President Dwight D. Eisenhower convenes a meeting of business executives in 1954 to encourage creation of a national organization making business people from both parties active participants in the political process, launching what becomes the Public Affairs Council. The organization is initially …
Dwight D. EisenhowerPublic Affairs CouncilEffective Citizens Organizationcorporate-lobbyingpolitical-mobilizationeisenhowerbusiness-political-coordinationpac
President Eisenhower approved National Security Council directive NSC 162/2, establishing the “New Look” defense policy that would reduce real defense spending by nearly one-third over his presidency despite intense Pentagon resistance. The policy reflected Eisenhower’s conviction …
Dwight D. EisenhowerJohn Foster DullesRobert B. CarneyMatthew B. RidgwayStrategic Air Commanddefense-budgetmilitary-spendingpentagonnuclear-weaponsfiscal-policy
On August 19, 1953, the CIA executed Operation Ajax (known to the British as Operation Boot), a covert action that overthrew Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and restored authoritarian power to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The coup marked the first time the CIA …
Central Intelligence AgencyKermit Roosevelt Jr.Allen DullesJohn Foster DullesMohammad Mosaddegh+4 moreintelligence-overreachforeign-interventionoil-industrycorporate-interestsauthoritarian-support+1 more
On August 13, 1953, President Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10479, establishing the President’s Committee on Government Contracts under Vice President Richard Nixon’s chairmanship. The committee was charged with ensuring that federal contractors did not discriminate in employment, …
Dwight D. EisenhowerRichard NixonGovernment Contract CommitteeNAACPcivil-rightsexecutive-orderemployment-discriminationfederal-contracting
On June 19, 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed by electric chair at Sing Sing prison, becoming the first American civilians executed for espionage during peacetime and the only Americans executed for Cold War spy activities. Their case remains the most controversial capital punishment in …
Julius RosenbergEthel RosenbergRoy CohnIrving SaypolIrving Kaufman+3 moremccarthyismred-scarecapital-punishmentcivil-libertiespolitical-persecution+1 more
Just three months into his presidency, President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his “Chance for Peace” speech before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, offering one of the most morally forceful critiques of military spending ever issued by an American president. Speaking shortly …
Dwight D. Eisenhowermilitary-spendingpresidential-warningdefense-budgeteconomic-priorities
Under CIA Director Allen Dulles, Project MKULTRA is officially launched as a comprehensive, covert research program exploring behavioral modification and mind control techniques. The program involves 149 subprojects conducted through universities and research institutions, focusing on chemical and …
In early 1953, Roy Cohn begins developing a systematic blackmail infrastructure during the McCarthy Senate hearings, leveraging anti-communist hysteria and homophobic tactics to gather compromising information on political and cultural figures. As 24-year-old chief counsel to Senator Joseph …
Roy CohnJoseph McCarthyJ. Edgar HooverFBIGenovese Crime Familyblackmailpolitical-manipulationmccarthy-eraintelligence-operationsorganized-crime+2 more
The Senate Armed Services Committee confirms Charles Erwin “Engine Charlie” Wilson as Secretary of Defense by a vote of 77 to 6, despite controversy over his massive General Motors stockholdings valued at more than $2.5 million (approximately $24 million in 2018 dollars). Wilson had …
Charles Erwin WilsonDwight EisenhowerGeneral MotorsSenate Armed Services CommitteeDepartment of Defensemilitary-industrial-complexrevolving-doorconflict-of-interestcorporate-state-fusiondefense-policy
The Federal Communications Commission formally adopts the “seven-station rule” (Report and Order in Docket No. 8967, 18 F.C.C. 288) establishing that no single entity may own more than seven AM radio stations, seven FM radio stations, and seven television stations nationwide, with the …
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)media-regulationownership-limitsseven-station-rulefccantitrust+2 more
