Dig Into History: What is America to Me?

"What is America to me?" Frank Sinatra sang to a group of young hooligans in an RKO short film called "The House I Live in.", opens a new window This was 1945, a year the world saw the liberation of appalling death camps in Europe. The war had been the end result of extreme intolerance and racism, and, while the song's idealism was not always matched by the experience of some American soldiers who returned Stateside, its hopeful lyrics "All races and religions/That's America to me", remained popular for decades. The song was covered by many artists, and taught to children in schools into the Civil Rights and Vietnam War years, finding new fans as late as the September 11, 2001 attacks.

"The House I Live In", was one of several propaganda pieces to come out of Hollywood to help the Allied war effort against the Nazi regime in Germany and the Japanese Empire that came to be known as World War II. But what is not as well known is how many of the people involved in the production of this hymn to tolerance wound up accused, investigated, or blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee, or HUAC.

Established as a select committee in 1938, opens a new window, the panel initially investigated domestic fascist groups, especially Nazis. It then became a soapbox for denouncing President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs. As tensions with the Soviets heated up after the end of the war in Europe, private citizens, public employees and organizations could be called before this committee and asked the dreaded question "Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist party?".

Those who didn't like its tactics hoped the committee would fade away. But instead it was revived, became a standing committee, and actually expanded its mission. Its accusations could be devastating and just being accused could ruin a life. Worse, it encouraged denunciations and set activists and ordinary people against one another in a blaze of domestic fear stoked by its sensational and often unsubstantiated investigations. 

From 1950-1954, Senator Joseph McCarthy conducted a campaign against alleged communists in the U.S. government and other institutions, accusing Federal Government employees of having affiliations with communism and of leaking classified information to the Soviet Union. His efforts came to be called McCarthyism. In addition, President Truman signed Executive Order 9835, opens a new window in 1947, which was an official, executive-branch initiative that screened over 3 million federal employees for subversion using FBI and other records. 

The Cold War blurred the lines of civil liberties and national security. Some Americans felt that their personal freedoms were being taken away, while others believed HUAC and McCarthyism were necessary for national security. 

Civil rights activists attracted the attention of HUAC. So did labor union activists. HUAC was especially suspicious of people in entertainment, opens a new window and news organizations, aware of the potential reach of propaganda. One of their most infamous attacks was against the so-called Hollywood Ten. Among the Federal programs that lost their funding due to investigation by HUAC were New Deal programs providing work for Americans in hard times, such as the Works Progress Administration programs Federal Theatre Project, Federal Writers' Project, opens a new window, and Federal Music Project. Anti-Vietnam war protesters, opens a new window were targeted on grounds they sided with the communist North Vietnamese. 

In 1969 the HUAC was renamed the Internal Security Committee, and in 1975 it was dissolved and its functions transferred to the House Judiciary Committee, opens a new window.

To learn more, search the library catalog, opens a new window or GovInfo, opens a new window for "un-American activities".