United States. Subversive Activities Control Board

The United States Subversive Activities Control Board was created in 1950 in conjunction with enactment of the Internal Security Act of 1950. This act, known as the McCarran Act after its author Senator Pat McCarran, did not outlaw the Communist Party but sought to secure its control through regulation (or perhaps more likely, its dissolution rather than submit to such control). It required registration with the United States government of domestic "communist-action organizations" (defined as organizations substantially under the control of "the world-wide communist movement") and of domestic "communist-front organizations" (defined as organizations substantially under the control of "communist-action organizations"). The Attorney General might petition the Subversive Activities Control Board to order the registration of specific organizations under one or the other of these rubrics. The Board, made up of five members appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, was in turn empowered to hold hearings to determine whether these were indeed "communist-action" or "communist-front" organizations, and if so, to order them to register as such. Registration entailed annual provision of financial records and membership lists.

The Communist Control Act of 1954 added a third task for the Board: that of determining "communist-infiltrated" organizations, principally labor unions. "Communist-infiltrated" unions were not to be required to register, but were deprived of the collective bargaining rights guaranteed to other unions.

The Board opened hearings on the Communist Party, U.S.A., and, after hearing voluminous testimony, issued a report in 1953 ordering it to register as a "communist-action organization." The Communist Party appealed through the courts, challenging the constitutionality of the McCarran Act and alleging the Board's report to have been based in part on perjured testimony. When the case reached it in 1956, the Supreme Court found sufficient merit in the latter contention to remand the case to the Board for review. A modified Board report reaffirmed its earlier finding and again ordered the Communist Party to register. Another round of legal appeals ensued, with the Supreme Court upholding the Board ruling in a 5-4 decision in 1961. The Communist Party continued to refuse to register, however, maintaining that a party official certifying his party under the stigma of subversion would be placing himself in a position tantamount to self-incrimination.

The Board met this argument head on by invoking a hitherto-unused section of the McCarran Act providing for registration of individual members of "communist-action organizations." Beginning in 1962 it held hearings and issued orders to several individuals, mainly well-known Communist Party leaders, to register. Consequent appeals reached the Supreme Court in 1965, and the Court responded by striking down the individual registration portion of the McCarran Act as being in violation of the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. Looking one chess move ahead, it was apparent to all that there could be no possibility of forcing any of its officers to register the Communist Party, or any other organization, as subversive.

The Board had meanwhile held hearings regarding, and issued registration orders to, a number of other organizations, all associated with the Communist Party, mainly in the "communist-front organizations" category. These had generated similar rounds of legal appeals. In the post-1965 period the Board initiated hearings on only two more organizations and a very few individuals. Its decisions in these cases stated Board findings of communist affiliation, but did not include any registration orders. Clearly the Board was unable to carry out the function originally envisaged for it. Moreover the national political climate had changed since 1950. President Richard M. Nixon issued an executive order abolishing the Board, and it wound up its affairs in 1973. During its 23 years of existence, it held extensive hearings, took voluminous testimony, and issued a number of decisions and orders, but did not succeed in securing the registration of any "communist-action", "communist-front" or "communist-infiltrated" organizations or of any individuals.