The 1978 act made it a Federal crime to knowingly sell or distribute for commercial purposes magazines, films, or any other materials containing pictures of children engaged in obscene sexual conduct. Two aspects of the act prevented it from providing the type of adequate provision originally envisioned: (1) the requirement that a showing of obscenity was necessary to activate the statute and prosecute the pornographer and (2) the requirement that distribution of the material be for commercial purposes. Tracing the legal history of obscenity shows it to be the most troublesome exception to the first amendment guarantee of freedom of speech. No inroad had been made by the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of the child over the pornographer until its ruling in New York V. Ferber (1977). The Court held that the distribution of materials depicting the sexual activity of children is intrinsically related to sexual abuse and that, therefore, children need to be protected (this need outweighing the first amendment rights of the pornographer). This ruling led to efforts to tighten the legislation and to passage of the 1984 act, which eliminates the requirement that sexually explicit materials depicting children be obscene before they may be banned. Twenty-four footnotes are provided.