Loyalty Review Program: Executive
Order 9835
Harry S Truman was
the 33rd American President who served in office from April 12, 1945 to January 20, 1953. One of the important events during his presidency was the
establishment of the Loyalty Review Program under Executive
Order 9835.
Loyalty Review Program Facts
for kids
The following fact
sheet contains interesting information, history and
facts on Loyalty Review Program for kids.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts for kids
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 1: No sooner had WW2
(1939 - 1945) ended the threat of Nazism and Fascism
another threat to the stability of the West emerged with
the spread of
Communism.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts -
2: The
First Red Scare (1917 - 1920) had followed on the
heels of WW1 sparking the fear and suspicion that
anarchists, socialists and communists. During the first
Red Scare the "Reds" or "Bolshies", were believed to be
conspiring to start a workers revolution in the USA
leading to widespread strikes and terrorist attacks.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 3: The Second Red Scare began on September 5, 1945 with the defection of Igor Gouzenko who had
worked as a cipher clerk in the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa, Canada.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 4: The Soviet defector, Igor
Gouzenko, brought with him 109 secret papers and documents revealing
that the Soviet Union was making a massive effort to steal
nuclear secrets by planting 'sleeper agents' in Canadian and
American government agencies.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 5: The Gouzenko Affair implied
that that USSR spies had infiltrated the US government to obtain
information about the
Atomic
Bomb.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 6: The Gouzenko
Affair was one of the many catalysts that initiated the
Cold
War and Americans began to
harbor strong suspicions that Communists were secretly
working to subvert the government of the United States
and weaken American society.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts -
7:
Concerns about subversion and infiltration had been
previously addressed in the Hatch Act of 1939 that had
asserted that "membership in any organization advocating
the overthrow of the Constitutional form of Government
in the United States was made grounds for removal." In
1941, Congress had appropriated $100,000 to the FBI for
a loyalty examination of federal employees.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 8: The Cold War between the
Soviet Union and America intensified as did the
Cold War Arms
Race with fears about nuclear weapons and homeland security
leading to the second Red Scare.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts -
9: The Republican
Party, which had gained control of both houses of
Congress in election of 1946, worked with the FBI, the
Catholic Church and businesses to provoke public fear
and suspicion of Communism and its anti-capitalist
economic system.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 10: On November 25, 1946 President
Truman issued Executive Order 9806 establishing the President's
Temporary Commission on Employee Loyalty which required the
Commission to make a report of its findings.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 11: The commission presented its
report to President Truman on February 20, 1947 stating that the
security of the government demanded "continuous screening, scrutiny
and surveillance of present and prospective government employees".
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 12: The commission report
recommended the establishment of a Loyalty Review Board and the
appointment of loyalty boards within government agencies to
ascertain whether "reasonable grounds" for finding of disloyalty
existed.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 13: On March 27, 1947
President Truman made a speech to Congress which became
known as the
Truman Doctrine outlining
his pledge to prevent the spread of communism
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 14: Ten days after the
Truman Doctrine Speech, on March 21, 1947, the president
issued Executive Order 9835 that established the Loyalty
Review Program.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 15: The Loyalty Review
Program, Executive Order 9835, required all new
government employees to be investigated before being
hired and the screening of present employees in order to
root out Communist influence in the U.S. federal
government. .
Continued...
Loyalty Review Program
Facts for kids
Loyalty Review Program
Facts for kids
Loyalty
Review Program Facts - 16:
Each federal
department and agency was required to set up a loyalty
board charged with monitoring the affiliations and
activities of its workers.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 17: Executive Order
9835 resulted in all federal employees to have their
fingerprints taken and complete a questionnaire
regarding their political affiliations and associations.
These were forwarded on to the FBI for a file check.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 18: Various
associations were deemed to be grounds for dismissal
such as membership in, affiliation with, or sympathetic
association with any organization designated by
the Attorney-General as Communist, Fascist, Totalitarian
or subversive.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 19: Various activities
were deemed to be grounds for dismissal such as
espionage, sabotage, treason or sedition. Any activities
attempting to alter the Constitutional form of the US
Government or acting to serve the interests of a foreign
government in preference to the interests of the United
States. The intentional, unauthorized disclosure of
confidential papers or documents under circumstances
indicating disloyalty
Loyalty Review Program
Facts -
20: Loyalty Review
Program, Executive Order 9835, established a wide area
for the departmental loyalty boards, with questionnaires
and accompanying fingerprints, to conduct loyalty
screenings of federal employees and job applicants.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts -
21: Executive Order
9835 allowed the FBI to run initial name checks on
federal employees and authorize further field
investigations if the initial inquiry uncovered
information that cast someone in a suspicious or
negative light.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 22: A person could
come under suspicion due to anonymous informants and was
subject to intensive scrutiny by the FBI for belonging
to certain groups, traveling overseas, reading certain
books or even watching foreign films.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 23: If there was an
adverse finding, the FBI report was sent to the
appropriate Agency Loyalty Board and a letter of charges
was sent to the employee. The employee was given the
right of an administrative hearing and any adverse
findings were subject to appeal.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 24: There were three
appeals during which time the employee could present
evidence and be represented by a legal counsel. The
third and final appeal was made to the central Loyalty
Review Board that included lawyers, professors and
members of the public. The decision of the Board was
final.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts -
25: Between 1948 and
1958, the FBI ran initial reviews of 4.5 million federal
government employees as well as screening new applicants
for government positions. At least 5,000 federal
employees offered voluntary resignations in light of the
investigations.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts -
26: The government-run
investigations to identify communists and drive them out
of positions of influence were referred to as the
"Communist Witch Hunts"
Loyalty Review Program
Facts - 27: President Truman
had hoped that the Loyalty Review Program would calm
public fears and suspicions. Executive Order 9835 had
completely the opposite effect and confirmed the
public's fears that Communists had infiltrated the
federal government. This increased the Red Scare and
added fuel to the fear of Communism that was sweeping
the nation during the Cold War.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts -
28:
Executive Order 9835 began the "Communist Witch Hunts"
which saw the rise in power and prominence of FBI
Director J. Edgar Hoover, the
HUAC (House of Un-American
Activities Committee), Senator Joseph McCarthy and
McCarthyism.
Loyalty Review Program
Facts -
29: The impact and
actions of the Loyalty Review Program and the loyalty
boards raised many to question its violation of civil
rights and civil liberties. Objections were regarding
the lack of protection resulting from the departmental
loyalty board procedures and was dismantled by a 1953
Executive Order
Loyalty Review Program
Facts for kids
Loyalty Review Program - President Harry Truman Video
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Loyalty Review Program provides detailed facts and a summary of one of the important events during his presidential term in office. The following
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