Why was hollywood investigated during huac




















Skip to main navigation Skip to main content. Toggle Panel. Image Details. Back to the Knowledge Theme. Its defenders argued it uncovered vital information that bolstered national security, while critics charged it was a partisan tool bent on discrediting the New Deal programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt As tensions between the U. Particularly after , HUAC assumed new heights of prominence and notoriety, and the committee conducted a series of high-profile hearings alleging that Communists disloyal to the U.

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.

During the hearing, the suspected Communist was grilled about his or her political beliefs and activities and then asked to provide the names of other people who had taken part in allegedly subversive activities. In addition, those who refused to cooperate were often blacklisted by their employers. They lost their jobs and were effectively prevented from working in their chosen industry. 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. The HUAC investigations delved into many areas of American life, but they paid special attention to the motion picture industry, which was believed to harbor a large number of Communists.

Not wishing to get on the wrong side of Congress or the movie-going public, most film industry executives did not speak out against the investigations. In addition, many of the major studios imposed a strict blacklist policy against actors, directors, writers and other personnel implicated 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 All were cited for contempt of Congress and sentenced to prison terms, in addition to being blacklisted from working in Hollywood. HUAC also sounded an alarm about Communists infiltrating the federal government. The most infamous case began in August , when a self-confessed former member of the American Communist Party named Whittaker Chambers appeared before the committee.

During his dramatic testimony, Chambers accused Alger Hiss , a former high-ranking State Department official, of serving as a spy for the Soviet Union. Based on allegations and evidence provided by Chambers, Hiss was found guilty of perjury and served 44 months in prison. 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 s and early s. Besides the Hollywood Ten, other members of the film industry with alleged communist ties were later banned from working for the big movie studios.

The Hollywood blacklist came to an end in the s. Although the U. The House Un-American Activities Committee was charged with investigating allegations of communist influence and subversion in the U. Committee members quickly settled their gaze on the Hollywood film industry, which was seen as a hotbed of communist activity.

This reputation originated in the s, when the economic difficulties of the Great Depression increased the appeal of leftist organizations for many struggling actors and studio workers. With the dawning of the Cold War, anti-communist legislators grew concerned that the movie industry could serve as a source of subversive propaganda.

Although popular Hollywood films of the s and s offered little evidence of an overriding Socialist agenda, the investigation proceeded. In October , more than 40 people with connections to the movie industry received subpoenas to appear before HUAC on suspicion of holding communist loyalties or being involved in subversive activities.

During the investigative hearings, members of HUAC grilled the witnesses about their past and present associations with the Communist Party.

Aware that their answers could ruin their reputations and careers, most individuals either sought leniency by cooperating with investigators or cited their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. These men, who became known as the Hollywood Ten, not only refused to cooperate with the investigation but denounced the HUAC anti-communist hearings as an outrageous violation of their civil rights, as the First Amendment to the U.

Constitution gave them the right to belong to any political organization they chose. In November , they were cited for contempt of Congress. After unsuccessfully appealing the verdicts, they began serving their terms in



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