Reports of the Commmittee on Un-American Activities

Just a small sample of the vast work undertaken by the infamous House Committee on Un-American Activities.

This interesting assortment of printed reports was published mostly between 1957 and 1958 (one outlier from 1970) by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C. They provide a small view into the almost maniacal anti-Communist attitudes of the era through the lens of the House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). The contents of the collection, just a fraction of the overall work of the committee, are as follows:

• The Communist Conspiracy Strategy and Tactics of World Communism Part 1: Communism Outside the United States (1956, 528 pages)
• Organized Communism in the United States (1958, 153 pages); The Erica Wallach Story (1958, 79 pages); Annual Report for the Year 1957 (1958, 82 pages)
• Investigation of Communism in the Metropolitan Music School, Inc., and Related Fields (1957, 2 parts of 154 and 129 pages)
• The Communist Party of the United States of America…A Handbook For Americans (1956, 101 pages); Investigation of Soviet Espionage (1958, Part 2 Only, 49 pages)
• Who Are They? (1957- 1958, 4 parts each 7-12 pages)
• Staff Consultation with Constantine Brown (1957, 20 pages)
• American Shortcomings in Negotiating with Communist Powers (1970, 17 pages)
• “Operation Abolition” The Campaign…by the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee and its Affiliates (1957, 19 pages)
• Staff Consultation with August Rei (1957, 15 pages); Ideological Fallacies of Communism (1957, 25 pages)
• Communist Propaganda Activities in Canada – Consultation with Milan Jakubec (1958, 16 pages)
• A Communist Program for World Conquest – Consultation with Gen. Albert Wedemeyer (1958, 35 pages)
• Chronicle of Treason (1958, 35 pages); Excerpts of Consultation with Counterspy Boris Morros (1957, 21 pages)
• The Communist Mind – Staff Consultation with Frederick Charles Schwarz (1957, 14 pages)

The HUAC was a U.S. congressional committee established in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities by individuals or organizations suspected of having communist ties. It became particularly prominent during the early Cold War period, conducting high-profile hearings that targeted Hollywood figures, government employees, and others. HUAC’s methods, including aggressive questioning and public accusations, drew criticism for undermining civil liberties and promoting a climate of fear. The committee’s influence waned in the 1960s, and it was formally disbanded in 1975. By 1957, membership in the Communist Party had fallen to around 10,000, many of whom were working as informants for the FBI.