Jack B. Tenney

Jack B. Tenney (1898 – November 4, 1970) was an American politician who was noted for leading anti-communist investigations in California in the 1940s and early 1950s. Tenney was also the composer of several well-known songs, most notably "Mexicali Rose".

Tenney was born in 1898 in St. Louis, Missouri, but moved to California in 1909. After serving in the Army during World War I, he returned home and worked his way through law school. While a young attorney, he turned to songwriting and wrote such songs as "Mexicali Rose" and "On the Banks of the Old Merced".

Tenney ran for the California State Assembly as a Democrat in 1936 and won. In 1940, he also served as one of California's electors, casting his vote for Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1942, Tenney ran for the State Senate as a Republican, and served three four-year terms there.

Tenney made his name in the State Senate as a foe of communism, and was chair of the California Committee on Un-American Activities from 1941 to 1949. He stated, "You can no more coexist with communism than you can coexist with a nest of rattlesnakes." As the chairman of the California Senate Factfinding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities, which investigated alleged communists in California, Tenney "vigorously attacked everyone he believed to be a Communist or to have Communist sympathies". Those investigated by Tenney's committee included:

Tenney was instrumental in forcing the University of California to implement loyalty oaths on its faculty when he introduced legislation requiring such oaths. In 1949, as the head of the Un-American Activities, Tenney drafted legislation that would introduce a constitutional amendment to be placed on the state ballot that would give the state legislature authority over the university in matters of loyalty. Tenney's Senate Bill 130 would have forbidden the teaching of un-American subjects in the public schools of California, which would be required to teach "Americanism."

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