61 Chicago-area Notables Call for Abolition of HUAC
Sixty-one notable people from the Chicago area on this day sent a petition to the sixteen Representatives from the area in the House of Representatives calling for the abolition of the House Un-American Activities (HUAC). The signers included Harold C. Urey, a Nobel Prize winning physicist at the University of Chicago.
The petition argued that HUAC serves “no valid legislative purpose.”
The petition cited the Supreme Court’s decision on June 17, 1957 reversing the Contempt of Congress conviction of John T. Watkins for not answering HUAC’s questions about his political associations. The Watkins decision was one of several on that day, famous as “Red Monday,” limiting Cold War anti-communist measures.
Read the fascinating book: Thomas Doherty, Show Trial: Hollywood, HUAC, and the Birth of the Blacklist (2018)
Read the History of HUAC: Walter Goodman, The Committee: The Extraordinary Career of the House Committee on Un-American Activities (1968)
Watch the History of HUAC on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1Z5aYU6x0o
Learn more about HUAC: http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/huac