They did test whether or not people would squeal on other people
I have a strong hunch you are thinking here about "The Hollywood Ten," blacklisted screenwriters like Dalton Trumbo and Dashiell Hammett, the parade of movie stars such as Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Orson Welles, Jose Ferrer, Gary Cooper, etc., who came to Washington to testify and who either took the Fifth Amendment or named names of suspected Communists. This was all over the newsreels of the late 40s and early 50s, and is frequently shown in retrospectives on "McCarthyism" to this day.
There many myths about Joe McCarthy, and this is one of them.
These hearings were held by the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities, or HUAC. That committee began in the late 30s under Representative Martin Dies and lasted into the 50s. Joe McCarthy was never a member of the House of Representatives. He was a two-term Senator, and had no involvement in HUAC.
As to the famous "Army - McCarthy" hearings of the 1950s --- do you know that McCarthy was not the accuser, but rather the accused? He was actually the defendant in those hearings (stepping down as Chairman of his Senate committee), and Roy Cohn served as his defense attorney.
McCarthy was a demagogue of the first rank, but like all notorious historical figures, a lot of what is believed about him by people today is myth rather than truth.
(P.S. -- I am having a great time with my daughter, but am being worn out keeping up with her, and am on a short break now!) |
