California Witch Hunt Part 3

Jack Tenney, Sam Yorty, and the Birth of the California Un-American Activities Committee

_cuac_062 (1947) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

In California Witch Hunt parts 1 and 2, this exhibit explored the powers, functions and reports of the California Un-American Activities Committee. In the third and final part of this exhibit, the committee’s work continued, and its chairman would ultimately fall from power.

In 1947, upon learning that the controversial Gerald L. K. Smith was returning to speak in Los Angeles, the Progressive Citizens of American (PCA) decided to hold a counter-event at Gilmore Stadium on May 19.

The event featured the candidacy of Henry Wallace for President. Wallace was vice-president under Franklin Delano Roosevelt during his third term. Under the banner of “Mobilization for Democracy” - 29,000 progressives attended the event.

Tenny’s L.A. investigator Thomas Cavett not only attended the Gilmore Stadium event in 1947, he took copious notes. His May 20, 1947 report on the event which he forwarded to Committee Chairman Tenney provides a view into the racist nature of both Tenney and Cavett.

While name-calling was common in the committee’s confidential reports, and invectives like pinks, reds and commies were commonplace, the Gilmore Stadium report stands out.

Gilmore Stadium Rally (1947) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

In his report (pictured), dated the day after the Gilmore Stadium event, Investigator Cavett lets loose an awful tirade against the large and diverse crowd.

He refers to attendees as “riff raff from the cesspools of Europe and scum of the Seven Seas,” and people “of illegitimate descent”. He writes that he expects to “see them at any moment pull a herring or an onion out of their pocket and start munching on it, or pull a few leaves of red cabbage out of their pockets.”

In his report Cavett insults Linus Pauling who was the first speaker at the event. “It was announced this great scientist worked on the atomic bomb and is now going to be a teacher at Oxford. What a terrific loss this will be to the education system in America. He rambled along for a while on a speech which had evidently been written for him by some left-winger,” Cavett wrote.

It is notable that Pauling would later earn the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the Nobel Peace Prize for his peace activism. He joined an elite group of three others who have won two Nobel Prizes, one of whom was Marie Curie.

Later in the report, Cavett rails against Dr. H. Claude Hudson, an African American candidate for the Board of Education and vice president of the NAACP, as well as African American Communist Party leaders who Cavett calls “more or less illiterate and look and act and speak like they just swung out of a coconut tree.”

That the Chair and its lead investigator communicated in such a manner illustrates the open racism of the committee. Over time, the racist nature of Chairman Tenney himself would become even more evident.

Gilmore Stadium Rally (1944/1947) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State Archives; and Herald Examiner Collection, Los Angeles Public Library.California State Archives

Among the 29,000 progressives in attendance at Gilmore Stadium were many Hollywood film stars including Hedy Lamar, John Garfield, Edward G. Robinson, Paul Henreid of Casablanca fame, and Charlie Chaplin.

Pictured here is Charlie Chaplin signing autographs for fans.

Katharine Hepburn (1947) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

The real headliner of the event, however, was Katherine Hepburn whose speech was so compelling that even the committee investigator Thomas Cavett, had to acknowledge its effectiveness.

“Onto the stage swept a woman whom the writer heretofore had admired very much, that is as an actress on screen and stage, Katherine Hepburn. She was dressed in a red gown, very appropriate considering the occasion. Her speech was evidently written by Dalton Trumbo or one of that group. And what she said about some people, especially Jack B. Tenney and his committee and the Rankin-Dies-Thomas committee, the writer wouldn’t even say about Joe Stalin,” wrote investigator Cavett in his report.

“If ever there were any doubt in anyone’s mind where Katie stood, her speech which is to be printed in pamphlet form and distributed by the P.C.A., will soon be on the market and is really a master piece,” Cavett added.

Pictured here is the cover of the pamphlet distributed by the P.C.A. which included Hepburn’s entire speech.

