John Rankin

Rankin, a former Ku Klux Klan member, was a powerful Democratic member of HUAC from Mississippi. According to historian David Caute, in his book, "The Great Fear," Rankin called the Federal Fair Employment Practices Commission "communistic" and once proposed a bill that would fine teachers $10,000 and jail them for ten years if they were found to "convey the impression of sympathy with the Communist ideology."

In December 1948, Rankin read the contents of the Baltimore Documents into the Congressional Record. He then talked about "the American boys who were killed, who lost their lives as a result of this treason," and also suggested that if the spy ring had been caught in time, "we might not have had a Pearl Harbor."