# data[].attributes.body
On 1 May 1960, a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Defense Forces while performing photographic aerial reconnaissance deep into Soviet territory. The single-seat aircraft, flown by pilot Francis Gary Powers, was hit by an S-75 Dvina surface-to-air missile and crashed near Sverdlovsk

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
An international diplomatic crisis erupted in May 1960 when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) shot down an American U-2 spy plane in Soviet air space and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers (1929-77). Confronted with the evidence of his nation's espionage, President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) was forced to admit to the Soviets that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had been flying spy missions over the USSR for several years. The Soviets convicted Powers on espionage charges and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. However, after serving less than two years, he was released in exchange for a captured Soviet agent in the first-ever U.S.-USSR "spy swap." The U-2 spy plane incident raised tensions between the U.S. and the Soviets during the Cold War (1945-91), the largely political clash between the two superpowers and their allies that emerged following World War II.

Peeking Behind the Iron Curtain

Alarmed over rapid developments in military technology by his Communist rivals in the USSR, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who served in office from 1953 to 1961, approved a plan to gather information about Soviet capabilities and intentions. High-altitude U-2 spy planes began making reconnaissance flights over the USSR in 1956, giving the U.S. its first detailed look at Soviet military facilities.

Did you know? U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers carried a tiny needle filled with poison so that he could take his own life if he faced capture. Powers chose not to use the needle when he was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960, which led some critics to brand him a coward.

Eisenhower was pleased with the information gathered by the flights. Photographs taken by the spy planes revealed that Soviet nuclear capabilities were significantly less advanced than had been claimed by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971). Eisenhower learned that the U.S., rather than suffering a shortage of weapons or a "missile gap," as many American politicians claimed, instead had nuclear forces far superior to those of its Cold War foe.

The Soviets were aware of the reconnaissance flights, because they could spot the spy planes on radar. For nearly four years, however, the U.S.S.R. was powerless to stop them. Flying at an altitude of more than 13 miles above the ground, the U-2 aircraft were initially unreachable by both Soviet jets and missiles. However, by the spring of 1960, the USSR had developed a new Zenith surface-to-air missile with a longer range. On May 1, that weapon locked onto a U-2 flown by 30-year-old CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers.

HISTORY Vault: Great Spy Stories of the 20th Century

Soviets Shoot Down U.S. Aircraft

Winging through the thin atmosphere at the edge of space, Powers was carrying out the type of top-secret mission he specialized in: flying a U-2 spy plane over the USSR to photograph military installations. If all had gone according to plan, Powers' nine-hour flight would have taken him from Pakistan to a landing zone in Norway. Unlike previous U-2 missions, however, this one went terribly wrong.

As Powers flew over Sverdlovsk (present-day Yekaterinburg, Russia), a Soviet surface-to-air missile exploded near his plane, causing it to drop to a lower altitude. A second missile scored a direct hit, and Powers and his aircraft began to plummet from the sky. The pilot managed to bail out, but when his parachute floated to earth, he was surrounded by Soviet forces. Powers landed in the center of a major diplomatic crisis.

Eisenhower Issues a Denial

On May 5, Khrushchev announced that the Soviet military had brought down an American spy plane, but he made no mention of capturing Powers. Officials in the Eisenhower administration believed that little evidence of the plane's espionage mission had survived the crash, so they responded that the aircraft was merely a weather plane that had accidentally flown off course. The Soviet leader quickly disproved that story, however, by producing a photograph of the imprisoned pilot as well as evidence recovered from the wreckage that conclusively showed it was a surveillance aircraft.

The U-2 spy plane incident occurred at a crucial juncture in U.S.-Soviet relations. Eisenhower and Khrushchev were scheduled to join the leaders of France and Great Britain at a summit in Paris on May 14. The American president had hoped the Paris summit would yield new agreements on nuclear arms production and testing, but he recognized that the embarrassing U-2 crisis posed a potential obstacle to that goal.

