The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has released the previously closed executive session transcripts for the 83rd Congress (1953-1954), chaired by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy.  The 161 hearings, with over 500 witnesses, deal largely with allegations of subversion and espionage within the government and defense industries. Before the 50-year seal on the transcripts expires this year, current leadership of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations requested that the transcripts be prepared for publication to make them equally accessible to scholars and the general public. The volumes were edited by the staff of the Senate Historical Office with the cooperation of the staff of the Center for Legislative Archives at the National Archives and Records Administration. Copies may be purchased from the Government Printing Office, or read online -- Executive Sessions of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations (McCarthy Hearings 1953-54).  

 (posted: 5/5/2003)