Price

William Addison Price was born in 1915 and grew up in Montclair, NJ. He graduated from Principia College, served as a United States Navy bomber pilot in World War II, and worked as a reporter for the Santa Paula Chronicle, the Springfield Sun, and the New York Daily News. In 1954 and 1955 Price flew across the country to document U. S. Route 40 through aerial photography. His first flight began on August 18, 1954 from Pennsville, NJ in a Consolidated Vultee L-13. He and his friend Bob Bedell travel for 24 days before arriving at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Price took 938 exposures during this trip. The second flight began on September 22, 1955 from New Jersey. He traveled with his friend Jane Hogg for 18 days, but got no further than Kansas before turning back due to weather and mechanical challenges. Price was a committed socialist and in 1956 the Senate Internal Security subcommittee called Price to testify regarding potential Communist infiltration of newspapers, radio, and television. Price invoked the first amendment at his hearing, claiming that the subcommitte did not have jurisdiction to inquire into his political beliefs. In particular the committee wanted to know whether he had used the plane he owned to fly a courier for the Communist International to Latin America. Price was indicted for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer the subcommittee's questions. The Daily News fired price the day before he appeared before the Congressional subcommittee. Price continued to attract the notice of the United States government; in 1972 the FBI placed a wiretap on his home telephone on the suspicion that he may have been cooperating with the Weather Underground. He sued the agents five years later and, in 1981, the Department of Justice awarded him $10,000 for violation of his civil rights. After the Daily News fired him, Price did carpentry work before going on to write for The National Guardian, a left wing newspaper. From the 1970s on, he worked with commuity organizations in New York city to defend tenants' rights and stop urban renewal plans. Price died April 29, 2009.