The Failed Summit

Before the world leaders opened their Paris meeting, the Eisenhower administration took responsibility for the spy flights and admitted that the weather plane explanation was false. But the president's confession could not save the summit. The U-2 incident had convinced Khrushchev that he could no longer cooperate with Eisenhower, and the Soviet leader walked out of the Paris meeting just hours after it began. Soviet negotiators also abandoned talks on nuclear disarmament the following month. These events, which unfolded during Eisenhower's final year in the White House, brought a new chill to relations between America and the USSR and set the stage for further confrontations during the administration of Eisenhower's successor, John F. Kennedy (1917-63).

While world leaders squabbled about the spy flights, Powers remained in a Soviet prison. In August 1960, he was put on trial for espionage, convicted and sentenced to 10 years of confinement. He ultimately spent less than two years behind bars. Powers received his freedom in February 1962, when he and Soviet agent Rudolf Abel (1903-71) became the subjects of the first "spy swap" between America and the Soviet Union.

After returning to the U.S. and leaving the CIA, Powers eventually worked as a helicopter pilot for a Los Angeles TV station. In 1977, he died at age 47 in a helicopter crash and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An international diplomatic crisis erupted in May 1960 when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) shot down an American U-2 spy plane in Soviet air space and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers (1929-77). Confronted with the evidence of his nation's espionage, President Dwight D.

# data[].attributes.body
hydrogen bomb is the more advanced version of an atomic bomb.An atomic bomb uses either uranium or plutonium and relies on fission, a nuclear reaction in which a nucleus or an atom breaks apart into two pieces.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
what is a hydrogen bomb and what does it do

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What Is the Difference Between a Hydrogen Bomb and an Atomic Bomb?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As global tensions continue to rise over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, here's what to know about hydrogen bombs and atomic bombs

# data[].attributes.body
the United states got the H bomb 1 year before the USSR got it. The U.S got it NOV 1st 1952.
The USSR got it 1953.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
National Nuclear Security Administration/Nevada Site Office Photo LibraryThe first hydrogen bomb tested by the United States vaporized the islet of Elugelab in the Marshall Islands in the North Pacific on Nov. 1, 1952.

On Nov. 1, 1952, the United States conducted its first nuclear test of a fusion device, or "hydrogen bomb," at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. News of the event surfaced more than two weeks later, when The New York Times reported : "The Atomic Energy Commission announced tonight 'satisfactory' experiments in hydrogen weapon research ... In a three-paragraph announcement, the Commission did not go so far as to state that a full-scale hydrogen bomb had been detonated, but it did say 'experiments contributing' to hydrogen bomb research had been completed."

The origins of the hydrogen bomb date to the early 1940s, when the Italian-born physicist Enrico Fermi suggested to the Hungarian-born Edward Teller that a weapon based on nuclear fission was possible. Dr. Teller, a member of the Manhattan Project assigned to build the atomic bomb for the Allies, advocated for a hydrogen "super bomb" instead.

After the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United States government did not pursue the development of the hydrogen bomb in the years after World War II. But after the Soviets successfully detonated an atomic bomb in 1949, President Harry S. Truman ordered the creation of a hydrogen bomb project.

With the help of the Polish mathematician Stanislaw Ulam, Dr. Teller developed a model for the hydrogen bomb known as the Teller-Ulam design. Scientists constructed a three-story structure, which was named "Mike," on the island of Elugelab in the Eniwetok atoll. Mike was not a typical bomb, as it had no practical use in warfare; it was simply intended to test the principles of the Teller-Ulam design and help scientists make progress in building a smaller bomb.

The Mike bomb exploded with a yield of 10.4 megatons and generated a fireball more than three miles wide. It destroyed the island of Elugelab and parts of nearby islands. The Teller-Ulam design is the concept behind most of the world's nuclear weapons today.
Connect to Today:
The Times Topics: Nuclear Weapons overview calls Barack Obama "the first president to make nuclear disarmament a centerpiece of American defense policy" and cites his success in signing the New Start nuclear arms treaty with Russia, as well as his difficulty in getting domestic and international support for a treaty banning all nuclear tests.

