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Annie Lee Moss Appearance Before Mccarthy's Committee

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Annie Lee Moss appearance before McCarthy’s committee (1954) In addition to limiting freedom of speech through the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Smith Act, Congress continued on a witch-hunt to remove all dissenters in any way they could, often charging and prosecuting individuals based on circumstantial evidence. This period, often referred to as the Second Red Scare, followed World War II and came as the United States entered the Cold War, was a time of much paranoia. One of the many cases during this period that showed how little evidence was used against individuals to incriminate them was the case of Annie Lee Moss. According to a F.B.I informant, Ms. Moss was a “card carrying, dues paying” member of the Communist party and was brought to testify before McCarthy’s committee, for she was “alleged to have examined and correct secret, encoded oversee messages.” (The McCarthy Years) As they began to question Moss, it became clear that the evidence against her was only circumstantial. For starters, the F.B.I informant had never seen Moss in person, but just knew her name appeared in records kept by the communist party. This was clearly not enough to convict someone of being a spy, especially since it was later said in testimony that three others name Annie Lee Moss in the area. Second of all, she was said to have connections with a white man by the name of Rob Halls, who was a well-known Communist, but the Rob Halls Moss knew was a colored man. This once again poked another

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