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The Internal Security Act of 1950, (Public Law 81-831), also known as the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950, the McCarran Act after its principal sponsor Sen. Pat McCarran (D-Nevada), or the Concentration Camp Law, is a
United States federal law The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as ...
. Congress enacted it over President
Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
's veto. It required Communist organizations to register with the federal government. The 1965 U.S Supreme Court ruling in ''
Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board ''Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board'', 382 U.S. 70 (1965), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on November 15, 1965, that persons (in this case, William Albertson) believed to be members of the Communist ...
'' saw much of the act's Communist registration requirement abolished. The emergency detention provision was repealed when the
Non-Detention Act The Non-Detention Act of 1971 was passed to repeal portions of McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950, specifically Title II, the "Emergency Detention Act". The United States statute repealed the Emergency Detention Act of 1950 provisioning the Un ...
of 1971 was signed into law by President Richard Nixon. The act's Subversive Activities Control Board, which enforced the law's provision calling for investigations of persons engaging in "subversive activities," would also be abolished in 1972.


Provisions

Its titles were I: Subversive Activities Control (Subversive Activities Control Act) and II: Emergency Detention (Emergency Detention Act of 1950). The Act required Communist organizations to register with the
United States Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
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. Immigrants found in violation of the act within five years of being naturalized could have their citizenship revoked. United States Attorney General
J. Howard McGrath James Howard McGrath (November 28, 1903September 2, 1966) was an American politician and attorney from Rhode Island. McGrath, a Democrat, served as U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island before becoming governor, U.S. Solicitor General, U.S. Sena ...
asked that the Communist Party provide a list of all its members in the United States, as well as 'reveal its financial details'. Furthermore, members of 'Communist-Action Organizations' including those of the
Communist Party of the United States of America The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
were required (prior to a 1965 Supreme Court case mentioned below) to register with the U.S. Attorney General their name and address and be subject to the statutes applicable to such registrants (e.g. being barred from federal employment, among others). In addition, once registered, members were liable for prosecution solely based on membership under the
Smith Act The Alien Registration Act, popularly known as the Smith Act, 76th United States Congress, 3d session, ch. 439, , is a United States federal statute that was enacted on June 28, 1940. It set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of th ...
due to the expressed and alleged intent of the organization. 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 Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tang ...
or
sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...
." It tightened alien exclusion and deportation laws and allowed for the detention of dangerous, disloyal, or
subversive Subversion () refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to transform the established social order and its structures of power, authority, hierarchy, and social norms. Sub ...
persons in times of war or "internal security emergency". The act had implications for thousands of people displaced because of the Second World War. In March 1951, chairman of the United States Displaced Persons Commission was quoted as saying that 100,000 people would be barred from entering the United States that otherwise would have been accepted. By March 1, 1951, the act had excluded 54,000 people of German ethnic origin and 12,000 displaced Russian persons from entering the United States. Notable persons barred from the United States include
Ernst Chain Sir Ernst Boris Chain (19 June 1906 – 12 August 1979) was a German-born British biochemist best known for being a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on penicillin. Life and career Chain was born in B ...
, who was declined a visa on two occasions in 1951. The Act made picketing a federal courthouse a felony if intended to obstruct the court system or influence jurors or other trial participants.


Legislative history


Passage

Several key sections of the Act were taken from the earlier
Mundt–Ferguson Communist Registration Bill The Mundt– Ferguson Communist Registration Bill was a proposed law that would have required all members of the Communist Party of the United States register with the Attorney General. Antecedent bills In 1940, the U.S. Congress passed the Smit ...
, which Congress had failed to pass. It included language that Sen. Mundt had introduced several times before without success aimed at punishing a federal employee from passing information "classified by the President (or by the head of any such department, agency, or corporation with the approval of the President) as affecting the security of the United States" to "any representative of a foreign government or to any officer or member of a Communist organization". He told a Senate hearing that it was a response to what the
House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, create ...
(HUAC) had learned when investigating "the so-called
pumpkin papers The Pumpkin Papers are a set of typewritten, handwritten, and microfilmed documents, stolen from the US federal government (thus information leaks) by members of the Ware Group and other Soviet spy networks in Washington, DC, during 1937-1938, wi ...
case, the espionage activities in the Chambers- Hiss case, the
Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, Nort ...
case, and others." President Harry Truman vetoed it on September 22, 1950, and sent Congress a lengthy veto message in which he criticized specific provisions as "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".Harry S. Truman
Veto of the Internal Security Bill
, Harry S. Truman Library and Museum.
The House overrode the veto without debate by a vote of 286–48 the same day. The Senate overrode his veto the next day after "a twenty-two hour continuous battle" by a vote of 57–10. Thirty-one Republicans and 26 Democrats voted in favor, while five members of each party opposed it. Democratic Senator
Hubert Humphrey Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American pharmacist and politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing ...
led the outnumbered opposition in the Senate.


