· American Studies UWA ·

   AS30020: America in the era of the Cold War

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Why did people like Ronald Reagan and Elia Kazan co-operate so willingly with HUAC? How did they do so?

• Ronald Reagan – left wing actor in the 1930s moved to politics in the late 50’s and early 60’s leading to becoming president in 1981.

• Elia Kazan – Hollywood director who directed 10 critically acclaimed films between 1945-57.; he was a founding member of the leftist group “group theater” in NY, and joined the communists for a short while in 1934. When before the HUAC he refused to give names of other party members and was thus blacklisted.
• Advice given by playwright Arthur Miller was that if Elia Kazan didn't co-operate with HUAC willingly then he would be banished from Hollywood and the film making business would therefore loose a great film maker.
• Kazan had a fear of imprisonment if he didn't co-operate willingly. That's exactly what happened to the "famous Hollywood Ten" who served between six and twelve months in prison after they failed to supply HUAC with information requested. Some of the names of these people, including John Howard Lawson, Dalton Trumbo and Alvah Bessie, were given to HUAC by Kazan himself.
• Ronald Reagan only seemed to make mediocre films. He could not continue in the business due to his failing reputation as an actor. If he didn't comply with HUAC then he would most certainly not work again. By complying with the HUAC he gained some much needed publicity.
• It was extremely important for Reagan's reputation that he was not viewed as being a communist sympathiser and therefore, if he did not co-operate with HUAC, people may have thought otherwise. His blooming political career in the late 50s and 60’s meant that if he wanted to maintain his career outside of a fledgling actor he had to conform to the roles of society – as an anti-communist.
• For people in the limelight, as both Reagan and Kazan were, the HUAC investigations were a real threat and many felt that they had to reject their personal principles (in some cases) to maintain a career in Hollywood.

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