The Testimony of Walter E. Disney Before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (1947)

Source: "Testimony of Walter E. Disney, Hearings Before the Committee on Un-American Activities," House of Representatives, 80th Congress, First Session (Friday, 24 October 1947.)

Commentary

Originally a special committee of the House of Representatives under the leadership of Texas Democrat Martin Dies, Jr., the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was established in 1938 to investigate and impede the infiltration of Axis propaganda in the United States. By the mid-1940s, however, with much of the country in the grip of a Red Scare, HUAC had become a standing committee with much of its focus centered on the investigation of Union leaders, New Deal liberals, and leftist intellectuals. Inevitably, the committee trained its eye on Hollywood and the entertainment industry, where it discovered insinuations of Communist activity even in the animation...