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COLD WAR AND BLACK LIBERATION       CHENG

Tom Clark of Texas formulated his "infamous" list of alleged subversive organizations. This list compiled by the Attorney General served public notice that any said organization on the list was either communist-controlled, in sympathy with or associated in some manner with the "international communist conspiracy"; therefore such a group was subversive and membership in such an organization constituted a subversive act. Supposedly, the "Subversive List" related directly to Truman's Loyalty Order. But, there is good reason to doubt that this was the primary reason for the list. Freeland, for example, questions this assumption when he says, "... the Attorney General's decision to publish the list represented anything other than a deliberate attempt by the Department of Justice to neutralize various political organizations that were, among other subversive things, impeding the administration's efforts to win support for Cold War foreign policy."13 Finally, it is of no small significance that aggressive black organizations were placed on this subversive list. As Jack O'Dell has indicated: "Every organization in Negro life which was attacking segregation per se was put on the subversive list by Attorney General Tom Clark."14

It also appears as though the Loyalty Order itself served the same purpose. One might argue that this was not the intent. There might be some truth in this. Yet, in practice, loyalty on the part of government employees, in the end, was based on their agreement with Cold War policy. If not agreement, at least, no public disagreement. Police-state tactics were employed to ascertain the partisan loyalty to Americanism. Fred J. Cook describes how the loyalty program operated:

The word loyalty, admirable in itself, became the cloak for repression. Every employee of government, no matter how humble his post, was subjected to the scrutiny of the secret police, a past thought, deed or association that might be considered in the least wayward, could become on the instant sufficient grounds for suspension, humiliating loyalty hearings and possibly ultimate
dismissal.15

And the "subversive list" itself undoubtedly had a devastating impact on the lives of many people, for it affected countless areas of every day life.

Since the list also became a test of employability in state and local governments, defense-related industries, and schools and of eligibility for passports, occupancy of federally financed housing, tax

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Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-26 08:47:09