House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

Excerpt from "One Hundred Things You Should Know About Communism in the U.S.A."

Reprinted from Thirty Years of Treason: Excerpts From Hearings Before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, 1938–1968, published in 1971

"[Question:] Why shouldn't I turn Communist? [Answer:] You know what the United States is like today. If you want it exactly the opposite, you should turn Communist. But before you do, remember you will lose your independence, your property, and your freedom of mind. You will gain only a risky membership in a conspiracy which is ruthless, godless, and crushing upon all except a very few at the top."

"O ne Hundred Things You Should Know About Commu-nism in the U.S.A." was the first in a series of pamphlets put out by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) to educate the American public about communism in the United States. In May 1938, U.S. representative Martin Dies (1900–1972) of Texas managed to get his favorite House committee, HUAC, funded. It had been inactive since 1930. The HUAC was charged with investigation of subversive activities that posed a threat to the U.S. government.

With the HUAC revived, Dies claimed to have gathered knowledge that communists were in labor unions, government agencies, and African American groups. Without ever knowing why they were charged, many individuals lost their jobs. In 1940, Congress passed the Alien Registration Act, known as the Smith Act. The act made it illegal for an individual to be a member of any organization that supported a violent overthrow of the U.S. government, the Communist Party being its main target. Even as World War II (1939–45) raged through Europe and in the Pacific, the stubborn Dies kept the HUAC alive until 1944, when bad health

and constant criticism of his irresponsible charges caused him to step down.

Another Southern conservative congressman, John E. Rankin (1882–1960) of Mississippi, insisted that the HUAC be reestablished in 1945, this time as a permanent, standing House committee. The HUAC soon compiled a list of at least forty groups it labeled as intent on promoting communist ideas. Next, in October 1947, it opened an investigation of the Hollywood film industry (see previous excerpt).

America's apprehensions over communist influence in America snowballed in 1948 with a series of events. J. Edgar Hoover (1895–1972), director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), likened communism to a disease spreading across America. Under the 1940 Smith Act, twelve leaders of the American Communist Party were tried and convicted. Elizabeth Bentley (1908–1963), an American-turned-Soviet spy, turned again and testified before the HUAC about a Washington-based spy ring of which she had been a member. Then, in August, Whittaker Chambers (1901–1961) broke the Alger Hiss case. Alger Hiss (1904–1996), a prominent U.S. State Department employee, was accused of turning over secrets to the Soviets in the late 1930s.

To educate the public, the HUAC began in 1948 a series of booklets that would help Americans identify and deal with communists. As reflected in their titles, the five booklets gave readers "one hundred things you should know about communism" as it pertained to the U.S.A., religion, education, labor, and government.

According to the HUAC, the booklets were intended "to help you know a Communist when you hear him speak and when you see him work."

Things to remember while reading "One Hundred Things You Should Know About Communism in the U.S.A.":

• The booklets were widely distributed across the country.
• Most Americans had no specific picture of what communism was, other than a looming threat.
• Although an honest attempt to educate, historians consider the booklets prime examples of U.S. propaganda.

Excerpt from "One Hundred Things You Should Know About Communism in the U.S.A."

When a Communist heads the government of the United States—and that day will come just as surely as the sun rises—the government will not be a capitalist government but a Soviet government, and behind this government will stand the Red army to enforce the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Sworn statement of WILLIAM Z. FOSTER, Head of the Communist Party in the United States.…

Every citizen owes himself and his family the truth about Communism because the world today is faced with a single choice: To go Communist or not to go Communist. Here are the facts.

1. What is Communism?

A system by which one small group seeks to rule the world.

2. Has any nation ever gone Communist in a free election?

No.

3. Then how do the Communists try to get control?

Legally or illegally, any way they can. Communism's first big victory was through bloody revolution. Every one since has been by military conquest, or internal corruption, or the threat of these.

CONSPIRACY is the basic method of Communism in countries it is trying to capture.

IRON FORCE is the basic method of Communism in countries it has already captured.

4. What would happen if Communism should come into power in this country?

Our capital would move from Washington to Moscow. Every man, woman, and child would come under Communist discipline.

5. Would I be better off than I am now?

No. And the next 17 answers show why.

