Official Blacklist: Attorney General’s List of Subversive Organizations Published
President Harry Truman ordered the creation of an Attorney General’s List of Subversive Organizations as part of his Federal Loyalty Program, which he established on March 21, 1947. The list was officially published in the Federal Register on this day.
The list became a quasi-official blacklist, as members of listed organizations lost jobs or suffered other penalties because of their association with alleged left-wing organizations. Organizations had no way to protest or appeal being listed, and individuals were labeled subversive even though they had quit the organizations years before, or had only had a brief association in the first place.
The Attorney General’s List encouraged other lists that were used to label and blacklist people. The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) issued a Guide to Subversive Organizations on May 14, 1951. A private group published Red Channels on June 22, 1950, which was widely used to blacklist people in the entertainment and news industries.
President Richard Nixon finally abolished the Attorney General’s List on June 4, 1974.
Read Robert Justin Goldstein’s history of the Attorney General’s list: American Blacklist: The Attorney General’s List of Subversive Organizations (2008)
Organizations listed in 1955: http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/US_Attorney_General%E2%80%99s_list_of_subversive_organizations_(1955)
Learn more about Cold War blacklisting: David Everitt, A Shadow of Red: Communism and the Blacklist in Radio and Television (2007)
Learn more about Harry Truman’s role in the Cold War: Athan Theoharis, Seeds of Repression: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of McCarthyism (1971)