House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), a committee (1938–75) of the U.S. House of Representatives, created to investigate disloyalty and subversive organizations. Its first chairman, Martin Dies Dies, Martin, Jr. , 1901–72, American political leader, b. Colorado, Tex. A lawyer, he represented Texas as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1931–45; 1951–59).
..... Click the link for more information. , set the pattern for its anti-Communist investigations. The committee's methods included pressure on witnesses to name former associates, vague and sweeping accusations against individuals, and the assumption of an individual's guilt because of association with a suspect organization. Witnesses who refused to answer were cited for contempt of Congress. A highly publicized 1947 investigation 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 Chambers, Whittaker, 1901–61, U.S. journalist and spy, b. Philadelphia. He joined the U.S. Communist party in 1925 and wrote for its newspaper before engaging (1935–38) in espionage for the USSR.
..... Click the link for more information. made sensational accusations of Soviet espionage against former State Dept. official Alger Hiss Hiss, Alger , 1904–96, American public official, b. Baltimore. After serving (1929–30) as secretary to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Hiss practiced law in Boston and New York City.
..... Click the link for more information. ; those hearings kept the committee in the headlines and provided the first national exposure for committee member Richard Nixon Nixon, Richard Milhous, 1913–94, 37th President of the United States (1969–74), b. Yorba Linda, Calif. Political Career to 1968

A graduate of Whittier College and Duke Univ. law school, he practiced law in Whittier, Calif.
..... Click the link for more information. . Critics of the committee contended that it disregarded the civil liberties of its witnesses and that it consistently failed to fulfill its primary purpose of recommending new legislation. After 1950, Sen. Joseph McCarthy McCarthy, Joseph Raymond, 1908–57, U.S. senator from Wisconsin (1947–57), b. near Appleton, Wis. He practiced law in Wisconsin and became (1940) a circuit judge. He served with the U.S. marines in the Pacific in World War II, achieving the rank of captain.
..... Click the link for more information. borrowed many of the committee's tactics for his own Senate investigations. The committee (renamed the House Internal Security Committee in 1969) was abolished in 1975.

Bibliography

See study by W. Goodman (1968).

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, established in 1938 under Martin Dies as chairman, that conducted investigations through the 1940s and '50s into alleged communist activities. Those investigated included many artists and entertainers, including the Hollywood Ten, Elia Kazan, Pete Seeger, Bertolt Brecht, and Arthur Miller. Richard Nixon was an active member in the late 1940s, and the committee's most celebrated case was perhaps that of Alger Hiss. Its actions resulted in several contempt-of-Congress convictions and the blacklisting of many who refused to answer its questions. Highly controversial for its tactics, it was criticized for violating First Amendment rights. Its influence had waned by the 1960s; in 1969 it was renamed the Internal Security Committee, and in 1975 it was dissolved.

House Un-American Activities Committee

conducted investigations to purge government of foreign influences. [Am. Hist.: NCE, 1641]

See : Xenophobia

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No references found	1) The transfer finally came through in December 1937 (Rowley 138); during this time, Wright wrote several crucial pieces: his manifesto "A Blueprint for Negro Writing" appeared in New Challenge, and "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch" in the 1937 FWP anthology American Stuff attracted praise from critics and condemnation by the Congressional Dies Committee (later the House Committee on Un-American Activities). Native Geography: Richard Wright's Work for the Federal Writers' ... by Hathaway, Rosemary / African American Review One of the few constructive acts of the last Congress was the commissioning of the Dies Committee to investigate alleged subversive acts of individuals or groups against the United States and its form of government. 1938 Wood Products: the Dies investigation by Wood & Wood Products We are presented with a panorama reminiscent of the novel Ragtime: the machinations of capitalists dealing with Mussolini; the scratchy relationship between patron and artist exemplified by Nelson Rockefeller's hiring of Diego Rivera to paint a public mural; the McCarthy era adumbrated by the Dies committee grilling FTP head Hallie Flanagan about Communist infiltration. AH, THE THEATER - 'Cradle Will Rock' & 'Topsy-Turvy' by Alleva, Richard / Commonweal	dielectronic recombination dielectrophoresis Diels, Ludwig Diels, Otto Diels-Alder reaction Diem, Ngo Dinh Diemen, Anthony van Diemen, Anton van Dien Bien Phu Dien Bien Phu, Battle Dienas Lapa Dienbienphu Diencephalon diene diene resin Diene Synthesis diene value Dienes dienophile Dientzenhofer Diepenbeeck, Abraham van Diepenbrock, Alfons Dieppe Dierick Bouts Diervilla Dies Committee Dies irae Dies, Martin, Jr. Diesel diesel cycle diesel electric locomotive diesel electric power generation diesel engine Diesel Fuel diesel fuel additives diesel fuel grades diesel index diesel knock Diesel Locomotive Diesel Locomotive Engine Diesel Mining Locomotive diesel oil Diesel Power Plant diesel rig diesel squeeze Diesel, Rudolf Christian Karl diesel-electric diesel-fuel water and sediment dieseling diesinking Dieskau, Ludwig August, Baron	diereses dieresis dieresis dieresis dieretic DIERF Dierhia Dierhia Dierhia Dierick Bouts Dierik Dierik Dierks Bentley DIERL DIERR DIERS Diervilla Diervilla Diervilla lonicera Diervilla sessilifolia dies dies dies dies dies dies dies a death dies a death dies a death dies a death Dies Committee Dies datus Dies dominicus non est juridicus Dies fasti Dies fasti dies festus dies hard dies hard dies hard dies hard dies in harness dies in harness dies in harness dies in harness Dies inceptus pro completo habetur Dies incertus pro conditione habetur Dies Irae Dies Irae Dies iræ Dies iræ Dies Iraes Dies Iraes Dies juridicus Dies Laughing dies like flies dies like flies dies like flies dies like flies Dies nefasti Dies nefasti Dies nefastus

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1) The transfer finally came through in December 1937 (Rowley 138); during this time, Wright wrote several crucial pieces: his manifesto "A Blueprint for Negro Writing" appeared in New Challenge, and "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch" in the 1937 FWP anthology American Stuff attracted praise from critics and condemnation by the Congressional Dies Committee (later the House Committee on Un-American Activities).

Native Geography: Richard Wright's Work for the Federal Writers' ... by Hathaway, Rosemary / African American Review

One of the few constructive acts of the last Congress was the commissioning of the Dies Committee to investigate alleged subversive acts of individuals or groups against the United States and its form of government.

1938 Wood Products: the Dies investigation by Wood & Wood Products

We are presented with a panorama reminiscent of the novel Ragtime: the machinations of capitalists dealing with Mussolini; the scratchy relationship between patron and artist exemplified by Nelson Rockefeller's hiring of Diego Rivera to paint a public mural; the McCarthy era adumbrated by the Dies committee grilling FTP head Hallie Flanagan about Communist infiltration.

AH, THE THEATER - 'Cradle Will Rock' & 'Topsy-Turvy' by Alleva, Richard / Commonweal

House Un-American Activities Committee (redirected from Dies Committee)

Bibliography

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

House Un-American Activities Committee
(redirected from Dies Committee)