The Hollywood Ten - McCarthyism Communist Hunts

A LONGER VERSION IS ON GOOGLE VIDEO

The Hollywood blacklist—more precisely the entertainment industry blacklist, into which it expanded—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or associations, real or suspected. Artists were barred from work on the basis of their alleged membership in or sympathy toward the American Communist Party, involvement in liberal or humanitarian political causes that enforcers of the blacklist associated with communism, and/or refusal to assist federal investigations into Communist Party activities; some were blacklisted merely because their names came up at the wrong place and time. Even during the period of its strictest enforcement, the late 1940s through the late 1950s, the blacklist was rarely made explicit and verifiable, but it caused direct damage to the careers of scores of American artists, often made betrayal of friendship (not to mention principle) the price for a livelihood, and promoted ideological censorship across the entire industry.

The first systematic Hollywood blacklist was instituted on November 25, 1947, the day after ten writers and directors were cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to give testimony to the House Committee on Un-American Activities. A group of studio executives, acting under the aegis of the Motion Picture Association of America, announced the firing of the artists—the so-called Hollywood Ten—in what has become known as the Waldorf Statement. On June 22, 1950, a pamphlet called Red Channels appeared, naming 151 entertainment industry professionals in the context of "Red Fascists and their sympathizers"; soon most of those named, along with a host of other artists, were barred from employment in much of the entertainment field. The blacklist was effectively broken in 1960 when Dalton Trumbo, an unrepentant member of the Hollywood Ten, was publicly acknowledged as the screenwriter of the films Spartacus and Exodus. A number of those blacklisted, however, were still barred from work in their professions for years afterward.

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News & Politics

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• communist
• Alvah
• Bessie
• McCarthyism
• Herbert
• Biberman
• Lester
• Cole
• socialism
• socialist
• John
• Lawson
• huac
• communism
• blacklist
• hollywood
• ten

[gaafar88]

hi, i was wondering if i could use your video in a class project of mine. please let me know as soon as you can. thank you in advance. :)

[amsterdam78]

@gaafar88 sure

[Ad0rkable37]

I'm doing a research project on celebrities during the 1950s and how being blacklisted affected their careers. Any good sites? Any would be helpful... :)

[amsterdam78]

There is a longer version of this, where each one discuss his situation. It's on google video

[MrsKette]

@superussia could you elaborate a bit on this statement?

[kaylafrimer]

Who is narrating this video? What is the speech from?

[Eminemfan1542]

can you list the names please? I'm doing a project and I don't really hear all of the names.

[tomitstube]

cuz we all know how dangerous intellectuals can be, all that reading and writing and equality and stuff. such a threat to nazi fascism, i mean democracy.

[tomitstube]

@augustustoplady1 ~ you have the brain of a fish.

[saibertoo]

HISTORY iGCSE'S! WOOHOO!

[superussia]

Americans are responsible for killing over a billion people and enslaving humanity. And now they're trying to rewrite history.

[RovingCounter]

Two books might of use to set the record straight.