Editing McCarthyism (section)

==Institutions==
A number of anti-communist committees, panels, and "loyalty review boards" in federal, state, and local governments, as well as many private agencies, carried out investigations for small and large companies concerned about possible Communists in their work forces.

In Congress, the primary bodies that investigated Communist activities were the HUAC, the [[United States Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security|Senate Internal Security Subcommittee]], and the [[United States Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations|Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations]]. Between 1949 and 1954, a total of 109 investigations were carried out by these and other committees of Congress.{{sfn|Fried|1990|p=150}}

On December 2, 1954, the [[United States Senate]] voted 67 to 22<ref>{{Cite web |title=S. Res. 301 Congressional Record, Dec 2, 1954 |url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/1954McCarthyCensure.pdf |website=www.senate.gov}}</ref> to condemn McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute".

===Executive branch===
====Loyalty-security reviews====
[[File:Page one of Executive Order 9835.jpg|thumb|310x310px|Executive Order 9835, signed by President Truman in 1947]]
In the federal government, President Truman's Executive Order 9835 initiated a program of loyalty reviews for federal employees in 1947. It called for dismissal if there were "reasonable grounds&nbsp;... for belief that the person involved is disloyal to the Government of the United States."<ref>{{Cite book |chapter=The Constitution of the Truman Presidency and the Post–World War II Era |editor1-first=Martin |editor1-last=Fausold |editor2-first=Alan |editor2-last=Shank |first=Donald R. |last=McCoy |year=1991 |title=The Constitution and the American Presidency |publisher=SUNY Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/constitutionamer0000faus/page/116 116] |isbn=978-0791404683 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/constitutionamer0000faus/page/116}}</ref> Truman, a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]], was probably reacting in part to the Republican sweep in the [[United States House election, 1946|1946 Congressional election]] and felt a need to counter growing criticism from conservatives and anti-communists.{{sfn|Fried|1997}}

When President [[Dwight Eisenhower]] took office in 1953, he strengthened and extended Truman's loyalty review program, while decreasing the avenues of appeal available to dismissed employees. [[Hiram Bingham III|Hiram Bingham]], chairman of the Civil Service Commission [[Executive Order 9835|Loyalty Review Board]], referred to the new rules he was obliged to enforce as "just not the American way of doing things."{{sfn|Fried|1990|p=133}} The following year, [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]], scientific director of the [[Manhattan Project]] that built the first atomic bomb, then working as a consultant to the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]], was stripped of his security clearance after a [[Oppenheimer security hearing|four-week hearing]]. Oppenheimer had received a top-secret clearance in 1947, but was denied clearance in the harsher climate of 1954.

Similar loyalty reviews were established in many state and local government offices and some private industries across the nation. In 1958, an estimated one of every five employees in the United States was required to pass some sort of loyalty review.{{sfn|Brown|1958}} Once a person lost a job due to an unfavorable loyalty review, finding other employment could be very difficult. "A man is ruined everywhere and forever," in the words of the chairman of President Truman's Loyalty Review Board. "No responsible employer would be likely to take a chance in giving him a job."{{sfn|Schrecker|1998|p=271}}

The [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] started keeping a list of organizations that it deemed subversive beginning in 1942. This list was first made public in 1948, when it included 78 groups. At its longest, it comprised 154 organizations, 110 of them identified as Communist. In the context of a loyalty review, membership in a listed organization was meant to raise a question, but not to be considered proof of disloyalty. One of the most common causes of suspicion was membership in the [[Washington Bookshop Association]], a left-leaning organization that offered lectures on literature, classical music concerts, and discounts on books.{{sfn|Fried|1990|p=70}}

====J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI====
[[File:Hoover-JEdgar-LOC.jpg|upright|thumb|[[J. Edgar Hoover]] in 1961]]