Why do you think it has been so challenging to ban nuclear testing and reduce nuclear arms? Do you think President Obama's pledge to "set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons, and pursue it" is realistic? Why or why not?
Learn more about what happened in history on Nov. 1" Learn more about Historic Headlines and our collaboration with findingDulcinea "

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
National Nuclear Security Administration/Nevada Site Office Photo LibraryThe first hydrogen bomb tested by the United States vaporized the islet of Elugelab in the Marshall Islands in the North Pacific on Nov. 1, 1952. On Nov. 1, 1952, the United States conducted its first nuclear test of a fusion device, or "hydrogen bomb," at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands.

# data[].attributes.body
The fear of communism, known as the Red Scare, led to a national witch hunt for suspected communist supporters, which was known as McCarthyism. Learn about the rise of McCarthyism and the Red Scare, the impact of McCarthyism on American society and the legacy of the short-lived fear campaign

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Table of Contents

1. The Cold War

2. Joseph McCarthy and the Rise of McCarthyism

3. 'Have you no sense of decency, sir?'

4. The Fall of Joseph McCarthy

During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the prospect of communist subversion at home and abroad seemed frighteningly real to many people in the United States. These fears came to define-and, in some cases, corrode-the era's political culture. For many Americans, the most enduring symbol of this "Red Scare" was Republican Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin. Senator McCarthy spent almost five years trying in vain to expose communists and other left-wing "loyalty risks" in the U.S. government. In the hyper-suspicious atmosphere of the Cold War, insinuations of disloyalty were enough to convince many Americans that their government was packed with traitors and spies. McCarthy's accusations were so intimidating that few people dared to speak out against him. It was not until he attacked the Army in 1954 that his actions earned him the censure of the U.S. Senate.

The Cold War

In the years after World War II ended, events at home and abroad seemed to many Americans to prove that the "Red menace" was real. In August 1949, for instance, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb. Later that year, Communist forces declared victory in the Chinese Civil War and established the People's Republic of China. In 1950, North Korea's Soviet-backed army invaded its pro-Western neighbors to the South; in response, the United States entered the conflict on the side of South Korea.

Did you know? Along with the Army-McCarthy hearings, journalist Edward R. Murrow's exposés of McCarthyism played an important role in the senator's downfall. On March 9, 1954, millions of Americans watched as the national news program "See It Now" attacked McCarthy and his methods.

At the same time, the Republican-led House Un-American Activities Committee (known as HUAC) began a determined campaign to extirpate communist subversion at home. HUAC's targets included left-wingers in Hollywood and liberals in the State Department. In 1950, Congress passed the McCarran Internal Security Act, which required that all "subversives" in the United States submit to government supervision. (President Truman vetoed the Act-he said it "would make a mockery of our Bill of Rights"-but a Congressional majority overrode his veto.)

Joseph McCarthy and the Rise of McCarthyism

All of these factors combined to create an atmosphere of fear and dread, which proved a ripe environment for the rise of a staunch anticommunist like Joseph McCarthy. At the time, McCarthy was a first-term senator from Wisconsin who had won election in 1946 after a campaign in which he criticized his opponent's failure to enlist during World War II while emphasizing his own wartime heroics.

In February 1950, appearing at the Ohio County Women's Republican Club in Wheeling, West Virginia, McCarthy gave a speech that propelled him into the national spotlight. Waving a piece of paper in the air, he declared that he had a list of 205 known members of the Communist Party who were "working and shaping policy" in the State Department.

