California Senate Factfinding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities

The covers of reports by the U.S. House UnAmerican Activities Committee and the California UnAmerican Activities Committee.

California Senate Factfinding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities (CUAC) was established by the California State Legislature in 1941 as the Joint Fact-Finding Committee on UnAmerican Activities. The creation of the new joint committee (with members from both the State Senate and State Assembly) followed the publication of reports from two legislative committees that had investigated allegations about the administration of programs at the California State Relief Administration.

In 1947, the California State Assembly ended its participation and the committee was reorganized by the California State Senate under authority of the Rules Committee of the State Senate as a subcommittee of the General Research Committee. CUAC was the California equivalent of the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

The Committee operated until 1970, publishing a total of 15 reports (called "Red Books" within state government) on a variety of topics including Nazi attempts to infiltrate California industry, alleged Communist front organizations, the John Birch Society, the Black Panthers, Cesar Chavez, and 1960s student protests.