Progressive Era
121-460: Repression and persecution Anti-war and civil rights movements Contemporary The Alien Registration Act , popularly known as the Smith Act , 76th United States Congress , 3rd session, ch. 439, 54 Stat. 670 , 18 U.S.C. § 2385 is a United States federal statute that was enacted on June 28, 1940. It set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of
242-609: A "nonmailable matter". Due to the Espionage Act and the then Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson , 74 separate newspapers were not being mailed. In April 1919, authorities discovered a plot for mailing 36 bombs to prominent members of the U.S. political and economic establishment : J. P. Morgan Jr. , John D. Rockefeller , Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes , U.S. Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palmer , and immigration officials. On June 2, 1919, in eight cities, eight bombs exploded simultaneously . One target
363-458: A 'head tax' of fifty cents was collected on each immigrant. Paralleling some contemporary immigration concerns, in the early 1900s Congress 's primary interest in immigration was to protect American workers and wages: the reason it had become a federal concern in the first place. This made immigration more a matter of commerce than revenue. In 1903, Congress transferred the Bureau of Immigration to
484-961: A blunt directive from Moscow denouncing the Polish government. On September 17, the Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland and occupied the Polish territory assigned to it by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, followed by co-ordination with German forces in Poland. The CPUSA turned the focus of its public activities from anti-fascism to advocating peace, not only opposing military preparations, but also condemning those opposed to Hitler . The party did not at first attack President Roosevelt, reasoning that this could devastate American Communism, blaming instead Roosevelt's advisors. On November 30, when Soviet Union attacked Finland and after forced mutual assistance pacts from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania ,
605-598: A campaign to end labor militancy in the defense industry, FBI agents raided the Minneapolis and St. Paul offices of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), a Trotskyist splinter party that controlled Local 544 of the Teamsters union though it had fewer than two thousand members in 30 U.S. cities. The union had grown steadily in the late 1930s, had organized federal relief workers and led a strike against
726-815: A citizen), and similar matters. At the head of the INS was a commissioner appointed by the President who reported to the Attorney General in the Department of Justice. The INS worked closely with the United Nations, the Department of State, and the Department of Health and Human Services. The INS was a very large and complex organization that had four main divisions—Programs, Field Operations, Policy and Planning, and Management—that were responsible for operations and management. The operational functions of
847-579: A four-day trial, he was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison. Early in 1942, President Roosevelt, supported by the rest of his Cabinet, urged Attorney General Biddle to prosecute fascist sympathizers and anti-Semites. Biddle thought the Smith Act was inadequate, but Congress refused to renew the Sedition Act of 1918 as he asked. In 1942, 16 members of the " Mankind United " semi-religious cult, including founder Arthur Bell, were arrested by
968-648: A group. Title II. Deportation. Because the Supreme Court in Kessler v. Strecker (1939) held that the Immigration Act of 1918 allowed the deportation of an alien only if his membership in a group advocating the violent overthrow of the government had not ceased, the Smith Act allowed for the deportation of any alien who "at the time of entering the United States, or ... at any time thereafter"
1089-487: A hearing (without the benefit of legal counsel or defense witnesses) and being released, paroled, or transferred to a Department of Justice internment camp. Starting in 1942, the INS also interned German, Italian, and Japanese Latin Americans deported from Peru and other countries. It is estimated that 17,477 persons of Japanese ancestry, 11,507 of German ancestry, 2,730 of Italian ancestry, and 185 others were interned by
1210-574: A particular concern but not the general problem. As U.S. involvement in World War II seemed ever more likely, the possibility of betrayal from within gained currency. The Spanish Civil War had given this possibility a name, a " fifth column ", and the popular press in the U.S. blamed internal subversion for the fall of France to the Nazis in just six weeks in May and June 1940. Patriotic organizations and
1331-530: A perceived threat from the American labor movement , anarchist revolution , and political radicalism that followed revolutionary socialist movements in Germany and Russia during the 19th–early 20th century. The Second Red Scare , which occurred immediately after World War II , was preoccupied with the perception that national or foreign communists were infiltrating or subverting American society and
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#17327723240101452-445: A pre-WWII isolationist tradition on the right. Liberal anti-communists believed that political debate was enough to show Communists as disloyal and irrelevant, while countersubversive anticommunists believed that Communists had to be exposed and punished. At times, countersubversive anticommunists accused liberals of being "equally destructive" as Communists due to an alleged lack of religious values or supposed "red web" infiltration into
1573-541: A revival of Red Scare politics in the United States, and for its ties to conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney and conservative activist Steve Bannon . David Skidmore, writing for The Diplomat , saw it as another instance of "adolescent hysteria" in American diplomacy, as another of the "fevered crusades [which] have produced some of the costliest mistakes in American foreign policy". Between 2000 and 2023, there were 224 reported instances of Chinese espionage directed at
1694-626: A unanimous three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the convictions of the 18. The judges found it unnecessary to consider the "clear and present danger" standard in "situations where the legislative body had outlawed certain utterances". The Supreme Court declined to review the case. Those convicted began to serve their sentences on December 31, 1943. The last of them were released in February 1945. Biddle, in his memoirs published in 1962, regretted having authorized
1815-603: Is Twentieth-Century Americanism", the chairman, Earl Browder, advertised the CPUSA's integration to the political mainstream. In contrast, the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party opposed U.S. participation in the war and supported labor strikes, even in the war-effort industry. For this reason, James P. Cannon and other SWP leaders were convicted per the Smith Act. In March 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9835 , creating