6. Could I belong to a union?

Under Communism, all labor unions are run by the Government and the Communists run the Government. Unions couldn't help you get higher pay, shorter hours or better working conditions. They would only be used by the Communists to help keep you down.

More complete details are given in ONE HUNDRED THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT COMMUNISM AND LABOR.

7. Could I change my job?

No, you would work where you are told, at what you are told, for wages fixed by the Government.

8. Could I go to school?

You could go to the kind of school the Communists tell you to, AND NOWHERE ELSE. You could go as long as they let you AND NO LONGER.

You could read ONLY what the Communists let you; hear only what they let you, and as far as they could manage, you would KNOW only what they let you.

For details, see ONE HUNDRED THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT COMMUNISM AND EDUCATION.

9. Could I belong to the Elks, Rotary, or the American Legion?

No. William Z. Foster, the head of the Communists in the United States, says:

Under the dictatorship all the capitalist parties—Republican, Democratic, Progressive, Socialist, etc.—will be liquidated, the Communist Party functioning alone as the Party of the toiling masses.

Likewise will be dissolved, all other organizations that are political props of the bourgeois rule, including chambers of commerce, employers' associations, Rotary Clubs, American Legion, YMCA, and such fraternal orders as the Masons, Odd Fellows, Elks, Knights of Columbus, etc.

10. Could I own my own farm?

No. Under Communism, the land is the property of the Government, and the Government is run by the Communists.

You would farm the land under orders and you could not make any decisions as to when or where you would sell the produce of your work, or for how much.

11. Could I own my own home?

No. Under Communism, all real estate in the city as well as the country belongs to the government, which is in turn run by the Communists.

Your living quarters would be assigned to you, and you would pay rent as ordered.

12. What would happen to my insurance?

The Communists would take it over.

13. What would happen to my bank account?

All above a small sum would be confiscated. The rest would be controlled for you.

14. Could I leave any property to my family when I die?

No, because you wouldn't have any to leave.

15. Could I travel around the country as I please?

No. You would have to get police permission for every move you make, if you could get it.

16. Could I belong to a church?

In Russia, the Communists have for thirty years tried every way they could to destroy religion. Having failed that, they are now trying to USE religion from the inside and the same Party strategy is now operating in the United States of America. See ONE HUNDRED THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT COMMUNISM AND RELIGION.

17. Could I start up a business and hire people to work for me?

To do so would be a crime for which you would be severely punished.

18. Could I teach what I please with "academic freedom ?"

You would teach only what the Communists authorize you to teach.

You would be asking for jail or death to try anything else.

19. Could I do scientific research free of governmental interference and restrictions?

Police and spies would watch your every move. You would be liquidated on the slightest suspicion of doing ANYTHING contrary to orders.

20. Could I have friends of my own choice as I do now?

No, except those approved by the Communists in charge of your life from cradle to grave.

21. Could I travel abroad or marry a foreigner?

No, except those approved by the Communists in charge of your life from cradle to grave.

22. Could I exchange letters with friends in other countries?

With the police reading your mail, you could try—once.

23. Could I vote the Communists out of control?

No. See ONE HUNDRED THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT COMMUNISM AND GOVERNMENT, showing the facts of Communist government in other countries and the facts of Communism at work within OUR OWN government.

24. But doesn't Communism promise poor people a better life?

Communist politicians all over the world try in every way to break down nations as they are, hoping that in the confusion they will be able to seize control.

Promising more than you can deliver is an old trick in the history of the human race.

Compare Communism's promises with Communism's performances in countries where it has come to power.

25. What are some differences between Communist promise and Communist performance?

When it is agitating for power, Communism promises more money for less work and security against war and poverty. In practice, it has not delivered any of this, anywhere in the world.

26. But don't the Communists promise an end to racial and religious intolerance?

Yes, but in practice they have murdered millions for being religious and for belonging to a particular class. Your race would be no help to you under Communism. Your beliefs could get you killed.

27. Why shouldn't I turn Communist?

You know what the United States is like today. If you want it exactly the opposite, you should turn Communist. But before you do, remember you will lose your independence, your property, and your freedom of mind. You will gain only a risky membership in a conspiracy which is ruthless, godless, and crushing upon all except a very few at the top.

28. How many Communists are there in the world?

There are 20,000,000 Communists, more or less, in a world of 2,295,125,000. In other words, about one person in 115 is a Communist, on a world basis.

