Eugene Dennis
1905–1961 (age 56)
Communist Leader
Biography
Eugene Dennis led the Communist Party USA through some of its most turbulent decades, standing at the forefront of labor rights advocacy and defending his beliefs even as the nation debated them most fiercely.
His conviction in the Smith Act trial became a symbol of the era's clash over civil liberties, and he spent his final years in steadfast commitment to the workers and ideals that shaped his life before he was laid to rest at the Haymarket Martyrs' Monument.