Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations

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The United States Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations (AGLOSO) was a list drawn up on April 3, 1947[1] at the request of the United States Attorney General (and later Supreme Court justice) Tom C. Clark.[1] The list was intended to be a compilation of organizations seen as "subversive" by the United States government. Among those were: Communist fronts, the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazi Party.[1]

History[]

Creation[]

The Attorney General's list was first known as the Biddle list after President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Attorney General Francis Biddle began tracking Soviet controlled subversive front organizations in 1941. The original list had only eleven organizations but was greatly expanded by the end of the decade to upwards of 90 organizations.[2] It did not list individuals.

Communist groups, which emerged both in the pre-war and the post-war list, are marked by one ". In the meantime, even some trade unions that excluded members of openly communist groups from their membership lists were dissolved, partially also by government resolution.

Thousands of Americans with progressive or radical political beliefs signed petitions for, or became members of, these groups without being aware of the Communist ties of the group. Many were later persecuted and suffered personal consequences during the McCarthy era. Some others, though, were found through HUAC investigations and Venona cable intercepts, to be actively involved in Soviet sponsored espionage and related activities.

Biddle list[]

Biddle List of 5 February 1943
  1. American League Against War and Fascism
  2. American League for Peace and Democracy[citation needed]
  4. American Peace Mobilization
  5. American Youth Congress
  6. Communist Party USA
  8. League of American Writers[citation needed]
  9. Michicagn Federation for Constitutional Liberties
  10. National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners
  11. [citation needed]
  12. National Federation for Constitutional Liberties
  13. National Negro Congress
  14. Protest War Veterans of the USA
  15. Washington Book Shop Association

(Source: New York Times of 5 December 1947)[3]

AGLOSO of 4 December 1947[]

On December 4, 1947, US Attorney General Tom C. Clark released the "Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations" (AGLOSO).

As reported by the New York Times on the same day, the list included groups from the Biddle List plus new groups plus eleven (11) school.[3] Leaders of five groups—the Reverend William H. Melish of the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship, Martic Martntz of the , Howard Selsam of the Jefferson School of Social Science, Max Yergan of the Council on African Affairs, and Edward Barsky of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee—denied the government's accusation.[4]

The next day, the New York Times reported a second batch of groups who rejected the government's accusation: William Z. Foster and Eugene Dennis of the Communist Party USA, an unnamed spokesperson for the International Workers Order, an unnamed spokesperson for the Civil Rights Congress, an unnamed spokesperson for American Youth for Democracy, Harrison L. Harley of the , and Walter Scott Neff of the Abraham Lincoln School.[5]

AGLOSO of 4 December 1947
  1. Abraham Lincoln School of Chicago, IL
  2. American League Against War and Fascism
  3. American League for Peace and Democracy[citation needed]
  5. American Peace Mobilization
  6. American Polish Labor Council
  7. American Youth Congress
  8. American Youth for Democracy
  10. Civil Rights Congress including: Civil Rights Congress for Texas, Veterans Against Discrimination of Civil Rights Congress of New York
  11. The Columbians
  12. Communist Party USA including Communist Political Association, Citizens Committee of the Upper West Side (New York City), Committee to Aid the Fighting South, Dennis Defense Committee, Labor Research Association, Southern Negro Youth Congress, United May Day Committee, United Negro and Allied Veteran of America
  13. Connecticut State Youth Conference
  15. Council on African Affairs
  16. of New York, NY
  18. Hungarian-American Council for Democracy
  19. International Workers Order
  20. Jefferson School of Social Science of New York, NY
  21. Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee
  22. Ku Klux Klan
  23. League of American Writers[citation needed]
  24. Macedonian-American People's League
  25. Michicagn Federation for Constitutional Liberties
  26. National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners
  27. National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners
  28. National Committee to Win the Peace
  29. National Council of American-Soviet Friendship
  31. National Federation for Constitutional Liberties
  32. National Negro Congress
  34. Ohio School of Social Sciences
  36. Photo League of America
  37. Proletarian Party of America
  38. Protest War Veterans of the USA
  39. Revolutionary Workers League
  40. of Boston, MA
  41. of New York, NY
  43. Socialist Workers Party including American Committee for European Workers Relief
  44. of Westchester, NY
  45. of Philadelphia, PA
  46. of Newark, NJ
  47. Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
  48. Washington Book Shop Association
  51. Workers Party including Socialist Youth League

(Source: New York Times of 5 December 1947)[3]

Later history[]

The Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations (AGLOSO) was expanded by President Harry S. Truman's Executive Order 9835.[1] EO 9835 established the first Federal Employee Loyalty Program designed to root out Communist infiltration of the U.S. government. It allowed for organizations to be listed on the recommendation of certain members of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) members, as designated by committee Chairman J. Parnell Thomas. Those he named initially were John McDowell, a Pennsylvania Republican, Richard Vail, an Illinois Republican, and John Wood, a Georgia Democrat. They readied their first version of the list for Attorney General Tom C. Clark within a few days.[6] It appeared in the Federal Register on March 20, 1948.[7]

