In the late 1940s, U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy led a witch-hunt against American citizens he suspected of being soviet agitators. The delusional senator attacked supposed communists through an investigative committee called the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). The HUAC gave citizens a platform to lob baseless accusations at anyone they believed might be on the side of the soviets. After finding out firsthand how organized labor could effects his bottom line, Disney became a founding member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. The group claimed they wanted to protect the film industry from soviet infiltration. Walt used the clout of the Alliance to get some payback against the people who had turned on him. Walt testified before the HUAC that the Screen Cartoonists Guild was in fact a communist organization. According to Walt, the Guild led the strike against him as part of a larger communist plot to establish some clout in Hollywood. The FBI believed Walt's story, designating him as a special agent against the soviet threat. The McCarthy Era is one of the darkest times in American history. Its a blemish on the Disney legacy that he was right in the thick of it.