We Are Still Fighting Nazism by Gregory Peck (1945) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

Two months later on July 20, 1947, Gerald L. K. Smith returned to Los Angeles and scheduled an event at the Shrine Auditorium. “Mobilization for Democracy,” including actor Gregory Peck (pictured), again organized a counter event, this time at the Olympic Auditorium with a packed crowd of 12,000.

Speakers at Anti-Smith Mass Rally at Olympic Auditorium (1945) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

Speakers included Orson Welles, Gregory Peck and Burgess Meredith (pictured).

Cover page of Los Angeles Against Gerald L. K. Smith: How a City Organized to Combat Native Fascism (1945) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

The Thirteenth District Citizen's Committee

One group of progressives took a different route. The Thirteenth District Citizen's Committee, which included the Los Angeles community of Silverlake, sent a clear and powerful message to Los Angeles City Hall.  They organized the recall of city council member, Meade McClanahan, who had made appearances at Gerald L. K. Smith events and was seen as one of his supporters. In Tom Sitton's book, Los Angeles, Transformed, he describes the recall effort as perhaps Los Angeles' first "hierarchical organization to canvass the district with legions of political workers ... building a close-meshed precinct machine, with block captains, and door to door solicitations."  The group had the assistance of the "Socialists Workers Party, the Communist Party, along with motion picture celebrities and Democratic officeholders." If they couldn't stop Smith, they would stop McClanahan, a key Smith follower. The Citizen's Committee recruited Lt. John R. Roden, who had recently returned from decorated service as a transport pilot in the Pacific. The recall was successful and McClanahan was replaced on the council by Lt. Roden.

Documents Regarding Frank Sinatra (1947/1948) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

Meanwhile, investigator Thomas Cavett shared his concern with Tenney that some people believe that he was about to give Frank Sinatra “a clean bill of health regarding his alleged un American Activities” (pictured).

The Tenney committee had a file on Sinatra and Tenney would later testify before the House un American Activities and assert that film stars John Garfield, Charlie Chaplin, Fredric Marsh and Frank Sinatra were possible communist sympathizers.

This document is a partial list of Sinatra’s activities that investigators compiled and apparently considered questionable, including donations to the National Citizens Political Action Committee, writing a letter against anti-Semitism and conducting a nationwide tour of talks against discrimination.

Senate Bill 78, 1947, for the Assignment of Identification Marks (1947) by California State Legislature. California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

A Nose for News

Tenney understood that through his committee work he could gain increased name recognition which would benefit him at election time.

One of Tenney’s legislative proposals was called the “Dry Cleaners and Dyers Act”. This bill (pictured) would have required that the Chief of the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation in Sacramento develop a method of marking clothing accepted by dry cleaners to facilitate the owner’s identification by law enforcement agencies.

Clearly any bill that seeks to have the government mark all articles of clothing is unworkable, so Tenney, in his efforts to drum up press coverage sought to tie the bill to the high profile case of the "Black Dahlia" suggesting that marks on clothing could have assisted the search.

Investigator's Report of the Crescenta-Canada Democratic Club (1949) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

The Raid of a Democratic Party Meeting

The political tensions in post-war Los Angeles were on full display on the night of November 14, 1947. Twenty men, at least one of whom was reportedly armed, interrupted a meeting of the Crescenta-Canada Democratic Club in a private residence and ordered those in attendance to leave. The men were later arraigned on misdemeanor charges of disturbing the peace. Surveillance of the Crescenta-Canada Democratic Club by law enforcement would continue for years. By 1949 the anti-subversive detail of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department had infiltrated the club. (pictured)

cuac_072_new (1941) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

The Testimony of Reuben Borough

Reuben Borough, an attorney, was a strong and outspoken progressive. He played a critical role in the End Poverty in California movement (EPIC) of Upton Sinclair. In his testimony before the Tenney committee, Borough was direct in his disdain for the committee and its tactics.