Congress passes the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (McCarran-Walter Act) over President Truman’s veto on June 27, 1952, codifying a racialized immigration quota system that allocates 85 percent of the 154,277 visas available annually to individuals of northern and western European …
Pat McCarranFrancis E. WalterHarry S. TrumanU.S. CongressHerbert Lehmanimmigrationracial-discriminationquota-systemlegislative-overrideanticommunism
By 1952, the Hollywood blacklist had reached its peak, with over 300 writers, directors, actors, and other film industry professionals banned from employment. What began with the Hollywood Ten’s 1947 contempt citations expanded through HUAC hearings, private “clearance” systems, …
Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American IdealsStudio executivesHouse Un-American Activities CommitteeAmerican LegionFBI+1 moremccarthyismcivil-libertiesblacklistentertainment-industryfirst-amendment+1 more
The U.S. Navy awards Electric Boat the contract to design and build the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus (SSN-571), marking a pivotal moment in the military-industrial complex’s evolution. The contract launch demonstrates how Cold War nuclear competition drives …
Electric BoatGeneral Dynamics CorporationJohn Jay HopkinsU.S. NavyAdmiral Hyman Rickovermilitary-industrial-complexdefense-contractsnuclear-weaponscorporate-consolidationcold-war
On June 4, 1951, the United States Supreme Court ruled 6-2 in Dennis v. United States, upholding the convictions of eleven Communist Party leaders under the Smith Act of 1940. The decision effectively criminalized political advocacy, allowing prosecution for teaching or advocating revolutionary …
Fred VinsonU.S. Supreme CourtEugene DennisCommunist Party USADepartment of Justicemccarthyismcivil-libertiesjudicialfirst-amendmentred-scare+1 more
In early 1951, the Hollywood Ten—screenwriters and directors cited for contempt of Congress in 1947 for refusing to answer HUAC’s questions about Communist Party membership—were released after serving prison terms ranging from six months to one year. Their freedom from incarceration, however, …
Hollywood TenDalton TrumboRing Lardner Jr.John Howard LawsonHouse Un-American Activities Committee+1 moremccarthyismcivil-libertiesblacklistentertainment-industryfirst-amendment+1 more
On March 29, 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage after a three-week trial that began on March 6, 1951. The couple had been charged with providing top-secret information about American radar, sonar, jet propulsion engines, and nuclear weapon designs to …
Julius RosenbergEthel RosenbergDavid GreenglassRuth GreenglassRoy Cohn+1 morered-scarepolitical-persecutionsurveillance-statedeath-penaltyinstitutional-corruption
The United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce, popularly known as the Kefauver Committee after chairman Senator Estes Kefauver (D-TN), convenes televised hearings in New York City in March 1951 that become the most widely viewed congressional investigation to …
Estes KefauverU.S. SenateFrank CostelloVirginia Hillorganized-crimetelevised-hearingscongressional-investigationpublic-spectacle
Congress passed the Celler-Kefauver Anti-Merger Act, championed by Representative Emanuel Celler (D-NY) and Senator Estes Kefauver (D-TN), fundamentally strengthening the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 and giving the government powerful new tools to prevent anticompetitive mergers. The Act closed …
U.S. CongressRepresentative Emanuel CellerSenator Estes KefauverHarry TrumanFederal Trade Commissionantitrustmerger-enforcementcorporate-powercompetitioncold-war
President Harry Truman vetoes the Internal Security Act of 1950 (McCarran Act) on September 22, 1950, sending Congress a lengthy veto message criticizing specific provisions as “the greatest danger to freedom of speech, press, and assembly since the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798,” a …
Pat McCarranKarl MundtHarry TrumanHubert HumphreyU.S. Congress+4 moremccarthyismred-scarecongressional-actioncivil-libertieshuac+1 more
President Harry S. Truman signs the Defense Production Act in response to the Korean War, enacting sweeping federal authority over industrial mobilization and war production. The legislation enables Truman to establish the Office of Defense Mobilization, institute wage and price controls, strictly …
Harry TrumanOffice of Defense MobilizationBoeingLockheedGeneral Electric+1 moremilitary-industrial-complexdefense-spendingkorean-warindustrial-mobilizationcorporate-subsidy+1 more