29. How many people are now ruled by Communism?

About 200,000,000 directly; 200,000,000 more indirectly, and an additional 250,000,000 are under daily Communist pressure to surrender.

30. Which countries are Communist controlled or governed?

Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Yugoslavia. Important regionsof Austria, Germany, China, Korea, Mongolia and Manchuria. Communism is concentrating now on immediate capture of Afghanistan, France, Greece, Latin America, Iran and Palestine. It has plans to seize every other country including the United States.

31. How many Communists are there in the United States?

There are approximately 80,000 out of a population of 145,340,000 people. J. Edgar Hoover has testified that "in 1917 when the Communists overthrew the Russian Government there was one Communist for every 2,277 persons in Russia. In the United States today there is one Communist for every 1,814 persons in the country."

32. Why aren't there more?

Because the Communist Party does not rely upon actual Party membership for its strength. J. Edgar Hoover testified: "What is important is the claim of the Communists themselves that for every Party member there are ten others ready, willing, and able to do the Party's work. Herein lies the greatest menace of Communism. For these are the people who infiltrate and corrupt various spheres of American life. So rather than the size of the Communist party the way to weigh its true importance is by testing its influence, its ability to infiltrate."

33. How are they organized?

Primarily around something they call a political party, behind which they operate a carefully trained force of spies, revolutionaries, and conspirators. The basic fact to remember is that Communism is a world revolutionary movement and Communists are disciplined agents, operating under a plan of war.

34. Where are their headquarters in the United States, and who is in charge?

Headquarters are at 35 East Twelfth Street, New York City. William Z. Foster, of 1040 Melton Avenue, New York City, has the title of "Chairman of the Communist Party of the United States," but Foster is actually just a figurehead under control of foreign operatives unseen by and unknown to rank and file Communists.

35. What is the emblem of the Communist Party in the United States?

The hammer and sickle.

36. What is the emblem of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union?

The hammer and sickle. It is also the official emblem of the Soviet Government.

37. What is the flag of the Communist Party in the United States?

The red flag, the same as that of all Communist Parties of the world.

38. What is the official song of the Communist Party of the United States?

The Internationale. Here is the Chorus: 'Tis the final conflict, Let each stand in his place; The International Soviet shall be the human race.

39. Do the Communists pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States?

The present head of the Communists in the United States had testified under oath that they DO NOT.

40. What is the Communist Party set-up?

At the bottom level are "shop and street units" composed of three or more Communists in a single factory, office, or neighborhood. Next is the section which includes all units in a given area of a city. Then come districts, composed of one or more States. At the top is the national organization, composed of a national committee and a number of commissions.

In the appendix of this pamphlet you will find listed the officers and address for each district of the Communist Party in the United States.

41. Who can become a member of the Communist Party of the United States?

Anybody over 17 years of age who can convince the Party that his first loyalty will be to the Soviet Union and that he is able to do the party's work as a Soviet agent. He must be an active member of a Party unit. He must obey ALL Party decisions. He must read the Party literature. He must pay dues regularly.

42. How do you go about joining the Party?

You must know some member in good standing who will vouch for you to his Party unit. Your acceptance still depends on the verdict of party officials that you WILL AND CAN obey orders.

43. Can you be a secret member?

All Communists are secret members until authorized by the Party to reveal their connection. Party membership records are kept in code. Communists have a real name and a "Party name."

44. Are meetings public like those of ordinary political parties?

No, meetings are secret and at secret addresses. Records are all secret and in code. Public demonstrations are held at regular periods.

45. What dues do you have to pay?

They are adjusted according to income. They may range from as low as 2 cents a week to $15 a week with special assessments in addition.

46. What do you have to promise?

To carry out Communist Party orders promptly. To submit without question to Party decisions and discipline. To work for "The triumph of Soviet power in the United States."

47. After you join, what do you have to do?

You have to obey the party in all things. It may tell you to change your home, your job, your husband, or wife. It may order you to lie, steal, rob, or to go out into the street and fight. It claims the power to tell you what to think and what to do every day of your life. When you become a Communist, you become a revolutionary agent under a discipline more strict than the United States Army, Navy, Marines, or Air Force have ever known.

