Internal Security Act
Containing Communism: Removing Their Rights and More
For many Americans, the McCarthy era of the late 1940s and early 1950s symbolized what America does not represent. During this time, many Americans were persecuted based on their beliefs. Beliefs, however, was not the only force driving behind McCarthyism. The Amerasia case in 1945, along with the Alger Hiss perjury trials of 1949 and 1950, raised concerns to Congress about “underground” Communists within the government and others who could possibly commit acts of treason against the United States. 1 These concerns eventually lead to the passage of the McCarran Internal Security Act in the September of 1950. The McCarran Act, also known as the Internal Security Act of 1950 or the anticommunist law, is one of the most controversial and least understood laws in American History.2 Introduced by democratic Senator Pat McCarran of Nevada, it required Communist organizations to register with the United States Attorney General and established the Subversive Activities Control Board.3 This allowed the United States government to search the people within an organization. If the people were thought to be Communists and promoting a Communist government, the members would lose their travel rights and could even have their citizenship removed for five years. Though the McCarran Act had passed through Congress once, it wasn’t supported by everyone. Multiple Communists feared that they would lose everything. The act helped tighten alien exclusion and deportation laws, allowing for the detainment of people who were thought to have been an “internal security emergency”. Another person who opposed the act was President Truman. Truman, who had himself imposed the Loyalty Order for federal government employees in 1947, he vetoed the act because it went against the first amendment.4 Truman criticized that the act was “the greatest danger to freedom of speech, press, and assembly since the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798.”,
For many Americans, the McCarthy era of the late 1940s and early 1950s symbolized what America does not represent. During this time, many Americans were persecuted based on their beliefs. Beliefs, however, was not the only force driving behind McCarthyism. The Amerasia case in 1945, along with the Alger Hiss perjury trials of 1949 and 1950, raised concerns to Congress about “underground” Communists within the government and others who could possibly commit acts of treason against the United States. 1 These concerns eventually lead to the passage of the McCarran Internal Security Act in the September of 1950. The McCarran Act, also known as the Internal Security Act of 1950 or the anticommunist law, is one of the most controversial and least understood laws in American History.2 Introduced by democratic Senator Pat McCarran of Nevada, it required Communist organizations to register with the United States Attorney General and established the Subversive Activities Control Board.3 This allowed the United States government to search the people within an organization. If the people were thought to be Communists and promoting a Communist government, the members would lose their travel rights and could even have their citizenship removed for five years. Though the McCarran Act had passed through Congress once, it wasn’t supported by everyone. Multiple Communists feared that they would lose everything. The act helped tighten alien exclusion and deportation laws, allowing for the detainment of people who were thought to have been an “internal security emergency”. Another person who opposed the act was President Truman. Truman, who had himself imposed the Loyalty Order for federal government employees in 1947, he vetoed the act because it went against the first amendment.4 Truman criticized that the act was “the greatest danger to freedom of speech, press, and assembly since the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798.”,