1936-470: Is a spy. Abundant accounts in narrative forms contained themes of the infiltration, subversion, invasion, and destruction of American society by un–American thought . Even a baseball team, the Cincinnati Reds , temporarily renamed themselves the "Cincinnati Redlegs" to avoid the money-losing and career-ruining connotations inherent in being ball-playing "Reds" (communists). In 1954, Congress passed
2057-424: Is fourteen years of age or older, ... and remains in the United States for thirty days or longer, [is] to apply for registration and to be fingerprinted before the expiration of such thirty days. Registration would be under oath and include: (1) the date and place of entry of the alien into the United States; (2) activities in which he has been and intends to be engaged; (3) the length of time he expects to remain in
2178-774: Is known as " McCarthyism " after its best-known advocate, Senator Joseph McCarthy . McCarthyism coincided with an increased and widespread fear of communist espionage that was consequent of the increasing tension in the Cold War through the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe , the Berlin Blockade (1948–49), the end of the Chinese Civil War , the confessions of spying for the Soviet Union that were made by several high-ranking U.S. government officials, and
2299-555: Is no stigma attached to being fingerprinted in this day and age. Government efforts to encourage registration asked citizens to participate: The Immigration and Naturalization Service asks for the cooperation of all citizens in carrying out the Alien Registration program in a friendly manner so that our large foreign population is not antagonized. Citizens may be of great help to their non-citizen neighbors or relatives by explaining to those who do not speak English well what
2420-521: The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. During and following World War I , a series of statutes addressed a complex of concerns that included enemy espionage and disruption, anti-war activism, and the radical ideologies of anarchism and Bolshevism , all identified with immigrant communities. Congressional investigations of 'extremist' organizations in 1935 resulted in calls for the renewal of those statutes. The Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 addressed
2541-533: The American Jewish Committee , while the CPUSA held out for prosecuting them all to the limit. Tom Clark , Biddle's replacement as Attorney General in the Truman administration, vacillated about the case. In October 1946, he fired Rogge in a public dispute about publicizing DOJ information about right-wing activities. With the end of World War II, attention turned from the defeated ideologies of
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#17327723240102662-714: The Communist Control Act of 1954 which prevented members of the communist party in America from holding office in labor unions and other labor organizations. Examining the political controversies of the 1940s and 1950s, historian John Earl Haynes , who studied the Venona decryptions extensively, argued that Joseph McCarthy's attempts to "make anti-communism a partisan weapon" actually "threatened [the post-War] anti-Communist consensus", thereby ultimately harming anti-communist efforts more than helping them. Meanwhile,
2783-686: The Communist Party USA Murray B. Levin wrote that the Red Scare was "a nationwide anti-radical hysteria provoked by a mounting fear and anxiety that a Bolshevik revolution in America was imminent—a revolution that would change Church, home, marriage, civility, and the American way of Life". News media exacerbated such fears, channeling them into anti-foreign sentiment due to the lively debate among recent immigrants from Europe regarding various forms of anarchism as possible solutions to widespread poverty. The Industrial Workers of
2904-612: The German-American Bund , and the perceived racial disloyalty of the Japanese-American population ( cf. hyphenated-Americans ). After the Soviet Union signed the non-aggression Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany on August 23, 1939, negative attitudes towards communists in the United States were on the rise. While the American communist party at first attacked Germany for its September 1, 1939 invasion of western Poland , on September 11 it received
3025-645: The Korean War (1950–53) against U.S. ally South Korea . A few of the events during the Red Scare were also due to a power struggle between director of FBI J. Edgar Hoover and the Central Intelligence Agency . Hoover had instigated and aided some of the investigations of members of the CIA with "leftist" history, like Cord Meyer . This conflict could also be traced back to the conflict between Hoover and William J. Donovan , going back to
3146-685: The Kremlin has." In 1954, after accusing the army, including war heroes, Senator Joseph McCarthy lost credibility in the eyes of the American public and the Army-McCarthy Hearings were held in the summer of 1954. He was formally censured by his colleagues in Congress and the hearings led by McCarthy came to a close. After the Senate formally censured McCarthy, his political standing and power were significantly diminished, and much of
3267-579: The New Deal . Much evidence for Soviet espionage existed, according to Democratic Senator and historian Daniel Moynihan , with the Venona project consisting of "overwhelming proof of the activities of Soviet spy networks in America, complete with names, dates, places, and deeds." However, Moynihan argued that because sources like the Venona project were kept secret for so long, "ignorant armies clashed by night". With McCarthy advocating an extremist view,
3388-629: The New York Daily News and his sister Cissy Patterson of the Washington Times-Herald in disdain. Although four had rallied to the war effort after Pearl Harbor Roosevelt repeatedly pressed Attorney General Biddle to investigate them. Partly to appease Roosevelt, Biddle began a series of prosecutions of lesser-known individuals. These culminated in the Sedition Trial of 1944. Historian Leo P. Ribuffo coined
3509-695: The Second World War , was sentenced to three years in consideration of his military record. The five defense attorneys were cited for contempt of court and given prison sentences. Those convicted appealed the verdicts, and the Supreme Court upheld their convictions in 1951 in Dennis v. United States in a 6–2 decision. Following that decision, the DOJ prosecuted dozens of cases. In total, by May 1956, another 131 communists were indicted, of whom 98 were convicted, nine acquitted, while juries brought no verdict in
