[1] McDowell served on the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947 and 1948 and was acting chairman when J. Parnell Thomas was not presiding.

[3] In early 1948, he argued against granting a visa to boxer Max Schmeling, who wanted to stage a comeback in the United States.

[7][8] McDowell stated: The President, in an election year, is pulling down an iron curtain between Congress and information on the Government ...

There would be protection in two ways–against some official who might attempt to suppress for political or personal reasons information Congress should have, and against some weird committee chairman who might go haywire and demand and make public all kinds of secret documents.

[7] The Washington Post praised the President in an editorial, arguing "Every consideration of common sense backs it up as well, of course.

"[9] In October 1948, after indictments against 12 suspected communists in what would become the Foley Square trials, US Attorney John F. X. McGohey called on McDowell to appear before a grand jury in the case after McDowell charged that prosecutors deliberately drew up the indictments in such a way that the charges would not result in a conviction.

[2] McDowell later called McGohey and Attorney General Ramsey Clark "inept" in producing the indictments.