The Smith ActAlien Registration Act of 1940 | 54 Stat. 670; 18 U.S.C. § 2385
Synopsis
The Alien Registration Act of 1940, commonly known as the “Smith Act” after Representative Howard Smith, its principal author, criminalized a broad range of activities subversive of the U.S. government. The Smith Act was enacted in response to growing fears of fascist and communist sedition, and originally targeted disruptive immigrant leaders of the growing labor movement. However, it would go on to serve in the Second World War as a version of the First World War’s Espionage and Sedition Acts, suppressing anti-war agitation and foreign subversion of American war efforts. Later, during the Cold War and “McCarthyism,” the Smith Act would be used to prosecute dozens of American communists for suspected subversion. It was in response to this string of convictions that the Supreme Court would finally begin to rule against the government in cases of sedition, starting with Yates v. United States. Parts of the Smith Act remain in the U.S. criminal code.
Contents
1. First Title of the Alien Registration Act of 1940 (Smith Act)
2. Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Statement on Signing the Alien Registration Act,” June 29, 1940.
3. Current version of the Smith Act in the U.S. Criminal Code
First Title of the Alien Registration Act of 1940 (Smith Act)
From Statutes at Large, at the Library of Congress: 76 Congress, 3rd Sessn., ch. 439: 670-671.
AN ACT To prohibit certain subversive activities; to amend certain provisions of law with respect to the admission and deportation of aliens; to require the fingerprinting and registration of aliens; and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and Hose of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
TITLE I
Section 1. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person, with intent to interfere with, impair, or influence the loyalty, morale, or discipline of the military or naval forces of the United States-
(1) to advise, counsel, urge, or in any manner cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military or naval forces of the United States; or
(2) to distribute any written or printed matter which advises, counsels, or urges insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military or naval forces of the United States.
(b) For the purposes of this section, the term “military or naval forces of the United States” includes the Army of the United States, as defined in section 1 of the National Defense Act of June 3, 1916 as amended (48 Stat. 153; U. S. C., title 10, sec. 2), the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Naval Reserve, and Marine Corps Reserve of the United States; and, when any merchant vessel is commissioned in the Navy or is in the service of the Army or the Navy, includes the master, officers, and crew of such vessel.
Section 2. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person-
(1) to knowingly or willfully advocate, abet, advise, or teach the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government;
(2) with the intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any Distribution, etc., of printed matter ad- government in the United States, to print, publish, edit, issue, circulate, sell, distribute, or publicly display any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence;
(3) to organize or help to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or etc., advocating such destruction of any government in the United States by force or violence; or to be or become a member of, or affiliate with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof.
(b) For the purposes of this section, the term “government in the United States” means the Government of the United States, the government of any State, Territory, or possession of the United States, the government of the District of Columbia, or the government of any political subdivision of any of them.
Section 3. It shall be unlawful for any person to attempt to commit, or to conspire to commit, any of the acts prohibited by the provisions of this title.
Section 4. Any written or printed matter of the character described in section 1 or section 2 of this Act, which is intended for use in violation of this Act, may be taken from any house or other place in which it may be found, or from any person whose possession it may be, under a search warrant issued pursuant to the provisions of title XI of the Act entitled “An Act to punish acts of interference with the foreign relations, the neutrality and the foreign commerce of the United States, to punish espionage, and better to enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and for other purposes”, approved June 15, 1917 (40 Stat. 228; U. S. C., title 18, ch. 18). SEC. 5. (a) Any person who violates any of the provisions of this title shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than ten years, or both.
(b) No person convicted of violating any of the provisions of this title shall, during the five years next following his conviction, be eligible for employment by the United States, or by any department or agency thereof (including any corporation the stock of which is wholly owned by the United States).
Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Statement on Signing the Alien Registration Act,” June 29, 1940.
Read it at the American Presidency Project.
Current Version of Smith Act in the U.S. Criminal Code
From Cornell Law’s Legal Information Institute.
Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or
Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or
Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
If two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
As used in this section, the terms “organizes” and “organize”, with respect to any society, group, or assembly of persons, include the recruiting of new members, the forming of new units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes, and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 808; July 24, 1956, ch. 678, § 2, 70 Stat. 623; Pub. L. 87–486, June 19, 1962, 76 Stat. 103; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(N), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)
Anastaplo, George. “Dennis v. United States (1951); the Rosenberg Case (1950-1953).” In Reflections on Freedom of Speech and the First Amendment. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2011.
Read an excerpt on Project Muse
Find it on JSTOR (restricted access).
Haverty-Stacke, Donna. Trotskyists on Trial: Free Speech and Political Persecution Since the Age of FDR. New York: NYU Press, 2015.
Read it on JSTOR (restricted access).
Hook, Sidney. “Does the Smith Act Threaten Our Liberties?American Law and the Communist Conspiracy.” Commentary Magazine, January 1, 1953.
Every attempt to use legal sanctions against the American Communist party has met with a storm of protest against the outlawing of “dissent.” But where does dissent end and conspiracy begin? And what actions may a democracy take against conspiracy, and still remain a democracy? Sidney Hook has in many writings argued that Stalin’s Communism is in no legitimate sense “dissent” but in reality conspiracy. In this discussion of the Smith Act, he addresses himself primarily to the second question: How may a democracy defend itself against a conspiracy one of whose aims is to destroy the right of dissent?
Read it at Commentary Magazine.
Johnson, Claudius O. “The Status of Freedom of Expression under the Smith Act.” The Western Political Quarterly 11, no. 3 (1958): 469-480.
Find it on JSTOR (free access).
Somerville, John. “Law, Logic and Revolution: The Smith Act Decisions.” The Western Political Quarterly 14, no. 4 (1961): 839-849.
Find it on JSTOR (free access).