[[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] director [[J. Edgar Hoover]] designed President Truman's loyalty-security program, and its background investigations of employees were carried out by FBI agents. This was a major assignment that led to the number of agents in the bureau being increased from 3,559 in 1946 to 7,029 in 1952. Hoover's sense of the communist threat and the standards of evidence applied by his bureau resulted in thousands of government workers losing their jobs. Due to Hoover's insistence upon keeping the identity of his informers secret, most subjects of loyalty-security reviews were not allowed to cross-examine or know the identities of those who accused them. In many cases, they were not even told of what they were accused.{{sfn|Schrecker|1998|pp=211, 266 et seq}}

Hoover's influence extended beyond federal government employees and beyond the loyalty-security programs. The records of loyalty review hearings and investigations were supposed to be confidential, but Hoover routinely gave evidence from them to congressional committees such as HUAC.{{sfn|Schrecker|2002|p=65}}

From 1951 to 1955, the FBI operated a secret "[[Responsibilities Program]]" that distributed anonymous documents with evidence from FBI files of communist affiliations on the part of teachers, lawyers, and others. Many people accused in these "blind memoranda" were fired without any further process.{{sfn|Schrecker|1998|p=212}}

The FBI engaged in a number of illegal practices in its pursuit of information on communists, including burglaries, opening mail, and illegal wiretaps.{{sfn|Cox|Theoharis|1988|p=312}} The members of the left-wing [[National Lawyers Guild]] (NLG) were among the few attorneys who were willing to defend clients in communist-related cases, and this made the NLG a particular target of Hoover's; the office of the NLG was burgled by the FBI at least 14 times between 1947 and 1951.{{sfn|Schrecker|1998|p=225}} Among other purposes, the FBI used its illegally obtained information to alert prosecuting attorneys about the planned legal strategies of NLG defense lawyers.{{sfn|Schrecker|1998|p=224}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nlg-npap.org/sites/default/files/Breach%20of%20Privilege%20NLG%20April%202014.pdf|title=Breach of Privilege: Spying on Lawyers in the United States|last=Yoder|first=Traci|date=April 2014|access-date=February 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925213950/https://www.nlg-npap.org/sites/default/files/Breach%20of%20Privilege%20NLG%20April%202014.pdf|archive-date=September 25, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The FBI also used illegal undercover operations to disrupt communist and other dissident political groups. In 1956, Hoover was becoming increasingly frustrated by [[U.S. Supreme Court|Supreme Court]] decisions that limited the Justice Department's ability to prosecute communists. At this time, he formalized a covert "dirty tricks" program under the name [[COINTELPRO]].{{sfn|Cox|Theoharis|1988|p=312}} COINTELPRO actions included planting forged documents to create the suspicion that a key person was an FBI informer, spreading rumors through anonymous letters, leaking information to the press, calling for [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] audits, and the like. The COINTELPRO program remained in operation until 1971.

Historian [[Ellen Schrecker]] calls the [[FBI]] "the single most important component of the anti-communist crusade" and writes: "Had observers known in the 1950s what they have learned since the 1970s, when the [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]] opened the Bureau's files, 'McCarthyism' would probably be called 'Hooverism'."{{sfn|Schrecker|1998|pp=239, 203}}

====Allen Dulles and the CIA====
In March 1950, McCarthy had initiated a series of investigations into potential infiltration of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) by communist agents and came up with a list of security risks that matched one previously compiled by the Agency itself. At the request of CIA director [[Allen Dulles]], President Eisenhower demanded that McCarthy discontinue issuing subpoenas against the CIA. Documents made public in 2004 revealed that the CIA, under Dulles' orders, had broken into McCarthy's Senate office and fed disinformation to him in order to discredit him and stop his investigation from proceeding any further.{{sfn|Weiner|2007|pp=105–106}}

===Congress===
====House Committee on Un-American Activities====<!-- This section is linked from [[Pete Seeger]] -->
{{main|House Un-American Activities Committee}}
The House Committee on Un-American Activities (commonly referred to as the HUAC) was the most prominent and active government committee involved in anti-communist investigations. Formed in 1938 and known as the Dies Committee, named for [[Martin Dies Jr.|Rep. Martin Dies]], who chaired it until 1944, HUAC investigated a variety of "activities", including those of German-American Nazis during [[World War II]]. The committee soon focused on communism, beginning with an investigation into communists in the [[Federal Theatre Project]] in 1938. A significant step for HUAC was its investigation of the charges of espionage brought against Alger Hiss in 1948. This investigation ultimately resulted in Hiss's trial and conviction for perjury, and convinced many of the usefulness of congressional committees for uncovering communist subversion.