3630-570: The Senate Judiciary Committee revived it in May 1940. It drew some of its language from statutes recently passed at the state level, and combined anti-alien and anti-sedition sections with language crafted specifically to help the government in its attempts to deport Australian-born union leader Harry Bridges . With little debate, the House of Representatives approved it by a vote of 382 to 4, with 45 not voting, on June 22, 1940,
3751-564: The Treasury Department . This office was responsible for admitting, rejecting, and processing all immigrants seeking admission to the United States and for implementing national immigration policy. 'Immigrant Inspectors', as they were called then, were stationed at major U.S. ports of entry collecting manifests of arriving passengers. Its largest station was located on Ellis Island in New York Harbor. Among other things,
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3872-499: The U.S. Constitution via Palmer-authorized "illegal acts" and "wanton violence". Defensively, Palmer then warned that a government-deposing left-wing revolution would begin on 1 May 1920— May Day , the International Workers' Day. When it failed to happen, he was ridiculed and lost much credibility. Strengthening the legal criticism of Palmer was that fewer than 600 deportations were substantiated with evidence, out of
3993-433: The U.S. State Department issued a limited number of visas ; only those immigrants who could present valid visas were permitted entry. There were a number of predecessor agencies to INS between 1891 and 1933. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was formed in 1933 by a merger of the Bureau of Immigration and the Bureau of Naturalization. Both those bureaus, as well as the newly created INS, were controlled by
4114-612: The U.S. government by force or violence, and required all non- citizen adult residents to register with the federal government. Approximately 215 people were indicted under the legislation, including alleged communists and socialists . Prosecutions under the Smith Act continued until a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 1957 reversed a number of convictions under the Act as being unconstitutional . The law has been amended several times. The U.S. government has attempted on several occasions to regulate speech in wartime, beginning with
4235-545: The Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal agency. In mid-July, a federal grand jury indicted 29 people, either members of the SWP or Local 544 of the Teamsters union , or both. SWP defendants included James P. Cannon , Carl Skoglund , Farrell Dobbs , Grace Carlson , Harry DeBoer , Max Geldman, Albert Goldman , and twelve other party leaders. Goldman acted as the defendants' lawyer during
4356-639: The federal government . The first Red Scare in the United States accompanied the Russian Revolution of 1917 (specifically, the October Revolution ) and subsequent communist revolutions in Europe and beyond . Citizens of the United States in the years of World War I (1914–1918) were intensely patriotic; anarchist and left-wing social agitation aggravated national, social, and political tensions. Political scientist and former member of
4477-462: The " Federal Employees Loyalty Program " establishing political-loyalty review boards who determined the "Americanism" of Federal Government employees, and requiring that all federal employees to take an oath of loyalty to the United States government. It then recommended termination of those who had confessed to spying for the Soviet Union, as well as some suspected of being "Un-American". This led to more than 2,700 dismissals and 12,000 resignations from
4598-408: The "shockingly high level" of infiltration by Soviet agents during WWII had largely dissipated by 1950. Liberal anti-communists like Edward Shils and Daniel Moynihan had contempt for McCarthyism, and Moynihan argued that McCarthy's overreaction distracted from the "real (but limited) extent of Soviet espionage in America." In 1950, President Harry Truman called Joseph McCarthy "the greatest asset
4719-585: The 1930s, communism had become an attractive economic ideology , particularly among labor leaders and intellectuals. By 1939, the CPUSA had about 50,000 members. In 1940, soon after World War II began in Europe, the U.S. Congress legislated the Alien Registration Act (aka the Smith Act , 18 USC § 2385) making it a crime to "knowingly or willfully advocate, abet, advise or teach the duty, necessity, desirability or propriety of overthrowing
4840-702: The Axis powers to the threat of Communism, and in December 1946 the government had the charges dismissed. After a ten-month trial at the Foley Square Courthouse in Manhattan , eleven leaders of the Communist Party were convicted under the Smith Act in 1949. Ten defendants received sentences of five years and $ 10,000 fines. An eleventh defendant, Robert G. Thompson , a distinguished hero of
4961-485: The Boston police department. The press portrayed these worker strikes as "radical threats to American society" inspired by "left-wing, foreign agents provocateurs ". The IWW and those sympathetic to workers claimed that the press "misrepresented legitimate labor strikes" as "crimes against society", "conspiracies against the government", and "plots to establish communism". Opponents of labor viewed strikes as an extension of
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5082-503: The Communist Party considered Russian security sufficient justification to support the actions. Secret short wave radio broadcasts in October from Comintern leader Georgi Dimitrov ordered CPUSA leader Earl Browder to change the party's support for Roosevelt. On October 23, the party began attacking Roosevelt. The party was active in the isolationist America First Committee . The CPUSA also dropped its boycott of Nazi goods, spread
5203-487: The DOJ held a two-day conference with state officials they called "Law Enforcement Problems of National Defense". Attorney General Jackson and FBI Director Hoover delineated the proper roles for federal and state authorities with respect to seditious activities. They successfully forestalled state regulation of aliens and found state officials receptive to their arguments that states needed to prevent vigilantism and protect aliens, while trusting federal authorities to use
5324-564: The Department of Labor. President Franklin Roosevelt moved the INS from the Department of Labor to the Department of Justice in 1940, citing a need for "more effective control over aliens" as the United States moved closer to joining World War II . By July 1941, Justice Department officials had decided that the INS would oversee the internment of enemy aliens arrested by the FBI should
5445-507: The FBI under the act. Although 12 were found guilty, they all won on appeal and none served a jail sentence. President Roosevelt especially wanted to take legal action against several prominent pre-war critics on both on the left and right such as Charles Lindbergh and the so-called "McCormick-Patterson axis" of Robert R. McCormick of the Chicago Daily Tribune , and the president's former allies Joseph Medill Patterson of
