John Edgar Hoover
The House Committee on Un-American Activities put on an elaborate show in the attempts to purge Hollywood of its communist threat, but their public efforts would have proved tireless had it not been for the stringent, invasive and legally questionable investigations of J. Edgar Hoover.1
Born on January 1st, 1895, J. Edgar Hoover, appointed head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation upon its creation in 1935, was obsessed with stifling what he deemed the greatest American threat—Communism.2 For Hoover, any questioning of the status quo—from racial segregation to union organization—signaled dissidence against supreme American ideals, and therefore indicated intentions of subversion which would inevitably establish a Communist system within the nations borders. As a result, hundreds of US inhabitants were victim to his stealthy inquiries—even Eleanor Roosevelt, an unabashed activist for the liberal causes (particularly civil rights) Hoover abhorred—fell under investigation.3 It was in Hollywood, however, where Hoover had the most success.
From the 1920s on, the FBI concentrated its efforts on domestic Communist activity, for Hoover was not concerned with attacking the social order through acts of espionage on a foreign front. 4 Following the formations of two prominent labor unions—the Screen Writers and Screen Actors Guilds—in 1933, Hoover’s interest in Hollywood grew, peaking during the final years of World War II amidst the release of numerous films he viewed as pro-Soviet. 5 In a characteristic move of questionable activity, in 1943, Hoover called for an FBI break-in of the Los Angeles Communist Party offices in order to establish files on members of the Hollywood branch. 6 From this raid, and another that took place in October 1947, just before the trial of the Hollywood Ten, the FBI composed a list of forty-seven actors, forty-five actresses, one hundred and twenty-seven writers, eight producers and fifteen directors that identified with the Communist Party. 7
Hoover himself did not participate directly in the HUAC hearings of 1947, but nonetheless continued investigate Hollywood’s Communist community, covertly leaking information to Committee chairs. 8 The HUAC hearings of 1951-1953 resulted, creating a much longer Hollywood blacklist, deepening public fear of communist infiltration, and thereby strengthening the demand for Hoover’s efforts, which he continued until his death in 1975. 9
1 Humphries, Reynold. Hollywood’s Blacklists: A Political and Cultural History. Edinburgh University Press Ltd, Edinburgh, UK. 2008.
4 Humphries, Reynold. Hollywood’s Blacklists: A Political and Cultural History. Edinburgh University Press Ltd, Edinburgh, UK. 2008.
5 Humphries, Reynold. Hollywood’s Blacklists: A Political and Cultural History. Edinburgh University Press Ltd, Edinburgh, UK. 2008.
6 Humphries, Reynold. Hollywood’s Blacklists: A Political and Cultural History. Edinburgh University Press Ltd, Edinburgh, UK. 2008.
7 Humphries, Reynold. Hollywood’s Blacklists: A Political and Cultural History. Edinburgh University Press Ltd, Edinburgh, UK. 2008.
8 Humphries, Reynold. Hollywood’s Blacklists: A Political and Cultural History. Edinburgh University Press Ltd, Edinburgh, UK. 2008.