Edwards parents weren't Communists. His parents were Stotch-Irish Quakers who learned liberal beliefs about social justice from the friends meetings they attended. Oppenheimer wasn't a Communist, he merely supported some of the same causes the Communists did such as aid to Republican Spain. Many people in those days were accused of being communists just for supporting civil rights. Also, why should their be a ban on Communists working in government? The Communist Party then as now is a legal political party just like the Democratic or Republican Party. Why should supportin or supporting in the past causes that the Communist Party had supported in the past such as the Spanish Republic, racial equality and labor unions disqualify one from government service?
Actually, the communist party was outlawed in some states during the 1950s, & even today, it's still technically a felony to be a member of the communist party here in WA (even if the law's almost certainly unenforcable due to it being constitutionally questionable, and nobody's even tried AFAIK since before 1960).
The relevant statutes are in
Title 9, Chapter 81 of the Revised Code of Washington, specifically
9.81.030, which makes being a member of a 'subversive organization' a felony offense, and
9.81.083, specifically desiginating the communist party to be a 'subversive organization', and membership therein to be a subversive activity punishable under
9.81.020 (making engaging in subversive activities a felony as well.)
Additionally, the statute made being a member of a 'subversive organization' grounds to fire someone from government employment, whether an elected office, appointed, a civil service, or hourly position (
9.81.090), while such people were also deemed ineligible for any sort of government jobs, at the state, county, or local level (
9.81.060, .
070, &
.080).
Finally, a person convicted under the statute would be deemed ineligible to hold any elective or appointed position in government, or to run for office, and would be stripped of their voting rights. (
9.81.040)