Pau Lleonart Calvo
Mr. Speier
10B
5/24/15
HUAC Essay In the midst of the tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union after the end of WWII, the HUAC, or House Un-American Activities Committee, was created as an internal system of defense against communist influence within the United States. Established in 1938, the HUAC, a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, sought out and persecuted any group or individual suspected of being associated with any sort of Communist outlet within the United States. For a long time historians have wondered how crucial the HUAC was in the development of the Cold War. Indisputably, the HUAC was very significant in the development of the Cold War on the grounds that it spread fear within the U.S.’s…show more content… The HUAC investigations went into many areas of American life, but they paid special attention to this industry, which was believed to contain a large number of Communists. Major studios, out of fear, imposed a strict blacklist policy against actors, directors, writers, and other personnel involved in Communist activity. The film industry investigations reached their peak with the events surrounding the Hollywood Ten, a group of writers and directors who were called to testify in October 1947. The all-male group of screenwriters, producers and directors refused to cooperate with the investigation and used their HUAC appearances to denounce the committee’s tactics. All were cited for contempt of Congress and sentenced to prison terms, in addition to being blacklisted from working in Hollywood. This group included the Oscar-winning director Dalton Trumbo, known for the famous anti-war production: Johnny Got His Gun, and arguably the most talented of the blacklisted members of the Hollywood Ten. As a result of all this, some called the HUAC’s actions a witch hunt that crushed on citizens’ rights and ruined their careers and reputations, while defenders argued that it discovered important intelligence which reinforced national security.…show more content… Using its methods it created anti-communist hysteria within the U.S., regulated American culture by removing foreign ideas and implanting its own, and thoroughly weeded out threats to American culture, all of which raised the tensions between the two superpowers, creating a clash of cultures. The HUAC, for better or for worse, contributed to the development and escalation of the Cold War through its blatant denial of Communist ideals and individuals throughout the entire U.S., setting them apart as inferior and corruptive, creating the hatred between the two countries that we can now so easily recognize when we look back to this time.
Bibliography:
● "HUAC." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 15 May 2015.
● Schmidt, Regin. Red Scare: FBI and the Origins of Anticommunism in the United States, 1919-1943. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, U of Copenhagen, 2000. Print.
● Gladchuk, John Joseph. Hollywood and Anticommunism: HUAC and the Evolution of the Red Menace, 1935-1950. New York: Routledge, 2007.