Howard Costigan (1904-1985) was an American radio commentator and politician who assisted HUAC with persecuting Communist Party USA, which he was formerly affiliated with. Costigan testified in 1948 and 1954, giving up the names of his former comrades in favor of advancing liberalism.
Biography[]
Howard Costigan was born in Seattle, Washington in 1904, and he witnessed the Centralia massacre of 1919, leading to him becoming involved with politics. He trained to be a teacher and became a member of the haircutter's union while working as a barber, and he founded a social democratic organization in the state in 1934; his "Commonwealth Builders" would succeed in pushing for educational reform in the state. In 1936, he joined Communist Party USA to oppose fascism, but he left the party in 1940 at the conclusion of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, deciding to work on Franklin D. Roosevelt's re-election campaign as a Democratic Party supporter. In 1944, fellow communist Hugh DeLacy defeated Costigan in a US House of Representatives race, and he gave anti-communist testimonies in 1948 and 1954, arguing that conservatives had to allow for liberals and progressives to thrive, lest the communists gain ground, as well as arguing that communists were "the most reactionary force in the world" and not concerned with humanitarianism. Costigan betrayed his former comrades with his testimonies, and he became a consultant and writer. He died in 1985 at the age of 81.