05/23/2026
Due to communist hysteria before and after World War II, many organizations and publications were under suspicion of being affiliated with or promoting the Communist party. One curious suspect of this scrutiny was Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, the product testing and consumer advocacy magazine. In the late 1930s, Consumers Union faced unsubstantiated accusations of communism. Despite the fruitless claims, Consumers Union was placed on a list of subversive organizations by the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1944.
In 1951, representatives from the Better Business Bureaus drew attention to Consumer Union’s status on the House Committee’s list. As a result, Ohio schools banned the use of Consumer Reports in the classroom. While the Ohio schools' ban of the magazine was short-lived, questions about it were not, and the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC) noticed the attempts to ban the publication.
The IFC received inquiries from librarians as far away as Hawaii, asking about the supposedly communist Consumer Reports. The committee provided librarians with information outlining the facts of the accusations against Consumers Union, concluding that “the case against Consumers Union is, at best, tenuous and without evidence of subversion.” This wasn’t an endorsement of the publication, and the committee urged that library materials should be selected to fit local needs, recommending that “all librarians should resist the pressures of those who want to prevent American citizens from being informed.”
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