house unamerican activities commission

an investigative body of the u.s. house of representatives.

best known for it's legitimate work in ferreting out the very real cancer of organized soviet infestation. for this, progressives speak of it in nasty terms, describing it's conduct as comprising a "witch hunt" against communists in influential positions. the characterization is only partly true. there were no such thing as witches, but there were soviet loyal and kgb-paid communists in high positions in government and public life.

but huac's original mission was a witch hunt, though progressives don't like to speak of it. huac was actually first convened ten years before the cold war even started. it was created to entertain a deranged conspiracy theory about wealthy businessmen raising a private army against fdr to overthrow the government and create a fascist regime. the conspiracy theory was based on the testimony of one dood.

ironically, huac was created by rep. samuel dickstein who, s we know beyond the shadow of a doubt thanks to documentation from the kgb archives, was on the soviet intelligence payroll.