Mundt–Ferguson Communist Registration Bill

The Mundt–Ferguson Communist Registration Bill was a proposed law that would have required all members of the Communist Party of the United States register with the Attorney General.

In 1940, the U.S. Congress passed the Smith Act.

In 1948, the House proposed the Mundt-Nixon Bill, or "Subversive Activities Control Act [of] 1948,", as H.R. (House Resolution) 5852, which sought registration of Communist Party members and sources for printed and broadcast material issued by Communist fronts. On May 19, 1948, the bill passed the House by 319 to 58. The Senate Judicial Committee held hearings at the end of May 1948 "the purpose of receiving testimony and opinions in relation to the constitutionality and practicality of H. R. 5852." However, the United States Senate did not act on the bill.

It was re-introduced two years later, as the Mundt-Ferguson bill (also known as the Subversive Activities Control Bill). Again it was passed by the House of Representatives but failed in the Senate. Sen. Pat McCarran then took many of the provisions from the bill and included them in legislation he introduced that became the McCarran Internal Security Act, which passed both houses of Congress in 1950.

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