Motion Picture Madness Research Paper

The list accused 151 writers, directors and performers and claimed they were member of the Communist organization during World War II. The blacklist against Communists would make it significantly more difficult for a person to find employment in most industries and most likely would get a person fired just for even being interrogated or being any form of a suspect of Communism. Even a person who worked with a person accused of Communism had significantly less chance to be able to find a job. Ten stars that were most famous for standing up for themselves and pleaded the 5th amendment when asked to name Communists were known as the Hollywood ten. Their names were Herbert Biberman, Albert Maltz, Lester Cole, Adrian Scott, Samuel Ornitz, Dalton Trumbo, Edward Dmytryit, Ring Lardner Jr., John Howard Lawson and Alvah Bessie. The ten did not defend themselves because they were prideful Americans who saw their rights and the rights of others being harmed and decided to do something about, no. They were already asked if they were Communists when they went on a trip to California and they did not want to get charged with perjury. Some Americans did take action and saw that their rights were being put into question and decided to protect themselves, for example Alger Hiss who was accused and in order to solidify the fact that he was a Communist lawyers used his day to day schedule in full detail to solidify that his behaviors were that

“Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it.” -Elia Kazan. Elia Kazan, a famous actor and director in the 1950’s, was accused of being a communist during The Red Scare.

The Red Scare and McCarthyism had begun Paranoia, disloyalty, people losing jobs. The Red Scare and McCarthyism both made everything else worse. Communism is a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. At the end of the month when they get their paychecks they both end up with the same amount of money it is not fair, right? but that is more or less what McCarthyism is. During the 1950s, there was a great amount of paranoia and the government technically speaking did not confide in anyone else and falsely accused other people (Essay). The government was so paranoid that they had

The House Un-American Activities Committee, also know as HUAC, investigated alleged communist activities in the United States during the early years of the Cold War. The committee called high-profile citizens to testify in hearings before Congress. Gary Cooper, a Hollywood actor, was a “friendly” witness questioned in October of 1947. Cooper was called to appear before HUAC under the false accusation of promoting communism in Philadelphia. Albert Maltz, a movie writer, was an “unfriendly” witness questioned in 1947. Maltz was called to appear before the committee because he was an active member of the Screen Writers Guild and had a large influence in Hollywood. Although Gary Cooper’s and Albert Maltz’s testimonies before HUAC contain different answering methods, the two testimonies compare in that points of view of the person on trial and methods of questioning.

Hundreds of years later, the United States entered the time of the “Red Scare”. In this time, Americans were still very apprehensive of Communists. On April 22, 1954, Army hearings began. Senator Joseph McCarthy accused the United States Army of being too “soft” on communism. This really began in 1950, however, when McCarthy claimed that there were over 200 known communists in the Department of State (“Army-McCarthy” History.com). As Abigail did with the Witch trials, McCarthy began accusing innocents of crime to benefit his own personal agenda.

Even though it’s great that the U.S. is helping out other countries, it was mainly for their self interests of preventing the spread of communism. With China officially becoming Communist 1949, the American public was stunned because containment had failed. American fear worsened and began to burn out of control. HUAC was formed in order to hunt and expose all the “unamericans, ” but they ended up destroying many careers without justification such as the Hollywood Ten. Document 3 shows how the FBI and HUAC had the same aims and responsibilities. He says, “Communist activity in Hollywood is effective and furthered by Communists and sympathizers.”

McCarthyism was important during the 1950s, because many people feared Communism. Consequently people (falsely) accused each other of being a communist and people often lost big parts of their lives, like their job. Nobody trusted each other, so without evidence people started accusing each other.

