ABSTRACT
Reaching the peak of its power in the summer of 1939, the conservative coalition passed two major pieces of repressive legislation that would be used against the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) in the 1950s: The Hatch Act and the Smith Act. The first law prohibited federal employees from belonging to organizations advocating the overthrow of the US government by "force and violence" and the second law made it possible to deport immigrants for current or past membership in such organizations, as well as outlawing advocacy of the overthrow of the government by American citizens. The Hatch Act was a Senate bill to prohibit the coercion of federal employees into political activity for any party and bans low-level federal employees from engaging in political organizing. The day before the Hatch Act was debated on the House floor, the Smith Bill went through its first substantive debate in the House.
