In the wake of the downfall of Senator McCarthy ( who never served in the House , nor HUAC ) , the prestige of HUAC began a gradual decline beginning in the late 1950s . By 1959 , the committee was being denounced by former President Harry S. Truman as the " most un-American thing in the country today " . The committee lost considerable prestige as the 1960s progressed , increasingly becoming the target of political satirists and the defiance of a new generation of political activists . HUAC subpoenaed Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman of the Yippies in 1967 and again in the aftermath of the 1968 Democratic National Convention . The Yippies used the media attention to make a mockery of the proceedings . Rubin came to one session dressed as a United States Revolutionary War soldier and passed out copies of the United States Declaration of Independence to people in attendance . Rubin then " blew giant gum bubbles while his co-witnesses taunted the committee with Nazi salutes "
1968 Democratic National Convention
1968 Democratic National Convention
History of the socialist movement in the United States