Karl Earl Mundt - Accomplishments in The U.S. Congress

Accomplishments in The U.S. Congress

In the House of Representatives, Mundt sponsored and supported proposals for "Buy American" legislation, was a member of the Foreign Affairs committee from 1941 to 1948, and played a key role in encouraging the United States to join the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1945. He was a key proponent of the Voice of America, which was established as a result of the Smith-Mundt Act, signed into law in 1948. He was a member of the House Un-American Activities Committee from 1943 to 1948. HUAC's activities during this period included the Alger Hiss hearings, in which Mundt was a key participant. HUAC also initiated its investigations of the motion picture industry, resulting in the Hollywood blacklist. However, Mundt was unsuccessful in attempts to have HUAC continue investigating the Ku Klux Klan.

Mundt was also involved in what would become the McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950. In 1948, Mundt joined with Richard Nixon to introduce a bill to require registration of Communists in the United States and to bar Communists from holding public office; a modified version of the bill was passed in the McCarran Act. He also introduced a modification to Title 50, criminalizing the passage of certain classified information to foreigners.

As a Senator, Mundt served on the Senate's Appropriations Committee, Foreign Relations Committee, Government Operations Committee, and Permanent Investigations Subcommittee, and he represented the Senate on the Intergovernmental Relations Advisory Commission. In 1954, he chaired the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations for the Army-McCarthy Hearings. His accomplishments as a Senator included obtaining support for Missouri River projects, establishment of the EROS Data Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, agriculture programs, and Interstate highway construction in South Dakota.