John Henry Faulk, 76, Dies; Fought Blacklist and Won

John Henry Faulk, the American humorist who was credited with defeating the blacklisting system during the McCarthy era, died Monday at his home of cancer. He was 76.

Faulk’s lawsuit against the blacklisters, who terrorized entertainers during the 1950s, was the subject of the book, “Fear on Trial” and was later made into a movie.

The case in 1962 pitted two of the best-known trial lawyers of the day, Louis Nizer for Faulk and Roy Cohn for the blacklisters. Faulk received what was then the largest libel verdict in U.S. history--$3.5 million.

“You know, I’m given a lot of credit for breaking the back of the blacklist,” Faulk said in a recent Dallas Times Herald interview. “But when I back off and really evaluate what my battle against the blacklist was . . . , it had no profound effect, I don’t think. If it had had a very profound effect, Ronald Reagan wouldn’t have ever been President.”

The creation of the blacklists by entertainment industry heads in Hollywood and New York City were a result of the congressional hearings held by Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.) during the 1950s to identify so-called communists or communist sympathizers. Many entertainment people who admitted communist ties or refused to testify were branded as “reds” or “pinkos” and hounded from public life.

Faulk, who had his own popular CBS radio program at the time, was fired by the network without learning who made the charges against him.