21 marzo 1947 anni - Executive Order 9835

Descrizione:

Loyalty-Security Program:A program created in 1947 by President Truman that permitted officials to investigate any employee of the federal government for “subversive” activities


To insulate his administration against charges of Communist infiltration, Truman issued Executive Order 9835 on March 21, 1947, which created the Loyalty-Security Program. The order permitted officials to investigate any employee of the federal government (some 2.5 million people) for “subversive” activities. This profound centralization of power had unforeseen consequences. Truman intended the order to apply principally to actions against the national interest (sabotage, treason, etc.), but many federal employees found themselves accused of subversion for far different reasons — for marching in a Communist-led demonstration in the 1930s, for instance, or signing a petition endorsing public housing. Even sexuality came under suspicion. Along with suspected political subversives, more than a thousand gay men and lesbians were dismissed from federal employment in the 1950s, victims of an obsessive search for anyone deemed “unfit” for government work.

Following Truman’s lead, many state and local governments, universities, political organizations, churches, and businesses launched their own antisubversion campaigns, which often required that employees or members take loyalty oaths. In the labor movement, charges of Communist domination led to the expulsion of a number of unions from the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in 1949. Civil rights organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Urban League also expelled Communists and “fellow travelers,” as Communist sympathizers were known. From Truman’s 1947 order, the Red Scare radiated outward from the federal government across the broad sweep of American public life.

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