5566-761: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – within the Department of Justice, and used federal agents to jail more than 5,000 citizens and to search homes without respecting their constitutional rights. In 1918, before the bombings, President Woodrow Wilson had pressured Congress to legislate the anti-anarchist Sedition Act of 1918 to protect wartime morale by deporting putatively undesirable political people. Law professor David D. Cole reports that President Wilson's "federal government consistently targeted alien radicals, deporting them... for their speech or associations, making little effort to distinguish terrorists from ideological dissidents ". President Wilson used
5687-652: The Federal agents against Reds and suspected-Reds". In the event, twelve publicly prominent lawyers characterized the Palmer Raids as unconstitutional. The critics included future Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter , who published A Report on the Illegal Practices of The United States Department of Justice , documenting systematic violations of the Fourth , Fifth , Sixth , and Eighth Amendments to
5808-496: The Government of the United States or of any State by force or violence, or for anyone to organize any association which teaches, advises or encourages such an overthrow, or for anyone to become a member of or to affiliate with any such association"—and required Federal registration of all foreign nationals . Although principally deployed against communists, the Smith Act was also used against right-wing political threats such as
5929-536: The INS (including investigations, deportation, and intelligence) were combined with the U.S. Customs investigators to create U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The border functions of the INS, which included the Border Patrol and INS Inspectors, were combined with U.S. Customs Inspectors to create U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) administered federal immigration laws and regulations including
6050-699: The INS and communicated with other cooperating government agencies and the public. The office was divided into three areas: the Policy Division; the Planning Division; and the Evaluation and Research Center. The second managerial division, called the Management division, was responsible for maintaining the overall mission of the INS throughout its many offices and providing administrative services to these offices. These duties were handled by
6171-467: The INS included the Programs and Field Operations divisions. The Programs division was responsible for handling all the functions involved with enforcement and examinations, including the arrest, detaining, and deportation of illegal immigrants as well as controlling illegal and legal entry. The Field Operations division was responsible for overseeing INS' many offices operating throughout the country and
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#17327723240106292-540: The Immigration and Nationality Act (Title 8, United States Code). Its officers inspected foreigners arriving at an official Port of Entry (POE), detecting and deterring illegal entry between the ports (with the assistance of the Border Patrol, a component of the INS) and by sea, and conducting investigations of criminal and administrative violations of the Act. The INS also adjudicated applications for permanent residency ("green cards"), change of status, naturalization (the process by which an alien [foreign-born person] becomes
6413-542: The Immigration and Naturalization Service during the war. In November 1979, Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti announced that INS "raids" would only take place at places of work, not at residences where illegal aliens were suspected of living. The work of the immigration service has been dramatized or depicted in literature, music, art, and theatre. Films using its work as a theme include The Immigrant (1917), The Strong Man 1926), Ellis Island (1936), Paddy O'Day (1936), Gateway (1938), Secret Service of
6534-406: The New Red Scare has caused the American and Chinese governments to "increasingly view Chinese students with suspicion" on American college campuses. The fourth iteration of the Committee on the Present Danger , a United States foreign policy interest group, was established on March 25, 2019, branding itself Committee on the Present Danger: China (CPDC). The CPDC has been criticized as promoting
6655-488: The Red Scare did not distinguish between communism , anarchism , socialism , or social democracy . This aggressive crackdown on certain ideologies resulted in many Supreme Court cases over free speech. In the 1919 case of Schenk v. United States , the Supreme Court, introducing the clear-and-present-danger test, effectively deemed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 constitutional. The second Red Scare occurred after World War II (1939–1945), and
6776-451: The Sedition Act of 1918 to limit the exercise of free speech by criminalizing language deemed disloyal to the United States government. Initially, the press praised the raids; The Washington Post stated: "There is no time to waste on hairsplitting over [the] infringement of liberty", and The New York Times wrote that the injuries inflicted upon the arrested were "souvenirs of the new attitude of aggressiveness which had been assumed by
6897-422: The Smith Act to deal with espionage and "fifth column" activities. On October 13, 1941, the 77th United States Congress amended the Smith Act, authorizing a criminal offense for the unlawful reproduction of alien registration receipt cards . Title I. Subversive activities. The Smith Act set federal criminal penalties that included fines or imprisonment for as long as twenty years, and denied all employment by
7018-444: The Smith Act's penalties. The Division held the view that registration benefited the alien, who "is now safeguarded from bigoted persecution". The alien was to bring a completed form to a post office and be fingerprinted. Registration cards would be delivered by mail and would serve "in the nature of protection of the alien later runs afoul of the police" [ sic ]. The details required for registration had been expanded since
7139-450: The Soviet Union—in the process revealing the extraordinary breadth of the Soviet spy network in infiltrating the federal government. The process also launched the successful political careers of Richard Nixon and Robert F. Kennedy , as well as that of Joseph McCarthy. The HUAC held a large interest in investigating those in the entertainment industry in Hollywood. They interrogated actors, writers, and producers. The people who cooperated in
7260-449: The U.S. a member of, or affiliated with, such an organization. A second round of deportation hearings ended after ten weeks in June 1941. In September, the special examiner who led the hearings recommended deportation, but the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) reversed that order after finding the government's two key witnesses unreliable. In May 1942, though the Roosevelt administration was now putting its anti-Communist activities on hold in
