A Shadow of Red: Communism and the Blacklist in Radio and Television
by David Everitt
Summary
The Cold War came to broadcasting in 1950. In that year, just as the Korean War was about to erupt, there appeared from a small publisher a booklet called Red Channels, which listed 151 suspected Communist sympathizers in broadcasting. Within months the blacklist in radio and TV began. The purge of the airwaves affected scores of writers, directors, and actors, yet it was instigated by only a handful of anti-Red watchdogs--three ex-FBI agents, a former naval intelligence officer, and a grocer from Syracuse. A Shadow of Red is brilliant history, a cautionary tale about civil liberties in a time of emergency, and a vivid example of the polarized political battle over who controls the media, a battle that continues to this day.
Excerpt
MOST OF THEIR DAYS were spent churning out weekly scripts or reading aloud lines of dialogue into a radio microphone, lending their talents to a great media machine that catered to a massive, often nondiscriminating audience. While some explored radio’s potential for artistry and social commentary, many more occupied themselves in featherweight comedies and escapist soap operas and pulp-fiction adventures. But behind the scenes a large contingent of creative players in the broadcast industry dedicated themselves to higher-minded pursuits. From obscure writers and actors to such stars as Edward G. Robinson and Orson Welles, they conferred in union caucuses and congregated at rallies in midtown hotels to grapple with issues that extended far byond the confines of their profession, issues that pitted one faction againsdt another in bitter debate.
The conflict had been gathering momentum since the Great Depression,
when many writers, directors, and actors first began to gravitate toward
opposing political camps. Whatever the specific dispute at the time,
their greater concerns often related not to developments in their immediate
experience in the entertainment business but to extraordinary events
unfolding on the other side of the world. At the eye of the political storm
were clashing perspectives on the Soviet Union. Some who had championed
the New Deal and opposed the rise of fascism found it only natural
to support a Russian experiment that might solve the problems of poverty
and war. Forming a loose alliance with them were others, not quite so radical.
They might not be outright advocates of communism, but they
viewed the Soviet system as at least a tolerable alternative to the American
way. Together, they found themselves at loggerheads with all those in
broadcasting who believed Soviet tyranny to be the great enemy of political
liberty around the world. In one respect, the two sides had something
in common. Both were determined and ready to discredit their adversaries
whenever possible.
Few of these disputes reached the larger public. Arguments over the
Russo-Finnish War or internal union regulations were unlikely to galvanize
those outside a small circle of die-hard partisans. But with the end of
World War II and new questions about relations between Washington and
Moscow, the controversies within broadcasting threatened to escalate and
attract outside scrutiny.
The debates intensified at a time of great uncertainty in the industry.
The new technology of television promised to transform broadcasting by
adding an unprecedented visual dimension to the programs transmitted
over the airwaves, a potentially seismic change that preoccupied many
who worried about how to adapt old radio habits to a new medium. This
was not a time when executives were eager to welcome additional turmoil,
but others in the field, more politically inclined, remained impatient with
parochial concerns. Their gaze was focused abroad, where they saw vexing
developments they were certain would press upon their lives at home.
The first indication of trouble arose in eastern Europe….The cold war had begun.
Reprinted with permission of Ivan R. Dee Publishers. http://www.ivanrdee.com
Reviews
"[A] deeply researched, highly detailed account"—Publisher’s Weekly
"Absorbing history….offers special insights into the protagonists whose actions shaped this sordid era"—Athan Theoharis, author of From the Secret Files of J. Edgar Hoover
"Everitt has given us a thoughtful, considered look at the issue of Communism in American life"—Stanley I. Kutler, author of The Wars of Watergate
Author's Biography
David Everitt, a former magazine editor, writes on entertainment and the media. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Biography, and American History, and he has also written King of the Half Hour. He lives in Huntington, New York.