Dec 14, 2016
Passed in 1940, the Smith Act stated that Communism advocated the overthrow of the American government. In 1950, the Internal Security Act, also known as the McCarran Act, required Communists to “register” with the federal government. It also stated that individuals who belonged to the Communist party automatically “repudiated” their American allegiance in favor of a foreign government. Together, these acts created a catch-22; if Communists complied and registered under the McCarran Act, they could then be convicted under the Smith Act.
N. Megan Kelley, Projections of Passing: Postwar Anxieties and Hollywood Films, 1947-1960 (UP of Mississippi, 2016), 95.