7381-472: The U.S. enter the war, and immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor these plans went into effect. By December 10, three days after the attack, the INS had 1,291 Japanese , 857 German , and 147 Italian nationals in custody. These "enemy aliens," many of whom had resided in the United States for decades, were arrested without warrants or formal charges. They were held in immigration stations and various requisitioned sites, often for months, before receiving
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#17327723240107502-477: The U.S. government before, during and after World War II. Other U.S. citizen spies confessed to their acts of espionage in situations where the statute of limitations on prosecuting them had run out. In 1949, anti-communist fear, and fear of American traitors, was aggravated by the Chinese Communists winning the Chinese Civil War against the Western-sponsored Kuomintang , their founding of the Communist China , and later China intervenes (October–December 1950) in
7623-489: The U.S. government in violation of the newly passed Smith Act and of the Sedition Act of 1861 , to enforce which, according to Wallace MG as at March 1920, it seems no serious previous attempt had ever been made. When critics argued that the government should adhere to the doctrine enunciated by Justice Holmes that free speech could only be prosecuted if it presented "a clear and present danger", Attorney General Biddle replied that Congress had considered both that standard and
7744-526: The U.S. was at war, by presidential proclamations of January 14, 1942, without reference to the Smith Act. In December 1950, following an Immigration and Naturalization Service hearing, Claudia Jones , a citizen of Trinidad, was ordered deported from the U.S. for violating the McCarran Act as an alien (non-U.S. citizen) who had joined the Communist Party (CPUSA). The evidence of her party membership included information she provided when completing her Alien Registration form on December 24, 1940. The Smith Act
7865-744: The United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or ... organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof. The Smith Act's prohibition of proselytizing on behalf of revolution repeated language found in previous statutes. It went beyond earlier legislation in outlawing action to "organize any society, group, or assembly" that works toward that end and then extended that prohibition to "membership" or "affiliation"—a term it did not define—with such
7986-518: The United States. The American Red Scares, combined with the general atmosphere of the Cold War, had a marked influence on other Anglophone countries. Anticommunist paranoia and violence was significantly advanced in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. In other parts of the world , such as Indonesia , fear and loathing of communism has escalated to the level of political violence . Immigration and Naturalization Service The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service ( INS )
8107-453: The United States; (4) the criminal record, if any, of such alien; and (5) such additional matters as may be prescribed by the Commissioner [of Immigration and Naturalization], with the approval of the Attorney General. Guardians had to register minors, who had to register in person and be fingerprinted within 30 days of their fourteenth birthday. Post offices were designated as the location for registering and fingerprinting. Aliens were to notify
8228-469: The World (IWW), also known as the Wobblies, backed several labor strikes in 1916 and 1917. These strikes covered a wide range of industries including steel working, shipbuilding, coal mining, copper mining, and others necessary for wartime activities. After World War I ended (November 1918), the number of strikes increased to record levels in 1919, with more than 3,600 separate strikes by a wide range of workers, e.g. steel workers, railroad shop workers, and
8349-618: The act a "mockery of the Bill of Rights" and a "long step toward totalitarianism" because it represented a government restriction on the freedom of opinion. He vetoed the act but his veto was overridden by Congress. Much of the bill eventually was repealed. The formal establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and the beginning of the Korean War in 1950 meant that Asian Americans , especially those of Chinese or Korean descent, came under increasing suspicion by both American civilians and government officials of being Communist sympathizers. Simultaneously, some American politicians saw
8470-435: The affair by subtitling his account of the trial The Great Sedition Trial of 1944 . Only Rogge wanted to retry the case to "stop the spread of racial and religious intolerance." Supreme Court decisions since the 1942 indictments made convictions appear ever more unlikely. Roger Baldwin of the ACLU campaigned against renewing the prosecutions, securing the endorsement of many of the defendants' ideological opponents, including
8591-441: The alien registration provisions were included and the Act passed: The Alien Registration Act was merely one of many laws hastily passed in the first spasm of fear engendered by the success of fifth columns in less fortunate countries. Suddenly the European war seemed almost at our doors, and who could tell what secret agents were already at work in America? So, partly because some such bill would be adopted anyway, and partly because
8712-427: The armed forces or by advocating the overthrow of the government by force. The jury recommended leniency. On December 8, 1941, 12 defendants received 16-month sentences and the remaining 11 received 12-months. Time magazine minimized the danger from the SWP, calling it "a nestful of mice". The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and critics on the left worried that the case created a dangerous precedent. On appeal,
8833-435: The atom bomb , were found to have engaged in espionage. This allegedly included some pro-Soviet capitalists, such as economist Harry Dexter White , and communist businessman David Karr . According to The New York Times , China 's growing military and economic power has resulted in a "New Red Scare" in the United States. Both Democrats and Republicans have expressed anti-China sentiment. According to The Economist ,
8954-478: The bombing, in which 38 died and 141 were injured. In 1919–20, several states enacted " criminal syndicalism " laws outlawing advocacy of violence in effecting and securing social change . The restrictions included limitations on free speech . Passage of these laws, in turn, provoked aggressive police investigation of the accused persons, their jailing, and deportation for being suspected of being either communist or left-wing. Regardless of ideological gradation,
9075-458: The day the French signed an armistice with Germany . The Senate did not take a recorded vote. It was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 28, 1940. The Act is referred to by the name of its principal author, Rep. Howard W. Smith ( Democrat - Virginia ), a leader of the anti-labor bloc in Congress. A few weeks later, The New York Times discussed the context in which
