Dalton Trumbo and the House Un-American Activities Committee: A Timeline
1919 The Communist Party of the United States of America is formed, attracting many liberal
thinkers and artists. From the 1920s through the 40s, the group is instrumental in creating
labor unions.
1938 The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) is created to investigate alleged
disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and
those organizations suspected of having Communist ties.
1939 Dalton Trumbo’s anti-war novel, Johnny Got His Gun, wins the National Book Award.
1940 Over the next few years, Trumbo becomes one of the most prolific and best paid
screenwriters in Hollywood. His films from this period include Kitty Foyle (1940); Thirty
Seconds Over Tokyo (1944); and Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1947).
1943 Trumbo officially joins the Communist Party.
1947 The House Un-American Activities Committee is revived following World War II and
Stalin’s refusal to accept the Marshall Plan. Through its power to subpoena witness and
hold people in contempt of Congress, HUAC often pressured witnesses to surrender
names and other information to lead to the apprehension of Communists and Communist
sympathizers. Committee members often branded witnesses as "red" if they refused to
comply or hesitated in answering committee questions. In 1947, HUAC, which was
chaired by J. Parnell Thomas, starta an investigation into the Hollywood Motion Picture
Industry. They interview 41 people who were working in Hollywood. During their
interviews, they named nineteen people who they said held left-wing views. Ten of those
people refused to answer any questions, claiming First Amendment Rights to refuse to
answer question about their beliefs. They became known as the Hollywood Ten. They
were Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner Jr.,
John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, and Dalton Trumbo.
The HUAC and, subsequently, the courts, disagreed and all ten men were found guilty of
contempt of Congress. Each of them was sentenced to between six and twelve months in
prison. Ultimately, these Hollywood screenwriters and directors were “blacklisted”; not
allowed to work in their professions. The eleventh unfriendly witness, playwright Bertolt
Brecht, left the country immediately after being questioned. Ultimately, over 320 people
were blacklisted and prevented from working in the entertainment industry.
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Dalton Trumbo and the House Un-American Activities Committee: A Timeline
cont.
1950 Trumbo spends eleven months in a Kentucky federal penitentiary for contempt of
Congress. Senator Joe McCarthy rises to prominence with accusations that Communism
has infiltrated the State Department.
1953 Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, which drew parallels between the Salem witch trials
and the questioning and blacklisting of artists by HUAC opened on Broadway. Senator
McCarthy chairs the Senate Committee on Government Operations and begins hearings
on communism in the army, an effort that ultimately leads to his downfall in part through
the 1954 public questioning of the hearings on Edward R. Murrow’s “See It Now.”
1956 Trumbo wins an Oscar for screenwriting for the movie The Brave One, under the
assumed name Robert Rich.
1960 With help of Otto Preminger, Trumbo gets direct credit for writing Exodus, and later,
with the help of Kirk Douglas, for writing Spartacus. This effectively marks the end of
his blacklisting and he is re-admitted to the Writers Guild of America.
1973 After previously being re-organized as the House Internal Security Committee in 1969,
HUAC is finally abolished.
1993 Trumbo receives a posthumous Oscar for the screenplay for Roman Holiday (1953). The
award had previously gone to Ian McLellan Hunter, the writer who had served as a front
for Trumbo. Trumbo wrote ate least 66 screenplays, over fifteen of which were
originally uncredited during the period he was blacklisted. He is widely considered the
most talented of the blacklisted artists.
- Lisa Wilde, Rep Stage Dramaturg
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