Guide to the Church League of America Collection of the Research Files of Counterattack, the Wackenhut Corporation, and Karl Baarslag, 1928-1973

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Guide to the Church League of America Collection of the Research Files of Counterattack, the Wackenhut Corporation, and Karl Baarslag, 1928-1973

1928-1973

http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/tam_148/tam_148.html

<p>The Church League of America, a right wing anti-communist research and advocacy group, collected these research files from other creators with a similar political outlook and professional activities: American Business Consultants Inc., the Wackenhut Corporation, and Karl Baarslag. All of these creators had connections to the intelligence agencies of the United States government, kept detailed research files on individuals and organizations, and were part of a right-wing research and information network that monitored Communists and other perceived threats to their interpretation of the American way of life.</p> <p>By the 1950s, the Wheaton, Illinois-based Church League of America had become a major force in right-wing anti-communist activity, and as other similar organizations faced difficulty, the Church League obtained their research files. American Business Consultants, Inc. was founded in 1947 and was a major force in McCarthy-era investigations into suspected Communist activity. Their for-profit weekly publication <i>Counterattack</i> and special report <i>Red Channels</i> provided readers with specific names and information on allegedly subversive individuals and organizations. As a result of the financial difficulties caused by ensuing libel suits, ABC transferred their research files to the Church League. Additional files came from the Wackenhut Corporation, which was founded in 1954 by George R. Wackenhut and other former FBI employees. The company, which provided private security to industry and government agencies, also kept extensive files on individuals, ostensibly to run background checks. The Wackenhut Corporation received many research files from Karl Baarslag who worked for such prominent anti-communists as Senator Joseph McCarthy, Church League of America, and the American Legion. Following the passage of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Wackenhut Corporation transferred many of its research files to the Church League.</p> <p>The research files contain newspaper and magazine clippings, reports, flyers, internal and external correspondence, pamphlets, brochures, circulars, and government publications. <i>Counterattack's</i> 1940s-1950s research activities are especially focused on entertainment, unions, suspected Communist Party fronts, foundations and individuals in public life suspected of subversive activities. Many of the Wackenhut documents and a series on student movements in California highlight the suspected connections between Communism, opposition to the Vietnam War, and the broader left counterculture of the 1960s, and document the right's evolving definition of "subversion." The meticulous and thorough collecting activities that led to the creation of these research files makes them a strong source of information on Communists and the left from the 1940s-1970s, and taken as a whole they illustrate the right's interpretation of the political and cultural environment of the mid-twentieth century United States.</p>

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Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6331403

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

Related Entities

There are 15 Entities related to this resource.

Green, Gil, 1906-1997

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gj0hfq (person)

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Keenan, John Gregory

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Bunche, Ralph J. (Ralph Johnson), 1904-1971

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Ralph Bunche was Secretary of United Nations. From the description of Letter (typewritten) to Abraham Stavsky, 1967, February 28. (Regent University). WorldCat record id: 49291995 Ralph Johnson Bunche b 1904; educated at University of California, Los Angeles (AB), Harvard University (AM, PhD); Chairman, Dept of Political Science, Howard University, Washington DC, 1928-1950; Director, Trusteeship Department, Unted Nations, 1946-1954; acting UN Mediator on Palestine, 1948-1949...

Communist Party of the United States of America (Ill.)

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Communist Party of the United States of America

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The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), a Marxist-Leninist party aligned with the Soviet Union, was founded in 1919 in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution by the left wing members of the Socialist Party USA. These split into two groups, with each holding founding conventions in Chicago in September 1919: one which established the Communist Labor Party, and a second which established the Communist Party of America. In a 1920 Joint Unity Convention, a minority faction of t...

United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities (1934-1975)

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From 1934 to 1937 The U.S. House Committee on Un-American Activities began as the Special Committee on Un-American Activities and was also known as the McCormack-Dickstein Committee. The Dies Committee, was created on May 26, 1938, with the approval of House Resolution 282, which authorized the Speaker of the House to appoint a special committee of seven members to investigate un-American activities in the United States, domestic diffusion of propaganda, and all other questions relating thereto...

Wackenhut, George R. (George Russell), 1919-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rm0ggx (person)

Keenan, John G.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6f0674t (person)

Counterattack (New York, N.Y.).

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6v27p97 (corporateBody)

Church League of America

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67h6qhv (corporateBody)

The research files of this collection were obtained by the right-wing Church League of America from several prominent anti-communist organizations and individuals: American Business Consultants, Inc. (publishers of Counterattack ), Karl Baarslag, and the Wackenhut Corporation. All of these organizations and individuals had connections to the intelligence agencies of the United States government, kept detailed research files on individuals and organizations as part of their organizat...

American Business Consultants

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68969zz (corporateBody)

American Business Consultants, Inc. was formed in 1947 by several former agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This organization established itself as a source of information regarding allegedly subversive organizations and individuals, particularly those suspected of affiliation with the Communist Party. In May 1947, A.B.C. began publishing Counterattack (1947-1973), a weekly anti-communist newsletter primarily designed for employers and personnel managers, and Red Channel...

Baarslag, Karl, 1900-1984

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pr8s3h (person)

Lieutenant commander, United States Navy; assigned to Office of Naval Intelligence, 1941-1945; assistant director, National Americanism Commission, American Legion, 1947-1953; consultant, Senate Internal Security Subcommittee and House Un-American Activities Committee, 1953-1960. From the description of Karl Baarslag papers, 1919-1979. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 754872192 Biographical/Historical Note Lieutenant comman...

Wackenhut Corporation

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6392rtg (corporateBody)

The research files of this collection were obtained by the right-wing Church League of America from several prominent anti-communist organizations and individuals: American Business Consultants, Inc. (publishers of Counterattack ), Karl Baarslag, and the Wackenhut Corporation. All of these organizations and individuals had connections to the intelligence agencies of the United States government, kept detailed research files on individuals and organizations as part of their organizat...

Bierly, Kenneth M.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6655mkc (person)

Kirkpatrick, Theodore C.

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