48. Why do people become Communists then?

Basically, because they seek power and recognize the opportunities that Communism offers the unscrupulous. But no matter why a particular person becomes a Communist, every member of the Party must be regarded the same way, as one seeking to overthrow the Government of the United States.

49. What kind of people become Communists?

The real center of power in Communism is within the professional classes. Of course, a few poor people respond to the Communist claim that it is a "working class movement." But taken as a whole the Party depends for its strength on the support it gets fromteachers, preachers, actors, writers, union officials, doctors, lawyers, editors, businessmen, and even from millionaires.

50. Can you quit being a Communist when you want to?

The Communists regard themselves as being in a state of actual war against life as the majority of Americans want it. Therefore, party members who quit or fail to obey orders are looked on as traitors to the "class war" and they may expect to suffer accordingly when and as the Party gets around to them.

51. How does the Communist Party of the United States work, day by day?

The Communist Party of the United States works inside the law and the Constitution, and outside the law and the Constitution with intent to get control any way it can.

52. What are some types of Communist activities within the law?

Working their way into key positions in the schools, the churches, the labor unions, and farm organizations. Inserting Communist propaganda into art, literature, and entertainment. Nominating or seeking control of candidates for public office. The immediate objective of the Communist Party is to confuse and divide the majority so that in a time of chaos they can seize control.

53. What are some types of Communist activities outside the law?

Spying, sabotage, passport fraud, perjury, counterfeiting, rioting, disloyalty in the Army, Navy and Air Force.

54. What are some official newspapers or magazines of the Communist Party?

Daily and Sunday Worker, 50 East Thirteenth Street, New York City; Morning Friheit, 50 East Thirteenth Street, New York City; Daily Peoples World, 590 Folsom Street, San Francisco, Calif.; Masses and Mainstream, 832 Broadway, New York City; Political Affairs, 832 Broadway, New York City. There are also numerous foreign language publications.

55. Does the party also publish books and pamphlets?

Yes, thousands of them, through such official publishing houses as: International Publishers, 381 Fourth Street, New York City; Workers Library Publishers, 832 Broadway, New York City; New Century Publishers, 832 Broadway, New York City.

56. Does the party have public speakers and press agents?

Hundreds of them, paid and unpaid, public and secret, hired and volunteered, intentional and unintentional. Publicity seeking is one of the Party's principal "legal" occupations, intended to confuse people on all important issues of the day.

57. How does the Party get the money for all this?

At first it received money from Moscow but now it raises millions of dollars here in the United States through dues, foundations, endowments, special drives, and appeals.

58. Do only Communists carry out Communist work?

No. The party uses what it calls "Fellow Travelers" and "Front Organizations" in some of its most effective work.

59. What is a fellow traveler?

One who sympathizes with the party's aims and serves the party's purposes in one or more respects without actually holding a Party card.

60. Is he important in the Communist movement?

Vital. The fellow traveler is the HOOK with which the Party reaches out for funds and respectability and the WEDGE that it drives between people who try to move against it.

61. What is a Communist front?

An organization created or captured by the Communists to do the Party's work in special fields. The front organization is Communism's greatest weapon in this country today and takes it places it could never go otherwise—among people who would never willingly act as Party agents. It is usually found hiding among groups devoted to idealistic activities. Here are 10 examples out of hundreds of Communist fronts which have been exposed:

• 1. American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born.
• 2. American Slav Congress.
• 3. American Youth for Democracy.
• 4. Civil Rights Congress.
• 5. Congress of American Women.
• 6. Council for Pan-American Democracy.
• 7. International Workers Order.
• 8. National Committee to Win the Peace.
• 9. People's Institute of Applied Religion.
• 10. League of American Writers.

62. How can a Communist be identified?

It is easy. Ask him to name ten things wrong with the United States. Then ask him to name two things wrong with Russia. His answers will show him up even to a child. Communists will denounce the President of the United States but they will never denounce Stalin.

63. How can a fellow traveler be identified?

Apply the same test as above and watch him defend Communists and Communism.

64. How can a Communist front be identified?

If you are ever in doubt, write the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Room 226, House Office Building, Washington 25, D.C.

65. What do Communists call those who criticize them?

"Red baiters," "witch hunters," "Fascists." These are just three out of a tremendous stock of abusive labels Communists attempt to smear on anybody who challenges them.

66. How do they smear labor opposition?

As "scabs," "finks," "company stooges," and "labor spies."

