts.
G. J. Winterfield, 50, California director of the reform
group, told a news conference that California was chosen as the pilot state
because “it leads the civilized world in divorce.”
“We have got to stop this slaughter of our homes if we are
to survive as a nation,” said Winterfield, a doctor of chiropractic medicine
and divorced father of four children.”
“We are destroying homes to get rid of relatively minor
problems.”
Under the proposed amendment the Department of Family
Relations would have exclusive jurisdiction, subject to appellate court review,
over divorce, annulment and separate maintenance proceedings.
[“Ending Of American Style Divorce Urged,” syndicated
(UPI), The Daily News (Huntington, Pa.), Jan. 28, 1966, p. 1]
***
For a detailed history of Reuben Kidd’s history, see: Dads America, “Founding Fathers”
***
***
***
For more revelations of this suppressed history, see The Alimony Racket: Checklist of Posts
***
[1338-4/20/21]
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