United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities

Created in 1938 as a special House committee and made a permanent standing committee in 1945, the House Committee on Un-American Activities investigated what it described as disloyal or subversive activity in the United States. Early on it looked into fascist and other extremist groups, but it became most closely associated with anti-communist investigations during and after World War II.

The committee is especially remembered for its public hearings involving government officials, labor activists, writers, and Hollywood figures. Those hearings helped fuel blacklists and a wider climate of fear during the Red Scare, and the committee’s name became closely tied to debates over free speech, due process, and political intimidation.

In 1969 it was renamed the House Committee on Internal Security, and in 1975 the House abolished it, transferring its remaining functions to the Judiciary Committee. Because this is a congressional body rather than an individual author, a single portrait-style profile image is not a good fit here.