Hollywood Ten Research Paper

The Hollywood Ten were a group of screenwriters of which most were wrongfully put in jail and blacklisted during the Red Scare of the post World War II United States. They were put in jail and blacklisted for refusing to answer questions about their suspected affiliations with communists. Most of the Hollywood Ten’s accusations that were made; were not supported by enough evidence to incriminate them. Shortly after World War II the United States and the communist Soviet Union entered into a cold war. A cold war is a state of political hostility between countries characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare (dictionary.com). One of the primary objectives for the Cold War was for each country involved to show …show more content…
Citizens of the United States specifically were afraid of communism penetrating high places of influence or importance such as the government or even the Hollywood film industry. The term for this fear is know as the Red Scare (ushistory.org) Due to the advancement of the Red Scare an organization was formed known as HUAC. HUAC stands for House Un-American Activities Committee. This organization was formed in 1938 with the purpose of investigating suspected communist affiliations within the United States. HUAC’s main targets were set on labor unions, government officials, and the military to keep the corruption of communism out of those areas. If there was any communism present their objective was to exterminate it. However in 1947 the attention was turned to Hollywood (history.com) In 1947 around forty big names in the movie industry had received subpoenas by HUAC. For most of the directors and screenwriters there was no direct evidence connecting any of them with communism however they were still forced to give testimonies. However not all of the forty that were given subpoenas cooperated. …show more content…
son of the famous journalist Ring Lardner was born August 19, 1915. He graduated Princeton University. Eventually moving to Hollywood to become a screenwriter. In 1947 he was one of the men who HUAC chose to be questioned. He refusing saying that it was against his civil rights and also breaking the first amendment. Lardner refused to reveal if he was apart of the communist party after his refusal he stated “It depends on the circumstances. I could answer it, but if I did I would hate myself in the morning.”. Lardner is not required to state if he was apart of the communist party or no because of his protection under the first amendment and his freedom of speech.