William Schneiderman was born in Russia, and came to the United States with his family at the age of 2. He grew up in Los Angeles and while in high school, he joined the Communist Party, and became a naturalized citizen at the age of 18. He attended UCLA and studied political science. When he was 24, he ran for governor of Minnesota on the Communist party ticket, and in 1935 he visited the Soviet Union. In 1939, a federal judge ruled that Schneiderman lied about his political affiliation when he became a citizen and should be deported. Wendell Willkie, the Republican nominee for President in 1940, called the case 'a vital test of civil liberties', and argued the case in front of the Supreme Court and won a reversal. In 1952, Schneiderman was again indicted, this time under the Smith Act, which set criminal penalites for advocating the overthrow of the US government, and was convicted, along with 14 other California Communist party leaders, of trying to overthrow the government by force. That conviction was also reversed by the Supreme Court, in 1957.

Source: Chicago Tribune obituary, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-02-01/news/8501060893_1_supreme-court-communist-ticket-california-communist-party