9196-421: The defendants be acquitted on both counts for lack of evidence. After deliberating for 56 hours, the jury found the other 23 defendants (one had committed suicide during the trial) not guilty of violating the 1861 statute by conspiring to overthrow the government by force. The jury found 18 of the defendants guilty of violating the Smith Act either by distributing written material designed to cause insubordination in
9317-531: The discussion of communist subversion was made into a civil rights issue instead of a counterintelligence one. This historiographical perspective is shared by historians John Earl Haynes and Robert Louis Benson. While President Truman formulated the Truman Doctrine against Soviet expansion, it is possible he was not fully informed of the Venona intercepts, leaving him unaware of the domestic extent of espionage, according to Moynihan and Benson. By
9438-514: The fear of Communists infiltrating the country. Supporters, however, believe the actions of the HUAC were justified given the level of threat Communism posed to democracy in the United States. Senator McCarthy stirred up further fear in the United States of communists infiltrating the country by saying that communist spies were omnipresent, and he was America's only salvation, using this fear to increase his own influence. In 1950 Joseph McCarthy addressed
9559-781: The fear that the Soviet Union would drop nuclear bombs on the United States, and fear of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA). In Canada, the 1946 Kellock–Taschereau Commission investigated espionage after top-secret documents concerning RDX , radar and other weapons were handed over to the Soviets by a domestic spy-ring. At the House Un-American Activities Committee , former CPUSA members and NKVD spies, Elizabeth Bentley and Whittaker Chambers , testified that Soviet spies and communist sympathizers had penetrated
9680-411: The federal government for five years following a conviction for anyone who: ... with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in
9801-574: The federal government, rather than the individual states, regulated immigration into the United States, and the Immigration Act of 1891 established a Commissioner of Immigration in the Treasury Department . Reflecting changing governmental concerns, immigration was transferred to the purview of the United States Department of Commerce and Labor after 1903 and the Department of Labor after 1913. In 1940, with increasing concern about national security, immigration and naturalization
9922-596: The first Red Scare, but especially during World War II. Donovan ran the OSS (CIA's predecessor). They had differing opinions on the nature of the alliance with the Soviet Union, conflicts over jurisdiction, conflicts of personality, the OSS hiring of communists and criminals as agents, etc. Historian Richard Powers distinguishes two main forms of anti-communism during the period, liberal anti-communism and countersubversive anti-communism. The countersubversives, he argues, derived from
10043-523: The government if their residence changed, and to confirm their residence every three months. Penalties included fines up to $ 1000 and up to six months imprisonment. Registrations began on August 27, 1940, and the newly created Alien Registration Division of the Immigration and Naturalization Service planned to register between three and three-and-a-half million people at 45,000 post offices by December 26, after which those not registered became subject to
10164-646: The government's case, combined with the trial's slow progress in the face of disruption by the defendants, led the press to lose interest. A mistrial was declared on November 29, 1944, following the death of the trial judge, Edward C. Eicher . Among the defendants were: George Sylvester Viereck , Lawrence Dennis , Elizabeth Dilling , William Dudley Pelley , Joe McWilliams , Robert Edward Edmondson , James True , Gerald Winrod , William Griffin , Prescott Freese Dennett , German American Bund leaders Gerhard Kunze, August Klapprott, and Herman Schwinn, and in absentia, Ulrich Fleischhauer . Defendant Lawrence Dennis mocked
10285-760: The interest of furthering the Soviet-American alliance , Attorney General Biddle overruled the BIA and ordered Bridges deported. Bridges appealed and lost in District Court and the Court of Appeals, but the Supreme Court held 5–3 on June 18, 1945, in the case of Bridges v. Wixon that the government had not proven Bridges was "affiliated" with the CPUSA, a word it interpreted to require more than "sympathy" or "mere cooperation". On June 27, 1941, as part of
10406-711: The international situation when writing the Smith Act's proscriptions. At trial, the judge took Biddle's view and refused to instruct the jury in the "clear and present danger" standard as the defendants' attorneys requested. The trial began in Federal District Court in Minneapolis on October 27, 1941. The prosecution presented evidence that the accused had amassed a small arsenal of pistols and rifles and conducted target practices and drills. Some had met with Trotsky in Mexico, and many witnesses testified to their revolutionary rhetoric. The judge ordered that five of
10527-422: The investigations got to continue working as they had been, but people who refused to cooperate were blacklisted . Critics of the HUAC claim their tactics were an abuse of government power and resulted in a witch hunt that disregarded citizens’ rights and ruined their careers and reputations. Critics claim the internal witch hunt was a use for personal gain to spread influence for government officials by intensifying
10648-468: The killer, who had been dating one of Trotsky's secretaries, was a disillusioned follower. In allegiance to the Soviet Union, the party changed this policy again after Hitler broke the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact by attacking the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. The CPUSA opposed labor strikes in the weapons industry and supporting the U.S. war effort against the Axis Powers . With the slogan "Communism
10769-502: The newly created Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as part of a major government reorganization following the September 11 attacks of 2001. Prior to 1933, there were separate offices administering immigration and naturalization matters, known as the Bureau of Immigration and the Bureau of Naturalization, respectively. The INS was established on June 10, 1933, merging these previously separate areas of administration. In 1890,
10890-541: The newly created (now-defunct) Department of Commerce and Labor , and on June 10, 1933, the agency was established as the Immigration and Naturalization Service . After World War I , Congress attempted to stem the flow of immigrants, still mainly coming from Europe, by passing a law in 1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924 limiting the number of newcomers by assigning a quota to each nationality based upon its representation in previous U.S. Census figures. Each year,