In these pages from the transcript, Borough is asked if he agrees with organizations he supports that “condemn those actions of the Dies, Yorty and Tenney Committees and the F.B.I., which disregards civil rights.”

Boroughs calls it as he sees it: “I may state it a little differently, however, I do basically agree that these so-called anti-Red committees perform no useful function. They spread allegations and charges, they never arrive at conclusions, and their purpose can be proven to be primarily to smear those who are essentially progressive in their point of view and that’s why I don’t waste any time with these committees.”

Investigator's Report of Hollywood Writers Mobilization Organization (1947) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

Taking Down Tenney

There is evidence that as early as 1947, efforts were underway to remove Jack Tenney from his chairmanship. In his May 16, 1947 report (pictured), committee investigator Thomas Cavett informed Chairman Tenney that he had tailed a truck registered to the Regents of the University of California, which had pulled up to the offices of the Hollywood Writers Mobilization (HWM) location. “On the way down to the UCLA Library this truck spilled one of the cabinets on going around a corner,” wrote Cavett, who subsequently went through its contents. “What was evidently intended by the HWM group was to donate the scripts that they had written to the University, and possibly, and most certainly an oversight or gross stupidity or criminal negligence, they left their personal files…,” he wrote. He encountered a four page memorandum  pertaining to Tenney, which recommended that with enough evidence, Tenney could be removed from the state legislature. Additionally, in November that year, twenty-five San Francisco ministers and rabbis met and signed a protest against the tactics of the Tenney committee, which stated, "We are opposed to totalitarian forms of government, be they Fascist or Communist. The same convictions lead us to cry out against the totalitarian methods employed by these committees, such as character assassination, the refusal to allow free statements by witnesses or cross-examination, the bodily police removal of lawyers. Witnesses are intimidated, condemned , and judged without due process of law."

Letter of Transmittal from Committee to Governor Goodwin J. Knight (1948) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

In March of 1948, Tenney and his committee sent a letter (pictured) to Governor Goodwin Knight and members of the Senate, advising them that the Senate Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities was created.

Why was this news? Because it would no longer be a “Joint” Fact Finding Committee. The California State Assembly had withdrawn from Tenney’s committee. It was a dramatic move.

Going forward, the State Senate would have to go it alone and face the full burden of a growing opposition to Tenney’s activities.

Fourth Report Un-American Activities in California, 1948 (1948) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

Communist Front Organizations

Tenney’s 1948 Fourth Report began with eighty pages of “analysis" of subjects including “thought control” and Stalinism.  It suggested basic tests be used to determine if an organization was Stalinist, including the members’ attitudes on foreign affairs, domestic affairs, national security, and Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism.



The balance of the report, more than 300 pages, named and described every organization that Tenney had labeled a “Communist Front Organization." Included in Tenney's lengthy list of 172 organizations were the ACLU, the Screen Writers Guild, the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee, California Youth Legislature, American Jewish Congress, National Lawyers Guild, Civil Rights Congress, Mobilization for Democracy, Hollywood Democratic Committee, and many more.



The 1948 report (pictured) implicated everyone who had joined, supported, funded, or otherwise been involved with any of the organizations.  It sent shock waves throughout the state and was a harbinger of more to come from Tenney's chairmanship of the committee. 

Partial List of Alleged Communist Front Organizations (1948) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

Pictured here is a partial list of alleged Communist front organizations, with a brief description of each, which were included in the committee's 1948 report. Many more names of well-known organizations were added to this list, as noted in the previous panel.

Describing the Communist front groups, the report states, "The mere fact that a person appears as a sponsor or endorser of a number of Communist front groups does not, by any means, indicate that he or she is actually a member of the Communist Party. While it certainly indicates a sort of unusual stupidity, it may, as a matter of fact, only mean that the individual is a good intentioned 'sucker' for Communist deceit and deception."

"On the other hand, the fact that a name may appear but once, or comparatively few times, is no indication that the person is not a member of the Communist Party. It may be indicative that he or she is a most important member of the secret, conspirative, illegal section of the party."

