We need not rely on any process of implication, though, because of the legislative history of 18 U.S.C. § 875(a). See Morissette v. United States, supra, 342 U.S. 246, 72 S.Ct. 240, 96 L.Ed. 288; United States v. Dotterweich, 320 U.S. 277, 64 S.Ct. 134, 88 L.Ed. 48 (1943); United States v. Balint, 258 U.S. 250, 42 S.Ct. 301, 66 L.Ed. 604 (1922); United States v. Behrman, 258 U.S. 280, 42 S.Ct. 303, 66 L.Ed. 619 (1922). Our review of the legislative history of 18 U.S.C. § 875(a) will demonstrate that Congress intended not only that there be a criminal intent element of the crime charged in the statute but also that this intent element be specifically the intent to extort.
17

The first statutory predecessor to the current 18 U.S.C. § 875(a) was enacted in 1934. (May 18, 1934, ch. 300, 48 Stat. 781, 18 U.S.C. § 408d.) That statute read as follows:
18

That whoever, with intent to extort from any person, firm, association, or corporation any money or other thing of value, shall transmit in interstate commerce, by any means whatsoever, any threat (1) to injure the person, property, or reputation of any person, or the reputation of a deceased person, or (2) to kidnap any person, or (3) to accuse any person of a crime, or (4) containing any demand or request for a ransom or reward for the release of any kidnapped person, shall upon conviction be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both: Provided, That the term "interstate commerce" shall include communication from one State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, to another State, Territory, or the District of Columbia: Provided further, That nothing herein shall amend or repeal section 338a, title 18, United States Code (47 Stat. 649).
19

This 1934 statute was directed at extortionate threats.
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