ABSTRACT
The Dies Committee marked a line of demarcation. Prior to 1938 congressional investigation of 'un-American' activities was episodic. Justice Department prosecutors selected some 900 documents from Dies Committee files when preparing their case against Kunze. When Martin Dies proposed an Un-American Activities Committee in 1938, a conservative coalition of Republicans and southern Democrats concluded that he intended to discredit the New Deal's programs, personnel and constituency. The FBI deemed Matthews's investigative techniques sophisticated enough to consult his personal files. The Dies Committee's telescopic focus on New Deal personnel and such constituencies as organized labor extended into the White House, with the First Lady a particularly alluring target. The Roosevelt administration began to implement Murphy's strategy in January 1939 following FDR's announcement that the Justice Department would prosecute anyone who had been named by Dies and had in fact violated any federal law.
