Overman Committee

Three white men in suits sitting at a table, with a chandelier hanging and a mirror in the background
Three of the five members of the Overman Committee in 1919 during hearings: Senator Josiah Oliver Wolcott (D-Del.), Chairman Lee Slater Overman (D-N.C.), Senator Knute Nelson (R-Minn.)

The Overman Committee was a special subcommittee of the United States 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 of communism.

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.


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