Editing Loyalty oath (section)

===1930s to 1950s===
[[File:Page one of Executive Order 9835.jpg|thumb|Page one of Executive Order 9835, signed by [[Harry S. Truman]] in 1947]]
In support of Roosevelt's [[National Recovery Administration]], 100,000 school children marched to Boston Common and swore a loyalty oath administered by the mayor, "I promise as a good American citizen to do my part for the NRA. I will buy only where the Blue Eagle flies."

Loyalty oaths were common during World War II.

Another use of loyalty oaths in the [[United States]] was during the 1950s and 1960s. The [[Second Red Scare|Red Scare]] during the 1950s and the Congressional hearings chaired by Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] helped to sustain a national mood of concern about [[communist]] [[espionage|agent]]s and a fear such agents may injure the U.S. government through [[espionage]], outright violence, or speech.

==== Executive Order 9835 "Loyalty Order" (1947)====

On March 21, 1947, concerned with Soviet subversive penetration and infiltration into the United States government by American citizens who held oaths of allegiance to a foreign power during wartime, President [[Harry S Truman]] instituted a Loyalty Program by signing [[Executive Order 9835]], also known as the "Loyalty Order." It required loyalty oaths and background investigations on persons deemed suspect of holding party membership in organizations that advocated violent and anti-democratic programs.

====The University of California loyalty oath (1950)====

The [[Levering Act]] was a law enacted by the U.S. state of [[California]] in 1950. It required state employees to subscribe to a loyalty oath that specifically disavowed radical beliefs. It was aimed in particular at employees of the [[University of California]]. In January 1950, 750 faculty members had approved a resolution to oppose the university's regents and create a committee to coordinate legal action against the university should an oath be required. Several teachers resigned in protest or lost their positions when they refused to sign the loyalty oath. Among those who left were the psychologist [[Erik Erikson]] and the classical scholar [[Ludwig Edelstein]], both of them [[Jewish]] refugees from [[Nazi Germany]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qz_VDQAAQBAJ&q=professors+who+left+the+University+of+California+over+the+Levering+Act&pg=PA3|title=The International Journal of Indian Psychology, Volume 3, Issue 4, No. 82|last=IJIP.In|date=25 December 2016|publisher=RED'SHINE Publication. Inc|isbn=9781365657177|via=Google Books}}</ref> In August 1950, the regents fired 31 faculty members who refused to sign the oath. Those who were terminated sued, and by 1952 had been rehired when the university declined to pursue its case against them in court. One of the fired faculty members, the physics professor [[David Saxon]], went on with his career and was appointed president of the entire University of California system in 1975, a job he held until 1983.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/loyaltyoath/|title=Introduction|website=bancroft.berkeley.edu}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/uchistory/archives_exhibits/loyaltyoath/timelinesummary.html|title=Timeline: Summary of events of the Loyalty Oath Controversy 1949-54|website=www.lib.berkeley.edu}}</ref>

====''Garner v. Board of Public Works'' (1951)====

Typically, a loyalty oath has wording similar to that mentioned in the U.S Supreme Court decision of ''[[Garner v. Board of Public Works]]'':<ref>''[[Garner v. Board of Public Works]]'', 341 U.S. 716 (1951)</ref>

<blockquote>I further swear (or affirm) that I do not advise, advocate or teach, and have not within the period beginning five (5) years prior to the effective date of the ordinance requiring the making of this oath or affirmation, advised, advocated or taught, the overthrow by force, violence or other unlawful means, of the Government of the United States of America or of the State of California and that I am not now and have not, within said period, been or become a member of or affiliated with any group, society, association, organization or party which advises, advocates or teaches, or has, within said period, advised, advocated or taught, the overthrow by force, violence or other unlawful means of the Government of the United States of America, or of the State of California. I further swear (or affirm) that I will not, while I am in the service of the City of Los Angeles, advise, advocate or teach, or be or become a member of or affiliated with any group, association, society, organization or party which advises, advocates or teaches, or has within said period, advised, advocated or taught, the overthrow by force, violence or other unlawful means, of the Government of the United States of America or of the State of California . . . .</blockquote>

====''Speiser v. Randall'' (1958)====

In ''[[Speiser v. Randall]]'',<ref>''[[Speiser v. Randall]]'', 357 U.S. 513 (1958)</ref> the U.S. Supreme Court addressed the State of California's loyalty oath, as required by a California law enacted in 1954, as a condition of exemption from property tax. In applying for property tax exemption as a veteran of World War II, ACLU lawyer Lawrence Speiser had refused to sign the loyalty oath. The court ruled that because the state required the claimant to show they are not advocating state overthrow and hence are not criminals within the applicable laws, the loyalty oath requirement to obtain the tax exemption is unconstitutional. The burden of proof for a criminal action rest on the state and not on the individual private citizen.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=357&invol=513 |title=SPEISER v. RANDALL, 357 U.S. 513 (1958) |publisher=Caselaw.lp.findlaw.com |access-date=2013-09-12}}</ref>