House Committee on Un-American Activities HUAC
The HUAC was establish in 1938 an went until 1975
The leader was Martin Dies Jr.
He was in office from March 4, 1931 Jan 3, 1945
its work was more aimed mostly at the german americans involved in Nazi and KKK
they did more to the Nazis then the KKK
the methods were pressure on witnesses to name former associates, vague and sweeping accusations against individuals guilt bc of assocation with a suspect
Witnesses that refused to answer were cited for contempt of congress
A highly publicized 1947 investagition of the entertainment industry led to prison sentences for contempt for a group of recalcitrant witnesses who became known as the Hollywood Ten
In 1948 whittaker chambers made sensational accusations of Soviet espionage against former State Dept. offical Alger his; those hearings kept the committee in the headlines and provieded the first national exposure for the committee member Richard Nixon
Joe Mccarthy and M
Joe was born on Nov. 14, 1908 in Appleton Wisconsin
Joe grew up on a farm and dropped out of school at 14
WW2 he enlisted for the marines
tried to paint himself as a warroir but only had a desk job
Politics were his playing feild
he got info from Jack anderson
used it to blackmail other politicains.
The first Red Scare in 1918
Armistice of 1918 which was the offical end of WW1
The red scare swept across the nation as americans realized that communism could very well take over the gov
incidents were also occuring within the country itself
immigrants were being deported in suspicion of terroristic or communitst affiliation
US born citizens were deported
Race Riots killed hundreds
bombs were being sent to high ranking capitals and other public officals throught the mail
Info was being leaked to teh public that the gov was traking suspected communist political officails
People feared that communism was taking over like wild fire
Back to McCarthy
Hoover head of the FBI gave him control to investigate all of the suspected communist
1946 a screening of 3000 gov workers and politicains was conducted some were known communist and others had other affiliations but few if any were regarded as much of a threat to the public
McCarthy would have been put on the list himself
he did these things to gain affction in public opinion
He knew that these people were harmless yet he was full of avarice, malice, and ill intent towards others
People began to criticize him only to be attacked by his allegations themselves
He used his smear tactics to defeat any of his critics who were up for reelection
Only one man a journalist by the name of Drew Pearson, seemed brave enough to fight McCarthy
He fought back and pearson lost his sponsors and lost much respect though he made progress as well
for the next few years McCarthy investigated every corner of the gov. this became known as Witch Hunts
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