This video begins with a newsreel from 1947 describing the activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee, a committee instituted in 1937 to investigate subversive activity in the United States. As the Cold War began, the committee was mainly used to investigate suspected communists, often among high-profile individuals such as actors and producers. The committee was renamed the Internal Security Committe in 1969, and removed entirely in 1975. The clip ends with the questioning of William Mandel in 1960, who responds quite angrily.