Statement by the President Upon Signing the Communist Control Act of 1954.
August 24, 1954
I HAVE TODAY signed S. 3706, An Act to make illegal the Communist Party and to prohibit members of Communist organizations from serving in certain representative capacities. The American people are determined to protect themselves and their institutions against any organization in their midst which, purporting to be a political party within the normally accepted meaning, is actually a conspiracy dedicated to the violent overthrow of our entire form of government.
-The Congress has passed a bill providing for the loss of citizenship by those advocating the overthrow of our government by force and violence.
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The Congress has passed, and I shall approve, a bill to include within the definition of sabotage, acts involving the use of radioactive, biological and chemical agents not presently covered by the law.
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The foregoing bill also includes a provision for the death penalty for persons found guilty of peacetime espionage.
-I have already approved a bill requiring "Communist-Action" or "Communist-Front" organizations, which must register under the Internal Security Act, to submit full information regarding printing equipment in their custody or control.
-In the final days of the session, the Congress added to this measure certain clauses denying to Communists all rights, privileges and immunities which they have under the Federal Government. These provisions also subject members of the Communist Party or its front organizations, having knowledge of their revolutionary aims and objectives, to the provisions and penalties of the Internal Security Act. https://archive.is/l7uNc https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/232611