Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

On 26 May 1938, the House of Representatives created this committee to hold hearings on Fascist, Nazi, Communist, or other “un-American” organizations under Representative Martin Dies (Democrat, Tex.). It became a standing committee on 3 January 1945. The committee was most active after 1947 under J. Parnell Thomas (Republican, N.J.) in the cold war , when it held highly publicized hearings on the influence of the C ommunist party within government, academia, and Hollywood. It investigated Alger H iss , but was not part of Joseph M c C arthy's inquisitions. It became discredited in the 1960s, was redesignated the Internal Security Committee in 1969, and was abolished in January 1975. ... log in or subscribe to read full text