European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 25, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                13 years after its death debate continues Over House coi by Phyllis Messinger associated press Long before Joseph Mccarthy s attack son communists in the state department Longbo Toie Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed As spies and Long before Winsto Churchill warned that an Iron curtain had split East trom West the House committee on in american activities was rooting out communism in America. In the process it also smeared the reputations of t 1any innocent people turned Friend on Friend and attempted to twist the filth amendment guarantee against sell inc nomination into an admission of communist affiliation the committee will Lake ils place in american history As a moment of shame and  says historian Arthur Sofil Sinyei or. Bom 50 years ago on May 26.1938, Hupac As the headline writers called it. Was the brainchild of a jewish congressman from new York who feared that Adolf Hitler s persecution of German jews would in groups we Iho american bund make their Way to the new world. Rop Samuel Dicks Lem. In y., proposed that the group to formed to Hunt nazis not communists. But from the beginning congressmen who sat on the committee sought out Tellow travellers. Comfy maps and card carrying communists " ironically the anti semitism that Dickstein so Leared permeated even the Halls of Congress the Man who envisaged the committee was never seated on it. The committee originally subject to annual approval became a fixture in january 1945 and lived on Lor another 30 years. It went after labor unions Hollywood personalities and opponents of the Vietnam War. In its most celebrated Case it brought Down Alger Hiss an on the Rise now dealer who had once been a Law clerk to supreme court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes and raised the fortunes of a Young Republican congressman trom California. Richard Nixon. In 1975. Congress abolished Hupac. The panel s name had been changed to the House internal Security committee but ils Lime had passed. In the beginning though. The nation s mood was Dill rent there wore fascists and communists in the country which was slowly trying to pick itself up from the depression. At Hupac s first hearing in August 1938, chairman Martin Dies a Texas Democrat made a Promise that committee critics never forgot. We shall be fair and impartial at All times and treat every witness with fairness and  Dies promised. This committee will not permit any character assassination or any smearing of innocent people. It is easy to smear someone s name or reputation by unsupported charges or an unjustified attack but it is difficult to repair the damage that has been done " yet no sooner did Iho committee begin its work than it began to do exactly what Dies promised it would t. In the Days thai followed observers began to wonder whether the lady of Breeding who had made such a dignified Entrance into town was in fact setting up a Bawdy  Waller Goodman wrote in his history of Hupac. The Commilee. Hupac immediately launched an attack on the Federal healer and writers project a new Deal program that seemed frivolous even to some supporters of Franklin d Roosevelt when so Many americans were unemployed and hungry. The committee also had the facts on its Side there were communists in the Federal healer. In june 1939, Congress abolished the project. The committee turned its attention Over the next Lew years to labor unions and Hollywood but for the most part took a Back Seal to world War ii once America had entered the conflict. It picked up with renewed vigor though after the War ended As the Caf of communism became More widespread in the United states. The soviet Union no longer a . Ally quickly expanded its influence. Country alter country in Eastern Europe fell under the domination of soviet backed communist parties. Churchill warned in 1946. From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an Iron curtain has descended across the continent allowing police government to Rule Eastern  the image became a metaphor for the time and americans caught by Surprise by this new cold War began to see the world in terms of them is. Us communist is.  and what could be More in american than a former communist in the United states who served As a symbolic link with soviet aggression abroad none stood out More than Shillaker Chambers and Alger Hiss. Their drama played out in the Hupac hearing room and on Chambers farm in Rural Westminster my. Came to symbolize the divisions within the country. Hiss then and even now in his new Book recollections of a Lite maintained that he was innocent and victimized by enemies of the new Deal. Chambers presented himself As the last Hope of the West their Story began in july 1948, when Chambers a rumple senior editor at time Magazine testified to Hupac that Hiss had been a member of the communist party in Iho 1930s. Some of the other alleged communists named by. Chambers had admitted their past affiliation but not the tall and lean Hiss who had worked at the slate department and then As president of the Carnegie endowment for International peace. Hiss immediately denied Chambers charges and asked the committee for a Chance to deny them under oath. Hiss made such an impressive appearance that Nixon was the Only committee member to question his denial. Nixon questioned Hiss secretly in new York and paid several visits to Chambers farm. And at a nine hour hearing on aug. 25,1948, the most dramatic and crowded event in the committee s history Nixon and others pressed Hiss hard for details of his past. Hiss was careful prefacing More than 200 answers with to the Best of my  still there was nothing to show that Hiss had been involved in any spying then in november 1948, Chambers delivered to the Justice department 65 typed pages of copies or summaries of slate department documents and three memos in Hiss handwriting. He slashed two strips of developed microfilm and three cylinders of undeveloped microfilm in a hollowed out pumpkin on his Maryland farm. A few Days later with a blast of publicity. Hupac investigators found the pumpkin and the microfilm and on dec. 15, Hiss was indicted on two counts of perjury. He was convicted in 1950 and sentenced to five years in prison. The Hasa Case helped launch Nixon s career. Not Long afterwards. Dwight Eisenhower picked the Young Republican As his vice president. The Case also played an unintended role in furthering the fortunes of Wisconsin sen Joseph Mccarthy making it easier for him to exaggerate the dimensions of the internal communist menace. Hupac turned its attention in the Early 1950s to Hollywood. Ils stated reason was the suspicion that the communists were sneaking propaganda into the movies Joseph Rauh jr., who represented the writers Arthur Miller and Lillian Hollman in their appearances before the committee said in a recent interview thai he believes the committee s real motivation was publicity How would you get publicity Rauh asked. You d get it by getting famous people in front of you when it was rumoured that Arthur Miller was going to marry Marilyn Monroe he was subpoenaed by the committee he was t subpoenaed after he wrote one of the Best plays of this Century death Ola Salesman scene in october 1947 is the Home in american a Richard Nixon it sealed second from right. The to i Alger Hon suspected of being a communist was the subject a Hupac investigation in 1948. Ronald Reagan who served As president of the screen actors Guild told the committee in 1951, i abhor their communists philosophy but i detest then tactics which Are those of a filth column and Are  the president s anti communist rhetoric has continued even As he prepares for a trip to Page 14 the stars and stripes