The Smith Act was a 1940 federal law that made it a crime to advocate overthrowing the US government or to create an organization with the goal of trying to overthrow the government. This was supposed to discourage communism because American citizens were worried that communists would try to overthrow the government like they did in the Soviet Union two decades earlier.
The HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) was a federal agency that called before Congress to question their ties to the Soviet Union or communist party. This discouraged communism in the US because individuals who were called in front of Congress were often blacklisted. This meant that they would no longer be able to find work in the industry of their choice.
