3. The beginning of the Hollywood Blacklist
The series of events which led to the Hollywood Blacklist started with an editorial column in The Hollywood Reporter in 1946. Titled, A Vote for Joe Stalin, and written by published William Wilkerson, it listed several prominent writers, identifying them as communists. Among the writers were Dalton Trumbo and Ring Lardner Jr. The article drew the attention of the Republicans in Congress and the HUAC. In 1947, with the new Congress in session, Congressman J. Parnell Thomas traveled to Hollywood to meet with executives. Among those he met with were Walt Disney and actor Ronald Reagan, then president of the Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG). Upon returning to Washington Wilkerson announced the HUAC would investigate the presence and influence of “subversives” in Hollywood and the film industry, with open hearings beginning in the fall.
Having been assured in private that communists prevailed in Hollywood, Wilkerson opened the hearings with “friendly” witnesses. Friendly meant the witness would admit the presence of communists and hopefully name them under oath. Having thus established a case, those named were then to be subpoenaed to testify. Among the friendly witnesses appearing early before the committee were Walt Disney and Ronald Reagan. Disney named several former employees of his as communists. Most of them had been involved with attempts to unionize his company. Reagan admitted several members of his union, the SAG, were “…following the tactics that we associated with the Communist Party”. He also stated he did not believe communists had been able to use Hollywood as a “sounding board for their philosophy or ideology”.