The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and those organizations suspected of having communist ties. The committee’s anti-communist activities tied heavily to McCarthyism and played a key role in cracking down on supposed communists.
The HUAC was a key component in the paranoia and fear during the Second Red Scare. Its investigations into influential Americans led many people to hide from public view in fear of getting arrested for alleged communism.
- HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) went after Hollywood writers and directors who were suspected of being communists
- Richard Nixon led the investigations
- Hollywood Ten: refused to answer questions (5th amendment)di
- School libraries were searched for un-American books