Institutions during McCarthyism (Education, HUAC and Blacklisting)
Education
During the Red Scare, just as every other aspect of American life, education was also deeply affected by the social attitudes and blanket fear that ruled the norm. It was also, according to Stuart J Foster, quite the norm for institutions and organizations, just like people, to “reflexively embrace the prevailing zeitgeist that a serious internal threat existed” from communist subversives.
It is therefore necessary to point out the National Education Association (NEA) as they were quite important in forming the widespread and salient attitudes of the education system in America during the Red Scare. Schools had by all accounts, in particular those of Stuart J. Foster, become “bitterly embroiled in socio-political clashes”. As such the NEA served as a mouthpiece of the education system in attempting to restore “some sense of normality” to the deeply troubling conflicts taking place inside the education system. In at least some way these conflicts were encapsulated by America at large and the sentiment is all to easy to appropriate from one field to another. America’s education system was deeply conflicted just like most aspects of American life under the climate of fear.
It is therefore necessary to point out the National Education Association (NEA) as they were quite important in forming the widespread and salient attitudes of the education system in America during the Red Scare. Schools had by all accounts, in particular those of Stuart J. Foster, become “bitterly embroiled in socio-political clashes”. As such the NEA served as a mouthpiece of the education system in attempting to restore “some sense of normality” to the deeply troubling conflicts taking place inside the education system. In at least some way these conflicts were encapsulated by America at large and the sentiment is all to easy to appropriate from one field to another. America’s education system was deeply conflicted just like most aspects of American life under the climate of fear.
The HUAC
Originally formed in 1938 The House of Un-American Activities Committee’s purpose was to investigate disloyalty and activities of private citizens, public employees and organizations that could be considered ‘subversive’. Most commonly however it became a committee of investigation into communist subversives in America and subsequently in this way it contributed to the political and social climate of the US during the Red Scare. In fact the HUAC’s constant attacks on supposed subversives attracted major headlines and invited common public support for the HUAC.
The HUAC had unique powers in being able to hold witnesses in contempt of congress and used labelling, often calling non co-operative suspects ‘reds’, to attempt to force them to give up names and information on other communists or sympathizers that had engaged in subversion. Often those who were labelled as 'reds' were blacklisted or had their reputations so badly damaged by the accusations that they may as well have been tried and convicted. The extent of these powers and the way in which The HUAC used them led to a exacerbated conflict in American media and popular culture.
Originally formed in 1938 The House of Un-American Activities Committee’s purpose was to investigate disloyalty and activities of private citizens, public employees and organizations that could be considered ‘subversive’. Most commonly however it became a committee of investigation into communist subversives in America and subsequently in this way it contributed to the political and social climate of the US during the Red Scare. In fact the HUAC’s constant attacks on supposed subversives attracted major headlines and invited common public support for the HUAC.
The HUAC had unique powers in being able to hold witnesses in contempt of congress and used labelling, often calling non co-operative suspects ‘reds’, to attempt to force them to give up names and information on other communists or sympathizers that had engaged in subversion. Often those who were labelled as 'reds' were blacklisted or had their reputations so badly damaged by the accusations that they may as well have been tried and convicted. The extent of these powers and the way in which The HUAC used them led to a exacerbated conflict in American media and popular culture.
Another Amazing Tidbit!
Arthur Miller, a famous playwright of the 40's and 50's, writing such plays as All my sons (1947) and Death of a salesman (1949) was brought before the HUAC under suspicion of being a subversive and was subsequently requested to bring evidence to prove that he was not a communist 'sympathiser'. This request being formally known as a Subpoena. After much questioning of his political associations and why his play was performed by communist theatres the HUAC found Arthur Miller in contempt of congress and denied his passport renewal as well as giving him a $500 fine, which if he was unable to pay, would become a 30-day imprisonment. Along with this came the social ostracization that so many other prominent figures suffered. However Arthur Miller wrote a play in protest of these events in which he analogues the McCarthyism era with the Salem Witch-hunts of colonial America and to this day the play, called The Crucible, is a popular play and is widely used as a study text.
Arthur Miller, a famous playwright of the 40's and 50's, writing such plays as All my sons (1947) and Death of a salesman (1949) was brought before the HUAC under suspicion of being a subversive and was subsequently requested to bring evidence to prove that he was not a communist 'sympathiser'. This request being formally known as a Subpoena. After much questioning of his political associations and why his play was performed by communist theatres the HUAC found Arthur Miller in contempt of congress and denied his passport renewal as well as giving him a $500 fine, which if he was unable to pay, would become a 30-day imprisonment. Along with this came the social ostracization that so many other prominent figures suffered. However Arthur Miller wrote a play in protest of these events in which he analogues the McCarthyism era with the Salem Witch-hunts of colonial America and to this day the play, called The Crucible, is a popular play and is widely used as a study text.
Blacklisting
Even during the height of McCarthyism the political purges were only one aspect of the ramifications of being labelled as a ‘red’. Indeed it is postulated that McCarthyism would not have succeeded in the political repression that it achieved if it had not been supported by the private sector, which had enforced economic sanctions against those it deemed “politically undesirable”. The official consequences that were used to silence and intimidate and threaten and ensure an absence of political dissent were supported by economic sanctions. This became all too well known when those who had been labelled as dissenters suddenly found themselves jobless, and found out that it would be virtually impossible for them to get jobs because the vast majority of companies found them a liability. However the statistics of the time paint an unclear picture, in a recent survey by Yale School Professor Ralph Brown, roughly ten thousand jobs were lost, clearly, due to blacklisting. However it is noted that a number of other variables account for this number, including rejected applications and those who resigned under duress. This is important to note as Ellen Schreker posits that “most of the firings of the McCarthyism era occurred after someone had refused to co-operate with an investigating committee…” which therefore implies that employers were at the time susceptible to the external pressures of the political climate and as such lends to Ralph Brown’s aforementioned observations concerning how blacklisting and private sector enforcement of the US governments anti-communist campaigning affected jobs at the time.
