Naming Names: Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan, HUAC, and the Cost of Conviction

Naming Names: Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan, HUAC, and the Cost of Conviction is an in-person lecture at the Capital Jewish Museum exploring the history of the House Un-American Activities Committee and its lasting impact on American culture. Led by Dr. Carlos Campo, the talk traces the committee’s origins, the climate of fear that drove its investigations, and the profound effects on Hollywood and theater, with particular focus on the Hollywood Ten, the broader blacklist, and the moral and ideological rupture between playwright Arthur Miller and filmmaker Elia Kazan—a conflict that inspired Miller’s *The Crucible*. Dr. Campo brings a deeply personal angle to the subject through the experience of his uncle, Academy Award-winning actor José Ferrer, whose own appearance before HUAC illustrates the committee’s far-reaching consequences for artists whose stories are not as widely told. The lecture also acknowledges that Jewish artists and intellectuals were disproportionately scrutinized during the blacklist era, offering a crucial backdrop for understanding the era’s enduring tensions between national security, political dissent, artistic expression, and personal conviction.

When: August 26, 2026.

Tickets: Members $5; general admission $10. Tickets may be purchased through the museum’s website.

Venue: Capital Jewish Museum, 575 3rd Street, NW, Washington, DC.

Speaker: Dr. Carlos Campo, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Museum of the Bible, former president of Ashland University and Regent University, and author of a doctoral dissertation on Arthur Miller that was named “Dissertation of the Year” at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Note: The lecture combines historical scholarship, literary analysis, and family history, and includes discussion of the disproportionate representation of Jewish artists among those investigated during the blacklist era.