67. How do they smear public officials?

As "reactionaries," "Wall Street tools," "Hitlerites," and "imperialists."

68. What is their favorite escape when challenged on a point of fact?

To accuse you of "dragging in a red herring," a distortion of an old folk saying that originally described the way to throw hounds off the track of a hot trail.

69. What is the difference in fact between a Communist and a Fascist?

None worth noticing.

70. How do Communists get control of organizations in which the majority are not Communists?

They work. Others won't.

They come early and stay late. Others don't.

They know how to run a meeting. Others don't.

They demand the floor. Others won't.

They do not hesitate to use physical violence or ANY form of persecution. They stay organized and prepared in advance of each meeting. The thing to remember is that Communists are trained agents under rigid discipline, but they can always be defeated by the facts.

71. When was the Communist party of the United States organized and where?

September 1919, at Chicago.

72. Has it always been called by its present name?

No. Here are the recorded, official name changes:

1919—Communist Party of America, and the Communist Labor Party of America.

1921—The above parties merged into the United Communist Party of America.

1922—The Communist Party of America and the Workers Party of America.

1925—The above merged into one organization known as Workers (Communist) Party of America.

1928—Communist Party of the United States.

1944—Communist Political Association.

1945 to present—Communist Party of the United States of America.

73. Why has it changed its name so often?

To serve Moscow and evade the law of the United States.

74. Why isn't the Communist Party a political party just like the Democratic and Republican parties?

Because it takes orders from Moscow.

75. Are the Communists agents of a foreign power?

Yes. The sworn testimony of several former members of the Communist Party who have spent years in being trained in Communistwork, partly in Moscow, gives evidence to this. Official Communist publications in the files of the committee also bear out this fact.

76. Where can a Communist be found in everyday American life?

Look for him in your school, your labor union, your church, or your civic club. Communists themselves say that they can be found "on almost any conceivable battlefront for the human mind."

77. What States have barred the Communist Party from the ballot?

Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

78. How does Communism expect to get power over the United States if it cannot win elections?

The Communists only compete for votes to cover their fifth-column work behind a cloak of legality. They expect to get power by ANY means, just so they get it. The examples of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and other countries in Europe show just how many methods Communism applies. In each country different details—in all the same results.

79. Why don't Communists over here go to Russia if they like that system so much?

They are on duty here to take over this country. They couldn't go to Russia even if they wanted to, except on orders from Moscow.

80. Which Communists get such orders?

High Party officials and special agents who are to be trained in spying, sabotage, and detailed planning for capture of this country.

81. Where are they trained in Moscow?

The Lenin Institute, a college in revolution which teaches how to capture railroads, ships, radio stations, banks, telephone exchanges, newspapers, waterworks, power plants, and such things.

82. Does Stalin let American Communists in to see him?

Yes. Earl Browder and William Z. Foster, the two heads of the Party for the last 20 years, have both admitted under oath that they conferred with Stalin. The records show that Browder, for instance, made 15 known trips to Moscow, several with false passports.

83. Are American Communists used in the Soviet Secret Service?

Yes, here are the names of a few such agents proved on the public records: Harry Gold, Julia Wadleigh, Nicholas Dozenberg, George Mink, Philip Aronberg, Charles Dirba, Pascal Cosgrove, J. Mindel, Alexander Trachtenberg, Julia Stuart Poyntz, Jack Johnstone, Charles Krumbein, and Albert Feirabend.

84. What central organization controls all the Communist Parties of the world?

An organization originally set up in Moscow by the Government of Russia, and known as the "Communist International" called Comintern for short. It has since changed its name to "Communist Information Bureau" and is known as the Cominform.

85. Who is the most important Communist in the United States today?

The Cominform representative.

86. Why is he here?

To see that American Communists follow the orders of the Soviet-directed Cominform in all things.

87. Do they?

Yes.

88. Has any representative of this central organization ever been caught?

Yes. For example, over a period of 12 years one Gerhart Eisler, alias Brown, alias Edwards, alias Berger, did such work, making regular trips between the United States and Europe. On February 6, 1947, his activities were exposed by the House Committee on Un-American Activities and he has since been convicted in court of perjury and contempt of Congress.

89. What is the best way to combat Communism?

Detection, exposure, and prosecution.

