House Committee on Un-American Activities

House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), committee of the United States House of Representatives that conducted widely publicized investigations of alleged subversive influences on American life during the 1940s and '50s. Its critics frequently accused it of using reckless and unfair tactics. Created on a temporary basis in 1938 to monitor the activities of foreign agents, it was made a standing committee of the House in 1945. in its early years it was often called the Dies Committee, after its first chairman, Texas Democratic representative Martin Dies, Jr., who aroused controversy by his charges of widespread disloyalty among government employees. Although it showed an interest in pro-Fascist groups during World War II, the HUAC was best known for its anti-Communist investigations, which were sometimes referred to as witch-hunts by opponents of the committee. In 1947, under the chairmanship of Democratic representative J. Parnell Thomas of New Jersey, the HUAC held hearings on Communist influence in the film industry, which resulted in the imprisonment of a group of writers, directors, and producers known as the Hollywood Ten. In 1948-49, future president Richard M. Nixon became known for his role in the committee's investigation of the alleged Soviet spy Alger Hiss (see Hiss Case). The HUAC became less active in the 1960s; its name was changed to the Committee on Internal Security in 1969, and it was abolished in 1975.