Editing McCarthyism (section)

===Laws and arrests===
{{see also|Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders}}
Efforts to protect the United States from the perceived threat of communist subversion were particularly enabled by several federal laws. The [[Hatch Act of 1939]] banned membership in subversive organizations, which was interpreted as being anti-labor legislation.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book|last=Goldstein|first=Robert Justin|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/879022662|title=Little 'Red Scares' : Anti-Communism and Political Repression in the United States, 1921–1946|date=2014|publisher=Ashgate Publishing Ltd|isbn=978-1472413772|location=Farnham|oclc=879022662}}</ref> The Hatch Act would allow for the reduction of influence of the [[Workers Alliance of America|Workers' Alliance]], which was claimed to have been created by the [[Soviet Union]] based on a model of their unemployed councils.<ref name="auto"/> The Alien Registration Act or [[Smith Act]] of 1940 made the act of "knowingly or willfully advocate, abet, advise or teach the ... desirability or propriety of overthrowing 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" a criminal offense.

Hundreds of communists and others were prosecuted under this law between 1941 and 1957. Eleven leaders of the Communist Party were convicted under the Smith Act in 1949 in the [[Foley Square trial]]. Ten defendants were given sentences of five years and the eleventh was sentenced to three years. The defense attorneys were cited for [[contempt of court]] and given prison sentences.{{sfn|Fried|1997|pp=13, 15, 27, 110–112, 165–168}} In 1951, 23 other leaders of the party were indicted, including [[Elizabeth Gurley Flynn]], a founding member of the [[American Civil Liberties Union]]. Many were convicted on the basis of testimony that was later admitted to be false.{{sfn|Fried|1997|pp=201–202}}> By 1957, 140 leaders and members of the Communist Party had been charged under the law, of whom 93 were convicted.<ref>Levin, Daniel, "Smith Act", in
{{cite book | editor = Paul Finkelman  | year = 2006 | title = Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties | publisher = CRC Press | page = 1488 | isbn = 0415943426}}</ref>

The [[McCarran Internal Security Act]], which became law in 1950, has been described by scholar Ellen Schrecker as "the McCarthy era's only important piece of legislation"{{sfn|Schrecker1998|p=141}} (the Smith Act technically antedated McCarthyism). However, the McCarran Act had no real effect beyond legal harassment. It required the registration of Communist organizations with the [[United States Attorney General|U.S. Attorney General]] and established the [[Subversive Activities Control Board]] to investigate possible communist-action and communist-front organizations so they could be required to register. Due to numerous hearings, delays, and appeals, the act was never enforced, even with regard to the Communist Party of the United States itself, and the major provisions of the act were found to be unconstitutional in 1965 and 1967.{{sfn|Fried|1990|p=187}} In 1952, the [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952|Immigration and Nationality, or McCarran–Walter, Act]] was passed. This law allowed the government to deport immigrants or naturalized citizens engaged in subversive activities and also to bar suspected subversives from entering the country.

The [[Communist Control Act of 1954]] was passed with overwhelming support in both houses of Congress after very little debate. Jointly drafted by Republican [[John Marshall Butler]] and Democrat [[Hubert Humphrey]], the law was an extension of the Internal Security Act of 1950, and sought to outlaw the Communist Party by declaring that the party, as well as "Communist-Infiltrated Organizations" were "not entitled to any of the rights, privileges, and immunities attendant upon legal bodies." While the Communist Control Act had an odd mix of liberals and conservatives among its supporters, it never had any significant effect.

The act was successfully applied only twice. In 1954 it was used to prevent Communist Party members from appearing on the New Jersey state ballot, and in 1960, it was cited to deny the CPUSA recognition as an employer under New York state's unemployment compensation system. The ''[[New York Post]]'' called the act "a monstrosity", "a wretched repudiation of democratic principles," while ''[[The Nation]]'' accused Democratic liberals of a "neurotic, election-year anxiety to escape the charge of being 'soft on Communism' even at the expense of sacrificing constitutional rights."{{sfn|McAuliff|1978|p=142}}