Hollywood Ten Definition, Blacklist & Cold War
Table Of Content
He also challenged Chambers to repeat the accusations outside of a congressional hearing (and beyond congressional immunity), so he could sue him for libel. The work of the House Un-American Activities Committee faded in significance during World War II. That was partly because the United States was allied with the Soviet Union, and the need for the Russians to help defeat the Nazis outweighed immediate concerns about communism. The committee was first formed as the brainchild of a congressman from Texas, Martin Dies. A conservative Democrat who had supported rural New Deal programs during Franklin Roosevelt's first term, Dies had become disillusioned when Roosevelt and his cabinet demonstrated support for the labor movement.
Special Committee on Un-American Activities (1934-
On the other hand, ten screenwriters and directors refused to testify, arguing that the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guaranteed the freedom to belong to any political organization they chose. Congress didn’t see it that way, and a month later the men were cited for contempt and ultimately sentenced to a year in prison each.
Guiding Questions
It is often cited as an example of how unfounded fears can compromise civil liberties. In the United States, labor strikes were on the rise, and the press sensationalized them as being caused by immigrants bent on bringing down the American way of life. The Sedition Act of 1918 targeted people who criticized the government, monitoring radicals and labor union leaders with the threat of deportation. Overall, the House Un-American Activities Committee played a significant role in shaping the political landscape of the 1950s. Its actions had far-reaching consequences for individuals and institutions, sparking debates about the limits of government power and the protection of civil liberties.
Activity 2. HUAC vs. Hollywood
Its influence waned by the 1960s; in 1969 it was renamed the Internal Security Committee, and in 1975 it was dissolved. Hiss’ conviction bolstered claims that HUAC was performing a valuable service to the nation by uncovering Communist espionage. The suggestion that Communist agents had infiltrated senior levels of the U.S. government also added to the widespread fear that “Reds” (a term derived from the red Soviet flag) posed a serious threat to the nation. McCarthy led an aggressive anticommunist campaign of his own that made him a powerful and feared figure in American politics.
In October 1947, 10 members of the Hollywood film industry publicly denounced the tactics employed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), an investigative committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, during its probe of alleged communist influence in the American motion picture business. These prominent screenwriters and directors, who became known as the Hollywood Ten, received jail sentences and were banned from working for the major Hollywood studios.
House Committee on Un-American Activities
The mere stigma of being called before the committee was usually sufficient to serve the committee's ends by causing witnesses to be blacklisted from their professions. As an investigative committee, HUAC had limited power to prosecute suspected criminal activities; however, its talent for circumventing constitutional guarantees of due process, presumption of innocence, and free speech gave it more power than any court of the day. Early records include investigations into the activities of various trade union members, major figures in Hollywood (the Hollywood Blacklist), government employees (such as Alger Hiss), and others thought to be involved in the Communist Party. During the 1960s and 1970s the records include information on the Communist Party in the U.S., activities in the civil rights and antiwar movements, an investigation of the Ku Klux Klan, and subversive influence in riots. There are extensive investigative files on individuals and organizations, along with a set of index cards indexing the files. The second front on which HUAC made its mark was investigating communist infiltration of the film industry.
Critics claimed that HUAC’s tactics amounted to a witch hunt that trampled on citizens’ rights and ruined their careers and reputations. These critics argued that most people who were called before the committee had broken no laws, but instead were targeted for their political beliefs or for exercising their right to free speech. Supporters of the committee, on the other hand, believed that its efforts were justified given the grave threat to U.S. security posed by communism. The committee employed several controversial methods to accomplish its goal of ferreting out suspected Communists. Typically, an individual who raised the suspicions of HUAC received a subpoena to appear before the committee.
Their defiant stands also placed them at center stage in a national debate over the controversial anti-communist crackdown that swept through the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Besides the Hollywood Ten, other members of the film industry with alleged communist ties were later banned from working for the big movie studios. HUAC fed off the hysteria of the cold war and anti-communism, paving the way for Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., to begin hearings in the Senate in 1953.
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Teachers need not have groups representing all seven; however, it is recommended that, for the sake of balance, at minimum there be groups for Disney, Johnston, Lawson, and Warner. When they are finished, ask students to make a list of activities that they might consider "un-American." Give them about ten or fifteen minutes to do so, then ask them what they have come up with. At the end of the lesson students might be asked to return to this list and compare it to the sorts of things HUAC actually investigated. This file contains excerpted versions of the documents used in the first and second activities, as well as questions for students to answer. Print out and make an appropriate number of copies of the handouts you plan to use in class.
Un-American Activities Committee, House (HUAC) Committee of the US House of Representatives, established (1938) to investigate political subversion. Created to combat Nazi propaganda, it began by investigating extremist political organizations. After World War 2, encouraged by Senator Joseph McCarthy, it attacked alleged communists in Hollywood and in the federal government. House of Representatives, investigated allegations of communist activity in the U.S. during the early years of the Cold War ( ). Established in 1938, the committee wielded its subpoena power as a weapon and called citizens to testify in high-profile hearings before Congress. This intimidating atmosphere often produced dramatic but questionable revelations about Communists infiltrating American institutions and subversive actions by well-known citizens.
Americans also felt the effects of the Red Scare on a personal level, and thousands of alleged communist sympathizers saw their lives disrupted. They were hounded by law enforcement, alienated from friends and family and fired from their jobs. While a small number of the accused may have been aspiring revolutionaries, most others were the victims of false allegations or had done nothing more than exercise their democratic right to join a political party. Edgar Hoover was quick to equate any kind of protest with communist subversion, including the civil rights demonstrations led by Martin Luther King Jr. Hoover labeled King a communist and covertly worked to intimidate and discredit the civil rights leader. The case of Herbert Mitgang on the F.B.I.'s wiretapping of Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, W. H. Auden, and others sheds light on the invasive tactics used by government agencies during this time period.
Episode 7: Are You Now or Have You Ever Been Hollywood Exiles CBC Podcasts - CBC.ca
Episode 7: Are You Now or Have You Ever Been Hollywood Exiles CBC Podcasts.
Posted: Mon, 04 Mar 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
In 1938 it became the House Un-American Activities Committee, and its first chair was Rep. Martin Dies Jr., D-Texas, who headed it until 1944. Under Dies, HUAC soon turned its attention toward investigating Communist Party infiltration and involvement in New Deal agencies, such as the Works Progress Administration. In 1939 it held hearings to investigate the WPA’s Federal Theatre Project, inquiring into whether any of its members or those who worked with it were communists.
When it was abolished in 1975, its jurisdiction, files, and staff transferred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. Chambers then produced microfilmed documents which he said Hiss had provided to him years earlier. Congressman Nixon made much of the microfilm, and it helped propel his political career.
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