90. Are these being done?

Millions of dollars have been spent by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Army and Navy Intelligence, and other executive agencies to detect and keep track of Communists since the Party's organization in this country a generation ago. Exposure in a systematic way began with the formation of the House Committee on Un-AmericanActivities, March 26, 1938. Prosecution of Communists, as such, has never taken place in this country, as yet.

91. Have any Communists been prosecuted on other grounds?

Yes. For violations of such laws as those governing passports, immigration, perjury, criminal syndicism, and contempt.

92. Is this enough?

No. The House of Representatives maintains this Committee on Un-American Activities to study the problems of Communism and all other subversive movements and recommend new laws if it feels they are needed.

93. Has the Committee made any such recommendations?

Yes. On September 22, 1950, H.R. 9490 was passed by both the House and the Senate, and became Public Law 8 3I, eighty-first Congress, second session, "the Internal Security Act of 1950."

94. What does this law do?

The main points are: To expose Communists and their fronts by requiring them to register publicly with the Attorney General and plainly label all their propaganda as their own.

To forbid Communists passports or Government jobs. To make it illegal for ANYBODY to try to set up in this country a totalitarian dictatorship having ANY connection with a foreign power. To prevent Communists and members of other totalitarian parties from entering the United States.

95. What is Communism's greatest strength?

Its secret appeal to the lust for power. Some people have a natural urge to dominate others in all things. Communism invites them to try. The money, hard work, conspiracy, and violence that go into Communism, add up to a powerful force moving in a straight line toward control of the world.

96. What is Communism's greatest weakness?

The very things that give it strength. For just as some people have a natural lust to dominate everybody else, so do most people have a natural determination to be free. Communism can dominate only by force. Communism can be stopped by driving every Communist out of the place where he can capture power.

97. What is treason?

Our Constitution says that "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court."

98. Are the Communists committing treason today?

The Soviet Union has launched what has been called a "cold war" on the United States. Therefore, Communists are engaged in what might be called "COLD WAR TREASON." If our war with Communism should ever change from "cold" to "hot" we can expect the Communists of the United States to fight against the flag of this country openly.

99. What should I do about all this?

Know the facts. Stay on the alert. Work as hard against the Communists as they work against you.

100. Where can I get information about Communism regularly?

Write the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Room 226, Old House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

What happened next …

In 1949, the National Education Association, which represented public school teachers, declared communists "unfit" to teach in schools. Many universities also agreed that communists could not be professors. Many state governments required loyalty oaths that made employees swear they were not part of any communist organization. If they refused on the grounds that loyalty oaths violated an individual's liberties, then they could lose their job. Jackie Robinson (1919–1972), the first black Major League baseball player, testified before the HUAC about civil rights groups and communists. Then in 1950, U.S. senator Joseph R. McCarthy (1909–1957) of Wisconsin began his infamous four-year witch-hunt of accusing Americans of being communists, or traitors to their countries.

Did you know …

• The HUAC hoped the one hundred question-answer format of the booklets would help anyone who got in a debate with a communist sympathizer to "destroy his arguments completely."
• In three short years, from the end of World War II in August 1945 to the publication of this booklet, the democratic United States and the communist Soviet Union had gone from being allies to being enemies.
• In 1969, the HUAC was renamed the Internal Security Committee. Six years later, in 1975, the committee was abolished and its responsibilities were given to the House Judiciary Committee.

Consider the following …

• Seek out the HUAC's answer to "Could I go to school?" How is your schooling currently different from what it would be under communism, according to this pamphlet?
• In question number 30 of the excerpt, locate countries already listed under communist on a map. Draw an iron curtain.
• What is meant by a communist "front" organization?

For More Information

Books

Beck, Carl. Contempt of Congress: A Study of the Prosecutions Initiated by the Committee on Un-American Activities, 1945–1957. New York: Da Capo Press, 1974.

Bentley, Eric, ed. Thirty Years of Treason: Excerpts from Hearings Before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, 1938–1968. New York: Viking Press, 1971.

Carr, Robert K. The House Committee on Un-American Activities, 1945–1950. New York: Octagon Books, 1979.

Donner, Frank J. The Un-Americans. New York: Ballantine Books, 1961.

Kahn, Gordon. Hollywood on Trial: The Story of the 10 Who Were Indicted. New York: Boni & Gaer, 1948.