11011-484: The offices of Information Resources Management, Finance, Human Resources and Administration, and Equal Employment Opportunity. Shortly after the U.S. Civil War , some states started to pass their own immigration laws, which prompted the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in 1876 that immigration was a federal responsibility. The Immigration Act of 1891 established an Office of the Superintendent of Immigration within
11132-499: The other cases. Other party leaders indicted included Claudia Jones and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn , a founding member of the ACLU who had been expelled in 1940 for being a Communist. Appeals from other trials reached the Supreme Court with varying results. On June 17, 1957, Yates v. United States held unconstitutional the convictions of numerous party leaders in a ruling that distinguished between advocacy of an idea for incitement and
11253-408: The ousting of those in government positions who have had connections with left-wing to far-left ideology. The name is derived from the red flag , a common symbol of communism and socialism. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which are referred to by this name. The First Red Scare , which occurred immediately after World War I , revolved around
11374-469: The outbreak of the Korean War . The events of the late 1940s, the early 1950s—the trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg (1953), the trial of Alger Hiss , the Iron Curtain (1945–1991) around Eastern Europe , and the Soviet Union's first nuclear weapon test in 1949 ( RDS-1 )—surprised the American public, influencing popular opinion about U.S. national security , which, in turn, was connected to
11495-469: The passage of the Act to include race, employer's name and address, relatives in the U.S., organization memberships, application for citizenship, and military service record for the U.S. or any other country. Solicitor General Francis Biddle had responsibility for the Division, which was headed by Earl G. Harrison during its first six months. In a radio address meant to reassure aliens, Biddle said: "It
11616-438: The popular press raised alarms and provided examples. In July 1940, Time magazine called fifth-column talk a "national phenomenon". In the late 1930s, several legislative proposals tried to address sedition itself and the underlying concern with the presence of large numbers of non-citizens, including citizens of countries with which the U.S. might soon be at war. An omnibus bill that included several measures died in 1939, but
11737-558: The prosecution. In March 1942, the government charged George W. Christians , founder of the Crusader White Shirts , with violating the Smith Act by attempting to spread dissent in the armed forces. Life had published a photo of Christians in 1939 under the heading "Some of the Voices of Hate". Christians said he promoted a "human effort monetary system" and supported "a paper and ink revolution for economic liberty". After
11858-643: The prospect of American-educated Chinese students bringing their knowledge back to "Red China" as an unacceptable threat to American national security, and laws such as the China Aid Act of 1950 and the Refugee Relief Act of 1953 gave significant assistance to Chinese students who wished to settle in the United States. Despite being naturalized, however, Chinese immigrants continued to face suspicion of their allegiance. The general effect, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison scholar Qing Liu,
11979-571: The radical, anarchist foundations of the IWW, which contends that all workers should be united as a social class and that capitalism and the wage system should be abolished. In June 1917, as a response to World War I, Congress passed the Espionage Act to prevent any information relating to national defense from being used to harm the United States or to aid her enemies. The Wilson administration used this act to make anything "urging treason"
12100-455: The registration is, where aliens go to register, and what information they must give. The number registered passed 4.7 million by January 1941. After the U.S. declared war in 1941, federal authorities used data gathered from alien registrations to identify citizens of enemy nations and take 2,971 of them into custody by the end of the year. A different set of requirements was imposed during the war on enemy aliens , citizens of nations with which
12221-506: The senate, citing 81 separate cases, and made accusations against suspected communists. Although he provided little or no evidence, this prompted the Senate to call for a full investigation. Senator McCarran introduced the McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950 that was passed by the U.S. Congress and which modified a great deal of law to restrict civil liberties in the name of security. President Truman declared
12342-658: The slogans " The Yanks Are Not Coming " and "Hands Off", set up a "perpetual peace vigil" across the street from the White House and announced that Roosevelt was the head of the "war party of the American bourgeoisie". By April 1940, the party Daily Worker ' s line seemed not so much antiwar as simply pro-German. A pamphlet stated the Jews had just as much to fear from Britain and France as they did Germany. In August 1940, after NKVD agent Ramón Mercader killed Trotsky with an ice axe , Browder perpetuated Moscow's fiction that
12463-515: The step, normally distasteful, appeared inevitable, the Administration sponsored the legislation. Also in June, the President transferred the Immigration and Naturalization Service from the Department of Labor to the Department of Justice (DOJ), demonstrating that the federal government viewed its alien population as a security concern as war grew more likely. In mid-August, officials of
12584-466: The strength of congressional investigation committees, and weakening the Smith Act. In the 1957 case Yates v. United States and the 1961 case Scales v. United States , the Supreme Court limited Congress's ability to circumvent the First Amendment, and in 1967 during the Supreme Court case United States v. Robel , the Supreme Court ruled that a ban on communists in the defense industry
12705-523: The teaching of an idea as a concept. The same day, the Court ruled 6–1 in Watkins v. United States that defendants could use the First Amendment as a defense against "abuses of the legislative process". On June 5, 1961, the Supreme Court upheld by 5–4 the conviction of Junius Scales under the "membership clause" of the Smith Act. Scales began serving a six-year sentence on October 2, 1961. He
12826-404: The tension surrounding the idea of a possible communist takeover died down. From 1955 through 1959, the Supreme Court made several decisions which restricted the ways in which the government could enforce its anti-communist policies, some of which included limiting the federal loyalty program to only those who had access to sensitive information, allowing defendants to face their accusers, reducing
