HUAC: Executive
Order 9835
Harry S Truman was
the 33rd American President who served in office from April 12, 1945 to January 20, 1953. One of the important events during his presidency was the
growth in prominence of the HUAC.
HUAC Facts
for kids
The following fact
sheet contains interesting information, history and
facts on HUAC for kids.
HUAC
Facts for kids
HUAC
Facts - 1:
What does HUAC stand for? HUAC stands for the House of
Un-American Activities Committee and investigated
suspicions of Communist subversion or propaganda by
influential people in American society.
HUAC
Facts -
2: Although the House
Committee on Un-American Activities was established in
1938, it became a permanent committee in 1945.
HUAC
Facts - 3:
World War 2 (1939 - 1945) ended the threat of Fascism
and Nazism when another threat to the stability of the
West was sparked by fears of the spread of
Communism which led to the second Red Scare and the
start of the
Cold
War.
HUAC
Facts - 4: President Truman issued
Executive Order 9835 on November 25, 1946 which established the
Loyalty Review Program that
required government employees to be screened in order to root out
Communist influence in the federal government.
HUAC
Facts - 5: The Loyalty Review
Program required government employees screened in order
to root out Communist influence in the federal
government and
added increased the fear of Communism that was sweeping
the nation. The "Communist Witch Hunts" started and saw
the rise in power and prominence of HUAC and FBI
Director J. Edgar Hoover.
HUAC
Facts - 6: FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
was not satisfied with screening government employees and in 1947 he
went before HUAC to urge them to hold public hearings on people and
celebrities suspected of being involved in Communist infiltration
and subversion.
HUAC
Facts -
7: J. Edgar Hoover
insisted that the open hearings would highlight the
activities of those engaged in un-American activities
and also expose Communist sympathizers. Once exposed
these people would lose their influence with the
American public.
HUAC
Facts - 8: J. Edgar Hoover sent out FBI agents who
wiretapped thousands of telephones and infiltrated suspicious
groups.
HUAC
Facts - 9: The first wave of hearings
began in 1947 and the House of Un-American Activities Committee
started investigations into the Hollywood movie industry. Ronald
Reagan, who at this time was head of the Screen Actors Guild,
testified that there were Communists working in Hollywood. Under the
new leadership of Ronald Reagan, the Screen Actors Guild required
all members to take an oath of loyalty to the US government.
HUAC
Facts - 10: Ten screenwriters, who would
become known as the "Hollywood Ten", refused to operate with the
committee and used the Fifth Amendment to protect themselves from
self incrimination.
HUAC
Facts - 11: The names of the
"Hollywood Ten" included writers John Howard Lawson,
Alvah Bessie, Lester Cole, Ring Lander Jr., Albert Maltz,
Sam uel Ornitz, and Dalton Trumbo. Writer and producer
Adrian Scott and writer and director Herbert Biberman
were also called to testify.
HUAC
Facts - 12:
The House of Un-American Activities Committee failed to
treat the "Hollywood Ten" with respect and refused to allow most of
them to speak for more than a few words, whilst the friendly
witnesses who cooperated with the Committee were allowed to speak at
length.
HUAC
Facts - 13: The “Hollywood
Ten” refused to answer questions and vehemently
denounced the committee. The writers were held in
contempt of Congress which led to brief prison terms for
all ten
HUAC
Facts -
14: Ant-communist hysteria in Hollywood
led to influential movie producers drawing up a
blacklist agreeing not to hire anyone believed to be a
communist. People could be added to the blacklist for
criticizing the HUAC or making chance remarks.
Continued...
HUAC
Facts for kids (House of Un-American Activities
Committee)
Facts
about HUAC Facts for kids
The following fact
sheet continues with interesting information, history and facts
on HUAC for kids.
HUAC
Facts for kids
HUAC
Facts - 15: A number of Hollywood actors
and actresses went to Washington to protest against the activities
of the HUAC. The celebrities included Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart
and Danny Kaye, who organized the Committee for the First Amendment
HUAC
Facts - 16: On June 22, 1950,
a pamphlet entitled Red Channels (Report of Communist
Influence in Radio and Television) was published by
former FBI agents. Focused on the field of broadcasting,
Red Channels identified 151 entertainment industry
professionals in the context of "Red Fascists and their
sympathizers." Soon most of those named Red Channels,
along with a number of other artists, were barred from
employment in most of the entertainment field.