In 1950, California passed the Levering Act, requiring all state employees to sign a loyalty oath swearing they did not belong to organizations advocating overthrow of the government. The law followed a bitter fight at the University of California that had already fired 31 faculty members for …
California LegislatureEarl WarrenUniversity of California Board of RegentsAmerican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)mccarthyismcivil-libertiesacademic-freedomred-scarepolitical-persecution+1 more
In 1950, the State Department revoked the American passport of Paul Robeson—All-American football player, Phi Beta Kappa recipient at Rutgers, Columbia Law School graduate, internationally acclaimed concert performer, actor, and persuasive political speaker. The revocation came in response to …
Paul RobesonState DepartmentJ. Edgar HooverFBIred-scarecivil-libertiespolitical-persecutionsurveillance-stateracial-justice
American Business Consultants Inc. publishes Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television on June 22, 1950, as an anti-Communist pamphlet-style book naming 151 actors, writers, musicians, broadcast journalists, and others in the context of purported Communist manipulation …
American Business ConsultantsJohn G. KeenanKenneth M. BierlyTheodore C. KirkpatrickVincent Hartnett+5 morehollywood-blacklistmccarthyismred-scarecorporate-complicitybroadcasting+1 more
On June 1, 1950, less than four months after McCarthy’s Wheeling speech, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith delivered a fifteen-minute speech on the Senate floor known as the “Declaration of Conscience.” As a freshman senator, a fellow Republican who considered herself a friend of …
Margaret Chase SmithJoseph McCarthyWayne MorseGeorge AikenEdward J. Thye+3 morered-scarepolitical-resistanceinstitutional-corruptioncivil-liberties
General Motors and the United Auto Workers sign a landmark five-year contract on May 23, 1950, that Fortune magazine christens the “Treaty of Detroit.” The agreement provides unprecedented wage increases and benefits but requires the UAW to abandon demands for a voice in corporate …
General MotorsUnited Auto WorkersWalter ReutherCharles Wilsonlabor-policycorporate-strategyunion-containmentwagescollective-bargaining
President Harry S. Truman received National Security Council directive NSC-68, a 66-page top-secret policy paper that would fundamentally transform American defense policy by calling for “full mobilization of the U.S. economy during peacetime”—an unprecedented measure that created the …
Harry S. TrumanPaul NitzeDean AchesonGeorge KennanLouis Johnsonmilitary-spendingdefense-policycold-warpermanent-war-economyinstitutional-capture
On February 9, 1950, junior senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin delivered a Lincoln’s birthday address to the Women’s Republican Club of Wheeling, West Virginia, claiming he possessed a list of communists working in the State Department. McCarthy declared: “While I cannot take …
Joseph McCarthyHarry S. Trumanred-scarepolitical-persecutiondisinformationinstitutional-corruptionauthoritarian-tactics
A sophisticated anti-communist network coordinated by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and Chamber of Commerce reaches peak effectiveness in suppressing labor organizing during the early Cold War. The Hagley Museum and Library’s NAM collection contains extensive materials from …
National Association of ManufacturersChamber of CommerceAmerican LegionJ.B. MatthewsHearst Corporation+1 moreanti-communismlabor-suppressioncorporate-propagandared-scareunion-busting+1 more
The Chinese Nationalist government relocates its capital to Taiwan on December 8, 1949, after Communist forces complete their victory in the Chinese Civil War, intensifying the “China Lobby’s” campaign to shape U.S. foreign policy in support of Chiang Kai-shek’s regime. The …
Alfred KohlbergChiang Kai-shekT.V. SoongHenry R. LuceWalter H. Judd+1 moreforeign-lobbyingpropagandacold-waranticommunisminfluence-operations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) holds its eleventh annual convention in Cleveland and expels two member unions, the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) and the Farm Equipment Workers, for alleged “disloyalty to the CIO” and support for the …
Congress of Industrial OrganizationsPhilip MurrayWalter ReutherUnited Electrical, Radio and Machine WorkersFarm Equipment Workers+1 morelabor-suppressionred-scareanti-communismunion-bustingmccarthyism+1 more
