HUAC-4

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=The House Un-American Activities Committee=

The HUAC began as the Un-American Activities Committee which was a group of organized people that investigated the threat of subversion (overthrowing the government). Later, it expanded into the HUAC which investigated the same thing, but inside the US House of Representatives.

Basic Information
The HUAC was first established in 1938 when it was just an idea. But in 1945 it became permanent and was active for 30 years until 1975 when it was abolished. The committee was led by the ultra-conservative Texas democrat, Martin Dies. The committee was often called the Dies Committee because everything went through his decision, and he made a lot of them. Later the Dies Committee condemned the administration of the liberal Democratic president FDR for being to "soft" with the Soviet Union and "coddling" Reds.

The Un-American Activities Committee investigated the threat of subversion, but they expanded into the House of Representatives. There they mostly searched for Communist influences inside and outside the government and the House. The committee didn't separate Communists, Socialists, liberals, and others who were inside the government, they were all the same to them. The committee charged almost 1,121 government workers who were "sympathetic with totalitarian ideology," and to the committee, that meant communism.

This whole committee was important because at this time during and after World War 2, and into the Cold War, the government became paranoid with the Russians. The Arms Race became a competition of how many nuclear weapons one country could have at one time. At this time the government was very, VERY protective of their weapons and where they were keeping them. Russian spies inside the government would not be the best thing. That is what the HUAC most stopped, and if they hadn't, the war might have turned out differently.

Extra Focus
The HUAC like I said before charged 1,121 government workers, but the most famous of their investigations was the one of Alger Hiss. Hiss was a former high official of the Department of State, and an accused member of the Communist party. Whittaker Champers accused Hiss of belonging to the communist party in 1938. He was sent to a prejury trial and convicted in August of 1948. After this investigation weird things started happening.

After the Hiss investigation the HUAC looked for Communism in nearly every part of life. Public employees and a number of private industries soon had to take loyalty oaths just to stay with their jobs. Even people trying to get jobs were sometime turned down. If they were accused of being in Communist associations were //blacklisted// (denied employment) by some firms around the country. That is what happened after the HUAC actually found a high ranking Communist but then the rest of the country and every part of life was being watched.

Importance of Topic
The importance of this topic was that the HUAC was a very big deal during the Cold War because America and it's government were very involved with the Russians. The HUAC looked for Communism inside and outside the government, and also for the threat of subversion. Russian spies in America were bad but spies inside the government were even worse and incredibly dangerous because they could give out information of our nuclear weapons, or top secret files on the war itself. Without the HUAC and the Un-American Activities Committee, the Russians could have gotten information and had an advantage we could not have matched. If the HUAC was not formed, the outcome of the Cold War may have been much different.

Books
Cunningham, Jesse G, Ed. __The McCarthy Hearings__, San Diego, California; Greenhaven Press, 2003. Cohen, Daniel, __Joseph McCarthy: The Misuse of Power__, Brookfield, Connecticut; Milbrook Press, 1996.

Pictures
www.radfilms.com www.joserrapere.com

Website Info
Glickman, Harvey. "Un-American Activities Committee." //World Book Online Reference Center.// 2007. [Place of access. Date of access.] 