The United States V. Paramount Pictures (1948)

During the days of the Hollywood Red Scare, Reagan actively partook in the politics of the film industry. One to be at the forefront of progress, he held the title of chairman within the Screen Actors Guild. In 1947, he was a sort of snitch for the FBI and transferred the names of possible leads for Communist members or sympathizers. Since this cooperation, the FBI took an interest in Reagan’s career and personal safety.

In the 1950’s, the U.S government black listed artists, playwright and other intellectuals as Communists and unfairly destroyed many careers.

The United State’s Capitalistic and consumer driven way of life sat in contrast to the Soviet Union’s Communist and government centred economy. So much so, that the fear of Communists living in America began a panic known as the second Red Scare. Americans attempted to weed out Communists, with programs like the loyalty program which required government workers to state if they have ever been a communist; as well as the Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO). “...[The] (CIO) and United Auto Workers froze Communists out of leadership positions...” (Goldfield 805), along with this there were numerous trails and people assured of being a Communist. McCarthyism was another main reason the American public began exiling those assured of Communists; McCarthyism created a fear of these people, which allowed those accused to be black balled in their professions. One such example where the Hollywood Ten, which was a group of movie directors accused of being too soft on Communism.

The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), began investigating Communist influences in the entertainment industry. The HUAC believed that Communists were secretly sending messages in films through propaganda (“Blacklisting”). Due to these beliefs, the HUAC called ten witnesses to testify against the accusal of Communist practices within the entertainment industry, but the witnesses refused to speak (Littell). These ten men would soon be infamously known as the Hollywood Ten; these men decided not to cooperate with the hearings because they believed they were unconstitutional and due to that they were sent to prison (Littell). Because of this, Hollywood executives initiated a blacklist, which is a list of people whom they condemned for having a Communist background. The people McCarthy had blacklisted, about 500 actors, writers, producers, and directors, had their careers ruined (Hixson). Again, Joseph McCarthy is responsible for the diminishing of people’s careers and reputations due to his false accusations and strong anti-Communist beliefs; not to mention McCarthy had no evidence against the accusal, but they were still sentenced to prison, death, or banishment. These actions McCarthy committed are illegal and corrupt

“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.

During the 1950’s, communism was a big issue in countries around the world. It was a different ideology that was usually run by a dictator, who would run the country very poorly and punish anyone who would stand in their way. This new ideology, challenged the principles of democracy so the Western hemisphere retaliated, banned the ideology and would persecute anyone who would believe in or be associated with it. Soon enough, people began to notice that communism was brought up quite frequently in Holly wood. The government began to crack down by starting the communist blacklisting’s. The blacklisting’s were eradicating anyone who was involved in communism from the film industry. This became a very frequent topic in the world, and soon enough

The individuals, who were persecuted during what is now referred to as the “McCarthy Era,” had their once prominent careers destroyed. They lost their friends and family, and all based on untrue rumors which were spread about them, such as planning to start a revolution and attempt to overthrow the Government of the United States. At no time did the Communist Party have the manpower or financial resources to do anything more than a small demonstration and no party member from Hollywood gave serious thought to even that idea.

During the 1940’s the Motion Picture Association made a chilling statement in response to the blacklisting of those in Hollywood due to the red scare: “We will forthwith discharge…without compensation those in our employ…we will not knowingly employ a communist or a member of any party…which advocates the overthrow of the

Hollywood has influenced American history since it began. It boosted and shaped the morale of a nation for almost a century. But Hollywood has not only been the influencing American society, it has been influenced by American society. In the 1920s, American society was booming; people were getting rich, spending and borrowing money, and they thought life was looking good. Then in October of 1929 the stock market crashed. Many people lost all they owned. People had invested all their money into the banks before the Crash. After the Crash, the banks had nothing. People were destitute. They had no money to pay for their houses, electrical bills, and food. It became the Great Depression. Likewise, Hollywood was impacted by the Great

The 1950s marked an incredible time in United States history. Many events that lead to the inspiration of future generations were revolutionized in economic and social expenditures of paramount proportion, most notably the manufacturing of war related materials for World War II. With an economic surge that catapulted the US even further into a position of world power, several industries flourished and suburban America took shape. Of these industries, film was one of the most substantial influences on the public and subsequently sparked a multitude of emotions. The culmination of entertainment adjoined with pressing issues allowed for designations of many political agendas. Some agendas proved to be melodramatic in nature regarding social reform while others were seen as substantial regarding national safety and protection.

People lost their jobs and careers went bad and even imprisonment occurred. McCarthy held hearings called the Hollywood Blacklist, which had to do with The House Committee on Un-American Activities and anti- communist activities with the FBI.

Good Afternoon, let me formally introduce myself. I am the set designer for the Hollywood movie production company that you may be very aware of. I am reaching out as I have a few conferences revolving around the actions of communists that have been acknowledged around Hollywood that have been confirmed by Mr. Senator Joseph McCarthy. I do not know if you are aware but many Actors, good Actors with that being said are losing their jobs and it’s costing the production loss of money. This hunt needs to be settled in a proper manly matter and needs to be stopped. We all know that Communism is presented and viewed socially. Everyone has different initiatives as well was wants and needs and money is only being

In other words, they would be taken out.” The writer for The Washington Post article, “Political Affiliations” mentions how being affiliated with the Communist Party is a “serious social and economic handicap” and discusses how HUAC has encouraged that the studios “purge all Communists from their payrolls.” Lewis argues that Hollywood utilized the blacklist to fire individuals without reason, to cut expense and manage labour but decreasing payroll costs, as a post-war decline at the box office was predicted. This may have been a factor however blacklisting as far as the government and it’s committees were concerned hindered Communists and Communist sympathizers from getting work, which in turn affected them from making a living, and kept them from sneaking in hard to detect communist’s ideology for unsuspecting viewers to be influenced by. Ceplair and Englund discuss the element of secrecy which Communist party members in the United States maintained because of the level of anti-communist sentiment in the United States, and lacked a position within the “American polity”, in comparison to a Communist Party member in France where a citizen could openly join the party and attend meetings without being tried for disloyalty towards the

The Paramount decision of 1948 and the Hollywood blacklist altered the direction of the filmmaking business in America, one that I believe has had a lasting impression for decades. The Paramount decision of 1948 refers to a court decision against the major film companies, Paramount, Warner Bros., 20th Century-Fox, Loew’s-MGM, Columbia, Universal and United Artists to outlaw their price fixing and monopolization of the industry. The Hollywood blacklist referred to a list of studio employees from 1947 until 1957 that were linked to association to the Communist party, and were to be “blacklisted” form the film industry indefinitely, or until made innocent of their involvement. Both of these major events of the film industry in the 1930s until 1950s had a major impact on business. (Lewis 195)

It was estimated that by the late teens of the 20th century, Zukor held 75% of the best talent in the filmmaking business. I was baffled by this statistic when I read it. For one studio to hold ¾’s of the best talent in the industry is nearly a monopoly. Another thing I found interesting was that Fox worked on 70 mm wide-screen techniques. This was thought provoking to me because this summer I saw the film Dunkirk, and my friends and I saw it with the 70 mm wide-screen edition. I had never seen a movie with this wide-screen 70 mm and it was definitely different from a regular screen. Another thing that caught my attention was the connection between film and politics. I was interested to learn that MGM used a film to bring down Upton Sinclair as he was running for office. I was also shocked to read that Charlie Chaplin was not let into the United States because of his progressive political views. I was baffled that a man that was once called the “king of comedy” in the United States was denied entry because of his political