Only Victims: A Study of Show Business Blacklisting

by Robert Vaughn

A necessary book with a necessary goal – stressing the importance of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and citing the dangers of what happens when its cherished tradition is jeopardized. In the name of combating Communism liberties were jettisoned, while the art of stool pigeon information dissemination reached a feverish pitch during Hollywood's blacklist period beginning shortly after World War Two with the advent of the Cold War.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

368 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1996

About the author

Robert Francis Vaughn (November 22, 1932 – November 11, 2016) was an American actor noted for his stage, film and television work.

His best-known TV roles include suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s series The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; wealthy detective Harry Rule in the 1970s series The Protectors; and formidable General Hunt Stockwell in the 5th season of the 1980s series The A-Team.

In film, he portrayed quiet, skittish gunman Lee in The Magnificent Seven, Major Paul Krueger in The Bridge at Remagen, the voice of Proteus IV, the computer villain of Demon Seed, Walter Chalmers in Bullitt, Ross Webster in Superman III, and war veteran Chester A. Gwynn in The Young Philadelphians which earned him a 1960 Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

He had many roles in TV, movies & stage & wrote several books. For a full listing of acting credits please see Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Gilda Felt · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s amazing how we’ve come full circle, and, once again, this sort of distorting of the Constitution is perfectly okay with a large percentage of the American people. A Congressional committee is supposed to be called in order for them to collect information toward creating laws, not to arbitrarily decide that someone is guilty of something without trial.

This is a dense book. Much of that is probably due to it being Vaughn’s doctoral thesis. And there are certain passages that seem to go on forever. But the vast bulk of the book is highly readable. Not to mention eye-opening. For one, I didn’t realize how long the Committee for Un-American Activity went on. While they trashed the Constitution, they destroyed many lives. And they got away with it. McCarthy wasn’t the only villain of the piece, yet he’s the only one who paid any price for what they did.

It is attributed to Plato that "The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." That certainly seemed to have been the case during most of the Committee’s history. This travesty was allowed, even condoned, for so many years. It makes me fearful of what’s in store for us now.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actor Robert Vaughn's PhD. thesis (he has a doctorate in political science) back in the 1960s. I read an early edition and it began a lifelong fascination with (and horror of) the blacklist. Not the best book on the subject, but a usueful introduction.

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a child of the 60's and a history buff, I had to read this 1970 book - reading a well-researched book about a key 20th century topic by The Man From UNCLE himself, Robert Vaughn, was fun. Mr Vaughn researched this topic in connection with his PhD dissertation in Communications at USC. He did exhaustive research into the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) hearings conducted between 1938 and 1958, including poring through the House transcripts and conducting interviews and correspondence with many of the Hollywood witnesses subpoenaed to testify before HUAC.

Many witnesses experienced a blacklist effect of a decade or more - and 10 writers were sentenced to a year in jail - ruining or curtailing their careers. Several entertainment figures named names, such as Sterling Hayden (pp 131-133), Elia Kazan and a gutless opportunistic writer named Martin Berkeley (who himself named almost 200 names.) Friendships and families were shattered. Larry Parks was an especially sad example of victimhood. Very few witnesses were able to have an intelligent discussion with HUAC, e.g. Arthur Miller and Lillian Hellman. Mr Vaughn points out in his final chapter that the HUAC hearings were essentially mismanaged, sometimes by both sides - the Congressmen were basically out to get publicity and earn credentials as anti-Communists, but conducted their hearings in a stiff manner that quizzed witnesses at the outset as to whether and when they were members of the US Communist Party, and whether they could name other entertainment figures who they suspected of being Communist Party members. The hearings devolved into arguments about the First and Fifth Amendments and did not lead to any substantive discussions about what activities the Communist Party might have actually been engaged in - and produced no legislation or regulations.

Mr Vaughn concluded (at p 273) that some form of investigation into Communist presence was a fair idea to educate the government and the public, to distinguish between real and imagined internal Communist threats, to serve a "populace sadly steeped in the Red mythos created by political panderers." He cautioned that in gathering the maximum amount of information about domestic Communism, there should be a minimum amount of personal damage to the witnesses, and the witnesses should not be pressured to incriminate acquaintances and colleagues. Agreed!

One very interesting irony that Mr Vaughn points out is that after the writer Ring Lardner was sentenced to jail in contempt for being an "uncooperative witness", he served some time at the Federal prison in Danbury, CT. At the same time, in 1950, Congressmen Thomas, the chairman of the HUAC committee when it conducted hearings in 1947, was serving time at the same Danbury, CT prison for defrauding the Government - he had been caught creating fake Government jobs and then pocketing the pay himself. Prosecutors vs criminals...

[Sarah Schulman]

I had no idea that he was such an intellectual and anti-blacklist person. There is an invaluable index that names friendly witnesses and all the people that each of them named. Absolutely chilling, and makes the reader confront their own values.