HUAC achieved its greatest fame and notoriety with its investigation into the [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood film industry]]. In [[Hollywood blacklist#The blacklist begins (1946–1947)|October 1947]], the committee began to [[subpoena]] screenwriters, directors, and other movie-industry professionals to testify about their known or suspected membership in the Communist Party, association with its members, or support of its beliefs. At these testimonies, this question was asked: "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party of the United States?"<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8RxLbr0QPdgC&q=mccarthyism+64+dollar+question&pg=PA153|title=The Performance of Power: Theatrical Discourse and Politics|publisher=[[University of Iowa Press]]|year=1991|isbn=978-1587290343|editor-last=Case|editor-first=Sue-Ellen|page=153|access-date=October 19, 2020|editor-last2=Reinelt|editor-first2=Janelle G.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107142946/https://books.google.com/books?id=8RxLbr0QPdgC&q=mccarthyism+64+dollar+question&pg=PA153|archive-date=November 7, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Dmytryk |first1=Edward |title=Odd Man Out: A Memoir of the Hollywood Ten |date=1996 |publisher=Southern Illinois University Press |isbn=978-0809319992 |page=59 |url=https://archive.org/details/oddmanoutmemoiro0000dmyt_j8j0/page/59/mode/1up |quote="In the early days of the Martin Dies Committee [...] the question had simply been, Are you a member of the Communist Party of the United States? As a countermeasure, the Party adopted a rule that automatically cancelled a Communist's membership the moment the question was asked. He could then answer 'No' without perjuring himself. The final wording [...] was adopted to circumvent the Party's tactic."}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=October 2023}} Among the first film industry witnesses subpoenaed by the committee were ten who decided not to cooperate. These men, who became known as the "[[Hollywood Ten]]", cited the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]]'s guarantee of free speech and free assembly, which they believed legally protected them from being required to answer the committee's questions. This tactic failed, and the ten were sentenced to prison for [[contempt of Congress]]. Two of them were sentenced to six months, the rest to a year.

In the future, witnesses (in the entertainment industries and otherwise) who were determined not to cooperate with the committee would claim their [[Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifth Amendment]] protection against self-incrimination. [[William Gropper|William Grooper]] and [[Rockwell Kent]], the only two visual artists to be questioned by McCarthy, both took this approach, and emerged relatively unscathed by the experience.<ref>{{Cite web|last=nublockmuseum|date=May 31, 2013|title=Behind Blacklisted|url=https://nublockmuseum.blog/2013/05/31/behind-blacklisted/|access-date=July 27, 2020|website=Stories From The Block|language=en-US|archive-date=July 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727105706/https://nublockmuseum.blog/2013/05/31/behind-blacklisted/|url-status=live}}</ref> However, while this usually protected witnesses from a contempt-of-Congress citation, it was considered grounds for dismissal by many government and private-industry employers. The legal requirements for Fifth Amendment protection were such that a person could not testify about his own association with the Communist Party and then refuse to "name names" of colleagues with communist affiliations.{{sfn|Fried|1990|pp=154–155}}{{sfn|Schrecker|2002|p=68}} Thus, many faced a choice between "crawl[ing] through the mud to be an informer," as actor [[Larry Parks]] put it, or becoming known as a "Fifth Amendment Communist"—an epithet often used by Senator McCarthy.<ref name="SIN">{{cite web| title = See it Now: A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (transcript)| publisher = CBS-TV| date = March 9, 1954| url = http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/murrowmccarthy.html| access-date = March 16, 2007| archive-date = November 10, 2015| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151110194223/http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/murrowmccarthy.html| url-status = live}}</ref>

