HUAC

1. HUAC House Committee on Un-American Activities

2. What was the HUAC?? The Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was originally established in 1937 under the chairmanship of Martin Dies. The main objective of the HUAC was the investigation of un-American and subversive activities. The HUCA originally investigated both left-wing and right wing political groups. Some called for the leaders of the Ku Klux Klan to be interrogated by the HUAC. Martin Dies however was a supporter of the Klan and had spoken at several of its rallies. Other members of the HUAC such as John Rankin and John S. Wood were also Klan sympathizers. Wood defended the Klan by arguing that: "The threats and intimidations of the Klan are an old American custom, like illegal whisky-making." Eventually Ernest Adamson, the HUAC's chief counsel, announced that: "The committee has decided that it lacks sufficient data on which to base a probe." John Rankin added: After all, the KKK is an old American institution." Instead, the HUAC concentrated on investigating the possibility that the American Communist Party had infiltrated the Federal Writers Project and other New Deal projects.After Martin Dies ceased being chairman of the HUAC in 1944 he was followed by Edward Hart (1945), John S. Wood (1945-46), John Parnell Thomas (1947-48), John S. Wood (1949-1952) and Harold Velde (1953-54) and Francis Walter (1955-63). Other key figures on the HUAC included John Rankin of Mississippi, Karl Mundt of South Dakota and Richard Nixon of California.

3. The American Communist Party

4. Chairman of the Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) Martin Dies was born in Mitchell County, Texas, on 5th November, 1900. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1919. Dies then went on to study law at the National University in Washington before being admitted to the bar in 1920. He worked as a lawyer in Marshall and Orange before becoming a member of the faculty of East Texas Law School. A member of the Democratic Party, Dies was first elected to the Senate in 1931. A passionate anti-communist, Dies was the first chairman of the Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) that was established in 1937. The main objective of the HUAC was the investigation of un-American and subversive activities. This included looking at the possibility that the American Communist Party had infiltrated the Federal Writers Project and other New Deal projects. Dies served in Congress between 1931-45 and 1953-59. Martin Dies died in Lufkin, Texas, on 14th November, 1972.

5. Other Members of HUAC John Rankin was born in Bolanda, Mississippi, on 29th March, 1882. After graduating from the University of Mississippi in 1910 he admitted to the bar and worked as a lawyer in Clay County. In 1911 he was appointed prosecuting attorney of Lee County but joined the USA Army during the First World War. A member of the Democratic Party, Rankin was elected to Congress in 1921. Chairman of the Committee on World War Veterans' Legislation he was co-sponsor of the bill that created the Tennessee Valley Authority. After the Second World War he played a prominent role on the Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Rankin retired from politics in 1953 and afterwards worked in the real estate business. John Rankin died in Tupelo, Mississippi, on 26th November, 1960.