McCarran Internal Security Act

¹The Internal Security Act, the Subversive Activities Control Act, or the McCarran Act of 1950 required the registration of communist organizations with the Attorney General in the United States and established the Subversive Activities Control Board to investigate persons thought to be engaged in ?un-American? activities. Members of these groups could not become citizens. Citizen-members could be denaturalized in five years. It was a key institution in the era of the Cold War, tightening alien exclusion and deportation laws and allowing for the detention of dangerous, disloyal, or subversive persons in times of war or ?internal security emergency.? Congress overrode President Harry Truman's veto to pass this bill. Truman called the bill "the greatest danger to freedom of press, speech, and assembly since the Sedition Act of 1798."

Related Topics:
1950 - Communist - Attorney General - United States - Cold War - Subversive - Congress - Harry Truman

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Sections of the ISA were gradually ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Related Topics:
Unconstitutional - Supreme Court

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Much of the Act has been repealed, however some portions remain intact. Violation of Section 797 of title 50, United States Code (Section 21 of "the Internal Security Act of 1950"), for example, may be punishble by a prison term of up to 1 year.¹

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¹ United States Department of Defense DoD Directive 5200.8, "Security of DoD Installations and Resources", 04/25/1991.Retrieved August 26, 2005.

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See also:

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• Hatch Act of 1939
• McCarran-Walter Act
• Alien Registration Act
• HUAC
• Second Red Scare
• McCarthyism