The House Armed Services Committee exonerates Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson and Air Force Secretary Stuart Symington of corruption charges related to the B-36 bomber contract, despite Johnson’s recent service on Convair Corporation’s board of directors. An anonymous document …
Louis JohnsonConvair CorporationHouse Armed Services CommitteeCarl VinsonStuart Symington+1 moremilitary-industrial-complexrevolving-doorconflict-of-interestdefense-contractssystematic-corruption+1 more
President Truman signs the Housing Act of 1949, establishing the Title I Urban Renewal Program that provides federal grants to local governments for slum clearance and redevelopment. While the act sets a goal of ensuring “a suitable home and decent living environment for all Americans,” …
U.S. CongressPresident Harry TrumanLocal Redevelopment Agenciesinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policyeconomic-strategy
The Federal Communications Commission adopts the Fairness Doctrine through its “Report on Editorializing by Broadcast Licensees,” establishing a formal regulatory requirement that broadcast license holders must (1) provide adequate coverage of controversial issues of public importance …
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)U.S. Congressmedia-regulationfairness-doctrinefccpublic-interest-standardbroadcasting+1 more
Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty (Washington Treaty) on April 4, 1949, establishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and marking a fundamental transformation in U.S. foreign and defense policy by committing the United States to an ongoing role in European defense. The …
Harry S. TrumanU.S. CongressNorth Atlantic Treaty OrganizationDefense Departmentcold-warmilitary-alliancedefense-spendingmilitary-industrial-complexnato
On August 3, 1948, Whittaker Chambers, a former Communist Party USA member, testified under subpoena before the House Un-American Activities Committee that Alger Hiss—a former State Department official who had accompanied FDR to Yalta—had secretly been a communist while in federal service. Hiss …
President Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981 on July 26, 1948, abolishing discrimination “on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin” in the United States Armed Forces and repudiating 170 years of officially sanctioned discrimination. The order states “there …
Harry S. TrumanIsaac WoodardPresident's Committee on Equality of Treatment and OpportunityOmar BradleyKenneth Royallcivil-rightsmilitarydesegregationexecutive-orderracial-justice
On July 17, 1948, approximately 6,000 Southern Democrats from 13 states converge on Birmingham, Alabama, to form the States’ Rights Democratic Party (Dixiecrats) after walking out of the Democratic National Convention in protest of the party’s civil rights platform. The convention …
Strom ThurmondFielding L. WrightStates Rights Democratic PartyDemocratic PartyAlabama delegation+1 moreracial-politicssegregationsouthern-strategystates-rightspolitical-realignment
The Supreme Court issues a unanimous 6-0 decision in Shelley v. Kraemer, holding that racially restrictive housing covenants cannot be judicially enforced without violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case arises when Louis Kraemer sues to prevent the Shelley family, …
U.S. Supreme CourtChief Justice Fred VinsonNAACP Legal Defense Fundinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policylegal-resistance
The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program) begins on April 3, 1948, as the United States initiates a $13.3 billion economic recovery program for Western Europe ($137 billion in 2024 dollars). Announced by Secretary of State George Marshall in June 1947 and signed into law by …
George MarshallHarry S. TrumanU.S. CongressEuropean Recovery Programcold-warforeign-aidcorporate-welfaremilitary-industrial-complextrade-policy
President Harry S. Truman signs the U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (Public Law 80-402), popularly called the Smith-Mundt Act after sponsor Congressman Karl E. Mundt (R-SD), on January 27, 1948. The Act regulates broadcasting of programs for foreign audiences produced under …
Harry S. TrumanKarl E. MundtU.S. CongressState DepartmentVoice of Americapropagandainformation-warfarecold-warstate-departmentvoice-of-america
Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, issues the two-page Waldorf Statement on November 25, 1947, following a closed-door meeting by forty-eight motion picture company executives at New York City’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on November 24, 1947. The statement is …
Motion Picture Association of AmericaEric JohnstonLouis B. MayerEddie MannixHarry Cohn+16 morehollywood-blacklistmccarthyismred-scarecorporate-complicityfirst-amendment+1 more
The House Un-American Activities Committee opens its first postwar hearings on October 20, 1947, investigating alleged Communist influence in Hollywood with Chairman J. Parnell Thomas presiding and Robert E. Stripling serving as chief counsel. Drawing upon lists provided in The Hollywood Reporter, …
House Un-American Activities CommitteeJ. Parnell ThomasRobert E. StriplingWalt DisneyJack L. Warner+8 morehuachollywood-blacklistmccarthyismred-scarecorporate-complicity+1 more
Levittown, regarded as America’s first modern planned suburb, opens on Long Island to accommodate returning World War II veterans with “Clause 25” in housing agreements explicitly forbidding homes “from being used or occupied by any person other than members of the Caucasian …
William LevittLevitt & SonsFederal Housing AdministrationVeterans Administrationinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policysystematic-corruption
James Vincent Forrestal, a successful Wall Street financier who ran the investment bank Dillon, Read & Co., becomes the first United States Secretary of Defense when the National Military Establishment is formally established. Forrestal’s appointment represents the archetypal revolving …
James ForrestalHarry TrumanDepartment of DefenseDillon, Read & Co.military-industrial-complexrevolving-doorwall-street-capturedefense-policyinstitutional-capture+1 more
President Truman signs the National Security Act, merging military departments into the National Military Establishment (later Department of Defense), creating the CIA and National Security Council, and establishing the National Security Resources Board to coordinate military, industrial, and …
Harry S. TrumanU.S. CongressDepartment of DefenseCentral Intelligence AgencyNational Security Councilmilitary-industrial-complexnational-security-stateintelligence-agenciesdefense-industryinstitutional-capture
After World War II, as worker militancy swept the country, the right-wing struck back with the Taft-Hartley Act, passed by a Republican Congress over President Truman’s veto on June 23, 1947. The bill used the threat of communist subversion to justify rolling back advantages labor had gained …
Robert A. TaftFred A. HartleyCIOAFLCPUSAlabor-rightsred-scareinstitutional-capturecorporate-powerunion-busting
Friedrich Hayek organizes the founding conference of the Mont Pelerin Society in Switzerland, establishing an international network of free-market economists and intellectuals that becomes the intellectual foundation for neoliberal economic policy worldwide. The William Volker Fund provides crucial …
Friedrich HayekMilton FriedmanLudwig von MisesWilliam Volker FundHarold Luhnow+3 moremont-pelerin-societyvolker-fundfree-market-ideologychicago-schoolcorporate-funding+2 more
President Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9835 on March 21, 1947, nine days after announcing the Truman Doctrine, establishing the first general loyalty program in United States history designed to root out Communist influence in the federal government. The order mandates loyalty …
Harry S. TrumanFederal Bureau of InvestigationCivil Service CommissionHouse Un-American Activities Committeecivil-libertiesmccarthyismred-scaresurveillanceloyalty-oath+1 more
President Harry S. Truman addresses a joint session of Congress on March 12, 1947, requesting $400 million in military and economic assistance for Greece and Turkey, establishing what becomes known as the Truman Doctrine. The speech marks a fundamental shift in American foreign policy from …
Harry S. TrumanU.S. CongressGeorge F. KennanDean Achesoncold-warmilitary-aidcontainmentforeign-policymilitary-industrial-complex
Legislative aides and representatives from business and industry, particularly members of the National Association of Manufacturers, draft committee bill H.R. 3020 that becomes the Taft-Hartley Act during 1947, with Congressman Donald O’Toole of New York later revealing that the anti-union …
National Association of ManufacturersRobert TaftFred HartleyDonald O'TooleJoseph Ball+2 moretaft-hartleylabor-suppressioncorporate-lobbyingnamlegislative-capture+1 more