The "History of San Francisco" created a heated debate because of the controversial events it depicted from California's past. After all, the mural was located in a public building and Refregier was using public funds to complete it. People believed that it "placed disproportionate emphasis on violence, racial hatred, and class struggle." Republican Senator Hubert B. Scudder and then US Rep. Richard Nixon were involved in Congressional hearings to have the work removed. They claimed it had a communistic tone and "defamed pioneers and reflected negatively on California's past." Many believed that "no artist, however distinguished, escaped the heavy, if well meaning, hand of federal supervision."