Scoundrel Time Study Guide

The introduction was written by author Garry Wills. The House Committee on Un-American Activities had its roots in actions taken by President Harry S. Truman. Although most people associate the Blacklist and the House Committee with Senator Joseph McCarthy, he did not bring his first charges until 1950. Earlier in 1947 after World War II, President Truman launched the Cold War and introduced a program to test the loyalty of Federal workers. His actions spawned a decade of distrust and civil rights violations never seen before or since. Initially, workers were given a litmus test about their loyalty to country causing an environment of distrust that encouraged the judgment by one person of another person's patriotism. (read more)