Truman's Loyalty Program
Truman's Loyalty Program was initiated in 1947 to combat fears of communist infiltration within the U.S. government during the early Cold War period. Following the Truman Doctrine, which aimed to contain communism abroad, the program was a domestic response to concerns raised by a Republican-controlled Congress about potential communist influence in federal agencies. Truman signed Executive Order 9835 on March 21, 1947, establishing a framework for investigating the loyalty of government employees. This involved broad scrutiny of over two million workers and the creation of loyalty boards to evaluate suspected individuals based on their affiliations and activities.
While the program aimed to safeguard national security and protect innocent employees from false accusations, it was marked by inconsistencies and subjectivity, often conflating political beliefs with disloyalty. By March 1948, investigation results revealed very few actual cases of disloyalty, yet fears of communism played a significant role in political discourse, notably influencing the 1948 presidential election. Legal challenges to the program persisted, and it ultimately reflected the heightened anxieties of the Second Red Scare, demonstrating the complexities and consequences of anticommunist measures in American society during this era.
Truman's Loyalty Program
Identification President Harry S. Truman’s loyalty review system for federal employees in the executive branch of government
Date Announced March 21, 1947
Truman’s Loyalty Program attempted to combat communism at home by guaranteeing the loyalty of federal employees. It represented an alternative to the tactics of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) during the Second Red Scare.
By 1947, the United States had solidified its efforts to combat communism both at home and abroad. On March 12, 1947, President Truman presented to Congress the Truman Doctrine, which aimed to limit the spread of communism abroad through containment. Truman’s foreign policy, which would dominate for decades to come, spilled over into domestic affairs and helped launch a new wave of anticommunist rhetoric and investigations.
Fighting the Enemy from Within
After World War II, the threat of communist infiltration of the federal government was a national concern. Republicans, who had gained control of both houses of Congress during the 1946 midterm elections, charged that Truman’s “soft” polices on communism had allowed communists to infiltrate the federal government. Truman responded late in 1946 by appointing a committee to study employee loyalty. The committee recommended establishing a federal loyalty program to protect the nation against internal subversive activity.
In January, 1947, leaders ofHUAC announced that its primary mission was to identify, expose, and investigate known communists. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover joined the fight against communism, stating in March, 1947, that the Communist Party had a main goal of overthrowing the U.S. government. Hoover declared that because of the highly organized nature of the Communist Party, all members should be barred from government service.
Measuring Loyalty
On March 21, 1947, nine days after announcing the Truman Doctrine, Truman signed Executive Order 9835, which launched the federal Loyalty Program. The order provided for the investigation of applicants for posts in the executive branch and for removal of disloyal employees. The program required a nominal check of more than two million government workers as well as full investigations of those for whom evidence indicated possible disloyalty. In an effort to supersede the efforts of HUAC and the FBI, the order specified how government investigations of possible subversives would be conducted. The mandate assigned the Civil Service Commission the responsibility of conducting the investigations of current employees and working with agencies to form loyalty boards. The order gave the investigators full access to FBI files, military and naval intelligence records, criminal files, HUAC materials, academic transcripts, and records from past employers. The loyalty boards assessed loyalty based on any activities (including treason, espionage, and being connected to groups advocating violent revolution) or associations that might breach the security of the interests and secrets of the U.S. government. Truman wanted the program to guard against disloyal employees, defend innocent federal workers from unfounded charges, protect atomic secrets, and establish a hard stance against communism.
Truman’s Loyalty Program began during the summer of 1947. Executive department agencies organized loyalty boards, while the Civil Service Commission developed a system of regional loyalty boards to oversee the appeals process. Congress passed laws to remove employees or bar applicants from public positions if they were deemed disloyal to the United States. By March, 1948, loyalty boards had reviewed more than 420,000 government employees, with only 399 cases warranting further investigation; of that small number, only 8 cases of disloyalty emerged.
Despite the findings of only rare cases of disloyalty, the issue of domestic communists became a centerpiece of the 1948 presidential election. Truman announced that HUAC hearings, led by a Republican Congress, had created unnecessary public hysteria about communism. Truman argued that his government employee loyalty program was an effective mechanism to identify and investigate subversives. Such statements helped Truman’s political future, but the program itself became infused with anticommunist sentiment. Inadequately trained loyalty investigators confused anticommunist liberal affiliations with Marxist causes, relied on hearsay, and often limited the careers of those they investigated. Truman’s Loyalty Program nevertheless remained a fixture of government service throughout the 1940’s.
The program did not go unchallenged. In the 1955 case of Peters v. Hobby, the Supreme Court ruled as invalid the removal of one consultant to the Civil Service Commission by the commission’s loyalty board. The Court stated that the action was beyond the jurisdiction of Executive Order 9835. Executive-judiciary disputes concerning employee loyalty continued into the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Impact
Truman’s Loyalty Program was one of the federal government’s approaches to investigating suspected communists during the Second Red Scare. Although it was designed to employ a consistent method of investigations, the Loyalty Program was uneven, as well as somewhat subjective rather than fully objective, and it often forced individuals to prove innocence in the face of assumed guilt. Truman later admitted that the Loyalty Program had been a sound idea that spiraled out of control during the midst of the Second Red Scare.
Bibliography
Bontecou, Eleanor. The Federal Loyalty-Security Program. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1953. Describes the origins of the Loyalty Program and compares it to the British loyalty system.
Brown, Ralph S., Jr. Loyalty and Security: Employment Tests in the United States. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1958. A detailed study of various state and federal programs designed to measure employee loyalty.
McCullough, David G. Truman. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992. This comprehensive biographical source on Truman includes discussion of the political nature behind the Loyalty Program.
Theoharis, Athan. Seeds of Repression: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of McCarthyism. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1971. Argues that Truman’s Loyalty Program intensified popular anxieties about communist takeover and that the program did little to remove subversives from federal service.
Thompson, Francis H. The Frustration of Politics: Truman, Congress, and the Loyalty Issue, 1945-1953. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1979. Argues that Truman’s Loyalty Program may have contributed to the Second Red Scare, even though the era’s increase in anticommunist sentiment preceded the program’s creation.