HUAC

In the 1950s, the United States was seized by anti-communist hysteria. Nicknamed the Red Scare, with the Soviets being the Red Menace, Americans were terrified that their friends and neighbors could secretly be pinko commies in secret service to the evil Russkies. This fomented an atmosphere of utter mistrust and paranoia among the populace which came to a head during the decade of atomic bomb drills, the elevation of the nuclear family, and the mass retreat to the blandness of suburbia.

HUAC During the Cold War

The responsibility for investigating such suspicious activity as might serve to aid the enemy landed squarely on the shoulders of the HUAC, a group that had been formed way back in 1938. HUAC instilled great fear in anyone who had ever so much as entertained the thought of becoming a communist, been married to, involved with, or spoken with a communist. Heaven forbid they had ever visited the USSR. HUAC pursued these investigations with unmitigated zeal, earning the patriotic support of its defenders–who saw the committee as an essential component of national security–and the wrath of its detractors, who saw its proponents as anti-New Deal zealots.

So why was the HUAC formed in the first place? What does it stand for? Who was in charge of it, who did it target, and what were its historical repercussions? Read on to gain important information about this fascinating yet jingoistic period of 20th-century American life.

HUAC Definition

HUAC is an acronym that stands for House Un-American Activities Committee. It was formed in 1938 and tasked with investigating communist and fascist activity by US citizens. Its name is derived from the House Committee on Un-American Activities or HCUA.

Alger Hiss Trial

HUAC had been in existence since 1937, but it really became effectual when the Alger Hiss trial kicked off in 1948. Alger Hiss was a United States State Department official who was accused of espionage for the Soviet Union. Hiss spent time in prison, but never for the spying charges. Instead, he was convicted of two counts of perjury in the case against him. He continued to deny the charges against him up until his death in Manhattan at the age of 92.

Hiss was a patrician type, hailing from Baltimore and highly educated with degrees from Johns Hopkins and Harvard Law School. After earning his diplomas, Hiss worked as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. Then he was appointed to a position in the Roosevelt administration.

In the late 1930s, Hiss became an official of the United States State Department. Hiss assumed the auspicious position of Secretary General at the San Francisco conference of 1945 that led to the birth of the United Nations. Hiss also accompanied President Roosevelt to the Yalta conference, a point which would later strengthen the case against him in the public eye when an anonymous spy who had done both of these things was later identified as Hiss.

Hiss was convicted, not of espionage, but of perjury, and spent five years in prison. His guilt or innocence is still debated today.

Fig. 1 - Alvin Halpern testifying in front of the HUAC

HUAC: Red Scare

The Hiss trial kicked off the fear of communism that began to grip the United States: the Red Scare. If a high-ranking, Harvard-educated D.C. official could be suspected of espionage, went the reasoning, then so could your friends, neighbors, or colleagues. Phones were tapped, curtains were twitched, and careers were destroyed. Paranoia reigned supreme, overlaid with visions of white-picket-fence suburban bliss. Even Hollywood came calling, satirizing the scare in such films as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). You could be next!

HUAC: Investigations

As tensions between the superpowers escalated, HUAC became a fixed entity in Washington. HUAC's primary focus had so far been targeting and weeding out influential practicing communists on the American landscape. Then HUAC trained its focus on a group of people with unorthodox political views who could use their influence to spread Communism to the mainstream. This group happened to be the artists and makers of Hollywood, California.

Fig. 2 - HUAC Investigations

The Film Industry

Washington had now turned its Communist diving rod on Tinseltown. By and large, film executives were reluctant to appear before HUAC, and therefore attempted to keep their heads down as the industry did everything it could to remain compliant with the government's policies. This compliance was reflected in Hollywood's zero-tolerance policy against those who would defy or fall foul of HUAC.

Many lost their livelihoods during the Red Scare, including the infamous Hollywood Ten, a group of male scriptwriters who refused to cooperate with the committee and were held in contempt of court as the hysteria came to a head in the 1950s. Some made comebacks, but many were never to work again. All served prison time.

The Hollywood Ten

• Allah Bessie
• Herbert Biberman
• Lester Cole
• Edward Dmytryk
• Ring Lardner, Jr
• John Howard Larson
• Albert Maltz
• Samuel Ornitz
• Adrian Scott
• Dalton Trumbo

Fig. 3 - Charlie Chaplin Fig. 4 - Dorothy Parker

Other artists who nearly lost their careers thanks to HUAC

• Lee Grant (actress)
• Orson Welles (actor/director)
• Lena Horne (singer)
• Dorothy Parker (writer)
• Langston Hughes (poet)
• Charlie Chaplin (actor).

HUAC Hearings

HUAC's modus operandi was quite controversial. It was a circular process in which a name was received by the committee. That person would then be subpoenaed or forced to appear in court. The party would then be grilled under oath and pressured to name names. The new names were then subpoenaed, and the entire process would begin again.

Fig. 5 - HUAC Hearings

Some people would invoke the first amendment during their testimony, which protected their right not to act as a witness against themselves, but this usually aroused suspicion. Those who refused to cooperate, like the Hollywood Ten, could be held in contempt of court or jailed. They were usually blacklisted and lost their jobs.

Moving into the 1960s as society became less rigid and less trusting of their harsh methods, HUAC's power diminished, underwent a name change (House Committee on Internal Security), and finally disbanded in 1979.