====Senate committees====
In the Senate, the primary committee for investigating communists was the [[United States Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security|Senate Internal Security Subcommittee]] (SISS), formed in 1950 and charged with ensuring the enforcement of laws relating to "espionage, sabotage, and the protection of the internal security of the United States". The SISS was headed by Democrat [[Pat McCarran]] and gained a reputation for careful and extensive investigations. This committee spent a year investigating [[Owen Lattimore]] and other members of the [[Institute of Pacific Relations]]. As had been done numerous times before, the collection of scholars and diplomats associated with Lattimore (the so-called [[China Hands]]) were accused of "losing China", and while some evidence of pro-communist attitudes was found, nothing supported McCarran's accusation that Lattimore was "a conscious and articulate instrument of the Soviet conspiracy". Lattimore was charged with perjuring himself before the SISS in 1952. After many of the charges were rejected by a federal judge and one of the witnesses confessed to perjury, the case was dropped in 1955.{{sfn|Fried|1990|pp=145–150}}

McCarthy headed the [[United States Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations|Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations]] in 1953 and 1954, and during that time, used it for a number of his communist-hunting investigations. McCarthy first examined allegations of communist influence in the [[Voice of America]], and then turned to the overseas library program of the State Department. [[Card catalogs]] of these libraries were searched for works by authors McCarthy deemed inappropriate. McCarthy then recited the list of supposedly pro-communist authors before his subcommittee and the press. Yielding to the pressure, the State Department ordered its overseas librarians to remove from their shelves "material by any controversial persons, Communists, [[fellow traveler]]s, etc." Some libraries actually burned the newly forbidden books.{{sfn|Griffith|1970|p=216}} Though he did not block the State Department from carrying out this order, President Eisenhower publicly criticized the initiative as well, telling the graduating class of Dartmouth College President in 1953: "Don't join the book burners! ... Don't be afraid to go to the library and read every book so long as that document does not offend our own ideas of decency—that should be the only censorship."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/119516/report-book-burning-under-huac-and-eisenhower|title=The Horrible, Oppressive History of Book Burning in America|publisher=The New Republic|date=June 26, 1953|access-date=February 12, 2020|archive-date=February 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200212203141/https://newrepublic.com/article/119516/report-book-burning-under-huac-and-eisenhower|url-status=live}}</ref> The president then settled for a compromise by retaining the ban on Communist books written by Communists, while also allowing the libraries to keep books on Communism written by anti-Communists.<ref name="Abdul-JabbarObstfeld2016">{{cite book|author1=Kareem Abdul-Jabbar|author2=Raymond Obstfeld|title=Writings on the Wall: Searching for a New Equality Beyond Black and White|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oafiDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT53|date= 2016|publisher=Time Inc. Books|isbn=978-1618935434|pages=53–}}</ref>

McCarthy's committee then began an investigation into the [[United States Army]]. This began at the [[United States Army Signal Corps|Army Signal Corps]] laboratory at [[Fort Monmouth]]. McCarthy garnered some headlines with stories of a dangerous spy ring among the Army researchers, but ultimately nothing came of this investigation.{{sfn|Stone|2004|p=384}}

McCarthy next turned his attention to the case of a U.S. Army dentist who had been promoted to the rank of major despite having refused to answer questions on an Army loyalty review form. McCarthy's handling of this investigation, including a series of insults directed at a [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]], led to the [[Army–McCarthy hearings]], with the Army and McCarthy trading charges and counter-charges for 36 days before a nationwide television audience. While the official outcome of the hearings was inconclusive, this exposure of McCarthy to the American public resulted in a sharp decline in his popularity.{{sfn|Fried|1990|p=138}} In less than a year, McCarthy was censured by the Senate, and his position as a prominent force in anti-communism was essentially ended.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://research.archives.gov/description/1157557 |title=Senate Resolution 301: Censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy |author=[[83rd United States Congress|83rd U.S. Congress]] |date=July 30, 1954 |publisher=U.S. National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=October 30, 2013 |archive-date=November 1, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101220854/http://research.archives.gov/description/1157557 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Blacklists===
{{main|Hollywood blacklist}}
On November 25, 1947, the day after the House of Representatives approved citations of contempt for the Hollywood Ten, [[Eric Johnston]], president of the [[Motion Picture Association of America]], issued a press release on behalf of the heads of the major studios that came to be referred to as the [[Waldorf Statement]]. This statement announced the firing of the Hollywood Ten and stated: "We will not knowingly employ a Communist or a member of any party or group which advocates the overthrow of the government of the United States..." This marked the beginning of the [[Hollywood blacklist]]. In spite of the fact that hundreds were denied employment, the studios, producers, and other employers did not publicly admit that a blacklist existed.

