Existing comment:
"UnAmerican" Beliefs
Should political beliefs considered "unAmerican" send you to prison? No, said the Hollywood writers and actors who created the Committee for the First Amendment in 1947. Pursuing communists during the Cold War, Congress subpoenaed the "Hollywood Ten" to question their beliefs. Citing the First Amendment, they refused to answer, and were jailed for contempt. Congress later abandoned these hearings.
Statement of the Committee for the First Amendment, circa 1947. Records of the U.S. House of Representatives
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
-- First Amendment, U.S. Constitution, 1791 |