Executive Order 10450, issued by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in April 1953, expanded the Attorney General's List and added the proviso that members of the United States armed forces could not join or associate with any group on the list under threat of discharge from military service.[8]

List as of 1959[]

  • Abraham Lincoln Brigade April 29, 1953
  • Abraham Lincoln School April 29, 1953
  • Action Committee to Free Spain Now April 29, 1953
  • Alabama People's Educational Association April 29, 1953
  • American Association for Reconstruction in Yugoslavia April 29, 1953
  • American Christian Nationalist Party April 29, 1953
  • American Committee for European Worker's Relief April 29, 1953
  • American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born April 29, 1953
  • American Committee for the Settlement of Jews in Birobidzhan Inc September 28, 1953
  • American Committee for Yugoslav Relief, Inc. April 29, 1953
  • American Committee To Survey Labor Conditions in Europe July 15, 1953
  • American Council for a Democratic Greece (formerly known as the Greek American Council; Greek American Committee for National Unity), April 29, 1953
  • American Peace Crusade
  • American Polish League
  • Black Dragon Society
  • Cervantes Fraternal Society
  • Committee to Abolish Discrimination in Maryland
  • Committee to Aid the Fighting South
  • Committee to Defend the Rights and Freedom of Pittsburgh's Political Prisoners
  • Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy
  • Committee for Constitutional and Political Freedom
  • Committee for the Defense of the Pittsburgh Six
  • Committee for Nationalist Action
  • Committee for the Negro in the Arts
  • Committee for Peace and Brotherhood Festival in Philadelphia
  • Committee for the Protection of the Bill of Rights
  • Committee for World Youth Friendship and Cultural Exchange
  • Committee to Defend Marie Richardson
  • Committee to Uphold the Bill of Rights
  • Congress of African Women
  • Dai Nippon Butoku Kai
  • Daily Worker Press Club
  • Detroit Youth Assembly
  • Elsinore Progressive League
  • Families of the Baltimore Smith Act Victims
  • Federation of Greek Maritime Unions
  • Florida Press and Education League
  • Freedom Stage, Inc.
  • Friends of the Soviet Union
  • Garibaldi American Fraternal Society
  • German American Bund
  • Harlem Trade Union Council
  • Hellenic-American Brotherhood
  • Hungarian Brotherhood
  • Independent Socialist League
  • Industrial Workers of the World
  • Japanese Association of America
  • Jeanette Rankin Brigade
  • Jewish Community of Cortlandt
  • Jewish Culture Society
  • Johnsonites
  • Knights of the White Camelia
  • Ku Klux Klan
  • Labor Youth League
  • League of American Writers
  • Mario Morgantini Circle
  • Michigan Council for Peace
  • Michigan School of Social Science
  • Nanka Teikoku Gunyudan
  • National Negro Congress
  • Oklahoma League for Political Education
  • Peace Information Center
  • Peace Movement of Ethiopia
  • People's Educational and Press Association of Texas
  • People's Rights Party
  • Revolutionary Workers League
  • Silver Shirt Legion of America
  • Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
  • Virginia League for People's Education
  • Youth Communist League

Abolition[]

The list went through several revisions until President Richard M. Nixon abolished it in 1974.[9]

Impact[]

The list's impact was immediate but not all important. Its purpose was to provide a guide for the loyalty boards mandated by EO 9835. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began using it immediately, but it was only one of many lists they used. The HUAC maintained its own list. Membership in an organization on any such list was reported to the Justice Department and loyalty boards.[6]

See also[]

Footnotes[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Prelude to McCarthyism: The Making of a Blacklist". Goldstein, Robert Justin, Prologue, U.S. National Archives. Retrieved 6 February 2007.
  2. ^ M. Stanton Evans, Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies (New York: Crown Forum, 2007) ISBN 978-1-4000-8105-9, pp. 55-60, notes).
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Groups Called Disloyal". New York Times. 5 December 1947. p. 18. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  4. ^ "Accused Groups Deny Disloyalty: Five Organizations Listed by U.S. Insist They Are Not Subversive, Assail Clark". New York Times. 5 December 1947. p. 18. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  5. ^ "Accused Groups Condemn 'Purge'; Foster of Communist Party Hits Federal Charges -- One Body R~calls 'Palmer Raids'". New York Times. 6 December 1947. p. 13. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b "Hoover and the Un-Americans". O'Reilly, Kenneth, Chapter 8:Counter Intelligence, University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 6 February 2007.
  7. ^ Attorney General's list, Federal Register 13, (20 March 1948) Archived 7 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Defense Department Form 98, Revision 1 June 1959
  9. ^ Pear, Robert (1980-10-27). "Immigration Service Keeps List Of 'Proscribed' Groups in Nation; Basis for Listing Groups". New York Times. pp. A19. Retrieved 6 February 2007.
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