Changes

==Career==

==Career==

Moss began her career in the Federal government as a dessert cook in government cafeterias and was promoted to a code clerk in the Pentagon. In 1945, she moved to a job as a clerk in the [[General Accounting Office]] (GAO).<ref>Friedman, 2007, p. 447</ref> [[Mary Stalcup Markward]], Moss' accuser, had been working undercover for the [[FBI]] for seven years as a member of the [[Washington, D.C.]] [[American Communist Party]], and she had worked as the director of the party's membership. Markward testified before a [[Senate committee]] that the name "Annie Lee Moss" of Washington had been listed on the [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party]] membership rolls. Markward's testimony was the only [[evidence]] presented that Moss was a member of the American Communist Party, and she was not accused of being an active [[spy]] for [[Russia]].<ref>{{cite news

Moss began her career in the Federal government as a dessert cook in government cafeterias and was promoted to a code clerk in the Pentagon. In 1945, she moved to a job as a clerk in the [[General Accounting Office]] (GAO).<ref>Friedman, 2007, p. 447.</ref> [[Mary Stalcup Markward]], Moss' accuser, had been working undercover for the [[FBI]] for seven years as a member of the [[Washington, D.C.]] [[American Communist Party]], and she had worked as the director of the party's membership.  

 

The FBI had passed this information on to the Army and the Civil Service Commission, yet the Army had still hired Moss as a code clerk, and she was given clearance to do this work.<ref>M. Stanton Evans, “[http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=689 How Senate Historian Botched Data on McCarthy],” ''Human Events'', May 23, 2003</ref> McCarthy’s chief purpose was to find out how Moss, with her Red background, had been promoted from a cafeteria worker to a Pentagon code clerk with access to classified information.<ref>Allan H. Ryskind, “[http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=9669 George Clooney's Clueless Movie],” October 14, 2005</ref>

  | accessdate =  }}</ref> The FBI had passed this information on to the Army and the Civil Service Commission, yet the Army had still hired Moss as a code clerk, and she was given clearance to do this work.<ref>M. Stanton Evans, “[http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=689 How Senate Historian Botched Data on McCarthy],” ''Human Events'', May 23, 2003</ref> McCarthy’s chief purpose was to find out how Moss, with her Red background, had been promoted from a cafeteria worker to a Pentagon code clerk with access to classified information.<ref>Allan H. Ryskind, “[http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=9669 George Clooney's Clueless Movie],” October 14, 2005</ref>

In October 1949, the GAO board cleared her,<ref>Donald A. Richie, [http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/Volume5.pdf “Introduction,” S. Prt. 107-84 &ndash; Executive Sessions of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations (McCarthy Hearings 1953-54), Volume 5, “Editor’s Note,” p. XV (PDF p. 17)]</ref> determining that there were “no reasonable grounds” to believe that Moss was disloyal.<ref>Friedman, 2007, p. 448</ref>

In October 1949, the GAO board cleared her,<ref>Donald A. Ritchie, [http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/Volume5.pdf “Introduction,” S. Prt. 107-84 &ndash; Executive Sessions of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations (McCarthy Hearings 1953-54), Volume 5, “Editor’s Note,” p. XV (PDF p. 17)]</ref> determining that there were “no reasonable grounds” to believe that Moss was disloyal.<ref>Friedman, 2007, p. 448</ref>

==The case==

==The case==

*Moss acknowledged that one of the top three Washington, D.C., Communists had visited her home and that she had lived, briefly, with an active party member who hosted Communist meetings at her house.<ref>Allan H. Ryskind, “[http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=9669 George Clooney's Clueless Movie],” October 14, 2005</ref>

*Moss acknowledged that one of the top three Washington, D.C., Communists had visited her home and that she had lived, briefly, with an active party member who hosted Communist meetings at her house.<ref>Allan H. Ryskind, “[http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=9669 George Clooney's Clueless Movie],” October 14, 2005</ref>

*Copies of the communist newspaper [[Daily Worker]] were delivered to her address under her name, but she denied that they were for her, and claimed that there was another "Anne Moss" in the [[Washington, DC]] phone book.<ref name=Oshinsky/><ref>The 1930 US Census for [[Washington, DC]], lists an "Annie K. Moss" born in 1891, wife of Otto Moss. There is also an "Anne Moss (1910-?) of Connecticut Avenue" born in 1910, wife of Benjamin Moss.</ref> At her testimony, Moss stated "We didn't get this Communist paper until after we had moved to Southwest, at 72 R Street."<ref name=Oshinsky/>

*Copies of the communist newspaper [[Daily Worker]] were delivered to her address under her name, but she denied that they were for her, and claimed that there was another "Anne Moss" in the [[Washington, DC]] phone book.<ref name=Oshinsky/><ref>The 1930 US Census for [[Washington, DC]], lists an "Annie K. Moss" born in 1891, wife of Otto Moss. There is also an "Anne Moss (1910-?) of Connecticut Avenue" born in 1910, wife of Benjamin Moss.</ref> At her testimony, Moss stated "We didn't get this Communist paper until after we had moved to Southwest, at 72 R Street."<ref name=Oshinsky/>