McCarthy was the senator of Wisconsin and he makes no name for himself. It is a list of 200 members of the Department of State that are referred to as Communists. The punishments of being accused of being a Communist is it could lead to “loss of employment and destroyed reputation, could be jailed.” (McCarthy’s List). The people could lose their jobs and be jailed if they do not confess or release information on former Communists. If they refuse they would be punished with a series of false accusations that could not be justified. It did many damage to peoples lives and careers. The people felt threatened because if they do not release the information their careers would be over and they would have no life. The people did not known what to do. Finally, McCarthy did not find any communists and his “personal power collapsed in 1954 when he accused the Army of coddling known Communists.” His false accusations resulted in his downfall. The people were threatened because their lives could have been taken away from them with no concrete

Americans feared Soviets-so much it took over lives. Some has lost their careers because they were accused. For example, in 1950, 151 actors, writers, directors, producers, musicians, journalists, and other people involved with entertainment were accused of being reds with no evidence. The list was called the Hollywood blacklist. This list ended careers and took them off television or radio possibly forever. Some of the most famous entertainers in America could not get jobs because of this. "The Cold War Home Front: McCarthyism." states “When the TV series Danger tried to use one of these actors [on the list], Johnson [an official in the National Association of Supermarkets] told the show’s sponsor, the makers of Amni-dent toothpaste, that all grocery stores would put up a sign next to Amni-dent suggesting their programs employed communists. Meanwhile, they would put a sign next to a competitor’s toothpaste, Chlorodent, saying, ‘Its programs use only pro-American artists and shun Stalin's little creatures.’ The actor in question was quickly

“Burdened by an uneventful political career and having an eye towards reelection, McCarthy claimed that 205 communists had infiltrated the U.S. State Department and soon after claimed to have the names of 57 State Department communists, despite having little knowledge of international espionage”(“Joseph McCarthy”). This led McCarthy to be chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Government Operations in 1952 and be re elected in the senate. He took over this committee for two years with anti communist investigations and questioned suspected officials. This all began the “Red Scare” which was the fear of communism and it coming into the United States. McCarthy continued to make claims about people, but he was not able to validate any of these claims. Although he could not validate a claim, he was still popular widely throughout America due to concerns of communism in China and Eastern Europe”(“Joseph McCarthy”).

McCarthyism, named after Joseph McCarthy was a period of intense anti-communism, which occurred in the United States from 1948 to about 1956. During this time the government of the United States persecuted the Communist party USA, its leadership, and many others suspected of being communists. The word McCarthyism now carries the suggestion of false, hysterical accusation and large scale attacks on a minority. This anticommunist crusade stumbled in 1954, when the hearings were televised allowing the press and

McCarthy turned Americans against each other by developing the fear of communism. During the time in America, the Cold war was rampant so the idea of communism was present around the war against Russia.The idea of indicting fellow Americans as communist during the Red Scare was very common due to McCarthy’s allegations. According to the article, McCarthy announced “I have here in hand a list of 205- a list of names” this shows that he was willing to announce names of people that were alleged communists. McCarthy also accused members of power for example, the article claims “he has alleged 57 communist worked in the state department” this shows he was willing to create chaos among those that were suppose to be trusted by civilians. McCarthyism

During the late 1940’s and throughout the 1950’s, there was a great fear of Communism in America and abroad. The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) was created in 1938 as a means to investigate and weed out Communists and Communist supporters from American society. Its first major attack was on the Hollywood film industry. Blacklisting of Hollywood writers, actors, producers, directors and others suspected of Communist affiliations began with the committee's hearings in October of 1947, and flourished throughout the 1950s. Senator Joseph

“About thirty-thousand people were employed by the American film industry in 1947. Of these, the best estimate is that about three-hundred were or had been Communists” (Eyman). This statement gives an idea about how many estimated people were actually Communists. Although, there were many more who were greylisted which is why this such an important event. If there were only three-hundred people who were affected this wouldn’t be as big of a deal.

After World War II, within the year of 1947 began America’s Communism paranoia: McCarthyism. It started when President Truman was criticized about congress “not being tough enough in containing communism”, therefore wanting more information about the executive-branch employees. Congress then commenced a deep inspection of Hollywood. Congress accused actors/actresses, filmmakers, directors, and so on, thus holding Hollywood communist hearings which were held by the House Un-American Activities Committee. The group of screenwriters and directors known as the “Hollywood Ten” originated from the audit in which they publicly protested for the right of freedom of speech, right of assembly, and freedom of association. The result was the Hollywood’s