JFK Press Conference Remarks Prompt IRS Investigation of Right-wing Groups
Comments by President John F. Kennedy at a press conference on this day, along with comments he had made earlier, prompted the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to launch an investigation of right-wing political groups. See December 20, 1961.
The program was termed the “Ideological Organization Project” by the IRS. As it developed, left-wing political organizations were also added for “balance.”
The misuse of the IRS for political purposes was investigated in 1975–76 by the Senate Church Committee. The investigation before the committee was prompted in large part because of the allegations that President Richard Nixon had misused the IRS to punish his critics during his term in office.
Learn more about the IRS “Ideological Orientation Project” here
Read about President Kennedy’s “managed news” controversy here
Read the Senate Church Committee investigation of the misuse of the IRS (pp.835–920): http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/book3/html/ChurchB3_0463b.htm