Blacklisting reached it’s peak between 1952 and 1956 when the HUAC’s investigation and interrogation of personalities in Hollywood reached it’s climax. This began with the screenwriter’s guild authorizing directors and producers to “omit from the screen” the names of those unfortunate enough to have been targeted by the HUAC that, as was the vast majority, were unable to clear their names in front of congress. During this period a number of journalists who sided with the American Legion, who were essentially gang’s of anti-communist activists, began to write accusatory articles on which writers and producers could be drawn and quartered as the next ‘red apologists’. This growing social and cultural clash was added to by the communist-baiting activities of J. Edgar Hoover who was the director of the FBI at the time. Hoover organized the tapping and surveillance of numerous anti-HUAC lawyers such as Bartley Crum. Crum was spied on for years by his own government and under constant harassment from aforementioned surveillance committed suicide in 1959 after losing most of his client base and being unable to cope with the harassment. As Hollywood society continues it’s throes of upheaval and clash with the HUAC and it’s own board of censorship protest films were developed. In one such film High Noon, written by Carl Foreman, who was one of the screenwriters who refused to testify before congress, "portrays a town marshall who is abandoned by the good citizens of Hadleyville when a gang of outlaws return”. This according to film historian James Chapman was both the beginning of a cliche of abandonment by the ‘masses’ when faced by adversity and malice and one of the first movies to protest the abandonment of Hollywood and American culture to the scruples of the HUAC and McCarthy. However the fight against social criticism censoring Hollywood would be a long fight and would eventually die down, but never truly disappear.
Even during the height of McCarthyism the political purges were only one aspect of the ramifications of being labelled as a ‘red’. Indeed it is postulated that McCarthyism would not have succeeded in the political repression that it achieved if it had not been supported by the private sector, which had enforced economic sanctions against those it deemed “politically undesirable”. The official consequences that were used to silence and intimidate and threaten and ensure an absence of political dissent were supported by economic sanctions. This became all too well known when those who had been labelled as dissenters suddenly found themselves jobless, and found out that it would be virtually impossible for them to get jobs because the vast majority of companies found them a liability. However the statistics of the time paint an unclear picture, in a recent survey by Yale School Professor Ralph Brown, roughly ten thousand jobs were lost, clearly, due to blacklisting. However it is noted that a number of other variables account for this number, including rejected applications and those who resigned under duress. This is important to note as Ellen Schreker posits that “most of the firings of the McCarthyism era occurred after someone had refused to co-operate with an investigating committee…” which therefore implies that employers were at the time susceptible to the external pressures of the political climate and as such lends to Ralph Brown’s aforementioned observations concerning how blacklisting and private sector enforcement of the US governments anti-communist campaigning affected jobs at the time.
Blacklisting reached it’s peak between 1952 and 1956 when the HUAC’s investigation and interrogation of personalities in Hollywood reached it’s climax. This began with the screenwriter’s guild authorizing directors and producers to “omit from the screen” the names of those unfortunate enough to have been targeted by the HUAC that, as was the vast majority, were unable to clear their names in front of congress. During this period a number of journalists who sided with the American Legion, who were essentially gang’s of anti-communist activists, began to write accusatory articles on which writers and producers could be drawn and quartered as the next ‘red apologists’. This growing social and cultural clash was added to by the communist-baiting activities of J. Edgar Hoover who was the director of the FBI at the time. Hoover organized the tapping and surveillance of numerous anti-HUAC lawyers such as Bartley Crum. Crum was spied on for years by his own government and under constant harassment from aforementioned surveillance committed suicide in 1959 after losing most of his client base and being unable to cope with the harassment. As Hollywood society continues it’s throes of upheaval and clash with the HUAC and it’s own board of censorship protest films were developed. In one such film High Noon, written by Carl Foreman, who was one of the screenwriters who refused to testify before congress, "portrays a town marshall who is abandoned by the good citizens of Hadleyville when a gang of outlaws return”. This according to film historian James Chapman was both the beginning of a cliche of abandonment by the ‘masses’ when faced by adversity and malice and one of the first movies to protest the abandonment of Hollywood and American culture to the scruples of the HUAC and McCarthy. However the fight against social criticism censoring Hollywood would be a long fight and would eventually die down, but never truly disappear.
Another Fascinating Fact!
The first movie to overtly criticize McCarthyism and the anti-communist interrogations of American citizens and their culture came in the form of a 1956 movie by the name of Storm Center (1956). A film in which Bette Davis play's a "Small town librarian, who refuses, on principle, to remove a book called 'The Communist Dream' from her shelves when the local council calls it 'subversive'.
The first movie to overtly criticize McCarthyism and the anti-communist interrogations of American citizens and their culture came in the form of a 1956 movie by the name of Storm Center (1956). A film in which Bette Davis play's a "Small town librarian, who refuses, on principle, to remove a book called 'The Communist Dream' from her shelves when the local council calls it 'subversive'.