Mccabe Refutes Ike's Plan to Cut Citizenship of Smith Act Violators

President Eisenhower acted "dangerously and probably pointlessly" when he recommended that Amercians convicted under the Smith Act lose their citizenship, Theodore A. McCabe, teaching fellow at the Law School, told a meeting of the HYRC in the Lamont Forum Room last night.

McCabe did not fear a repetition of the national political ferocity shown toward the IWW in the 1920's, but he felt that Eisenhower's attitude tends toward such an "atmosphere of terrors and intolerance."

Senator Margaret Chase Smith (R0Me.) is sponsor of a bill that calls for the abrogation of citizenship of people convicted under the Smith Act, and the President endorsed this action in his State of the Union address on Jan. 19.

The Smith Act is directed against those who conspire for, teach, or advocate the overthrow of the U.S. government when there is the possibility that they will attain their objective or when there is a "clear and present danger."

McCabe suggested that the Republicans may be using the bill to "take the heat off things," He doesn't mind if they "let off steam--it's better than their doing something serious"--but this has deeper implications at this time. "I wish Eisenhower had not made his statement," McCabe said.

Would Lose Vote

To remove a person's citizenship would not deprive him of very much, McCabe pointed out. Aliens in this country still have protection under our laws and recourse to our courts. The only things they don't have are the right to vote, which they would not have anyway as felons convicted under the Smith Act, and the right to re-enter this country freely. In practice, felons have a difficult time maintaining this latter privilege.

While loss of citizenship does not put a person outside the law, as in feudal times when he was placed "outside the King's peace," such removal does carry a stigma. As such it is similar to punishments for crimes.