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Copyright by Robert Erik Bruce 2009 Copyright by Robert Erik Bruce 2009 The Dissertation Committee for Robert Erik Bruce Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Have You No Sense of Decency? Morals Clauses, Communists and the Legal Fight Against Blacklisting in the Entertainment Industry During the Post-War Era Committee: David Oshinsky, Supervisor H.W. Brands George Forgie Glenda Gilmore Mark Lawrence Have You No Sense of Decency? Morals Clauses, Communists and the Legal Fight Against Blacklisting in the Entertainment Industry During the Post-War Era by Robert Erik Bruce, B.A., M.A., J.D. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December, 2009 For My Family Acknowledgements I have been incredibly fortunate to have been mentored by so many talented people. I owe thanks to my advisor, David Oshinsky for his convincing me to come to Austin and for his kind, yet critical, encouragement over the last four and a half years. Thank you also to H.W. Brands whose enthusiasm for history and writing is infectious and who opened my eyes to the joy of archival research. I owe a debt of gratitude to Mark Lawrence for repeated help in improving my writing and to George Forgie for taking the time to critique this project. Thank you to Steve Estes and Steve Bittner for their early encouragement and introduction to history as a profession and to Glenda Gilmore for helping me have faith in myself from early on. Thank you also to my graduate school friends Chris Albi and Kenny Aslakson. Your camaraderie and help through the maze of unwritten rules that is graduate education was indispensible. Without my family, I would never have had the opportunity to write this passage. First, thank you to my mother, Elaine Pedroni, for your unconditional love and support. I owe so much of who I am to your graceful example and your belief that all dreams are possible. Thank you to my father, Robert, whose storytelling piqued my interest in history and to James Balfour for being the best “nonno” around. Thank you also to Eric Bergstrom. You are a father in all the important ways and your unflagging encouragement has meant the world to me. Thank you to my “nonni,” Mary Pedroni. Your personal stories have brought history to life. Thank you to my daughter, Eliana, whose happiness offers inspiration. I am so happy that I am the one you turn to for tales v of the “olden days.” Lastly, to Patty, my wife and best friend. You are my rock and my love. Thank you for being there for me at every step. vi Have You No Sense of Decency? Morals Clauses, Communists and the Legal Fight Against Blacklisting in the Entertainment Industry During the Post-War Era Publication No._____________ Robert Erik Bruce, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2007 Supervisor: David Oshinsky Anti-communism in America reached its apex in the 1950s. One element of this crusade focused on preventing suspected communists from working in their chosen profession, a practice called blacklisting. In attempting to assert their legal rights, the blacklisted found an imperfect justice system, cloaked in equality, yet hampered by the existing cultural setting that treated as immoral anything communist. This dissertation deconstructs the interplay between culture and law, between the desire to root out communists and the attempt to maintain a fair legal system. With an emphasis on the entertainment industry, broadly defined, I will trace blacklisting from anti-labor tool to for-profit instrument focusing on how the blacklisted employed the lawsuit to fight for their jobs. I argue that from the late 1940s through the mid-1960s, blacklisted plaintiffs continuously found themselves handicapped by their association — either current or past, real or perceived — with the Communist Party, and not until a plaintiff with no demonstrable ties to communism came along did the legal system prove a vii comprehensively effective tool in ending the practice. I show that various members of the blacklisted community, with the aid of a small number of lawyers, tried an assortment of legal theories in their attempt to remedy their pariah status with the results often promising — the first three jury trials ended in victories for the plaintiffs — but ultimately hollow as a recalcitrant appellate judiciary dashed these early hopes. Moreover, I show how plaintiff’s lawyers, sensitive to a legal system that demanded a successful plaintiff be free of communist ties, adjusted their strategy to accommodate the relationship between cultural setting and legal success. viii Table of Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................1 Chapter 1 A Brief History of Blacklisting in the Entertainment Industry ............30 Background to the Hearings..........................................................................44 The Congressional Hearings.........................................................................54 Public Opinion and Fallout from the Hearings.............................................60 David O. Selznick and the Attempt to Carve Out a Moderate Opposition to HUAC ..................................................................................................63 The Waldorf-Astoria Summit .......................................................................67 Conclusion ....................................................................................................74 Chapter 2 Ridding Ourselves of Reds — The Wrongful Discharge of the Hollywood Ten ................................................................................................................80 Cole’s Contract and the Alleged Breach.......................................................87 Litigation.......................................................................................................90 The Trial........................................................................................................98 The Appeal..................................................................................................110 Concurrent Suits for Breach of Contract ....................................................116 Scott v. RKO and Lardner v. Twentieth Century Fox ........................117 Trumbo v. Loews................................................................................128 Dmytryk v. RKO.................................................................................131 Conclusion ..................................................................................................132 Chapter 3 Give Me Credit for My Work — Injunctive Relief ...........................137 The Lawsuit ................................................................................................144 The Trial......................................................................................................153 The Appeal..................................................................................................165 ix The Friendly Persuasion Controversy........................................................167 Gottlieb v. Universal Pictures, Co..............................................................177 Conclusion ..................................................................................................179 Chapter 4 You Can't Do This to All of Us — The Anti-Trust Lawsuit..............182 Cole et al v. Loews et al..............................................................................187 Maltz et al v. Loews et al ............................................................................191 SWG v. MPAA.............................................................................................194 Wilson et al v. Loews et al ..........................................................................198 Independent Production Corporation v. Loews..........................................204 Young v. MPAA...........................................................................................215 Conclusion ..................................................................................................231 Chapter 5 John Henry Faulk and the End of Blacklisting ..................................233 The Commercialization of Blacklisting: A Backstory................................234 The Plaintiff ................................................................................................246 Conflict with Anti-Communists..................................................................249 Litigation.....................................................................................................252 The Trial......................................................................................................266 Conclusion ..................................................................................................277 Conclusion .........................................................................................................283 A Tool to Bust the Union............................................................................284 The Arc of Blacklisting and Public Antipathy Toward Communists.........288 For-Profit Enterprise and the Loss of Public Support for Blacklisting.......298 Effects of the Blacklist................................................................................299 Bibliography .......................................................................................................303
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