Communism And Hollywood During The Cold War

The Cold War was basically an economic conflict, where the United States and the Soviet Union had economic stability and political tendencies. It wasn’t a military conflict where both sides of armed men killed and fought for their country, but a “contest about values”. Their values differed from each other, which created tensions between both countries. President Harry Truman wanted to build the world as a freedom and democracy economy while Stalin wanted the world under communism. So, the objective was to stop communism from spreading. President Truman believed the responsibilities fell to the United State to have an anti-communists free world. Throughout the Cold War, many aspects of American culture were affected, it took a toll on women

There was lots of propaganda surrounding this conflict and it aggravated the situation. Specifically the industry of film, and media, Hollywood. “Known as the second red scare” it was a supposed link between communism and Hollywood. The HUAC had a way of discovering their theories “HUAC had the power to subpoena witnesses and to compel them to answer all questions or face contempt of Congress charges”. They accused many directors, writers, and actors of falling into communism, many of them were forced to name names of those who were anti-democracy. If they refused, they served prison time or blacklisted. “More than 500 people lost their jobs. Many of these “blacklisted” writers, directors, actors, and others were unable to work again for more than a decade” . The Hollywood film industry was affected because of the association with communists, the studios held back in production because of controversial social and political

Government officials believed professors were teaching students "communist-line textbooks". Higher education throughout the country was affected since faculty members were being accused in a negative light. "Nationwide, approximately 200 radical faculty members were dismissed outright, and many others were denied tenure." Academic freedom in the so-called free world was weakened during the Cold War. It was also apparent that the students took offense to frequent government visits to the schools. “Thousands of students simply left school, dropped out of organizations, or changed friends after visits from the FBI agents or interviews with administration.” In many Universities the students and professors were being closely watched as schools were considered “red propaganda” for communism. Students were restricted with their own civil