At this time, private loyalty review boards and anti-communist investigators began to appear to fill a growing demand among certain industries to certify that their employees were above reproach. Companies that were concerned about the sensitivity of their business, or which, like the entertainment industry, felt particularly vulnerable to public opinion, made use of these private services. For a fee, these teams investigated employees and questioned them about their politics and affiliations.

At such hearings, the subject usually did not have a right to the presence of an attorney, and as with HUAC, the interviewee might be asked to defend himself against accusations without being allowed to cross-examine the accuser. These agencies kept cross-referenced lists of leftist organizations, publications, rallies, charities, and the like, as well as lists of individuals who were known or suspected communists. Books such as ''[[Red Channels]]'' and newsletters such as ''Counterattack'' and ''Confidential Information'' were published to keep track of communist and leftist organizations and individuals.{{sfn|Fried|1997|p=116}} Insofar as the various blacklists of McCarthyism were actual physical lists, they were created and maintained by these private organizations.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}{{explain|date=August 2016}}

===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}}

=== Repression in the individual states ===
In addition to the federal laws and responding to the worries of the local opinion, several [[U.S. state|states]] enacted anti-communist statutes.

By 1952, several states had enacted statutes against [[criminal anarchy]], [[criminal syndicalism]], and sedition; banned communists and "subversives" from public employment, or even from receiving public aid; demanded on loyalty oaths from public servants; and severely restricted or banned the Communist Party. In addition, six states had equivalents to the HUAC.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/freedomunderfire00linf/page/107|title=Freedom Under Fire: U.S. Civil Liberties in Times of War|last=Linfield|first=Michael|date=1990|publisher=South End Press|isbn=978-0896083745|pages=[https://archive.org/details/freedomunderfire00linf/page/107 107–111]|language=en}}</ref> The [[California Senate Factfinding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://todayinclh.com/?event=california-creates-un-american-activities-committee|title=California Creates Un-American Activities Committee|website=Today in Civil Liberties History|date=28 May 2013|language=en-US|access-date=July 9, 2017|archive-date=September 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924225528/http://todayinclh.com/?event=california-creates-un-american-activities-committee|url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[Florida Legislative Investigation Committee]] were established by their respective legislatures.

Some of these states had very severe, or even extreme, laws against communism. In 1950, [[Michigan]] enacted life imprisonment for subversive propaganda; the following year, [[Tennessee]] enacted the [[death penalty]] for advocating the violent overthrow of the government.<ref name=":0" /> The death penalty for membership in the Communist Party was discussed in [[Texas]] by Governor [[Allan Shivers]], who described it as "worse than murder."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.texasobserver.org/so-long-to-the-communist-threat/|title=So Long to the Communist Threat|last=Richards|first=Dave|date=August 19, 2009|work=The Texas Observer|access-date=July 9, 2017|language=en-US|archive-date=September 26, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926143806/https://www.texasobserver.org/so-long-to-the-communist-threat/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nc4mlgcCRa4C&pg=PA87|title=Deep in the Heart: The Texas Tendency in American Politics|last=McEnteer|first=James|date=2004|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0275983062|page=87|language=en|access-date=September 4, 2017|archive-date=August 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806043947/https://books.google.com/books?id=nc4mlgcCRa4C&pg=PA87|url-status=live}}</ref>

Municipalities and counties also enacted anti-communist ordinances: [[Los Angeles]] banned any communist or "Muscovite model of police-state dictatorship" from owning arms, while [[Birmingham, Alabama]] and [[Jacksonville, Florida]] banned any communist from being within the city's limits.<ref name=":0" />