When Marc Mauer’s mother passed away in January 2017, she left behind a suitcase full of hundreds of letters of wartime correspondence between her and his dad. Both Joe and Millie Mauer were very politically engaged in the ferment of the 1930s and met through their affiliations with the Young Communist League and related organizations. When the US joined World War II, Joe was drafted while Millie continued working for a left-wing union in NYC. This presentation explores a variety of themes emerging from all the letters: love, activism, immigrant life, and coming of age in a time of war. Presenter Marc Mauer, who spent his career in criminal justice reform, most notably leading the Sentencing Project, will connect the dots from these legacies to his own lifetime of social justice work and the activism required in the face of the current political moment.