It should also be said that the committe didn t start investigating communists until 1938 The McCormack Dickstein committe was a precursur to Huac but Huac wasn t officially formed until 38 From 1938 to 1944 they mostly investigated German American Involvement in Nazi activity With the exeception of things like the Federal theater project and American Youth Congress they didn t really focus on supposed communist activity until 1945 when they became a standing committe