Amended

Part of the Act was repealed by the
Non-Detention Act The Non-Detention Act of 1971 was passed to repeal portions of McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950, specifically Title II, the "Emergency Detention Act". The United States statute repealed the Emergency Detention Act of 1950 provisioning the Un ...
of 1971 after facing public opposition, notably from Japanese Americans. President
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
, while signing the repeal bill, referred to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II for historical context as to why the bill needed to be repealed. For example, violation of (Section 21 of "the Internal Security Act of 1950"), which concerns security of military bases and other sensitive installations, may be punishable by a prison term of up to one year. The part of the act codified as has been repealed in its entirety for violating the First Amendment.


Abolition

The Subversive Activities Control Board was abolished by Congress in 1972.


Constitutionality

The
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. Federal tribunals in the United States, federal court cases, and over Stat ...
was initially deferential towards the Internal Security Act. For example, in ''Galvan v. Press'', the Court upheld the deportation of a Mexican alien on the basis that he had briefly been a member of the Communist Party from 1944 to 1946, even though such membership had been lawful at that time (and had been declared retroactively illegal by the Act). As McCarthyism faded into history, the Court adopted a more skeptical approach towards the Act. The 1964 decision in ''
Aptheker v. Secretary of State ''Aptheker v. Secretary of State'', 378 U.S. 500 (1964), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court on the right to travel and passport restrictions as they relate to Fifth Amendment due process rights and First Amendment free speech, fr ...
'' ruled unconstitutional Section 6, which prevented any member of a communist party from using or obtaining a passport. In 1965, the Court voted 8–0 in ''
Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board ''Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board'', 382 U.S. 70 (1965), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on November 15, 1965, that persons (in this case, William Albertson) believed to be members of the Communist ...
'' to invalidate the Act's requirement that members of the Communist Party were to register with the government. It held that the information which party members were required to submit could form the basis of their prosecution for being party members, which was then a crime, and therefore deprived them of their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. In 1967, the act's provision prohibiting communists from working for the federal government or at defense facility was also struck down by the Supreme Court as a violation of the First Amendment's right to freedom of association in '' United States v. Robel''.


Use by U.S. military

The U.S. military continues to use , citing it in U.S. Army regulation AR 190–11 in support of allowing installation commanders to regulate privately owned weapons on army installations. An Army message known as an ALARACT states "senior commanders have specific authority to regulate privately owned weapons, explosives, and ammunition on army installations." The ALARACT refers to AR 190-11 and public law (section 1062 of Public Law 111–383, also known as the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011); AR 190–11 in turn cites the McCarran Internal Security Act (codified as 50 USC 797). The ALARACT reference is a truncated version of the public law.


Fictional reimagining

The 1971 pseudo documentary film ''
Punishment Park ''Punishment Park'' is a 1971 American pseudo-documentary drama film written and directed by Peter Watkins. The setting is of a British and West German film crew following National Guard soldiers and police as they pursue members of a counterc ...
'' speculated what might have happened if
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
had enforced the McCarran Act against members of the
anti-war movement An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to p ...
, black power movement, the
feminist movement The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such ...
, and others.


See also

*
Alien Registration Act The Alien Registration Act, popularly known as the Smith Act, 76th United States Congress, 3d session, ch. 439, , is a United States federal statute that was enacted on June 28, 1940. It set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of t ...
*
Espionage Act of 1917 The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law enacted on June 15, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code (War ...
*
Hatch Act of 1939 The Hatch Act of 1939, An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities, is a United States federal law. Its main provision prohibits civil service employees in the executive branch of the federal government, except the president and vice presi ...
* Mundt-Nixon Bill of 1948 *
Mundt–Ferguson Communist Registration Bill The Mundt– Ferguson Communist Registration Bill was a proposed law that would have required all members of the Communist Party of the United States register with the Attorney General. Antecedent bills In 1940, the U.S. Congress passed the Smit ...
of 1950 *
National Committee to Defeat the Mundt Bill The National Committee to Defeat the Mundt Bill AKA "NCDMB" (1948-1950) was an American organization that sought to oppose passage of the Mundt-Nixon Bill and subject of a 15-page report of the House Un-American Activities Committee, two of whose ...
(1948-1950) * McCarran–Walter Act *
McCarthyism McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origin ...


References


Further reading

* Izumi, Masumi. "Prohibiting 'American Concentration Camps'," ''Pacific Historical Review'' 74.2 (2005): 165-19
online
* Keohane, Jennifer. "How Would They Ever Learn Better--The Sedition Act, the McCarran Internal Security Act, and Congressional Failure." ''Northwestern Interdisciplinary Law Review'' 1 (2008): 217
online
* Lee, R. Alton. "'New Dealers, Fair Dealers, Misdealers, and Hiss Dealers': Karl Mundt and the Internal Security Act of 1950." ''South Dakota History'' 10 (1980): 277-9
online
. * McCarran, Patrick A. "The Internal Security Act of 1950." ''University of Pittsburgh Law Review'' 12 (1950): 481+
online
* Ybarra, Michael J. ''Washington Gone Crazy: Senator Pat McCarran and the Great American Communist Hunt'' (Steerforth Publishing, 2004
online
pp 509–534.


External links




Department of Defense Instruction
December 2005 (from Defense Technical Information Center) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mccarran Internal Security Act 1950 in American law 81st United States Congress Anti-communism in the United States McCarthyism Political repression in the United States United States federal defense and national security legislation