The Cold War Comes Home  - the Hunt for Subversives
Leningrad

The Pollsters’ Defeat (1948) 

Democratic prospects seemed hopeless in 1948. Harry Truman, who had become President on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death in 1945, had little popular appeal.  He faced a strong Republican contender, Thomas E. Dewey, and third-party pressures from Progressives and “Dixiecrats.” (Southern Democrats in the States’ Rights Party)  Election Map 1948

Review: Third Party Movements 

Loyalty Review Board (1947) 
President Harry S. Truman signed United States Executive Order 9835, sometimes known as the "Loyalty Order", on March 21, 1947.The order established the first general loyalty program in the United States, designed to root out communist influence in the U.S. federal government. Truman aimed to rally public opinion behind his Cold War policies with investigations conducted under its authority. He also hoped to quiet right-wing critics who accused Democrats of being soft on communism.

Additionally, he advised the Loyalty Review Board to limit the role of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to avoid a witch huntThe program investigated over 3 million government employees, just over 300 of whom were dismissed as security risks. Some in the Truman administration, such as Attorney General J. Howard McGrath, believed there were "many Communists in America." At the same time, Truman created a temporary commission on Employee Loyalty. The Loyalty Order was part of the prelude to the rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy, Republican of Wisconsin. It was mostly the result of increasing U.S.–Soviet tensions and political maneuvering by the president and Congress.  The order established a wide area for the departmental loyalty boards to conduct loyalty screenings of federal employees and job applicants. It allowed the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation to run initial name checks on federal employees and authorized further field investigations if the initial inquiry uncovered "derogatory information."

HUAC (The House Committee to Investigate Un-American)
 

The House Committee to Investigate Un-American Activities was established in the House of Representatives in 1938 to hold hearings, examine witnesses, and issue reports concerning disloyalty.  HUAC first made headlines in 1947 when it began to investigate Communist influence in Hollywood.  Hollywood did contain a substantial number of left-wingers, socialists and communists.  The “Hollywood Ten” were witnesses who refused to “name names” of communists in the business and were sentenced to prison for refusing to cooperate with HUAC.  In response, Hollywood executives formed “blacklists” that banned those perceived to have an association with communism from working in movies.  Nearly 500 actors, writers, producers, and directors had their careers ruined because they could no longer work in film

Us vs. Them: Sacco and Venzetti (1920s)  - Ethel and Julius Rosenberg (1950s)

The Spy Trials:  Alger Hiss & The Rosenbergs

In 1948, a former Communist spy, Whittaker Chambers accused former State Department official Alger Hiss of spying for the Soviet Union.   Chambers revealed microfilm documents (hidden in a pumpkin patch), which supported his charges to a young Republican congressman named Richard Nixon.  Hiss was convicted of perjury (lying in court about the documents) and sent to jail.  Too many years had passed to convict him of espionage. 

That was not true with the Rosenbergs.  The Soviets developed an atomic bomb in 1949, giving atomic secrets to the Soviets and implicated the Rosenbergs as well.  They denied the charges but would not testify against themselves (Fifth Amendment.)  Still claiming they were being prosecuted for radical beliefs, the Rosenbergs were convicted and executed.   Often described as “hysteria” at the time because evidence in both cases was not overwhelming, Russian documents (Verona Papers) released in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union revealed Hiss and the Rosenbergs were indeed Soviet spies.

Review: Us vs Them

 
Seeing Red- A. Mitchell Palmer and Senator Joseph McCarthy

McCarthyism (The Second Red Scare) 

The most famous anti-Communist activist was Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy.  In 1950, he claimed to have a list with the names of Communists in the State Department and charged the Democratic Party with treason for allowing Communist infiltration of the J.S. government.  McCarthy never produced the list, but managed to conduct hearings that investigated government officials, colleges, and the media resulting in the ruining of many careers.  Many disliked his tactics, but supported his cause.   Finally in 1954, McCarthy made accusations against the U.S. Army, which resulted in a nationally televised Senate investigation.  McCarthy’s bullying methods and his reckless, unproven accusations discredited him.  The Senate condemned McCarthy for improper conduct and three years later McCarthy died a broken man.

The McCarran Internal Security Act (1950)  A McCarthy era federal law passed over President Harry Truman's veto. The anti-communist fervor was bi-partisan and only seven Democratic senators voted to uphold the veto.

It required Communist organizations to register with the United States Attorney General and established the Subversive Activities Control Board to investigate persons suspected of engaging in subversive activities or otherwise promoting the establishment of a "totalitarian dictatorship," either fascist or communist. Members of these groups could not become citizens and in some cases were prevented from entering or leaving the country. Citizens found in violation could lose their citizenship in five years. The act also contained an Emergency Detention statute, giving the President the authority to apprehend and detain “each person as to whom there is a reasonable ground to believe that such person probably will engage in, or probably will conspire with others to engage in, acts of espionage or sabotage.”

A key institution in the era of the Cold War, it tightened alien exclusion and deportation laws and allowed for the detention of dangerous, disloyal, or subversive persons in times of war or "internal security emergency". The Democratic-controlled Congress overrode President Harry S. Truman's veto to pass it.  President Truman called it "the greatest danger to freedom of speech, press, and assembly since the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798," a "mockery of the Bill of Rights"and a "long step toward totalitarianism"

1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, a.k.a. the McCarran-Walter Act

Otherwise known as the McCarran-Walter Act, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 was meant to exclude certain immigrants from immigrating to America, post World War II and in the early Cold War. The McCarran-Walter Act moved away from excluding immigrants based simply upon country of origin. Instead it focused upon denying immigrants who were unlawful, immoral, diseased in any way, politically radical etc. and accepting those who were willing and able to assimilate into the US economic, social, and political structures, which restructured how immigration law was handled. Furthermore, the most notable exclusions were anyone even remotely associated with communism which in the early days of the Cold War was seen as a serious threat to US democracy. The main objective of this was to block any spread of communism from outside post WWII countries. The McCarran-Walter Act was a strong reinforcement in immigration selection, which was labeled the best way to preserve national security and national interests. President Truman originally vetoed the law, deeming it discriminatory; however there was enough support in Congress for the law to pass.

Review: Immigration Reactions;    Timeline of US Immigration Policy  1790 to 2011;  CHART - MAJOR IMMIGRATION POLICY 

Dennis v. United States, (1951),  was a United States Supreme Court case relating to Eugene Dennis, General Secretary of the Communist Party USA. The Court ruled that Dennis did not have the right under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution to exercise free speech, publication and assembly, if the exercise involved the creation of a plot to overthrow the government.

In 1957, the Court in Yates v. United States restricted the holding in Dennis, ruling that the Smith Act did not prohibit advocacy of forcible overthrow of the government as an abstract doctrine. While Yates did not overrule Dennis, it rendered the broad conspiracy provisions of the Smith Act unenforceable. Finally, in 1969, Brandenburg v. Ohio held that "mere advocacy" of violence was per se protected speech. Brandenburg was a de facto overruling of Dennis, defining the bar for constitutionally unprotected speech to be incitement to "imminent lawless action"

Review: The Supreme Court