Letters from Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Jack Tenney, and Thomas Cavett (1947) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

Pictured is a March 13, 1947 letter from the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom to Assemblyman Thomas W. Caldecott, opposing and supporting several pending bills in the legislature.

Tenney responded with a request for his investigator, Thomas Cavett, to begin investigating the names appearing on the organization's letterhead to determine if this well-known and internationally respected group was a Communist front group, or if any of its members listed were Communists.

As seen in Cavett's brief note to Tenney, he completed the investigation in three days after creating an investigative file on the group and its members.

UCLA Students on Campus (1950) by Security Pacific National Bank Collection/Los Angeles Public LibraryCalifornia State Archives

As if Tenney’s creation of a list of 172 “Communist Front Organizations” wasn’t dramatic enough, Tenney was just getting started.

In early 1949, Tenney introduced legislation to “subject the University of California to legislative control”. This move provided him serious leverage when he requested that UC President Robert Sproul expand the existing UC loyalty oath to include an anti-communist clause. Tenney clearly had additional tools at his disposal as well. If Sproul did not comply, Tenney could advance a stronger loyalty oath in the legislature or attempt to hold hostage the University’s budget.

When the Regents met on March 25, they followed President Sproul’s lead and approved his proposal to revise the oath.


Nowhere were Loyalty Oaths more offensive than within the ranks of University of California faculty, many of whom saw the oaths as a threat to academic freedom. There was significant opposition to the new oath and a protracted debate ensued.


Those who refused to sign the new oath, the “non signers”, were ultimately threatened with termination. While Mr. Sproul requested that 157 faculty be terminated, only 31 actually were. The “non-signers” took the issue all the way to the California Supreme Court (Tolman v. Underhill, 1952), which ruled in their favor and ordered the University to reinstate them. Years later, one of the “non-signers”, David Saxon, would become University of California President.

Pictured is Royce Hall at UCLA.

Fifth Report Un-American Activities in California, 1949 Legislation (1949) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

Tenney's Flotilla of Loyalty Oaths

In addition to the new oath UC President Robert Sproul had committed to support, Tenney would introduce twelve legislative proposals in 1949. Five would impose additional loyalty oaths. His bills called for loyalty oaths for candidates, loyalty oaths for all state employees, loyalty oaths for all attorneys, loyalty oaths for teachers and loyalty oaths and non-communist affirmation for every member of the state legislature, as well as statewide elected officials. Pictured is a page from the committee's 1949 report, describing the the 1949 legislative proposals.

Alert Against Communism in California Newsletter, March 21, 1949 (1949) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

In preparing the 1949 report, Tenney broke from past practices and hired Edward H. Gibbons, who was an “anti-subversive public relations specialist.” Gibbons’ job would be to “compile, edit, and supervise the printing of the entire 1949 report of the Committee.” Gibbons, a strident anti-communist, was also publishing, at state expense, an anti-communist newsletter titled, Alert Against Communism in California (pictured).

In May, as he was working to win passage of his loyalty oath bills during a committee hearing, Tenney was asked if he knew any legislator who was a Communist. “Yes,” Tenney said. “Ed Elliott." Assemblyman Elliott entered the room a minute later. When he was told about Tenney’s accusation he said, “The charge is an unmitigated, vicious falsehood.” Then Tenney charged: "You are a liar. You are a communist. Go ahead and sue me – I hereby waive all my legislative immunity.” Elliot then called Tenney a “Nazi liar” but before fists were thrown, the sergeant at arms intervened.

House Resolution No. 201, 1949 (1949) by Assembly Daily Journal Files, May 18, 1949. California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

The very day of the fracas between Tenney and Elliot, Democratic Assemblyman John Evans of Los Angeles introduced a resolution asking the Senate to remove Tenney from the chairmanship of the Un-American Activities Committee (pictured).

