(1938), congressional committee set up to investigate subversive activities. In the 1940s HUAC investigated labor unions, liberal organizations, peace groups, and New Deal agencies, holding highly publicized public hearings and using guilt by association to "prove" disloyalty. In 1947 HUAC focused on communism in Hollywood. Although the committee uncovered no wrongdoing, film executives refused to hire anyone on its
blacklist, a practice that spread to stage, radio, and television. The committee's 1948 investigation of the
Hiss case brought Richard M. Nixon to national prominence. Renamed the Internal Security Committee in 1969, it was abolished in 1975.
