Loyalty Oath

In 1949, the Senator of California proposed three bills to congress.

Mar 25, 1949

During this time the people were starting to worry about communism and disloyalty in the governement. There were three bills proposed to the government to raid the government of communism and disloyalty. The bill stated that all employees would have to take a loyalty oath to the government. They also had to state that they weren't a communist. On March 25, 1949, the proposal was approved by the UC Board of Regents.

In March 1949, 8,000 people met to talk about the loyalty oath.

Apr 21, 1949

In March, over 8,000 people met to discuss the controversy. On April 21, 1949, they approved another proposal that included a modified version of the oath. They reviewed 81 people that didn’t sign the oath, and they recommended 6 of them to be fired (http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/uchistory/archives_exhibits/loyaltyoath/symposium/timeline/short.html).

In June 1949, people began to question whether the oath went against people’s academic freedoms.

Jun 14, 1949

On June 14, 1949, A committee of the Senate met to discuss whether they should revise or even remove the oath. Eventually, on June 24, 1949, the committee approved to revise the oath.he Regents decided that they were starting to change their position on the bill, which was putting them in a difficult decision. They decided to go with their original thoughts because they made the members of the faculty sign the oath or an equivalent to it.

On June 25, 1949, North Korea invaded South Korea.

Jun 25, 1949

The United States jumped into the war to help out South Korea, which wasn’t communist.Because of the rising tensions with communism in the government in the United States, the US fought against the communists to deter them and prove that the US was united in their government against communists. US citizens were more adamant now about getting rid of communism in their government then they had been before. They saw how communists acted in the war. Communists slaughtered everyone without remource.

On October 17, 1952 the Tolman v. Underhill case was brought up, which reinstated some employees who had not signed the loyalty act.

Oct 17, 1952

Many of the non signers petitioned for them to be reinstated. The judge that saw these petitions considered the fact that in the constitution it states that it is unlawful to remove someone from their job because they refuse to take any additional tests or qualifications. It exactly states that "no other oath, declaration or test, shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust”(http://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/tolman-v-underhill-32699).

In October of 1952, the judge ruled in favor of non signers.

Oct 27, 1952

After the judge looked over the different positions, he decided that the firing of the employees went against the people’s constitutional rights. He ruled the case in favor of the non signers, and declared that they were to be reinstated. All of those who petitioned then were able to go back to work. This affected people because it showed that there was a spark in interest of whether or not the loyalty oath was against our rights in the constitution or not.

In October of 1952, 16 people went back to court and petitioned to be reimbursed.

Oct 30, 1952

After they were reinstated, 16 of them went back to court and petitioned that they be reimbursed for the time period that they were unemployed. These decisions started to spark a reaction from people. They started to realize that it may have been not morally correct to take away people’s right to choose if they wanted to be communist or not.

The court case California AB 2766

Jan 5, 1953

The lawsuit against the loyalty oath stated that it violated people’s rights. Eventually after many petitions and court cases to try to appeal the oath, it was finally revoked when the judge found it to be unconstitutional (http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/13-14/bill/asm/ab_2751-2800/ab_2766_cfa_20140505_131741_asm_comm.html).