A few days later, Senator Gerald J. O’Gara, a former legislative seatmate of Tenney’s, was one of the legislators who asked for an investigation into the propriety of using committee resources for Gibbons’ newsletter. O’Gara and others charged that Tenney had hired Gibbons to smear legislators and that he was the “No. 1 hatchet man in the country” for the conducting of smear campaigns.

The Senate Rules Committee agreed to investigate Tenney. And, while the use of the funds was determined to be “not improper,” discontent among members of the legislature was growing stronger.

Assemblyman Sam Yorty (1950) by California Blue Book, 1950, California State Printer. California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

Sam Yorty had been serving in World War II as a captain in Combat Intelligence in the United States Air Corps from 1942 – 1945. Upon his return, he ran for Mayor of Los Angeles as a veteran but came up short before returning to his law practice. Then, in March of 1949, he reclaimed his seat in the California State Assembly.

Yorty had chaired the original investigation into communism in the State Relief Administration back in 1940. Upon his return to the Assembly, it is clear Yorty neither approved of the committee that Tenney had created, nor the methods of its chairman.

On June 3, 1949, Assemblyman Yorty rose to speak about his vote on Tenney's loyalty oath bills.

The following are excerpts.

“Many persons have asked my opinion of the bills, due to the fact that I was the first chairman of the state legislative committee to combat subversive activities. Senator Tenney, then an Assemblyman, was originally appointed to the committee as a result of my suggestion…”

“When we completed the job for which the legislative committee was appointed, we disbanded the committee. I did not return to the Legislature, and Senator Tenney who had been vice chairman of the original committee, succeeded in having a new committee appointed for the purpose of further investigating subversive activities.”

Sam Yorty Statement, Assembly Journal, June 6, 1949 (1949) by California State Legislature, Assembly Journal. California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

Then came Yorty’s takedown of his former friend Jack Tenney.

“Senator Tenney has headed this for almost 10 years. He has worked very hard and faithfully, at this tiresome, nerve-wracking, and thankless job. It is obvious to me that he is completely exhausted, and that his constant scrutiny of Communist activities has resulted in distortion of his perspective, causing him to have an exaggerated opinion of the immediate threat of Communist success in the United States.”

“If I were convinced that the Tenney bills were necessary to preserve our Democracy, and that they would effectively stop Communist activity without sacrificing the fundamental principles of our Constitution, I would vote for the bills, but I am not convinced that the bills are either necessary or wise. In fact, I am convinced that they are ill-advised, far too broad in scope, and that they propose a dangerous departure from democratic procedures.”

“Certainly we do not want to destroy the constitutional guarantees of homespun radicals, whose proposals which may have seemed radical during one era have sometimes proved acceptable during a later one.”

“Young people should be given the opportunity to outgrow youthful ventures into questionable programs without being permanently branded as Communists.”

Pictured is the first page of Yorty's six-page statement to the State Assembly.

Alert Against Communism in California Newsletter, May 9, 1949 (1949) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

In her 1974 study titled, "Jack B. Tenney and the 'Parasitic Menace': Anti-Communist Legislation in California," Ingrid Winther Scobie describes what happened next.

“Gibbons continued to publish Alert with Tenney’s blessings. Also, with Tenney’s permission, Gibbons distributed copies of Alert each week to legislators. In a May, 1949 issue, Gibbons attacked over a hundred legislators and prominent members of the Democratic Party, including San Francisco District Attorney Edmund “Pat” Brown and James Roosevelt, national Democratic committeeman.” (Pictured is the May 9, 1949 issue of Alert).

And then, to further compound the uproar, in early June, Tenney’s committee's fifth report was released.

In the words of historian Kevin Starr, “the report exploded like a supernova before collapse. The fifth report saw nothing less than a worldwide conspiracy coming to fruition in California. …the report listed more than 700 individuals and scores of organizations in California who, according to the Tenney Committee, revolved within the various Stalinist orbits… An argument could be made, in fact, that you were nobody in California unless you had made the Tenney list.”

