The House Un-American Committee (HUAC)

Words: 530
Pages: 3
Open Document
When the Cold War started following World War II, anticommunism became a very strong movement in the late 1940s and the 1950s. During this time, the government began investigating people they suspected of being involved with communism. The House Un-American Committee (HUAC) was the governmental department responsible for investigating this, and included Richard Nixon. A group that this committee focused on was the movie industry, for several reasons, including the fact that during the 30s leftism, which is defined as “the advocating of liberal, socialist, or communist political and social change or reform” (Encarta Dictionary), was popular in the movie industry, as well as the concern that the movie industry could easily spread communist propaganda. …show more content…
However, there was one group of people who were not content with those actions and didn’t stop with just using their 5th Amendment protections and not answering questions. They also protested publicly that Congress was violating 1st Amendment rights. These men were known as the “Hollywood Ten,” a group comprised of screenwriters, producers, and directors. According to History.com, “…the individuals were admitted communists…” (History.com). The German Bertolt Brecht was another man also accused with this group. However, right after he was called to the hearings, he managed to escape from the country.
Because the men refused to answer any of the committee’s investigations, they were accused of contempt of Congress in 1947. They were tried by Congress in 1948 for this, and were all convicted. They received $1000 fines as well as a prison sentence that lasted from 6 months to a year, beginning in 1950 after the Supreme Court denied their appeal for a hearing. There was one man in this group, Edward Dmytryk, who did not stay committed to his cause like the others did. When he was in prison he decided to comply with the investigators and told the committee the names of many people who he thought were
Show More

Related Documents: The House Un-American Committee (HUAC)

Communism In The 1950s Essay

the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States intensified. Americans were worried about communism in the United States. It became known as the Red Scare” (History.com). The people and the United States were worried that communism was going to take over. When this happened the United States engaged in the war. They did not go to war with Russia. Another solution to the problem and that was The House Un-American Activities…

Words 490 - Pages 2

Red Scare Research Paper

place in HUAC…

Words 605 - Pages 3

With Direct Reference to at Least One Film, How Did Hollywood Address the Paranoid, Hysterical Political Climate of the 50s? Essay

player, Christopher Emanuel Balestro, “who was arrested in 1953 for supposedly committing a series of local robberies” (Genter, 2012, p. 133). The film was designed to criticise the American legal system as the police use “questionable methods” (Genter, 2012, p. 133) to establish the guilt of Balestro. This was similar to HUAC and how they would draw out a confession from the witness and force them to confess to the crime of communism. In the film, the police go to a number of lengths to accuse Balestro…

Words 1676 - Pages 7

Essay Comparing The Crucible And Joseph Mccarthyism

Americans have always been terrified of one thing: losing their country. Losing their country to Communism has been a worry since the 1940’s and ‘50’s. A man named Joseph McCarthy helped escalate this paranoia. The sense of paranoia, among other similarities, is clearly present in The Crucible more than any other work of modern literature. The most obvious way The Crucible relates to McCarthyism is how the residents of Salem are afraid of witchcraft taking over their village the same way that Americans…

Words 430 - Pages 2

The Crucible And Salem Witch Trials Essay

In both the The Crucible and the HUAC Trials, the events began because of one person: Abigail in The Crucible and McCarthy in the HUAC trials. According to The Tipping Point, it is human nature to be largely influenced by peers, and to adopt certain behaviors because of it. Mass hysteria rose in both cases as the general population felt anxious about the accusations, which allowed for the paranoia to spread. The real events portrayed in The Crucible and the HUAC Trials were plagued by fear, the…

Words 881 - Pages 4

How Did Joseph Mccarthy Cause Hysteria

Joseph McCarthy was a senator in Wisconsin during a Red Scare in 1950. He claimed to have a list of 205 people that he had suspected to be communists at his speech in West Virginia to get publicity. However, he only cited 81 of them and didn’t give out any useful information, that the police didn’t already know. With that he was not favored by many Republicans, his colleagues, and even President Eisenhower. Not only that, but he helped create a lot of the Red Scare fear that only caused hysteria…

Words 265 - Pages 2

Supreme Court Cases: The Golden Age Of Hollywood

powerhouse movie houses owned their own…

Words 678 - Pages 3

Essay on Social Movements

intolerance That the school had initiated towards students in protest. Students used to be able to pass Out pamphlets and such beyond the school on Telegraph Ave and the Bancroft Strip, However now with the help of the HUAC( House Un-American Activities Committee) their rights being taken away so sparked a chain of events In what was the first campus sit in Savio gave a speech stating: “ That there come a time when the machine becomes so repulsive, makes you so sick at heart, that…

Words 343 - Pages 2

President Hoover's Sacco-Vanzetti Response To The Great Depression

Definitions: Sacco-Vanzetti Case- The Sacco-Vanzetti case was a case that took place in the 1920’s, where two Italian-American anarchists were found guilty and executed for a crime, in which there was very little evidence linking them directly to the particular crime. The two men were accused of participating in a robbery at a local Massachusetts factory that resulted in the death of a security guard. Although there was very little evidence, their way of thinking that violence was an appropriate…

Words 786 - Pages 4

Essay Comparing The Crucible And Mccarthyism

There has been many major events that have made the world what it is today. The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism were two of these events. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible to emphasize the dreadful time that was going on in many parts of the world in 1962. The Crucible told real events of what happened in the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism. Both The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism have some similarities and differences. During this time there was a mass hysteria, which is a phenomenon…

Words 632 - Pages 3