Thank god there were stars like Gene Kelly to fight against this scourge even though it touched his own family. The group that want to Washington to protest the HUAC were heroes.
Excellent summary--I've been curious about this, and I learned a lot. Most of what I'd previously seen on the topic said that there were some with commie leanings(even known to have attended party meetings), but no one remotely to the point of advocating the overthrow of our government.
They were in the National Archives. There was a 1976 documentary film called Hollywood on Trial by James Gutman and David Helpern, nominated for the 1976 Academy Awards.In order to make the documentary they made videotape copies of the nitrate films in the National Archives. Nitrate film is combustible, sometimes spontaneously. The films of the hearing combusted and burnt. So the only extant versions of the hearings were those videotape copies. The two filmmakers eventually donated the videotapes they made to the University of Wisconsin Film Archives. I know this because one of the filmmakers, Jim Gutman was my husband.
The potted history laid out in the first three minutes holds out little promise of an accurate, nuanced reading of events. I realize this presentation is meant as a brief introduction to the period for those lacking basic knowledge, but even on those terms it's sadly lacking.
This is a frighting period in American history. Could it happen again ? Will we freak out again ? Will we stop and think before we destroy people's lives ? I hope not.
One of the best things about the internet is you can look back at a comment like this after five years and argue that the American people have indeed freaked out again.
Interesting, Stalin "enslaved" Eastern Europe? Ok, so can we say the United States enslaved the Western territories that had been Mexico; Guam, the Northern Marianas, Samoa, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii [whose government was overthrown]? While we're on it, looking at Pakistan and Afghanistan should make an academic look at the Soviet Socialist Republics to the East, the other '-stans." They were the fiercest defenders of the USSR, the Baltic states being the least. These Eastern republics, sister countries to the Afghanistan and Pakistan variety, took a much better trajectory than the ones "enslaved" by Western capitalism.
Freedom is a funny thing. Although most of us would agree that freedom is our most precious right, blacklisting took away that right. But let us not forget that Communism was also a very real threat to freedom. The point at the end of this study is that both sides were victims. Question; Should this country which has an ideal to maintain individual freedom, allow religious freedom such as radical Islam to continue to grow and spread unfettered? I think the result would be incredible loss of freedom. Freedom is not free and all radical movements be it Jihadism, Communism, or blacklisting should be held in check.
It is now 2021. The big threat now is coming from the Right. Today's dupes are anyone in our country who follows Trump around, believing anything he says ... even as he changes his mind from one day to the next. They are also dupes when they resist actual history, political science or anything else based on hard facts. Instead they would rather believe anything they heard on a talk radio show, from podcasts, tweets or anything else "that's been going around lately".
@@hinchlnt The "dupes" can be found in large numbers on both sides. The U.S. propaganda game puts the rest of the world to shame, including big bad scary Russia.
I'm actually happy the blacklisting happened to those fools. You have to be really stupid, or plain evil, to be aligned with Communism knowing the damage it has done to millions of people. Mao Zedong and Stalin didn't teach these so-called adults a single thing.
@@z1az285 "unfettered"....LoL. Sounds like you're trying to downplay the evil of Communism because you like it. I hope you live in a Communist country. I have never seen people trying to get to any Communist country, in droves, like I see them trying to come to the USA, you know, kind of like how you see people doing now - invading the border in Texas. Seems like people all over the world desires the "damage" that capitalism does.
@@BusterGrimes_ yes "unfettered". Capitalism without checks and balance caused the 2008 financial crisis. Capitalism without environmental regulations causes ecological disaster. Our worlds resources are finite. Greed is good upto a point, but beyond that? Absolutely not. Same with communism, it failed because no one addressed it's ills or failures. Maybe you should read up on the model Hungary adopted because they were pragmatic. It's called "goulash" communism and I'm not saying we have to emulate them, but the world is not black and white. There is a middle ground in shades of grey. No ideology is perfect