The Overman Committee was a special subcommittee of the Senate
Committee on the Judiciary chaired by North Carolina Democrat Lee
Slater Overman. Between September 1918 and June 1919, it investigated
German and Bolshevik elements in the United States. It was an early
forerunner of the better known House Un-American Activities Committee,
and represented the first congressional committee investigation into
communism. The Committee was originally tasked with investigating
pro-German sentiments in the American liquor industry. After World War
I ended in November 1918 and the German threat lessened, it turned its
attention to communist Bolshevism. Bolshevism had appeared as a threat
during the Red Scare of 1919–20 after the Russian Revolution in 1917
saw the Bolsheviks take power in Russia. The Committee's hearings into
Bolshevik propaganda, conducted from February 11 to March 10, 1919,
helped foster an image of communism as a threat to America. The
Committee's final report was released in June 1919. It reported on
German propaganda, Bolshevism, and other "un-American activities" in
the United States and on likely effects of communism's implementation
in the United States. It described German, but not communist,
propaganda efforts. The Committee's report and hearings were
instrumental in fostering anti-Bolshevik opinion.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overman_Committee>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
660 BC:
According to tradition, Emperor Jimmu founded Japan and established his
capital in Yamato.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Jimmu>
1858:
Fourteen year-old peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous reported the first
of eighteen Marian apparitions in Lourdes, France, resulting in the
town becoming a major site for pilgrimages by Catholics.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernadette_Soubirous>
1979:
Iranian Revolution: The Pahlavi dynasty effectively collapsed when the
military declared itself "neutral" after rebel troops overwhelmed
forces loyal to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in armed street fighting.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pahlavi_dynasty>
1990:
Anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela , a political prisoner for 27
years, was released from Victor Verster Prison near Paarl, South
Africa.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela>
1991:
The international organization Unrepresented Nations and Peoples
Organization was established to represent the interests of indigenous
peoples, minorities, occupied nations, and other areas which lack
international representation.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unrepresented_Nations_and_Peoples_Organization>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ambilevous (adj):
(rare) Having equally bad ability in both hands; clumsy; butterfingered
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ambilevous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they
were to success when they gave up.
--Thomas Edison
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison>
Show replies by date