nothing new under the sun

J. Edgar Hoover wanted to arrest and detain some 12,000 Americans to counter "treason, espionage and sabotage" in 1950.

From the BBC:

Mr Hoover wanted the president to suspend the centuries-old legal right of habeas corpus, which protects individuals against unlawful arrest.

The FBI director planned to detain the suspects - whose list of names he had been compiling for years - in US military and federal prisons.

And people think of the 50s as a golden age.