HUAC
Facts - 17: Some of the first celebrities
blacklisted included Paul Robeson, Larry Adler, Leonard Bernstein,
Will Geer, Lena Horne, Langston Hughes, Burl Ives, Burgess Meredith,
Dorothy Parker, Edward G. Robinson and Orson Welles.
HUAC
Facts - 18: In 1951 a second round of
hearings was televised across the nation, reopening the
investigation into communist activity in Hollywood and even more
entertainers were implicated.
HUAC
Facts - 19: In all, a total of 324 people were blacklisted
and prevented from working in Hollywood.
HUAC
Facts -
20: Charlie Chaplin
was such a concern to the FBI that J. Edgar Hoover
attempted to have him deported. When Charlie Chaplin
left the US in 1952 to promote his movie Limelight, J.
Edgar Hoover collaborated with the Immigration and
Naturalization Service to revoke his re-entry permit.
Charlie Chaplin decided to stay in Europe and only
returned for a brief visit in 1972 to collect an
Honorary Oscar
HUAC Facts -
21: Most of the major movie
studios produced anti-communist movies and anti-Soviet propaganda
films such as The Red Menace, Big Jim McLain, Guilty of Treason, The
Red Danube, I Married a Communist, Red Planet Mars, and I Was a
Communist for the FBI.
HUAC
Facts - 22: The anti-communist
hysteria led other investigations as J. Edgar Hoover and
the FBI became suspicious of minority groups. In 1949
the HUAC subpoenaed Jackie Robinson, Major League
Baseball’s first African American player, who had ties
with the NAACP, to testify about the infiltration of
Communism into Minority Groups.
HUAC
Facts - 23:
In 1948 a Time Magazine editor called Whittaker Chambers
testified to the HUAC that several government officials were
Communists or spies. His allegations against a diplomat named
Alger Hiss resulted in a much
publicized libel case.
HUAC
Facts - 24: The actions and
publicity surrounding the HUAC increased the fear of
communism and the Red Scare escalated as members of
universities were required to take loyalty oaths and
Catholic groups encouraged its members to identify
Communists in the church. The Taft-Hartley act was
passed by the U.S. Congress in 1947 that required Union
leaders to take oaths that they were not Communists
HUAC
Facts - 25: In addition to the
publicity surrounding the activities of the House of
Un-American Activities Committee there were sensational,
high profile Communist spy cases such as the Rosenberg
case in which Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were charged
with heading a Soviet spy ring and were executed in June
1953.
HUAC
Facts - 26: In 1952 Senator Joseph
McCarthy became chairman of the Senate sub-committee on
investigations. McCarthy's tactics of damaging reputations of
Americans with vague and unfounded charges, taken from the
investigation model used by HUAC, became known as
McCarthyism.
HUAC
Facts - 27: The actions of the
HUAC therefore became associated with McCarthyism,
although Joseph McCarthy had no direct involvement with
the House of Un-American Activities Committee.
HUAC
Facts - 28: In 1956,
playwright Arthur Miller was required to testify before
HUAC about his political leanings. Suspicions were
aroused due to Arthur Miller's play The Crucible which
was about the witch hunts that took place in Salem,
Massachusetts but also subtly referred to the 'communist
witch hunts' in America in the 1950s.
HUAC
Facts - 29: The downfall of
Senator Joseph McCarthy in the late 1950s led to a
decline in the prestige of the HUAC. By 1959, the HUAC
was denounced by former President Harry S. Truman as the
"most un-American thing in the country today..."
HUAC
Facts - 30: In 1969 in an
attempt to reinvent itself, the HUAC was renamed as the
Internal Security Committee. The House Committee on
Internal Security, previously known as the House of
Un-American Activities Committee, was formally
terminated on January 14, 1975.
HUAC
Facts for kids (House of Un-American Activities
Committee)
HUAC - President Harry Truman Video
The article on the
HUAC provides detailed facts and a summary of one of the important events during his presidential term in office. The following
Harry Truman video will
give you additional important facts and dates about the political events experienced by the 33rd American President whose presidency spanned from April 12, 1945 to January 20, 1953.
HUAC - House of
Un-American Activities Committee
●
Interesting Facts about HUAC and McCarthyism for kids and schools
●
Summary and Definition of HUAC in US history
●
HUAC and McCarthyism Facts with important dates and key
events
●
HUAC Facts with important dates and key
events
●
Fast, fun, interesting
facts about HUAC and McCarthyism
●
Foreign & Domestic
policy of President Truman
● McCarthyism and House
of Un-American Activities Committee facts for schools,
homework, kids and children |