JOHN HOWARD LAWSON
Americans had never had the opportunity to see this committee in action before. While many Americans were intimidated, many were also very distressed to see how a Congressional Committee was abusing its power. And although the frightened Hollywood and network executive executives were intimidated into blacklisting Lawson and others, more and more Americans were lining up against this committee and Senator McCarthy’s committee in the Senate. This culminated in the Senate sanction of McCarthy and the discrediting of HUAC which never again had the influence that they had before this hearing.
John Howard Lawson was an American writer, specializing in plays and screenplays. After starting with plays for theaters in New York City, he worked in Hollywood on writing for films. He was the first president of the Writers Guild of America, West after the Screen Writers Guild divided into two regional organizations.