12947-594: The term "Brown Scare" to cover the events leading up to the trial. Twenty-eight prominent individuals (mostly members of Congress) were indicted in Washington, D.C. , in July 1942, accused of violations of the Smith Act, in what became the largest sedition trial in the US. The government expanded the list of defendants, indicting 42 people. After delays while the government amended the charges and struggled to construct its case,
13068-463: The thousands of resident aliens arrested and deported. In July 1920, Palmer's once-promising Democratic Party bid for the U.S. presidency failed. Wall Street was bombed on September 16, 1920, near Federal Hall National Memorial and the JP Morgan Bank . Although both anarchists and communists were suspected as being responsible for the bombing, ultimately no individuals were indicted for
13189-413: The trial, now expanded to 30 defendants, began on April 17, 1944. The defendants were a heterogeneous group that held either isolationist or pro-fascist views. In the case of United States v. McWilliams named after Joe McWilliams , the prosecutor, O. John Rogge , hoped to prove they were Nazi propaganda agents by demonstrating the similarity between their statements and enemy propaganda. The weakness of
13310-679: The trial. The SWP had been influential in Minneapolis since the Teamsters Strike of 1934 . It advocated strikes and the continuation of labor union militancy during World War II under its Proletarian Military Policy . An SWP member edited the Northwest Organizer , the weekly newspaper of the Minneapolis Teamsters, and the local union remained militant even as the national union grew more conservative. The defendants were accused of having plotted to overthrow
13431-698: The world. The Field Operations division implemented policies and handled tasks for its three regional offices, which in turn oversaw 33 districts and 21 border areas throughout the country. Internationally, the Field Operations division oversaw the Headquarters Office of International Affairs which in turn oversaw 16 offices outside the country. Managerial functions of the INS included the Policy and Planning and Management divisions. The Office of Policy and Planning coordinated all information for
13552-651: The years 1947 to 1956. It also was the template for several state legislatures' loyalty acts, such as California's Levering Act . The House Committee on Un-American Activities was created during the Truman administration as a response to allegations by Republicans of disloyalty in Truman's administration. The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) and the committees of Senator Joseph McCarthy ( R. , Wisc. ) conducted character investigations of "American communists" (actual and alleged), and their roles in (real and imaginary) espionage, propaganda, and subversion favoring
13673-466: Was a member of or affiliated with such an organization. The Smith Act expanded the grounds for deporting aliens to include weapons violations and abetting illegal immigration. It added heroin to the category of drug violations. Title III. Alien registration. The Smith Act required aliens applying for visas to register and be fingerprinted. Every other alien resident of the United States: who
13794-479: Was an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor from 1933 to 1940 and the U.S. Department of Justice from 1940 to 2003. Referred to by some as former INS and by others as legacy INS , the agency ceased to exist under that name on March 1, 2003, when most of its functions were transferred to three new entities – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) – within
13915-442: Was not the intention of Congress to start a witch hunt or a program of persecution." Calling it a "patriotic duty", he said: Many people still feel that there is a stigma attached to being fingerprinted. I have been fingerprinted, as have millions of others who served in the armed forces of the United States. All Federal civil service employees are fingerprinted. Even postal savings depositors are fingerprinted. I assure you that there
14036-602: Was organized under the authority of the Department of Justice . In 2003 the administration of immigration services, including permanent residence, naturalization , asylum, and other functions, became the responsibility of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS), which existed under that name only for a short time before changing to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The investigative and enforcement functions of
14157-494: Was released after serving fifteen months when President John F. Kennedy commuted his sentence in 1962. Trials of "second string" communist leaders also occurred in the 1950s, including that of Maurice Braverman . Red Scare A Red Scare is a form of moral panic provoked by fear of the rise, supposed or real, of leftist ideologies in a society, especially communism and socialism . Historically, "red scares" have led to mass political persecution , scapegoating , and
14278-547: Was the Washington, D.C. , house of U.S. Attorney General Palmer, where the explosion killed the bomber, who (evidence indicated) was an Italian-American radical from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . Afterwards, Palmer ordered the U.S. Justice Department to launch the Palmer Raids (1919–21). He deported 249 Russian immigrants on the " Soviet Ark ", formed the General Intelligence Unit – a precursor to
14399-401: Was to simultaneously demand that Chinese (and other Asian) students politically support the American government yet avoid engaging directly in politics. The Second Red Scare profoundly altered the temper of American society. Its later characterizations may be seen as contributory to works of feared communist espionage, such as the film My Son John (1952), about parents' suspicions their son
14520-709: Was unconstitutional. In 1995, the American government declassified details of the Venona Project following the Moynihan Commission , which when combined with the opening of the USSR Comintern archives, provided substantial validation of intelligence gathering, outright spying, and policy influencing, by Americans on behalf of the Soviet Union, from 1940 through 1980. Over 300 American communists, whether they knew it or not, including government officials and technicians that helped in developing
14641-516: Was written so that federal authorities could deport radical labor organizer Harry Bridges , an immigrant from Australia. Deportation hearings against Bridges in 1939 found he did not qualify for deportation because he was not currently —as the Alien Act of 1918 required—a member of or affiliated with an organization that advocated the overthrow of the government. The Smith Act allowed deportation of an alien who had been "at any time" since arriving in
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