The controversial nature of the FTP's productions would land it on the list of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).
The operational tactics of the House Committee to investigate Un-American Activities, or HUAC, illustrate the forces at work behind the demise of the American Communist Party. However, the committee would also serve as a political tool for political conservatives in an effort to reign in FDR’s New Deal prescriptions for ending the Great Depression.
“Living Newspapers” Attract HUAC’s Attention
An instructive example of a HUAC investigation is the committee’s hearings regarding the Works Progress Administration. As a part of Roosevelt’s New Deal, the WPA dispersed large amounts of federal dollars for public programs. One such New Deal program was the Federal Theatre Project which employed hundreds of entertainers, out of work due to the Great Depression. The program had accumulated a measure of popularity within the localities where it performed, but not without controversy.
The most popular and controversial activity of the FTP was the performance of “living newspapers.” In her 1963 book, Rousing the Nation, Laura Browder described the performances, “Derived from a theatrical form that had developed in the Soviet Union in the 1920’s, the Living Newspapers were collaboratively written plays based on news events of the day and drawn from documentary sources such as the Congressional Record.” The FTP dramatized issues pertaining to social justice, and at times the content was not flattering to the legislature that funded the theater.
HUAC’s Tactics Reawaken Fears of Communist Subversion
HUAC’s investigation of the FTP stemmed from allegations of communist infiltration within the theater’s ranks. In his book, The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941, Robert McElvaine wrote, “Right wing critics charged that such productions were propaganda for the New Deal – or for something worse.” HUAC members viewed the FTP as subversive den of communists, and the committee chairman was of the opinion that the New Deal, in general, was socialism in disguise.
The Head of the Federal Theatre Project, Hallie Flanagan, came face to face with the accusatorial tactics of HUAC, tactics that would foreshadow the committee’s impact going forward, into WWII and the Cold War. McElvaine recounts Flanagan’s hearing, “When she quoted Christopher Marlowe, one of the congressmen interrupted her to ask who Marlowe was and whether he was a Communist.” Such profound ignorance did very little to slow HUAC’s momentum.
HUAC’s report on the investigation was released on January 3, 1939. Interpreting the committee’s report, Browder wrote, “FTP employees are either communists or communist sympathizers.” Though this was a generalization lacking solid evidence, Congress eliminated the Federal Theatre Project, January 30, 1939. Regardless of how HUAC went about reaching their conclusion, their investigation of the FTP awoke a fear of communist subversion among the American public. This was a perception that had largely been put to bed at the onset of the Great Depression.
Despite Questionable Tactics, HUAC Allowed to Continue
In his 1939 Public Opinion Quarterly article, D.A. Saunders offered a very critical assessment of HUAC and its tactics: “Indeed, any investigating committee of its type, whether set up by the Senate or the House of Representatives, or jointly by both, has results which far transcend the narrow legalistic conception of its duties and prerogatives.” Saunders’ observation would prove prophetic as the committee shifted its focus away from its intended purpose of thwarting fascism to an acute attack on the political left. The committee had no judicial powers; however, it would publicly accuse men and women of subversion with little or no evidence to back its accusations.
Before the demise of the New Deal program, the executive branch had largely been able to legislate without resistance from conservative lawmakers. Roosevelt’s congressional foes now possessed power with which to combat the New Deal. The FTP was just the first to fall victim to the attack of HUAC. The committee would continue its tactics for more than another decade.
Sources:
Laura Browder, Rousing the Nation, Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 1963.
D.A. Saunders, “The Dies Committee: First Phase,” The Public Opinion Quarterly 3,2(Apr., 1939), 223-238.Robert S. McElvaine, The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941, New York: Three Rivers Press, 1993.
