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The Hollywood Ten in context: Teaching the political framework

Change Context Causality Contingency Complexity

THE 5 C’S OF HISTORICAL THINKING

Presenter:

Eric Gondree

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Overview

Introduction: Book: Movie Time!

The 5 C’s of Historical Thinking:

Change, Context, Causality, Contingency, Complexity

Context: Late 1940s, CPUSA, FBI, HUAC, Labor Unrest, 1947 Waldorf Declaration, Cold War

Joe McCarthy: The problem with “McCarthyism”

Effects beyond Hollywood: Josephine Baker, 1988 Moscow Summit

Suggested activities: Trumbo, Compare/Contrast, Five questions to ask

Conclusion

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Quick challenge: 1, 2, 3, 4?

Can you put these pictures in the right order?

2. 3.

4. 1.

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“Movie Time”

Ch 10: Most political portion of the book

Movie-making within a context of a

American politics of the late ‘40s-’50s

(Miller, 2024)

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The 5 C’s of Historical Thinking

(Andrews & Burke, 2007)

The 5 C’s “…stand at the heart of the questions historians seek to answer, the arguments we make, and the debates in which we engage.”

(Gibson, 2020)

“…historical thinking is the cognitive process of analyzing and interpreting historical evidence to construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct historical narratives.”

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The 5 C’s of Historical Thinking

Change

& Continuity

Context

Stories need context

Causality

Causes & effects

Contingency

Interconnectedness of events

Complexity

Different people & different perspectives

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1. Change

How has the world changed?
How has the world not changed?

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1. Change: Example

Technological
Economic
Social
Language
Fashion, etc.

1925

Dir: Hoyt

Vs.

1993

Dir: Spielberg

Jungle discovery

Vs.

Biotechnology

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2. Context

Stories need context to be understandable

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2. Context: Example

How to contextualize a film

A film as a product of a time & place

This does not

necessarily refer

to the film’s plot

(1973, Dir: Lumet)

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2. Context: Example

How to infer context from a film

A film as reflecting a time & place

This can

be risky with

fictional films!

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3. Causality

Factors which cause changes or which result from changes

Some factors may outweigh others

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4. Contingency

Inter-connectedness of past events

What were past decisions?
How could history have turned out differently?

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5. Complexity

Historic phenomena can involve multiple, connected components
Different people have different perspectives

Beware of oversimplifications

Making it brief & easy…

Erases a lot of details…

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Late 1940s…

Historical Changes, Context, etc:

End of WW II & temporary USA/USSR alliance

Fear of communist subversion

Ironic change:

Pro-Soviet films of mid-1940s

(1944, Dir: Clampett) (1943, Dir: Capra) (1943, Dir: Curtiz)

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1930s: CPUSA

Communist Party of the USA

Labor organizing in Great Depression

Anti-segregation (political outlier)
Anti-fascist

Support for Spanish Republic (1936-1939)

Links with COMINTERN

Anti-Nazi “Popular Front” 1935-Aug 1939

Resumed “Popular Front” June 22, 1941

1940-1944: Went “underground”

Prosecution of leadership in late 1940s

(Ryan, 1997)

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Role of the FBI

Federal Bureau of Investigation

National police force (1908-present)

Current name in 1935 under J. Edgar Hoover
Supported Red Scare & Hollywood Blacklist

Information, resources, informers & arrest powers

J. Edgar Hoover, FBI director (1935-1972)

Anti-communist, segregationist

Remembered for abuses of power, vendettas

Politically invulnerable & untouchable

(Gage, 2022)

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1938: HUAC, Investigation of Federal Theatre Project

HUAC = House Un-American Activities Committee

HUAC: Congressional Cmte.

Started in 1938 (Dies Cmte.)

House of Representatives

Federal Theatre Project

Director: Hallie Flanagan

(Becker, 2002)

Ex: Rep. John Rankin,

(D-MS)

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1930s-40s Labor Unrest

Screen Writers Guild & Conference of Studio Unions vs. various studios

Examples:

1941 Disney animator’s strike

Oct 5, 1945: Hollywood Black Friday

1946: CSU Lockout

(Horne, 2001)

(Testimony, 1947)

John Howard Lawson:

First president of Screen Writers' Guild

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Hollywood 10:

May, 1947: HUAC Subcommittee in Hollywood

Sept, 1947: Subpoenas issued

The Ten: Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner, Jr.,

John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, and Dalton Trumbo

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Blacklist Beginnings:�1947 Waldorf Declaration

Nov 25, 1947: Response to Hollywood 10

Motion Picture Association of America

Association of Motion Picture Producers

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Columbia Pictures

20th Century Fox

Loew’s Theatres

Paramount Pictures

Samuel Goldwyn Company

Warner Bros.

