Process Paper (485 Words):

Our choice in topic stems from a common interest in American history and the Cold War,
and a belief that this topic is historically significant due to the fact that the practice of inciting
societal fear through political rhetoric continues into the modern day.
We began our research with basic background events, such as the Red Scares and the
governments anti-communist responses, finding out about anti-communism's large cultural
impact and the Hoover-driven nature of governmental anti-communism. We also asked about
what made the Red Scares possible (primarily the FBI) and the political atmosphere in
Hollywood (heavily conservative), and searched for more details regarding Hoovers Hollywood
fixation. We also asked what primary sources can reveal about the events of our topic, and found
that HUAC transcripts demonstrated the Tens disruptive behavior, while a collection of
Trumbos letters illustrated his individual strategy of opposing the Blacklist. An extensively
cited Albert Maltz interview was similarly useful. Last week, we used various sources to fill the
gaps in our knowledge: Chasing Spies supplied us with a wealth of information regarding the
FBIs activities in Hollywood and Starobins book gave us more information on CPUSAs
Popular Front stance. Additionally, this week we interviewed the historian Paul Buhle, who gave
us more information on his perspective of communism/anti-communism historiography-- vastly
different from Haynes perspective (who is solidly conservative). In effect, weve gained a fuller
picture of partisanship in historiography-- even how to classify the historiography faces a
political divide.
We are creating a website, as the scope of it allows for us to go into greater depth about
our topic and its mix of text and image allows for a multifaceted display. This due date, we made
the majority of our website. We tried to integrate images, text, and diagrams/video in order to
make an interactive experience. However, we still need to find various quotes from books we
need to get back from the library and add a few timelines/diagrams.
In his refusal to testify before the HUAC with the Hollywood Ten and his breaking of the
Hollywood Blacklist, Dalton Trumbo took a stand against the culture of political suppression that
had become deeply entrenched in American governance through the Red Scares. However, the
Tens stand during the HUAC hearings failed to provide an effective counter-narrative to the
anti-communist campaigns, allowing the HUAC to respond by setting precedents that became
central to the functioning of the Red Scare, such as the use of economic sanctions and the
inability of witnesses to rely on the First Amendment. Nonetheless, in breaking the blacklist,
Trumbo decreased support for public anti-communist campaigns. The historical significance of
these events lies in its direct effects of decreasing support for the anti-communist campaigns, as
well as in its long-term effects: influencing and being influenced by the New Left movement in
terms of historiography and continuing to capture the sympathy and imagination of the American
public.