The next month, a Senate subcommittee launched an investigation and found no proof of any subversive activity. Moreover, many of McCarthy's Democratic and Republican colleagues, including President Dwight Eisenhower, disapproved of his tactics ("I will not get into the gutter with this guy," the president told his aides). Still, the senator continued his so-called Red-baiting campaign. In 1953, at the beginning of his second term as senator, McCarthy was put in charge of the Committee on Government Operations, which allowed him to launch even more expansive investigations of the alleged communist infiltration of the federal government. In hearing after hearing, he aggressively interrogated witnesses in what many came to perceive as a blatant violation of their civil rights. Despite a lack of any proof of subversion, more than 2,000 government employees lost their jobs as a result of McCarthy's investigations.

'Have you no sense of decency, sir?'

In April 1954, Senator McCarthy turned his attention to "exposing" the supposed communist infiltration of the armed services. Many people had been willing to overlook their discomfort with McCarthyism during the senator's campaign against government employees and others they saw as "elites"; now, however, their support began to wane. Almost at once, the aura of invulnerability that had surrounded McCarthy for nearly five years began to disappear. First, the Army undermined the senator's credibility by showing evidence that he had tried to win preferential treatment for his aides when they were drafted. Then came the fatal blow: the decision to broadcast the "Army-McCarthy" hearings on national television. The American people watched as McCarthy intimidated witnesses and offered evasive responses when questioned. When he attacked a young Army lawyer, the Army's chief counsel thundered, "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" The Army-McCarthy hearings struck many observers as a shameful moment in American politics.

The Fall of Joseph McCarthy

By the time the hearings were over, McCarthy had lost most of his allies. The Senate voted to condemn him for his "inexcusable," "reprehensible," "vulgar and insulting" conduct "unbecoming a senator." He kept his job but lost his power, and died in 1957 at the age of 48.

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Cold War Joseph McCarthy and the Rise of McCarthyism 'Have you no sense of decency, sir?' The Fall of Joseph McCarthy During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the prospect of communist subversion at home and abroad seemed frighteningly real to many people in the United States.

# data[].attributes.body
Rosenbergs convicted of espionage. In one of the most sensational trials in American history, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of espionage for their role in passing atomic secrets to the Soviets during and after World War II. The husband and wife were later sentenced to death and were executed in 1953.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In one of the most sensational trials in American history, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of espionage for their role in passing atomic secrets to the Soviets during and after World War II. The husband and wife were later sentenced to death and were executed in 1953.

The conviction of the Rosenbergs was the climax of a fast-paced series of events that were set in motion with the arrest of British physicist Klaus Fuchs in Great Britain in February 1950. British authorities, with assistance from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, gathered evidence that Fuchs, who worked on developing the atomic bomb both in England and the United States during World War II, had passed top-secret information to the Soviet Union. Fuchs almost immediately confessed his role and began a series of accusations.

Fuchs confessed that American Harry Gold had served as a courier for the Soviet agents to whom Fuchs passed along his information. American authorities captured Gold, who thereupon pointed the finger at David Greenglass, a young man who worked at the laboratory where the atomic bomb had been developed. Gold claimed Greenglass was even more heavily involved in spying than Fuchs. Upon his arrest, Greenglass readily confessed and then accused his sister and brother-in-law, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, of being the spies who controlled the entire operation. Both Ethel and Julius had strong leftist leanings and had been heavily involved in labor and political issues in the United States during the late-1930s and 1940s. Julius was arrested in July and Ethel in August 1950.

By present-day standards, the trial was remarkably fast. It began on March 6, and the jury had convicted both of conspiracy to commit espionage by March 29. The Rosenbergs were not helped by a defense that many at the time, and since, have labeled incompetent. More harmful, however, was the testimony of Greenglass and Gold. Greenglass declared that Julius Rosenberg had set up a meeting during which Greenglass passed the plans for the atomic bomb to Gold. Gold supported Greenglass's accusation and admitted that he then passed the plans along to a Soviet agent. This testimony sealed Julius's fate, and although there was little evidence directly tying Ethel to the crime, prosecutors claimed that she was the brain behind the whole scheme. The jury found both guilty. A few days later, the Rosenbergs were sentenced to death. They were executed on June 19, 1953 in Sing Sing Prison in New York. Both maintained their innocence to the end.