Universal-International

RKO Pictures

Etc…

Joseph Schenck

20^th Century Fox

Nicholas Schenck

Loew’s Theatres

Louis Mayer

MGM

No notes survive from

the closed meeting

(Doherty, 2017)

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Cold War and US Reactions

Changes, Context and Causality:

End of WW II & temporary USA/USSR alliance
Fear of communist infiltration
March 1947: Loyalty Oaths

Executive Order of Harry Truman

Example cases:

Whittaker Chambers/Alger Hiss (1948)
Prosecutions of CPUSA (1949)
Manhattan Project spy ring (1950-1953)

Julius & Ethel Rosenberg, executed 1953

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Fall 1949: International events

August 1949:

Soviet atom bomb test

October 1949:

Establishment of People’s

Republic of China

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HUAC & Joe McCarthy

HUAC = House Un-American Activities Committee

HUAC: Congressional Cmte.

Started in 1938

House of Representatives

Sen. J. McCarthy (R-WI)

Began anti-communist

media push in Feb. 1950

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“McCarthyism”

Feb 9, 1950: “enemies from within” speech at event in Wheeling, WV:

“…The reason why we find ourselves in a position of impotency is not because our only powerful potential enemy has sent men to invade our shores... but rather because of the traitorous actions of those who have been treated so well by this Nation... This is glaringly true in the State Department... I have here in my hand a list of 205... a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department...”

The next day in Utah, he said it was 57 names…

(Swanson, 1977)

(U.S. Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy Speaks in Wheeling, n.d.)

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1954: End of McCarthyism

McCarthy hearings become televised

Investigation of US Army

June 9, 1954: Joseph Welch

“Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”

July 30, 1954: Senate Censure of McCarthy

(National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.)

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The problem with using� “McCarthyism”

It personalizes a general climate:

Joe McCarthy was an example
Pins the blame on one person
Suggests lack of widespread support

Red-baiting was a useful political tactic

Doesn’t explain other & earlier events

Earlier FBI & HUAC investigations
1947 Federal Loyalty Oaths
1947 Waldorf Declaration, etc…

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Effects Beyond Hollywood

Josephine Baker:

US/Fr. citizen, silent film actress

World War II: French Resistance
1949: Performer in US nightclubs

Supported Civil Rights movement

Embarrassed segregated nightclubs in media

1951: US work visa revoked
1953: Detained, questioned in Cuba

FBI attempted to sabotage her Latin America trip

(FBI, 2011) (Dudziak, 1994)

1935,

Dir: Greville

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1988 Moscow Summit:�Gift to Gorbachev

Friendly Persuasion (1956, Dir: Weyler)

Screenwriter: Uncredited

Michael Wilson: (Posthumously credited, 1996)

A Place in the Sun (1951)

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957),

Lawrence of Arabia (1962),

Planet of the Apes (1968)

(Reagan’s gift, 1988)

(Allen, 1988)

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Topic preview:

As part of the homework reading for Ch 10:

(Gondree, 2021)

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Recommended film:

Trumbo (2015)

(Based on 1977 biography)

Dir: Jay Roach

Starring:

Bryan Cranston, Helen Mirren, Louis C.K.

First 45 minutes :

Studios vs labor, jingoism, gossip-mongering, etc.

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Compare/Contrast

Films from WWII vs early 1950s vs After?

(1949,

Dir: Springsteen)

(1953,

Dir: Kazan)

(1956,

Dir: Seigel)

(1962,

Dir: Frankenheimer)

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How can students learn to think about film & history?

Five questions to ask to think about the historical context of a film…

(Adapted from Loewen, 2010.)

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Five Questions:

1. When and why was it made?

At what point in time?
Was it adapted from another work?
Who was the audience?
How was it distributed? What studio?

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Five Questions:

1. When and why was it made?
2. Whose viewpoint?

Who wrote it? Who directed it?