*The [[Subversive Activities Control Board]] found in 1958 that the former street address Moss had given in her testimony matched the address on the list the Board had acquired from the [[American Communist Party]]. The address was "72 R Street S.W."<ref>

*"In 1958, the federal Subversive Activities Control Board reported that 'the Communist Party's own records, the authenticity of which the Party has at no time disputed … show that one Annie Lee Moss, 72 R Street SW, Washington DC, was a party member in the mid-1940s.' Joseph E. Persico's 1988 biography, ''Edward R. Murrow: An American Original'', reports this finding as does historian [[Arthur Herman]]'s 1999 revisionist account, ''Joseph McCarthy: Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America's Most Hated Senator''."<ref>

{{cite news

{{cite web

   | last = Vernon

   | last = Shafer

   | first =Wes

   | first =Jack

   | quote =Not only had the Army ignored an FBI warning that one of its employees, Annie Lee Moss, was a Communist, but also compounded the offense by reassigning Moss, a Signal Corps cafeteria worker, to the far more sensitive position of Pentagon code clerk. By any standard, that was an unusually huge promotion. Who did it? And why?.... Four years later, after McCarthy had died, the Subversive Activities Control Board presented solid evidence that Markward's testimony was true and that the Annie Lee Moss who appeared before the McCarthy committee was in fact a member of the Communist Party.

   | title =Edward R. Movie: Good Night, and Good Luck and bad history.

   | publisher =Slate.com

   | publisher =[[Accuracy in Media]]

   | date = October 5, 2005

   | date = January 13, 2006

   | url = http://www.slate.com/id/2127596/

   | url = http://www.aim.org/aim_report/A4297_0_4_0_C/

   | accessdate=2007-10-15 }}

   | accessdate = }}

</ref><ref>

</ref><ref>

{{cite book

{{cite book

   | last = Herman

   | last = Herman

   | id = ISBN 0-684-83625-4 }}</ref> The SACB verdict was that the Communist Party membership rolls “corroborate Markward’s testimony in the Moss security hearings.”<ref>Allan H. Ryskind, “[http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=9669 George Clooney's Clueless Movie],” October 14, 2005</ref> In its September 19, 1958, report, the SACB concluded, “the Communist Party’s charge that Markward gave perjurious testimony was not substantiated. Consequently, Mrs. Markward’s credibility is in no way impaired by the Annie Lee Moss matter.” <ref>M. Stanton Evans, “[http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=689 How Senate Historian Botched Data on McCarthy],” ''Human Events’’, May 23, 2003</ref>

   | id = ISBN 0-684-83625-4 }}</ref> The SACB verdict was that the Communist Party membership rolls “corroborate Markward’s testimony in the Moss security hearings.”<ref>Allan H. Ryskind, “[http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=9669 George Clooney's Clueless Movie],” October 14, 2005</ref> In its September 19, 1958, report, the SACB concluded, “the Communist Party’s charge that Markward gave perjurious testimony was not substantiated. Consequently, Mrs. Markward’s credibility is in no way impaired by the Annie Lee Moss matter.” <ref>M. Stanton Evans, “[http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=689 How Senate Historian Botched Data on McCarthy],” ''Human Events’’, May 23, 2003</ref>

*The [[US Army]] charged her with being card number 37269 in the [[American Communist Party]], saying she was issued the card in 1943. <ref>{{cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Mrs. Moss Is Accused As Card-Carrying Red. |url= |quote=[[Washington, DC]], August 5, 1954 ([[Associated Press]]) A report that Annie Lee Moss was given a Communist party membership book for 1943 resulted in her suspension for a second time from her job with the [[Army Signal Corps]]. |publisher=[[New York Times]] |date=August 6, 1954 |accessdate=2007-09-25 }}</ref>

*Donald Ritchie, associate historian in the Senate Historical Office, "In 1958 the Subversive Activities Control Board confirmed Markward’s assertion that Moss’ name had appeared on the Communist party rolls in the mid-1940s."<ref>Ritchie, 2003, p. XV</ref> The SACB report states:

 

<blockquote><blockquote>"The situation that has resulted on the Annie Lee Moss question is that copies of the Communist party's own records, the authenticity of which the party has at no time disputed, were produced to it (Exhibits 499 to 511 inclusive), and show that one Annie Lee Moss, 72 R Street, S.W., Washington, D.C., was a party member in the mid-1940's. Yet, on several occasions before the Court of Appeals and  the Board the party charged that witness Markward had committed perjury before the Defense Department in the Moss Security Hearing in testifying to what the party's own records showed to be fact.</blockquote></blockquote>

 

<blockquote><blockquote>"We conclude that upon production of the documents demanded by respondent, the Communist party's charge that Markward gave perjurious testimony was not sustained. Consequently, Mrs. Markward's testimony is in no way impaired by the Annie Lee Moss matter."<ref>Subversive Activities Control Board, Docket No. 51-101, William P. Rogers, Attorney General of the U.S. v. The Communist Party of the U.S., recommended decision on second remand, September 19, 1958, p. 5</ref></blockquote></blockquote>

