The Administration: Request for Repeal

Me and [Stokely] Carmichael can't fill all them camps. They must be planning on taking somebody else.

—H. Rap Brown

For nearly two decades, the President has in fact had at his disposal an ugly antidote to dissent—detention camps. The Internal Security Act of 1950 enables the President to declare an "internal security emergency" and authorize the Attorney General to round up and detain persons believed to be engaged in acts of espionage or sabotage. In 1952, reacting to enormous pressure from the right, Attorney General J. Howard McGrath ordered six detention camps...

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