- Apr 2017
- 298
- United Kingdom
(author's note; contrary to popular belief, the late Republican Senator from Wisconsin, Joseph "Tailgunner Joe " McCarthy never had anything to with HUAC- the House Un American Activities Committee, belonged to the Peermanent Committee on Investigations of the US Senate NOT the House)
The House Un-American Activities(then known as the Dies Commission was first formed in 1938 to investigate allegations of both Nazi and Soviet influence or propaganda in the US).
Its high point was when first Elizabeth Bentley and Whittaker Chambers (admitted Soviet agents) accused several prominent Americans- such as State Department official Alger Hiss of being spies for Soviet intelligence or the "Hollywood Ten" of sneaking rpo-Soviet propaganda themes into films produced during WWII(when the US and USSR were allies) such as "Song of Russia" "North Star" and most notoriously "Mission To Moscow".
After Stalin's death and the tentative "Thaw" between East and West, HUAC lost its ability to frighten its critics( the decline of demagogues like Joe McCarthy also played a role). In 1959, the late US President Harry Truman publicly called the HUAC "the most Un American Activity " around. Critics noted HUAC's sedulous ignoring of violent white supremacists such as the KKK or Minutemen as well as La Cosa Nostra(Mafia) leaders# arguably as guilty of "Un American activities " as any Communist Party hack.
Abbie Hoffman publicly thumbed his nose at HUAC, turning up after a subpoena dressed as a Continental(Revolutionary) war soldier.
The rising controversy over the Vietnam War in the US as well as the dawn of detente between the US and USSR sealed HUAC's fate- in 1969 it was renamed SSIS(Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security"#) and 1975 it was disbanded and its functions transferred to the House Judiciary Committee.
Significantly even during the chilliest periods of the Cold War, UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill expressly refused to set up a similar committee to investigate Britons accused of "un- or anti "British activities.
Terry
The House Un-American Activities(then known as the Dies Commission was first formed in 1938 to investigate allegations of both Nazi and Soviet influence or propaganda in the US).
Its high point was when first Elizabeth Bentley and Whittaker Chambers (admitted Soviet agents) accused several prominent Americans- such as State Department official Alger Hiss of being spies for Soviet intelligence or the "Hollywood Ten" of sneaking rpo-Soviet propaganda themes into films produced during WWII(when the US and USSR were allies) such as "Song of Russia" "North Star" and most notoriously "Mission To Moscow".
After Stalin's death and the tentative "Thaw" between East and West, HUAC lost its ability to frighten its critics( the decline of demagogues like Joe McCarthy also played a role). In 1959, the late US President Harry Truman publicly called the HUAC "the most Un American Activity " around. Critics noted HUAC's sedulous ignoring of violent white supremacists such as the KKK or Minutemen as well as La Cosa Nostra(Mafia) leaders# arguably as guilty of "Un American activities " as any Communist Party hack.
Abbie Hoffman publicly thumbed his nose at HUAC, turning up after a subpoena dressed as a Continental(Revolutionary) war soldier.
The rising controversy over the Vietnam War in the US as well as the dawn of detente between the US and USSR sealed HUAC's fate- in 1969 it was renamed SSIS(Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security"#) and 1975 it was disbanded and its functions transferred to the House Judiciary Committee.
Significantly even during the chilliest periods of the Cold War, UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill expressly refused to set up a similar committee to investigate Britons accused of "un- or anti "British activities.
Terry
