Officially the Internal Security Act of 1950, the McCarran Act reflected America's exaggerated fear of communist subversion. Adopted over President Harry Truman's stern veto, the measure was aimed at lifting the veil of secrecy from the Communist party and its fronts. Title I created a Subversive Activities Control Board with authority to require communist‐dominated organizations to register with the attorney general and make public the names of officers and members, sources of income, and expenditures. Designated organizations would also have to label all publications and public broadcasts as disseminated by or sponsored by “a Communist organization.” Their members were denied the use of passports and were excluded from employment by the federal government, labor unions, and defense facilities. The measure also imposed prohibitive limits on the immigration of aliens with communist affiliations.
Title II authorized the president, in the event of an invasion, insurrection, or war, to declare an “internal security emergency,” during which the attorney general could order the detention without due process of anyone deemed a potential spy or saboteur. His orders could be challenged before a nine‐member Board of Detention Review whose decisions could be appealed to the federal courts.
While Congress appropriated moneys for the erection of “detention centers,” the emergency detention provisions of the McCarran Act were never used and were finally repealed in 1971. Successive attorneys general attempted to force the registration of the Communist party under Title I of the act, but their efforts were ultimately frustrated by the federal courts in a series of rulings culminating in *Albertson v. SACB (1965).
See also Communism and Cold War; Subversion.
— Jerold L. Simmons
