Luke Woodward Wilson was born to Luke and Helen Woodward Wilson, in Evanston (Cook County), Illinois on June 13th, 1912, and died in April of 1985 in Bethesda, Maryland. He studied at Dartmouth College and graduated in 1934. After graduation, Wilson worked in Washington, D.C. for the National Institute of Public Affairs, recruiting interns interested in working in Washington. In 1936, Wilson became an investigator for the Senate Subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor, also known as the La Follette Committee and the Civil Liberties Committee, headed by Senator Robert M. La Follette, Jr. of Wisconsin.
While an active member of the Committee, Wilson lived in San Francisco, California, where he was responsible for investigating oppressive labor practices. Wilson gathered information about corporate farms and related industries to be used in Senate hearings regarding the mistreatment of workers belonging to unions, including information on strikebreaking, espionage, and company police activities. During 1938, Wilson was back in Washington managing case files and mail for the investigations and then returned to San Francisco when the Committee received more funding. He served on the Committee until 1940. That same year, Wilson married Ruth Ferguson, from Stockton, California, a labor organizer for the Communist Party.
In 1942, Wilson was drafted by the Army. He was sent to Texas for basic training and then attended the School for Link Trainer Instructors in Illinois. Wilson was then transferred to California to teach navigation. In 1944, Wilson was transferred to the Morale Services Division of the Armed Forces in Washington and trained at an information and orientation school in Virginia.
Wilson served overseas in France and England before returning to the States in 1945. Back in Washington, he worked for the Army Morale Services Division, which became the Army Information and Education Division, under Major Julius Schreiber, performing research for Army fact sheets. Wilson also compiled labor related material for an issue of Army Talks, an Information and Education publication. He was discharged from the Army as Technical Sergeant in 1946.
Following his enlistment, Luke W. Wilson was a Washington Representative for the Progressive Citizens of America (1947) and became involved in the Progressive Party's 1948 Presidential candidacy. He served as a Washington Representative for the Henry Wallace campaign. At the same time, Wilson was actively involved as a member of the Party. He and his wife were the Massachusetts State Delegates and attended the 1948 Party Convention in Philadelphia.
Concurrently, Wilson worked on the campaign committee for Vito Marcantonio. Marcantonio, already a Congressman, was the New York mayoral candidate for the American Labor Party. Wilson managed the 8th Assembly District for Marcantonio's campaign from 1948 until the election, while remaining involved in the Progressive Party until 1952. Wilson was responsible for the canvassers and election district captains.
After 1952, Wilson was a freelance writer and researcher, living in Massachusetts. In 1954, Wilson was subpoenaed to appear before the Jenner Committee or Senate Subcommittee of Internal Security. The Senate was investigating subversive activities within the United States Government and Army. The purpose of the committee was to expose members of the Communist Party. After the hearings, Wilson continued to write, but never published.