Why did they write/ direct it?

What perspective did they have? Why?
How does it compare with other views?

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Five Questions:

1. When and why was it made?
2. Whose viewpoint?
3. Is the plot believable?

How does it compare with a newer/older plot?
Do the characters act reasonably?
Is the story coherent?
Are there any “plot holes”?

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Five Questions:

1. When and why was it made?
2. Whose viewpoint?
3. Is the plot believable?
4. Are there different versions?

If it’s based on a book, is the book different?
Are different versions made for different audiences or markets?

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Five Questions:

1. When and why was it made?
2. Whose viewpoint?
3. Is the plot believable?
4. Are there different versions?
5. How is it supposed to make you feel?

Angry? Upset? Proud?
What kind of emotive language?
How is the audience being treated?

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Five Questions:

1. When and why was it made?
2. Whose viewpoint?
3. Is the plot believable?
4. Are there different versions?
5. How is it supposed to make you feel?

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To summarize…

Change
Context
Causality
Contingency
Complexity

History is not just: Who?, What? & When?
Also: How?, Why?... What if? & Why not?

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Thank you for joining!

Questions? Comments?

This PPT available for download at: http://eric.gondree.com

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References:

Allen, H. (1988, June 4). Ironies in reagan’s film gift to gorbachev. Los Angeles Times.

Andrews, T and Burke, F. (2007). “What Does It Mean to Think Historically?”

Perspectives on History. https://www.historians.org/publications-and- directories/perspectives-on-history/january-2007/what-does-it-mean- to-think-historically

Becker, P. (2002). Federal Theatre Project. Historylink.org. https://www.historylink.org/file/3978

Doherty, T. (2017, November 27). Reflections on Hollywood’s infamous blacklist 70 years later (guest column). The Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/reflections- hollywoods-infamous-blacklist-70-years-guest-column-1060628/

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References:

Dudziak, M. (Sept. 1994) Josephine Baker, racial protest, and the Cold War. The Journal of American History; Oxford 81(2): 543.

FBI (2011, April 18). Josephine Baker part 01. FBI. https://vault.fbi.gov/josephine- baker/Josephine%20Baker%20Part%2001/view

Gage, B. (2022). G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century. New York: Viking, 2022

Gibson, L. (2020). What is historical thinking? Canadian Historical Association.

Retrieved March 23, 2022, from https://cha-shc.ca/teachers-learning-

bl/what-is-historical-thinking/

Gondree, E. (2021). Journey to America Today. Nagoya: PAWS International, 67.

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References:

Heins, M. (2019, September 5). Insubordination and “Conduct unbecoming” : Purging NYC’s Communist teachers at the start of the Cold War. The Gotham Center for New York City History. https://www.gothamcenter.org/blog/ insubordination-and-conduct- unbecoming-purging-nycs-communist-teachers-at-the-start-of-the- cold-war

Horne, G. (2001). Class Struggle in Hollywood, 1930-1950: Moguls, Mobsters, Stars, Reds, and Trade Unionists. TX: University of Texas Press.

Loewen, J. (2010). Teaching what really happened. NY: Teacher’s College Press.

Miller, A. (2024). Movie Time! Nagoya: PAWS International, 36-39.

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References:

National Archives and Records Administration. (n.d.). Senate resolution 301: Censure of senator Joseph McCarthy (1954). National Archives and Records Administration. https://www.archives.gov/milestone- documents/censure-of-senator-joseph-mccarthy

Reagan’s gift recalls hollywood blacklist. (1988, June 2). New York Times.

Ryan, J. G. (1997). Earl Browder: The failure of american communism. University of Alabama Press.

Swanson, R. (1977) "McCarthyism in Utah." Theses and Dissertations. 5154. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/5154

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References:

Testimony of Walter E. Disney Before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Full text of “hearings regarding the Communist infiltration of the motion picture industry. hearings before the Committee on Un- American Activities, House of Representatives, Eightieth Congress, first session. public law 601 (Section 121, subsection Q (2)).” (1947, October 24).https://archive.org/stream/hearingsregardin1947aunit/hearingsreg ardin 1947aunit_djvu.txt

U.S. Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy Speaks in Wheeling. (n.d.). Ohio County Library Digital Collections. https://www.ohiocountylibrary.org/wheeling- history/5655