Smith Act

The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act (18 USC 2385) of 1940 made it a criminal offense for anyone to "knowingly or wilfully advocate, abet, advise, or teach the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing the Government of the United States or of any State by force or violence, or for anyone to organize any association which teaches, advises, or encourages such an overthrow, or for anyone to become a member of or to affiliate with any such association." It also required all non-citizen adult residents to register with the government; within four months 4,741,971 aliens had registered under the Act's provisions.

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The Act is best known for its use against political organizations and figures, mostly on the left. Prosecutions continued until a series of United States Supreme Court decisions in 1957 threw out numerous convictions under the Smith Act as unconstitutional. The statute remains on the books, however.

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The Act was proposed by Congressman Howard Smith of Virginia, a right wing legislator who supported the poll tax and was a leader of the "anti-labor" bloc of Congressmen. It was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

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1940: 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar)....

United States: :For other uses, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation)....

Citizen: REDIRECTCitizenship...

Smith Act related Images and Photos (experimental)

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (DVD)	Mr. & Mrs. Smith	J.R. Smith	J.R. Smith
L.J. Smith	Rod Smith	Rex Smith	Rex Smith
Josh Smith	Josh Smith	Troy Smith	Kerr Smith