Congress investigates communist influence in Hollywood

By 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee had spent nearly a decade hunting communist influence in American life, and now it set its sights on the film capital of the world. On October 20, 1947, HUAC opened hearings in Washington into alleged communist infiltration of Hollywood, summoning studio executives, directors, and screenwriters to testify. Ten witnesses refused to answer the committee's questions and were cited for contempt of Congress. Within weeks, the major studios had agreed not to employ any of them, and a blacklist had begun that would eventually include hundreds of names…