![Reports of the House and California UnAmerican Activities Committees](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Reports_of_the_House_and_California_UnAmerican_Activities_Committees.jpg)
California Senate Factfinding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities (CUAC) was established by the
California State Legislature in 1941 as the Joint Fact-Finding Committee on UnAmerican Activities. The creation of the new joint committee (with members from both the State Senate and State Assembly) followed the publication of reports from two legislative committees that had investigated allegations about the administration of programs at the
California State Relief Administration
The California State Relief Administration (SRA), created in 1935, was the successor to the State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA), created in 1933. The agencies were responsible for distributing state and federal funds to improve conditio ...
.
In 1947, the
California State Assembly ended its participation and the committee was reorganized by the
California State Senate under authority of the Rules Committee of the State Senate as a subcommittee of the General Research Committee. CUAC was the California equivalent of the
House Committee on Un-American Activities
The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...
.
The Committee operated until 1970, publishing a total of 15 reports (called "Red Books" within state government) on a variety of topics including Nazi attempts to infiltrate California industry, alleged Communist front organizations, the
John Birch Society
The John Birch Society (JBS) is an American right-wing political advocacy group. Founded in 1958, it is anti-communist, supports social conservatism, and is associated with ultraconservative, radical right, far-right, or libertarian ide ...
, the
Black Panthers,
Cesar Chavez, and 1960s student protests.
History
From 1941 through 1949 the committee was known commonly as the
Tenney Committee for its chairman, Senator
Jack Tenney, who was notable for his vigorous investigations of Communists. In 1951, Tenney and the other members of the committee were sued by William Patrick Brandhove who alleged that they had violated his civil rights after he was charged with contempt after refusing to testify under oath at a hearing. Brandhove claimed that the hearing "was not held for a legislative purpose," but was instread conducted "to intimidate and silence" him. The case, Tenney v. Brandhove 341 U.S. 367 (1951), was heard by the US Supreme Court which found that under the circumstances of the case, the committee and its individual members were acting in the sphere of legitimate legislative activities in calling the plaintiff before it and examining him and the civil rights statute did not create a civil liability for such conduct.
In March 1943, the report of the committee deals extensively with the activities of "enemy aliens", and was supportive of their internment.
The 12th report of the Subcommittee was published in 1963, and included investigation of the
Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...
, the
Constitutional Liberties Information Center, so-called
Front groups
A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy gr ...
and
Black Muslims. The committee conducted an investigation of the
John Birch Society
The John Birch Society (JBS) is an American right-wing political advocacy group. Founded in 1958, it is anti-communist, supports social conservatism, and is associated with ultraconservative, radical right, far-right, or libertarian ide ...
, examining its literature, sent investigators to talk with supporters and critics, examined press accounts and worked for two years. On June 12, 1963, the subcommittee filed its 62-page report and released copies to the press.
The 13th Report Supplement of the Subcommittee appeared in 1966 with information gathered on the
Kerr Analysis of the situation on the UC Berkeley campus; on
Martin Kamen; Chancellor
Edward W. Strong; The
Filthy Speech Movement
Alliance of Libertarian Activists (ALA) was a libertarian student organization primarily located in the San Francisco Bay area, mostly active at University of California, Berkeley, established in 1965–1966, and considered the first campus group t ...
;
Clara Ontell;
Virginia Taylor Norris; Campus Speakers;
Margaret Gelders Frantz; The
Young People's Socialist League;
Sam Kagel; Present Kerr and the Regents; and had chapter headings such as; "Radical Groups Capitalize on Rule Weaknesses"; "Pious Disclaimers'; "Half-Truths and Distortions"; "Telescoping of Time";
Leon Wofsy;
Douglas Wachter; The Element of Time; "Guilt by Juxtaposition"; Developments since July, 1965; The
Vietnam Day Committee The Vietnam Day Committee (VDC) was a coalition of left-wing political groups, student groups, labour organizations, and pacifist religions in the United States of America that opposed the Vietnam War during the counterculture era. It was formed in ...
; Old Leaders - New Cause; Teach-In at Berkeley, May, 1965; Demonstrations on October 15 and 16, 1965; Demonstration on November 20, 1965; Berkeley Campus Softened Up; Comfort for the Enemy; Vietnam Propaganda at Garfield Junior High School; Chancellor Heyns Discusses the Demonstrations; International Control and Collaboration; The
San Francisco Mime Troupe;
Vietnam Day Committee The Vietnam Day Committee (VDC) was a coalition of left-wing political groups, student groups, labour organizations, and pacifist religions in the United States of America that opposed the Vietnam War during the counterculture era. It was formed in ...
Dance March 25, 1966; Homosexuality; The
Eli Katz Case.
The 14th report of the committee was published in 1967 and although it claimed to deal with the
Delano grape strike, it was an anti-communist and anti-"subversive" effort on behalf of state government. While the committee reports stated that no inference of subversive activity should be construed by mention of a person or organization in their reports, the result was less circumspect. The report of 1967 claimed that agricultural labor had been a target of
Communist infiltration for thirty years due to the migratory and deprived state of agricultural workers. Chapters included the Delano Grape Strike, Spring Mobilization, The Community for New Politics, Responses from Virginia Norris Taylor and other exhibits.
Documents in the Committee files (today held by the
California State Archives) span the period from 1932 to 1971. A large directory (24 cubic feet) of names is o
index cardsfor the paper files and a separate name indexes for hearings and targeted organizations. 28 cubic feet of filed records include newspaper clippings, publications (booklets, circulars, posters, etc.), membership lists, lists of license plates (names, auto type/year) of cars parked near suspicious meetings (including May Day events), subscriptions to publications, organizations (peace, churches, student, youth, foreigners, union/labor, etc.), anonymous reports, meetings/lectures, photos, handwritten notes, phone messages, etc.
References
*12th, 13th and 14th Report(s) Un-American Activities In California 1963, 1966, 1967 - Report of the Senate Fact finding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities. Regular session of the California Legislature, Sacramento CVA.
Notes
External links
Inventory of the California Un-American Activities Committees RecordsCalifornia State Archives Sacramento
{{Authority control
Cold War history of the United States
Legal history of California
California State Legislature
Anti-communist organizations in the United States