MUNDT-NIXON BILL (1948–1949)

Karl Mundt of South Dakota and richard m. nixon of California, members of the house committee on un-american activities, sponsored the first anticommunist bill of the Cold War era. They contended that a house-cleaning of the executive department and a full exposure of past derelictions regarding communists would come only from a body in no way corrupted by ties to the administration. The measure (HR 5852) contained antisedition provisions but also reflected the view that the constitutional way to fight communists was by forcing them out into the open. The bill thus would have required the Communist party and "front" organizations to register with the Department of Justice and supply names of officers and members. It would also require that publications of these organizations, when sent through the mails, be labeled "published in compliance with the laws of the United States, governing the activities of agents of foreign principals."

The measure passed the house by a large margin but failed in the senate after becoming a controversial factor in the presidential campaign of 1948. The bill was denounced by the Republican candidate, Thomas E. Dewey, and numerous respected national publications as a form of unwarranted thought control.

Paul L. Murphy
(1986)

(see also: Subversive Activity.)

Bibliography

Cohen, Murray and Fuchs, Robert F. 1948 Communism's Challenge and the Constitution. Cornell Law Quarterly 34: 182–219, 352–375.