Show Trial: Hollywood, HUAC, and the Birth of the Blacklist

"The face-off between Washington and Hollywood staged in October 1947 seems preordained, a perfect storm converging with the predictability of an end-reel clinch." So says author Doherty (American studies, Brandeis Univ.; Hollywood and Hitler, 1933–1939), who cleverly frames the history of the infamous anti-Communist House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings as a media-friendly production, with a cast of characters acting out a high-stakes thriller. Though the actual reach of communism in America was limited, its outsized influence in Hollywood movies made it a prime target for postwar Red Scare paranoia. Doherty thoroughly chronicles the HUAC circus, with its parade of well-known stars—both defiant (screenwriter Dalton Trumbo) and reluctant (Humphrey Bogart)—and accusers, such as the bombastic and corrupt committee chair Rep. J. Parnell Thomas. Factions formed as studios and stars struggled with how to defend their own while also appearing "pro-American." More than "naming names," this is a story of labor relations, politicking, and persuasion in the court of public opinion, all of which Doherty captures with verve and an eye for the dramatic.