Citizen Letters to Jack Tenney (1949) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

Pictured are letters from citizens to Tenney in response to the committee's 1949 fifth report, and its smearing of "respectable, distinguished Americans." Note that "8 x 5 file" is written on each letter, indicating that the committee started an investigation file for each respondent.

Newspapers across the state reported that several Hollywood film stars were named in both a secret FBI report, and in Tenney's fifth report, with charges of being communists, or having communist leanings. In Tenney's report, many were named as being under the influence of the "Stalinist orbit."

Below are responses from several well-known Hollywood film stars, directors, and writers:

Film star, Fredric March called the charges "an unmitigated lie," stating further, "My record and conscience as an American and as a man are clear. The allegation that I was a 'C.P. member in 1947' is the most absurd thing I've ever heard of. That goes for my wife (actress Florence Eldridge) too."

Actor Edward G. Robinson responded, "I am not nor have I ever been a member of the Communist Party or even remotely connected with it. These accusations, innuendos, and character assassinations emanate from sick and diseased minds."

Actor Gregory Peck stated, "I have denied it many times and will deny it again. I am not a Communist or Communist sympathizer."

Director John Huston remarked, "Tenney is guilty of wanton abuse of his position. I challenge him to make any statement connecting me with the so-called Stalinist program, outside the protection of his senatorial privilege."

Fifth Report Un-American Activities in California, 1949 Legislation (1949) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

The confluence of Tenney’s and Gibbons’ attacks on legislators, the paltry support for Tenney’s anti-communist proposals, his over-wrought communist conspiracy theories, and his bullying of legislators who didn’t support his bills, alienated enough of his colleagues that individuals and institutions reached a critical mass and were openly questioning his goals and methods.

The five most outspoken were Assembly members Sam Yorty, Assembly Speaker Sam Collins, Gerald O’Gara, John Evans and Thomas Maloney.

Tenney recognized he was was facing a reckoning and alerted members of his committee that he could no longer be an effective chairman and would be stepping down from the Un-American Activities Committee. The committee members supported his decision unanimously and he was promptly replaced by Senator Hugh Burns who had served as vice chair from 1947 - 1949.

But Tenney’s departure as Chair would not be a swan song.

Senate Bill 132, 1949 (1949) by California Legislature. California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

The Coup de Gras

On Friday, June 24th, as Senator Tenney was being recognized on the floor of the Senate for his near decade of service as chair of the Un-American Activities Committee, the California State Assembly had other plans.



Tenney’s remaining bills were now being heard on the Assembly floor. Speaker Sam Collins defended the traditional oath that legislators were already required to declare, arguing that Tenney’s bill was pointless with its additional  “…meaningless phrases that add nothing to the solemnity of the oath that has been taken throughout the years."  Collins then went after Tenney, who was being feted in the Senate chambers. “We hired someone to tell us of the presence of our enemy, to keep our house in order, and they have mistook their mission. They now try to rewrite the classics. Probably their next endeavor will be to rewrite the “Star Spangled Banner.’”



It was then that Sam Yorty stepped forward and requested that the loyalty bill being discussed (SB132, pictured) and three others, be re-referred to the Rules Committee.



Documenting the moment was L.A. Times reporter Chester G. Hanson. “Tenney’s old pal Yorty pulled a parliamentary knife from his legislative toga and sank it into Tenney’s back with a swift stroke,” wrote Hanson.



Presiding over the Assembly was Thomas Maloney, a San Francisco Republican. “All in favor of the motion say aye, contrary, no.”  No one requested a roll call vote. And that was it.  It was quick and dirty. No roll call, no vote tally, just “scattered applause and chuckles.”



Yorty was quoted saying, “that’s your two Uncle Sams.”

Final Page of Fifth Report Un-American Activities in California, 1949 (1949) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

Only seven of Tenney’s twelve bills passed the Senate. Of these, only four ultimately cleared the Assembly and two of them were dispatched by Governor Earl Warren himself.

