In 1947, the first target of the house un-american activities committee (huac) was

The first target of the HUAC was the movie industry. Special attention was focused on the motion picture industry which was believed to be a haven for a large number of Communists. HUAC's first target in the movie industry was Hanns Eisler, an Austrian composer with a long record of affiliation with the Communist. His brother Gerhard was a Communist journalist. In October 1947, a group of screenwriters, directors and producers were called to testify in the movie industry investigations. They were known as the Hollywood Ten. They refused to cooperate and were cited for contempt in Congress and sentenced to imprisonment. Furthermore they were banned from working in Hollywood.