Rapp-Coudert Committee

"The Arrest of Morris Schappes," by Hugo Gellert. Schappes was the only individual convicted in a court of law in conjunction with the Rapp-Coudert Committee.

The Rapp-Coudert Committee was the colloquial name of the New York State Legislature's Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate the Educational System of the State of New York. Between 1940 and 1942, the Rapp-Coudert Committee sought to identify the extent of communist influence in the public education system of the state of New York. Its inquiries led to the dismissal of more than 40 instructors and staff members at the City College of New York, actions the committee's critics regarded as a political "witch-hunt."