Tenney was left with just two bills that passed. One that required the dismissal of any public employee who advocated the overthrow of the U.S. government by force or violence, and another that required instruction in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and other civics prior to social studies.

We find Tenney, in the final pages of what would be his final official report (pictured), lamenting its own ineffectiveness.

“The recommendations in the 1947 third report were almost identical to those made in the 1943 and 1945 reports and they were accompanied by additional voluminous analysis and factual documentation of the need for legislation to combat subversive activity. Virtually no action was taken on the 1947 proposals.”

“The committee presented at the 1948 legislative session bills to accomplish the recommendation that had been made in the previous reports and it also presented in a 393-page 1948 fourth report a definitive analysis of Communist front activity and an alphabetically arranged report on 172 Communist front activities. Virtually no action was taken on legislative recommendations.”

Tenney Committee Members (1947) by Los Angeles Daily News. University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special CollectionsCalifornia State Archives

After all that had occurred, Tenney still had to face the press. For months he had been coy about whether he would retain his chairmanship of the California Un-American Activities Committee.

“I have decided that 10 years is enough. I think a new target for Reds to shoot at will assist the Committee in its work ... I will say that the mere fact I will not be a member of the Committee in no way lessens my continued fight against subversive individuals and organizations. I am not resigning, as they hoped, from the present Committee. That Committee merely dies with this session of the Legislature and a new committee will be formed.”

Days later he accused famed lobbyist Arthur Samish of hastening his demise. Considering his influence, Samish may very well have orchestrated the coup.

Pictured are members of the Senate Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities. Standing from left are senators Louis Sutton and Hugh Burns. Seated are senators Clyde Watson, and Jack Tenney.

Mildred Younger and Others (1954) by Valley Times Collection. Los Angeles Public LibraryCalifornia State Archives

Despite his fall, Tenney remained a State Senator.

He ran for congress in 1952 with the support of Gerald L.K. Smith, founder of the America First Party. He lost, though his open association with Smith confirmed what most had come to suspect.

The same year, Tenney was the Christian National Party candidate for Vice President which had an anti-Semitic platform that sought to preserve America as a Christian nation, oppose immigration, and support segregation.

By the time Tenney ran for re-election for his State Senate seat in 1954, Republican Party leadership was dubious about him. He was defeated in the Republican primary election by Mildred Younger (pictured at center), a dynamic woman the L.A. Times called "a striking spitfire." Her husband was Evelle Younger, who would go on to be California Attorney General and make a bid for Governor.

Mildred Younger’s victory in the primary was not only attributed to her strengths, she had lifelong experience in politics and her father was a lobbyist, but also to Tenney’s obvious weaknesses. During the campaign, Tenney lied about his association with Gerald L.K. Smith and the fact that his image had been on the cover of the Christian National Crusade’s magazine, The Cross and the Flag.

Tenny’s loss in 1954 was seen as a bellwether. The defeat of the “junior McCarthy” was a harbinger of a time beyond McCarthyism.

In 1962, Tenney ran for congress one last time. Again, he lost.

The Tenney Committee... The American Record, by Jack B.Tenney (1952/1956) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12), California State Archives; and Herald Examiner Collection, Los Angeles Public Library.California State Archives

No longer an elected official, Tenney would show himself to be a virulent anti-Semite. In the following years he dedicated his time to writing many anti-Semitic books, including: The Anti-Defamation League & The Fight to Save America; The Zionist Network; Zion’s fifth column: A Tenney Report; among others. He also published material from the committee reports and sold them under his name.

Pictured is Tenney's booklet, published in 1952, well after he was ousted as the chairman of the Un-American Activities Committee. The booklet is Tenney's own version of events surrounding the committee's work. Found in the introduction is this quote from General Charles Andrew Willoughby, bemoaning the possibility that he would be attacked by the Communist press and "Red cells" around the world and smeared by "pinko columnists." But perhaps Willoughby's last line was most relevant for Tenney, reflecting how he perceived his unfair treatment:

"It is better to fail in a cause that must ultimately succeed, than to succeed in a cause that will ultimately fail."

