Hollywood Whitewash of the Cold War’s Shameful Red Stain

When I learned that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was planning an exhibition chronicling the so-called Red Scare in Hollywood during the 1940s and ‘50s, I hoped it would be the beginning of the industry finally acknowledging what really happened during that era. But having attended the unveiling of “Reds and Blacklists: Political Struggles in the Movie Industry,” I realize that was wishful thinking.

Since the end of the Cold War, documentary evidence has emerged showing the depth to which Josef Stalin’s agents sought to immerse themselves in American society. Top-secret cables between Moscow and the U.S. prove the broad scope of the Communist network, and even the most skeptical of historians admit that the weight of declassified evidence against Alger Hiss and Harry Dexter White, government officials accused of Soviet espionage, is overwhelming. Usually, Hollywood prides itself on launching trends. But in coming to grips with the hard truths of the Cold War, this town has consistently been behind the curve.

More than 50 years ago, Screen Actors Guild President Ronald Reagan and I were on the front lines in the war against communism with a who’s who of Hollywood beside us. Mostly, we were staunch liberals and passionate champions of labor who became outraged at the way political activists masquerading as artists were trying to use the picture business for their narrow ideology. During the struggle, I became aware of the power and dimension of the Communist apparatus. I realized that the party wasn’t a ragtag group of wild radicals but was operated by talented, highly trained individuals with amazing power to seduce and manipulate good people.

Hollywood is a town built on emotion, and the Communist Party preyed on that. I saw firsthand how it operated in secret, like a cult, seeking out artists and laborers. A recruit who refused to take orders from the stalwarts soon would find himself in dire straits. Often, he was dealt with by having his affiliation leaked to the press, resulting in ostracism by the party and denunciation by anti-communists. Reagan and I spent countless hours helping to rehabilitate those who wanted to make a clean break from the party and get their lives back.

Curiously, the academy exhibit doesn’t tell this side of the story. There is no acknowledgment that Soviet communism was indeed a threat to the security of the free world or that the party was indefatigable in its goal of influencing our culture.

And the academy apparently still doesn’t want to set the record straight about what has become known as the “blacklist.” Contrary to popular myth, no such single document of names ever existed. Rather, the industry employment policy banning Communist Party members was announced at a highly publicized press conference in 1947. Studio executives were businessmen, and they knew that communism was bad for box office.

The academy’s exhibit also fails to give credence to the other reason for refusing to hire those who got caught up in the web of communism: Their politics were repugnant. In his recent memoir, historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. compares working alongside a committed Communist with being associated with a Nazi fellow traveler. “Stalin probably killed more innocent people than Hitler did, but the defenders of Stalin, unlike the defenders of Hitler, were somehow deemed within the circle of civilized people,” Schlesinger writes.

Much of what happened during that period could have been avoided if artists had banded together to break the secrecy of the party. As director Elia Kazan once said, “I believe we should all of us name all of us, establish the truth of what went on. This thing would be off our backs.” Some people, however, placed more importance on politicking than filmmaking.

In its role as historian, the academy failed the industry, especially those too young to remember this era. Fair-minded people should be saddened that Hollywood’s preeminent institution missed a golden opportunity to tell the full truth about the events of half-a-century ago.