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New Deal Mass Surveillance: The “Black Inquisition Committee,” 1935–1936

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2018

David T. Beito*
Affiliation:
University of Alabama

Abstract:

At the behest of the Roosevelt administration in 1935, the U.S. Senate established a special committee to investigate lobbying activities by opponents of the “death sentence” of the Public Utility Holding Company Bill. Chaired by Hugo L. Black (D-Ala.), the “Black Committee” expanded its mission into a more general probe of anti–New Deal organizations and individuals. The committee used highly intrusive methods, notably catch-all dragnet subpoenas, to secure evidence. It worked closely with the IRS for access to tax returns and with the FCC to obtain copies of millions of telegrams. When the telegram search became public information, there was a major backlash from the press, Congress, and the courts. Court rulings in 1936, resulting from suits by William Randolph Hearst and others, not only limited the committee’s powers but provided important checks for future investigators, including Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Donald Critchlow and Cambridge University Press 2018 

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References

NOTES

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33. Congressional Record, Senate, 5 March 1936, 3228, 3330–31.

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38. Henning, “New Suit Filed to Halt Black Wire Seizures,” Chicago Daily Tribune, 14 March 1936, 1, 8; and “Hearst Files Suit on Lobby Inquiry,” New York Times, 13 March 1936, 6.

39. Black to Western Union Telegraph Company and Kingsbury; and “Hearst Telegram Given Out in House,” New York Times, 19 March 1936, 1.

40. Congressional Record, House, 18 March 1936, 3950; and Black to Western Union Telegraph Company and Kingsbury.

41. Congressional Record, Senate, 26 March 1936, 4384, 30 March 1936, 4579, 1 April 1936, 4708; and “Interest Is Taken in Schwellenbach Reply to Hearst,” Christian Science Monitor, 31 March 1936, 2.

42. Congressional Record, Senate, 31 March 1936, 4650.

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76. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., The Politics of Upheaval, 1935–1936 (Age of Roosevelt, Vol. 3) (Boston, 1960), 323; and Gregory and Strickland, “Hugo Black’s Congressional Investigation of Lobbying and the Public Utility Holding Company Act,” 560.

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