The House Un-American Acitivities Committee (HUAC) was a federal agency that sought out communism in the United States. The goal was to expose supposed communists or individuals with connections to the Soviet Union.
This had an enormous impact on the filmmaking industry. Filmmakers were sure to produce movies that were extremely patriotic and painted America in a positive light. Along with this, Hollywood filmmakers associated with communism were called into hearings by the government. Ten of these filmmakers refused to answer questions by the HUAC, as they felt their constitutional rights were being violated. These ten filmmakers, now known as the Hollywood Ten, were blacklisted in the industry and their careers were never able to recover.