The Rosenberg case garnered worldwide attention. Their supporters claimed they were being made scapegoats to the Cold War hysteria that was sweeping America. The French writer and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre called their execution a "legal lynching." Others pointed out that even if the Rosenbergs did pass secrets along to the Soviets during World War II, Russia had been an ally, not an enemy, of the United States at the time. Those who supported the verdict insisted that the couple got what they deserved for endangering national security by giving top-secret information on a devastating weapon to communists.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In one of the most sensational trials in American history, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of espionage for their role in passing atomic secrets to the Soviets during and after World War II. The husband and wife were later sentenced to death and were executed in 1953.

# data[].attributes.body
Alger Hiss was an American government official who was accused of being a Soviet spy in 1948 and convicted of perjury in connection with this charge in 1950. Before he was tried and convicted, he was involved in the establishment of the United Nations both as a U.S. State Department official and as a U.N. official.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A Half-Century of Controversy

The Alger Hiss Case (U)

John Ehrman

It has been 50 years since Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury for denying that he had been a Soviet spy, but his case continues to fascinate and stir controversy. The reasons for this are not surprising. The case had all the elements of a fine drama: compelling characters, accusations of treason, unusual evidence, the launching of a presidential career, and enough inconsistencies and ambiguities to leave the issue of guilt or innocence in doubt for decades. Indeed, when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, one of the first goals of historians was to gain access to Moscow's archives and settle the question. Although no specific file on Hiss has been released from the KGB or GRU archives, enough material has been found in other files--in Moscow, Eastern Europe, and Washington--to enable historians to write several new works that leave almost no room for doubt about Hiss's guilt. These developments also have significant implications for the intelligence professional today.

A Literary Communist Agent

The origin of the Hiss case dates to February 1925, when Whittaker Chambers joined the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA). Chambers was a curious figure. Born in 1901, he grew up in a troubled family--his father was often absent for long periods while living in homosexual relationships, his grandmother was mad, and his brother Richard was psychologically disturbed and eventually committed suicide--but Chambers was an intelligent young man with great literary gifts. 1

After a period of drifting, Chambers entered Columbia College in New York, where he did well but dropped out after an uproar following his publication of a profane story in a Columbia literary magazine. During the summer of 1923, he traveled in Europe, where he saw a continent still in turmoil from World War I. Returning to New York that fall, he worked for a year and then reentered Columbia. He dropped out at the end of 1924--this time for good--and, concluding that his family's difficulties, his own troubles, and many of the problems he had seen in the wider world were connected, joined the CPUSA in hopes of building a new world.

For the most of the next seven years, Chambers served the Party as a journalist and literary intellectual. He worked on the Daily Worker , the Party's newspaper and, after a brief break with the Party caused by the CPUSA's political infighting, was named editor of New Masses , the Party's literary magazine. In 1932, soon after taking over New Masses , Chambers was instructed to go "underground," that is, to become part of the
Soviet intelligence network in the United States.
Chambers worked as a courier in New York and, starting in 1934, Washington. He delivered messages and received documents from Soviet spies in the government, photographing them or delivering them to Soviet intelligence officers to be photographed, and returning the originals to the agents who would then bring the papers back to their offices before they were missed. He also delivered rolls of microfilmed documents from Washington to Soviet handlers in New York. After several years, however, Chambers began to realize the truth about the Soviet Union and Stalin's regime. By 1937, he was beginning to fear that, like several other American Communists and Soviet agents, he would be called to Moscow and become a victim of the terror. Increasingly troubled, Chambers deserted from Soviet intelligence in April 1938. In 1939, he landed a job at Time magazine; by the mid-1940s, his talents as a writer and critic enabled him to rise to the position of foreign editor, where he pushed a strong anti-Communist line.

UNCLASSIFIED

The Office of Public Affairs (OPA) is the single point of contact for all inquiries about the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

We read every letter, fax, or e-mail we receive, and we will convey your comments to CIA officials outside OPA as appropriate. However, with limited staff and resources, we simply cannot respond to all who write to us.

