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California Senate Factfinding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities (CUAC) was established by the
California State Legislature The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legislatu ...
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 The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The Ass ...
ended its participation and the committee was reorganized by the
California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature, the lower house being the California State Assembly. The State Senate convenes, along with the State Assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. Due ...
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 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 ideas. T ...
, the
Black Panthers The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...
,
Cesar Chavez Cesar Chavez (born Cesario Estrada Chavez ; ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later merge ...
, 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 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 ideas. T ...
, 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; 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 The San Francisco Mime Troupe is a theatre of political satire which performs free shows in various parks in the San Francisco Bay Area and around California. The Troupe does not, however, perform silent mime, but each year creates an original ...
;
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 The Delano grape strike was a labor strike organized by the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), a predominantly Filipino and AFL-CIO-sponsored labor organization, against table grape growers in Delano, California to fight agains ...
, 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 cards
for 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