Dies Committee

A common nickname for the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) from 1938 to 1944. The name was derived from that of the committee’s chairman, Martin Dies Jr., a Texas politician and Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Established as a special investigating committee of the House of Representatives, the Dies Committee was originally supposed to focus chiefly on Nazi and Ku Klux Klan activities in the United States. However, Dies and his committee became known for their fixation on ferreting out Communists in U.S. government agencies.