Contact Information

Submit questions or comments online

By postal mail:
Central Intelligence Agency
Office of Public Affairs
Washington, D.C. 20505

Contact the Office of Privacy and Civil Liberties

Contact the Office of Inspector General

Contact the Employment Verification Office
Before contacting us:
Please check our site map, search feature, or our site navigation on the left to locate the information you seek. We do not routinely respond to questions for which answers are found within this Web site.

Employment: We do not routinely answer questions about employment beyond the information on this Web site, and we do not routinely answer inquiries about the status of job applications. Recruiting will contact applicants within 45 days if their qualifications meet our needs.

Because of safety concerns for the prospective applicant, as well as security and communication issues, the CIA Recruitment Center does not accept resumes, nor can we return phone calls, e-mails or other forms of communication, from US citizens living outside of the US. When you return permanently to the US (not on vacation or leave), please visit the CIA Careers page and apply online for the position of interest.

To verify an employee's employment, please contact the Employment Verification Office.

People from nearly every country share information with CIA, and new individuals contact us daily. If you have information you think might interest CIA due to our foreign intelligence collection mission, there are many ways to reach us.

If you know of an imminent threat to a location inside the U.S., immediately contact your local law enforcement orFBI Field Office. For threats outside the U.S., contact CIA or go to a U.S. Embassy or Consulate and ask for the information to be passed to a U.S. official. Please know, CIA does not engage in law enforcement.

In addition to the options below, individuals contact CIA in a variety of creative ways. The best method depends on your personal situation. We will work to protect all information you provide, including your identity, and our interactions with you will be respectful and professional. Depending on what you provide, we may offer you compensation.

WHAT TO PROVIDE

If you feel it is safe, consider providing these details with your submission:

Your full name

Biographic details, such as a photograph of yourself, and a copy of the biographic page of your passport

How you got the information you want to share with CIA

How to contact you, including your home address and phone number

We cannot guarantee a response to every message. We reply first to messages of greater interest to us and to those with more detail. Our response will occur via a secure method.

WAYS TO SUBMIT

Internet: Send a messagehere. We go to great lengths to keep this channel secure, but any communication via the internet poses some risk. Using a virtual private network and/or a device not registered to you can reduce some risk.

Mail: Inside the U.S., send mail to the following address:

Central Intelligence Agency
Office of Public Affairs
Washington, D.C. 20505

You can also mail a letter to a U.S. Embassy or Consulate and request it be forwarded to CIA. Please note we have no control over the security and reliability of postal mail.

In-Person: Outside the U.S., go to a U.S. Embassy or Consulate and inform a U.S. official you have information for CIA.

Third Party: Have someone you trust travel to a less restrictive environment and deliver the information via one of the above methods.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It has been 50 years since Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury for denying that he had been a Soviet spy, but his case continues to fascinate and stir controversy. The reasons for this are not surprising.

# data[].attributes.body
Americans were concerned about the spread of communism and they decided to check Hollywood actors, directors, and producers. They come to find more than 40 individuals involved with communism in some way. All but 10 decided to testify. Those 10 were named "The Hollywood 10"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In October 1947, 10 members of the Hollywood film industry publicly denounced the tactics employed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), an investigative committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, during its probe of alleged communist influence in the American motion picture business. These prominent screenwriters and directors, who became known as the Hollywood Ten, received jail sentences and were banned from working for the major Hollywood studios. Their defiant stands also placed them at center stage in a national debate over the controversial anti-communist crackdown that swept through the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Besides the Hollywood Ten, other members of the film industry with alleged communist ties were later banned from working for the big movie studios. The Hollywood blacklist came to an end in the 1960s.

