In practical terms the BAF collected and circulated information on individuals it claimed held radical political ideas, opposed legislation supporting and protecting the right of labor to organize, and opposed all related activities it viewed as ‘‘inimical to the welfare of the nation."
[3] The Better America Federation evolved from an earlier organization, also led by Haldeman, called the Commercial Federation of California which formed in 1914 as an alliance of open-shop businessmen determined to oppose California's increasingly progressive political character.
[1] It promoted a conservative interpretation of American patriotism, while alarming the public about the dangers of domestic communism.
[5] In schools, it warned against "bolshevik" authors like Edward Alsworth Ross, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. and David Saville Muzzey used in textbooks.
[5] One of its claimed successes was to ban The Nation and The New Republic from public schools in California, which it viewed as full of left-wing political bias.