Letters to President Richard Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover from Chairman Hugh M. Burns (1970) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

Despite all the hearings, accusations, and damage done, not to mention the time and money spent on the committee, not a single person was ever indicted or convicted of subversion as a result of the Tenney committee’s work.

Tenney’s replacement, Senator Hugh Burns, would usher in a new era of investigations with behind-the-scenes dismissals of students, staff and University of California faculty. He would maintain the close relationship Tenney had built with Hoover’s FBI and develop his own program to weed out subversives by calling for the appointment of a “contact man” at every California college “to help screen faculty."

The Senate Fact Finding Committee on Un-American Activities in California would continue its investigations of their fellow Californians for another twenty years, through the fearful 1950s and the turbulent 1960s.

The committee released its final Fifteenth Report in 1970, the same year that Burns retired his chairmanship.

Seen here are letters that accompanied the committee's final report that Chairman Hugh Burns sent to President Richard Nixon, and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

Letter to Rena M. Vale from Chairman Hugh M. Burns (1970) by California Un-American Activities Committees Records (93-04-12). California State ArchivesCalifornia State Archives

Senator Hugh Burns, in one of his final acts as chair of the Senate Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities, also sent a copy of the Fifteenth 1970 report with this letter to Rena M. Vale. She was the former member of the Communist Party who had left the party decades before and had given testimony about her experience to the committee and worked closely with it for years.

In his letter, Burns mentions that "what the future of the Committee will be is unknown right now, although we think public demand will insure its continuation."

In 1971, legislative efforts to re-establish and fund the committee died without further action.

In the end, the legacy of the committee under the chairmanship of Tenney is described in scathing reviews. In 1951, Constitutional Law professor, Edward L. Barrett Jr., author of The Tenney Committee: Legislative Investigation of Subversive Activities in California," described it this way:

"One thing is certain. By the middle of 1949 the Tenney committee had lost the respect not only of the left but also of important segments of the community on the middle of the scale. Republican leaders treated the committee with embarrassed silence, many of them privately deplored Tenney's leadership."

"The personality and approach of Senator Tenney added much that was irrational to the hearings."

"Gradually, the committee came to assume that any unfriendly witness, called before it in public hearings, were agents of Russia and actual traitors to their country. From this assumption resulted most of the extremes in the committee's conduct of hearings. Tenney's attacks, directed as they were at individuals and organizations widely known and respected in the state, were in large measure responsible for the eruption of public sentiment which led to the reorganization of the committee and the defeat of its legislative program."

"Not content with mere exposure, the committee sought to punish alleged subversives and their sympathizers, taking upon itself the function of prosecutor, judge, and jury."

The San Francisco Chronicle published an editorial stating, "We think Tenney's flagrant and arrogant methods of so-called investigations have put his fellow committeemen, the Senate, in fact the whole legislature, on the spot. We think the determined resistance of public opinion to the Tenney loyalty-oath bills illustrates the distinction the people make - even if the Tenneys are unable to make it - between real fact finding and phony, hysterical thought control."

And finally, former University of California President, Clark Kerr, offered this summation of the Tenney committee:

"... despite all this attention, there was no clear definition at either the national or state level of who was "un-American" and why. In practice it came to mean someone thought to be liberal or socialist or communist, with whom you did not agree and whom you wished to injure. The real target was the liberals."

Credits: Story

California State Archives
Sacramento, CA
Unless otherwise cited, all images are from records held by the California State Archives.

Original exhibit by Bill Mabie (2018).
Digital exhibit by Sebastian Nelson and Lisa C. Prince (2018).
Imaging by Sebastian Nelson and Lisa C. Prince (2018).

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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