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HUAC Informative Essay

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Informative Essay: How did the Accusations of the HUAC reflect the effects of the Cold War in the United States? The House Un-american Activities Committee, or HUAC, was one of the defining points of McCarthyism and the Cold War. Fueled by suspicion and distrust, the HUAC was formed to investigated private individuals and public figures who were suspected of engaging in subversive activities or having Communist ties (House Un-American Activities Committee). While it was established far before the Cold War, the HUAC reached it’s peak during the Red Scares of the Cold War, and represented the attitudes of many Americans during this time. The accusations of the HUAC were symptomatic of the culture of fear, particularly fear of being different, that the Cold War caused in the United States. HUAC investigations during this time targeted primarily at those …show more content…

In the transcript of a HUAC hearing, it can be seen that many were forced to self-incriminate, as if they pleaded the fifth amendment they would be unable to return to their jobs and their families, while pleading the first amendment would cause them to be sent to prison in contempt of the court (Lithwick). Terrence Hallinan, an eyewitness to HUAC trials, said in a statement that if anyone incriminated themselves as being Communist, the HUAC would investigate their close relations for Communist ties (Carlsson, Hallinan, and Jenkins). Active in Marxist circles as a youth, and close to many confirmed Communists and Marxists, Betty Fredian’s associations and relationships also caused her to become a target of the HUAC in this way (Boucher). This too embodies the extreme prejudice of individuals in the United States of people who identified as Marxist, Communist, or were otherwise far left leaning, to the extent that those around them were incriminated by

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Imagine the wicked House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) arrest an innocent man. The HUAC does not arrest the man because he has committed a murder, but because he is a communist. Many communists became victims of HUAC in the Red Scare crisis of the 1950s. These communists made the right decision to speak out for their freedom and against injustice. These communists also spoke out for their freedom of different beliefs.

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In the beginning of the Cold War, President Truman signed an executive order to investigate all employment of the Federal Government(Document 1). Audience for this order was not only people who hire people for Federal Government jobs, but also citizens. Even though the United States officially tried to ban communism, the President suggested eliminating communist ideas from society which instilled fear of communism. HUAC established in 1938 also increased the fear of communism by investigating communist(Document 2). This picture shows that HUAC uses its power to accuse people and spread the fear of “being communist”.

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During the red scare, many people feared communists and wanted those people to be gone. People have been questioned by the HUAC. One of those people was a famous Hollywood director named Ella Kazan. He was

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In The Cold War, the US and USSR were locked in a race to advance technologies, weapons, and defense to demonstrate which society was more powerful (“Cold War History”). Following World War II, American hysteria concerning Soviet Union infiltration prompted Senator Joseph R. McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee to enact a witch-hunt against possible Communists living in the United

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