Five of the movie writers who were suspended from their jobs until they declared "under oath that they are not communists" gather in Hollywood, Nov. 25, 1947, to draft their answer. From left to right: Herbert Biberman, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, Edward Dmytryk and John Howard Lawson are pictured. | AP Photo Congress cites ‘Hollywood 10’ for contempt, Nov. 24, 1947

On this day in 1947, as the Cold War with the Soviet Union intensified, the House voted 346 to 17 to approve contempt citations against 10 Hollywood writers, directors and producers who had refused to cooperate at hearings held by the House Un-American Activities Committee.

The panel had held a set of hearings probing alleged Communist influence in the movie industry. The contempt charges were triggered by the witness' refusal to state whether they were or had ever been members of the Communist Party.


In hearings often marked by rancor, the 10 men — Albert Maltz, Dalton Trumbo, John Howard Lawson, Samuel Ornitz, Ring Lardner Jr., Lester Cole, Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Edward Dmytryk and Robert Adrian Scott — objected to the questions posed by the committee as violations of their First Amendment rights. The “Hollywood 10,” as they were known, were each sentenced to six-month jail terms. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld their convictions.

In May 1947, Rep. J. Parnell Thomas (R-N.J.), HUAC’s chairman, had gone to Los Angeles to meet with film industry executives to discuss what he viewed as potential Communist infiltration of motion pictures content by members of the Screen Writers Guild.

After returning to Washington, he shifted the focus of the committee to probing what he called the “subversives” working in the film industry. The hearings opened with testimony from Walt Disney and Ronald Reagan, then president of the Screen Actors Guild. Disney said Communists seriously threatened the film industry.

Morning Shift newsletter Get the latest on employment and immigration, every weekday morning — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Parnell dismissed the arguments of the Hollywood 10 and asserted that Congress had the right to question witnesses about political affiliations. “The Constitution,” he declared, “was never intended to cloak or shield those who would destroy it.”

The Hollywood 10 responded with a joint statement in which they argued that the committee had succeeded in having “the Congress cite the Bill of Rights for contempt.” “The United States,” their statement concluded, “can keep its constitutional liberties or it can keep the Thomas committee. It can’t keep both.”

The congressional hearings, capped by the charges against the Hollywood 10, had a long-lasting impact on the movie industry, which on the day after the House approved the contempt charges. established a blacklist comprising Hollywood personalities accused of communist ties. Persons on the list rarely found work in the industry. In the wake of the contempt charges, most Hollywood producers, directors and writers shied away from subject matter that might be regarded as politically controversial or that could expose them to charges of being “soft” on communism.

The blacklist lasted until the 1960s, when Trumbo, a Communist Party member from 1943 to 1948, was credited as the screenwriter of the film “Exodus,” and later acknowledged by actor Kirk Douglas as author of the screenplay for the movie “Spartacus.”

A number of those blacklisted, however, were still barred from work for years afterward.

SOURCE: HISTORY.COM