Reds in Hollywood

In the years following World War II (1939-45), the United States and Soviet Union engaged in a tense military and political rivalry that became known as the Cold War. Although the U.S. and its communist rival rarely confronted each other directly, they both attempted to extend their influence and promote their systems of government around the world. A number of Americans believed that their nation's security depended on preventing the spread of communism, and this attitude created an atmosphere of fear and suspicion in many parts of the country.

Did you know? Many of the Hollywood Ten writers continued producing screenplays under assumed names after they were blacklisted. Using the pseudonym Robert Rich, Dalton Trumbo penned the script for "The Brave One," which earned an Academy Award for Best Screenplay in 1957.

The House Un-American Activities Committee was charged with investigating allegations of communist influence and subversion in the U.S. during the early years of the Cold War. Committee members quickly settled their gaze on the Hollywood film industry, which was seen as a hotbed of communist activity. This reputation originated in the 1930s, when the economic difficulties of the Great Depression increased the appeal of leftist organizations for many struggling actors and studio workers.

With the dawning of the Cold War, anti-communist legislators grew concerned that the movie industry could serve as a source of subversive propaganda. Although popular Hollywood films of the 1930s and 1940s offered little evidence of an overriding Socialist agenda, the investigation proceeded. In October 1947, more than 40 people with connections to the movie industry received subpoenas to appear before HUAC on suspicion of holding communist loyalties or being involved in subversive activities.

Accusing the Accusers

During the investigative hearings, members of HUAC grilled the witnesses about their past and present associations with the Communist Party. Aware that their answers could ruin their reputations and careers, most individuals either sought leniency by cooperating with investigators or cited their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. However, a group of 10 Hollywood screenwriters and directors took a different approach and openly challenged the legitimacy of the committee's investigations.

The 10 individuals who defied HUAC were Alvah Bessie (c. 1904-85), Herbert Biberman (1900-71), Lester Cole (c. 1904-85), Edward Dmytryk (1908-99), Ring Lardner Jr. (1915-2000), John Howard Lawson (1894-1977), Albert Maltz (1908-1985), Samuel Ornitz (1890-1957), Robert Adrian Scott (1912-73) and Dalton Trumbo (1905-76). These men, who became known as the Hollywood Ten, not only refused to cooperate with the investigation but denounced the HUAC anti-communist hearings as an outrageous violation of their civil rights, as the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave them the right to belong to any political organization they chose. Some compared the committee's coercive methods and intimidating tactics to the oppressive measures enacted in Nazi Germany. "I am not on trial here," declared screenwriter Lawson. "This committee is on trial."

Imprisoned and Blacklisted

The Hollywood Ten paid a high price for their actions at the HUAC hearings. In November 1947, they were cited for contempt of Congress. Facing trial on that charge in April 1948, each man was found guilty and sentenced to spend a year in prison and pay a $1,000 fine. After unsuccessfully appealing the verdicts, they began serving their terms in 1950. While in prison, one member of the group, Edward Dmytryk, decided to cooperate with the government. In 1951, he testified at a HUAC hearing and provided the names of more than 20 industry colleagues he claimed were communists.

A more lasting punishment came as a result of the movie industry blacklist. Studio executives did not want their business to be associated with radical politics in the minds of the movie-going public and therefore agreed that they would not employ the Hollywood Ten (with the exception of Dmytryk) or anyone else suspected of being affiliated with the Communist Party. The motion picture industry blacklist grew steadily larger as Congress continued its investigations into the 1950s, and numerous careers were damaged as a result. The blacklist ended in the 1960s.

The Hollywood Ten were controversial figures at the time they launched their protest, and their actions continue to inspire debate decades later. Some tend to view their punishment as justified, since the individuals were admitted communists, while others generally view them as heroic figures who spoke out against the abuses of the Red Scare-and in defense of the U.S. Constitution-when many of their colleagues remained silent.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In October 1947, 10 members of the Hollywood film industry publicly denounced the tactics employed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), an investigative committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, during its probe of alleged communist influence in the American motion picture business.

# data[].attributes.body
The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and those organizations suspected of having Communist ties.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and those organizations suspected of having Communist ties.