During the 1940s and 1950s there was a "witch hunt" against so called communists in America, led by Joseph McCarthy. In 1947 the House Un-American Activities Committee started an investigation of suspected Communists in the film industry. The investigation ruined hundreds of careers and tarnished hundreds of reputations. The Committee gained publicity by calling upon celebrities to testify by taking advantage of the public's never ending fascination with Hollywood. This committee had permission from the House of Representatives to expose and punish those who were suspected of treason against the government. Everyone suspected that Communists would try to gain access to the minds of Americans through motion picture industry because of its influence on so many people.
In 1950 McCarthy made his first speech against Communist at the Republican Women's Club, where he stated that he had a list of the names of Communists. During his trials he would try to manipulate innocent people into admitting they were guilty. In reality though he never actually had any proof of this treason. When suspected the government would either put the so-called communist in jail or on a blacklist. Blacklists could hurt the victims financially and socially. Those who were on the blacklist were not given job opportunities and many of their friends and family shunned. Many of those suspected were government workers, college professors, playwrights, Hollywood screenwriters, actors and actresses, artists, musicians, religious minorities such as Jewish people, and gay people. Out of fear many people moved out of the country to Mexico and Europe. In order to avoid the pressure and possibility of being accused of treason against the United States.
During this period in time people had to be careful of what they did and said around others. In the film industry film writers had to watch what they bases the scripts of their movies on.
