Cultural files in groups to understand the situation better.
In the years following World War II (1939-45), the United States and Soviet Union engaged in a tense military and
political rivalry that became known as the Cold War. Although the U.S. and its communist rival rarely confronted
each other directly, they both attempted to extend their influence and promote their systems of government around the
world. A number of Americans believed that their nation's security depended on preventing the spread of communism,
and this attitude created an atmosphere of fear and suspicion in many parts of the country.
John F. Kennedy : Senator at the time (elected in 1952); staunch anti-communist.
Robert Kennedy .December 1952, he was appointed by Republican Senator Joe McCarthy as assistant counsel of the
US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
Shirley Temple is an American film and television actress, singer and dancer. She was born April 23, 1928, in Santa
Monica, California. She was such an active child that her mother enrolled her in a dancing class. A
Hollywood talent agent visited the class and picked 3-year-old Shirley to appear in a series of comedy
shorts. In 1934, she became a star in Bright Eyes. At the age of 8, she was suspected of having
Communist leanings (not four as is said in the comic), because she autographed a photo for the
Hollywood correspondent of an allegedly Communist newspaper in Paris.
Joe McCarthy was an undistinguished Senator from Wisconsin, a Republican, a heavy drinker with a
falsified war record. He made a speech on February 1950 in which he claimed he could name 205
members of the Communist party who worked in the State department.
HUAC: the House Un-American Activities Committee. The content of Hollywood films has always been regulated
in one form or another, however between 1947 and 1954, the HUAC members considered it their duty to check for
any Communist influences. Hollywood became the best known target of the committee.
McCarthyism is called the second Red Scare because the first Scare happened a couple decades earlier following
World War I. However, the two Red Scares were not identical. The first Scare had much more to do with worker
revolution and political radicalism. The government feared that Americans might become overwhelmingly
Communist. During the second Red Scare, people were much more concerned with foreigners infiltrating the
government. This is where McCarthy came in. He was appointed to find the Communists that were inside the US
government. McCarthy enjoyed using the idea of a blacklist. To be “blacklisted” during this time period, meant that
you were positively a Communist and had to be tried as such. McCarthyism is also often called the “Witch Hunt”.
McCarthyism : who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in
1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in which Cold War tensions
fueled fears of widespread Communist subversion.
He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers
inside the United States federal government and elsewhere. Ultimately, his tactics and inability to substantiate his
claims led him to be censured by the United States Senate.
The term McCarthyism, coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy's practices, was soon applied to similar anticommunist activities. Today the term is used more generally in reference to demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated
accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents.
1.the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, especially of proCommunist activity, in many
instances unsupported by proof or based on slight, doubtful, or irrelevant evidence.
2.the practice of making unfair allegations or using unfair investigative techniques, especially in order to
restrict dissent or political criticism.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were American Communists who were charged with passing
information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. They were convicted and they
were convicted and executed for espionage. It was the first execution of civilians for
espionage in American History. They were executed on June 19, 1953. Even to this day,
the execution of the Rosenbergs is controversial. There were many others that were
convicted of the same crime, and their punishment was no more than a few years in jail.
What can be seen here is the dangerous effects of hysteria. When an entire country gets
caught up in an event, it can be blown out of proportion and people can get hurt. This is
the fate that the Rosenbergs suffered during the Communist scare.
The Hollywood Ten were a group of motion-picture producers, directors and screenwriters who were suspected and
accused of subversive Communist activity.
The 10 individuals who defied HUAC were Alvah Bessie (c. 1904-85), Herbert Biberman (1900-71), Lester Cole (c.
1904-85), Edward Dmytryk (1908-99), Ring Lardner Jr. (1915-2000), John Howard Lawson (1894-1977), Albert Maltz
(1908-1985), Samuel Ornitz (1890-1957), Robert Adrian Scott (1912-73) and Dalton Trumbo (1905-76). These men,
who became known as the Hollywood Ten, not only refused to cooperate with the investigation but denounced the
HUAC anti-communist hearings as an outrageous violation of their civil rights, as the First Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution gave them the right to belong to any political organization they chose.
In October 1947, they were summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee and questioned about
their supposed Communist affiliations. They refused to answer the questions and were convicted and imprisoned for
6 to 12 months for being in contempt of Congress. Following their imprisonment, they were refused work back in
Hollywood. Most of these severely blacklisted men were never again employed in the film industry. Only two of
them ever wrote again, and not until the list disappeared in the early 1960s.
Alvah Cecil Bessie (1904-1985) was an American novelist, journalist and screenwriter who was imprisoned for ten
months and blacklisted for being one of the “Hollywood Ten”. He appeared before the HUAC (House Un-American
Activities Committee) on 28th October,1947, but he refused to answer any questions. The “Hollywood Ten” claimed
that the 1stAmendment to the US Constitution gave them the right not to answer any questions.
Herbert J. Biberman (1900-1971) was an American screenwriter and film director and one of the “Hollywood Ten”.
In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee beganinvestigating the film industry, and Biberman became
one of ten Hollywood writers and directors cited for contempt of Congress when they refused to answer questions
about their affiliation to the American Communist Party. He was sentenced to six months in prison.Blacklisted by the
Hollywood studios, Biberman was forced to finance his own work.
Lester Cole (1904-1985) was an American screenwriter. He was also one of the “Hollywood Ten” and refused to
answer questions before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He was convicted of contempt of Congress,
fined $1,000 and sentenced to twelve months in prison. Blacklisted by the Hollywood studios, the script that he was
working on, Viva Zapata (1952) was completed by John Steinbeck.
Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) was a British comic actor, film director and composer, who was famous for his work
during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I. His most
famous roles were that of The Tramp and The Dictator, in which he ridiculed Hitler.
J. Edgar Hoover maintained Chaplin was a “Hollywood parlour Bolshevik.” After Charlie
Chaplin was labeled a communist by Sen. Joseph McCarthy in 1952 who maintained
Chaplin was a “Hollywood parlour Bolshevik” , the Hollywood icon, who had been
traveling abroad in Europe, was not allowed to return to the United States. He said then,
“I am a victim of lies and vicious propaganda.” Chaplin settled in Switzerland and was
eventually permitted to come back home on April 2, 1972, to receive an honorary Oscar.
Other artists who were blacklisted during the McCarthy era:
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) wrote the music for films including On theWaterfront (1954), West Side Story (1961),
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and Terms of Endearment (1983).
Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992) was a German-American actress and singer. In the 1920s in
Berlin, she acted on stage and in silent films. Her performance in The Blue Angel (1930) brought
her international fame. She became an American citizen in 1939.
Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, screenplay
writer, and political activist. He is regarded as one of the finest mystery writers of all time.
Arthur Miller (1915-2005) was an American playwright. His works include plays such as Death
of a Salesman (1949) and The Crucible (1953). He was married to Marilyn Monroe.
Orson Welles (1915-1985) was an American actor, director, writer and producer whose works
include The War of the Worlds (1938), the most famous broadcast in the history of radio, and
Citizen Kane (1941), which many critics consider the best film of all time.
Richard Wright (1908-1960) was a novelist whose works include Uncle Tom’s Children (1940), Native Son (1940) and
Black Boy (1945).