 

*In the landmark [[United States Supreme Court]] decision of ''Communist Party of the United States v. Subversive Activities Control Board'', 367 U.S. 1, 86 (1961)<ref>[http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0367_0001_ZO.html Communist Party of the United States v. Subversive Activities Control Board, 367 U.S. 1, 86 (1961)]</ref>, Justice [[Felix Frankfurter]] (who had been a mentor of and character witness for [[Alger Hiss]]) , writing for the majority, noted in response to allegations by the Communist Party that Markward had committed perjury, “On December 18, 1956, the [Subversive Activities Control] Board issued its 240-page Modified Report. It found that Mrs. Markward was a credible witness....” |publisher=[[New York Times]] |date=August 6, 1954 |accessdate=2007-09-25 }}</ref>

*Andrea Friedman, associate professor of history and of women and gender studies at Washington University in St. Louis, reported "substantial, if contested, evidence possessed by the U.S. government of her [Moss's] involvement in the [Communist] party. That evidence&mdash;consisting of perhaps a dozen pieces of paper&mdash;included a list of “party recruits” that identified Moss by name, race, age, and occupation; membership lists from two Communist party branches, the [[Communist Political Association]], and various ad hoc committees containing Moss’s name and address, as well as the number of her CP [Communist Party] membership book; and receipt records from 1945 for ''Daily Worker'' subscriptions that included Moss’s name and amounts paid."<ref>{{Citation|first=Andrea |last=Friedman |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=The Strange Career of Annie Lee Moss: Rethinking Race, Gender, and McCarthyism |url=http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/94.2/friedman.html                        |quote=Annie Lee Moss is hardly a household name. She had her fifteen minutes (or so) of fame in March 1954, when Edward R. Murrow dedicated an episode of his television news show, See It Now, to her appearance before Sen. Joseph McCarthy's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. McCarthy had charged that Moss, an African American civilian Pentagon employee who allegedly had access to top-secret coded messages, was a card-carrying member of the Communist party (CP). Murrow's broadcast went a long way toward discrediting those claims; ultimately, Moss remained an army clerk, laboring in obscurity until her retirement in 1975, at age sixty-nine. When she reappeared in George Clooney's 2005 paean to Murrow, Good Night, and Good Luck, she had been long forgotten by all but a coterie of McCarthy scholars and right-wing apologists for McCarthyism. |publisher=[[The Journal of American History]] |date= |accessdate=2007-09-25 }}</ref>

*Andrea Friedman, associate professor of history and of women and gender studies at Washington University in St. Louis, reported "substantial, if contested, evidence possessed by the U.S. government of her [Moss's] involvement in the [Communist] party. That evidence&mdash;consisting of perhaps a dozen pieces of paper&mdash;included a list of “party recruits” that identified Moss by name, race, age, and occupation; membership lists from two Communist party branches, the [[Communist Political Association]], and various ad hoc committees containing Moss’s name and address, as well as the number of her CP [Communist Party] membership book; and receipt records from 1945 for ''Daily Worker'' subscriptions that included Moss’s name and amounts paid."<ref>{{Citation|first=Andrea |last=Friedman |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=The Strange Career of Annie Lee Moss: Rethinking Race, Gender, and McCarthyism |url=http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/94.2/friedman.html                        |quote=Annie Lee Moss is hardly a household name. She had her fifteen minutes (or so) of fame in March 1954, when Edward R. Murrow dedicated an episode of his television news show, See It Now, to her appearance before Sen. Joseph McCarthy's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. McCarthy had charged that Moss, an African American civilian Pentagon employee who allegedly had access to top-secret coded messages, was a card-carrying member of the Communist party (CP). Murrow's broadcast went a long way toward discrediting those claims; ultimately, Moss remained an army clerk, laboring in obscurity until her retirement in 1975, at age sixty-nine. When she reappeared in George Clooney's 2005 paean to Murrow, Good Night, and Good Luck, she had been long forgotten by all but a coterie of McCarthy scholars and right-wing apologists for McCarthyism. |publisher=[[The Journal of American History]] |date= |accessdate=2007-09-25 }}</ref>

==See also==

==See also==

*[http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=689 Human Events: Annie Lee Moss]

*[http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=689 Human Events: Annie Lee Moss]

*[http://www.opinionjournal.com/medialog/?id=110003713 Dorothy Rabinowitz, "A Conspiracy So Vast: Meet Ann Coulter, the Maureen Dowd of the conservatives," OpinionJournal (excerpts from the Wall Street Journal editorial page), July 7, 2003]

*[http://www.opinionjournal.com/medialog/?id=110003713 Dorothy Rabinowitz, "A Conspiracy So Vast: Meet Ann Coulter, the Maureen Dowd of the conservatives," OpinionJournal (excerpts from the Wall Street Journal editorial page), July 7, 2003]

[[Category:Communist Party USA members]]

[[Category:Communist Party USA members]]