Early Reagan

by Anne Edwards

  Wyman’s time in Mendocino was unique for her, because of the isolation of the town and because of the long periods of living in silence when she wore the wax in her ears. During those hours of filming, she became an unhearing person. She claimed she and Ayres did not have an affair while they were making Johnny Belinda, that they engaged in talk, not sex, in the time they spent together off the set. Quite probably, this was the truth. Wyman was a woman with a strong sense of loyalty. She had been through, and was still being subjected to, great emotional pressures—the loss of the baby, the strain in her marriage, the intensity of her preparation for Belinda and the knowledge that Reagan had become an informant for the FBI (as she also had for a time) and was carrying a gun, working with union leaders and being courted by rich businessmen such as car dealer Holmes P. Tuttle, who had begun to win him over to the idea that he had a place in politics if he chose the Republican side of the ticket. Being a politician’s wife was not what she had envisioned for her future when they had married.

  Wyman held some conservative views herself and was as patriotic as anyone else about subversion, spies and foreign takeovers of American industry. But she had genuine trouble in accepting the simplistic doctrine that to oppose a strongly conservative viewpoint, to not be irrevocably anti-Communist, meant a person was therefore a Communist. She was having considerable trouble in getting Reagan to listen to her ideas. He seemed to want her to fall into the role of “the little woman.” She had difficulty with that, and she could not have had a greater contrast between two men than the pragmatic Reagan and the idealistic Ayres.

  Ayres had been listening to the confused beliefs of men at war, counseling them. He was easy to talk to, comforting, strong. A close relationship evolved. This in itself must have caused Wyman to reevaluate her marriage. In addition, Wyman and Ayres were survivors together in what looked at the moment to be a sinking ship. “They’re up there shooting fog and a bunch of damned seagulls!…” Jack Warner was purported to exclaim after viewing some of the footage. Warner now felt he had made a mistake in giving Wald the green light on this film and none of his memos was even the least bit encouraging.

  Ten days before the end of the location shooting, Reagan went to Mendocino to spend time there with Wyman before driving her home. The cast and crew said that “he haunted the set.” On October 17 the company returned to Los Angeles to film the remaining interior scenes. The schedule called for two and a half more weeks before the cameras, but the film fell behind and soon was ten days late.

  Reagan has said, “The Communist plan for Hollywood was remarkably simple. It was merely to take over the motion picture business. Not only for its profit, as the hoodlums had tried—but also for a grand world-wide propaganda base. In those days before television and massive foreign film production, American films dominated 95 percent of the world’s movie screens. We had an audience of about 500,000,000 souls. Takeover of this enormous plant and its gradual transformation into a Communist gristmill was a grandiose idea. It would have been a magnificent coup for our enemies.”

  Inside the Screen Actors Guild, fevers raged and anxiety prevailed. Fear of personal jeopardy caused acts that destroyed careers and lives, using the very tactics of the philosophy that the accused were said to follow. No doubt there were Communists in the Screen Actors Guild. No doubt there were some who were duped and fell into line behind the Communist leadership. There was, however, a much larger group that did not belong in either of these categories: those people with strong liberal beliefs who viewed Red-baiting in America with the same cold terror as they might have regarded Jew-baiting in Nazi Germany. Suddenly, artists were being fired and blacklisted, not on the basis of irrefutable evidence but by innuendo and association. In well-known restaurants, industry figures would turn away from old friends, co-workers and even family members who had any taint at all. Fascists and demagogues feasted gluttonously on such fears.

  One such man was Myron C. Fagan, the author of numerous inconsequential and badly written plays. On Christmas, 1947, he had produced one of his plays {Thieves’ Paradise) with a rabid anti-Communist theme at the Las Palmas Theatre in Hollywood. One critic wrote, “Thieves’ Paradise will win the mythical title of ‘worst play of the year.’ Even the commercial variety of little theatres would be hard put to assemble a production that could invest so much bad taste in so much comic-book nonsense.… [It is] an incredibly bad play.” Thieves’ Paradise closed three days after it opened. Fagan claimed that Communist forces rallied against him, forcing the closure, and that the unfairness of it “burst into the front pages all over America.” In fact, the play received only two Los Angeles reviews and the indexes in the five major American papers made no mention of it. Nonetheless, Fagan’s bitterness began fifteen years of the most vicious, irresponsible Red-baiting in Hollywood. He formed a publishing company called Cinema Educational Guild, Inc., which put out (for two dollars) a pamphlet updated every few months that listed “some 300 top RED STARS and FELLOW TRAVELLERS in Hollywood.” In Fagan’s first indefensible hate pamphlets, Reagan’s name was among the RED STARS on the basis that “the Screen Actors Guild… was CONTROLLED by its Red and Fellow-Traveller members [and] they elected… Reagan to the Presidency of their Guild. Can anybody be so utterly naive as to believe that they would tolerate an enemy of the Conspiracy in that office?” Fagan regularly sent his list to the HUAC and they accepted and investigated those he charged with being Communists. “There are a number of items [from the pamphlet] I expect to call to the Committee’s attention,” Frank S. Tavenner, Jr., counsel to the HUAC, wrote Fagan. “I want to take my hat off to you and the rest who have stood in vanguard of the fight against Communism in Hollywood.”

  At the September 12, 1947, Monday night board meeting of the SAG, a proposal had been put forth that Guild members be required to sign a loyalty oath. Reagan reported that “a sub-Committee of the Motion Picture Industry Council had studied the problem, with particular emphasis on defense of the innocent, not only of those wrongfully accused of being Communists or having Communist tendencies, but also of other members of the industry who may be in or connected with pictures starring persons so accused against whom boycotts have been instigated by the public. The committee felt that a compulsory loyalty oath would not solve the problem inasmuch as there would be no reason why Communists would not sign it since it would give them a screen against any persons who failed to sign such an oath.” Reagan, therefore, recommended a “voluntary statement of affirmation be prepared which could be signed by any persons in the Guild who wished to do so.”

  The statement suggested by the MPIC read as follows:

  In support of our soldiers as they take their oath upon induction, I affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the United States of America and that I will serve the United States honestly and faithfully against all its enemies.

  I hold Stalin and the Soviet Union responsible for the war in Korea. I support the resistance of the United States and the United Nations against this act of imperialist aggression.

  History having proved that Stalinism is totalitarianism, I repudiate its teachings and program, as I do those of every other form of dictatorship.

  Reagan then recommended that the loyalty oath be amplified to include a section in which the signer would volunteer to take an active part in Americanism programs, such as the Crusade for Freedom, and to make appearances for the anti-Communist Hollywood Coordinating Committee.

  What this meant, of course, was that those who refused to sign such an oath on any grounds would immediately be placed under suspicion as being a Communist or a Communist sympathizer. The board was in a turmoil about the matter. Discussion became fairly heated, pro and con. (As Reagan had pointed out, the “guilty” could also sign it as a cover-up.) In the end, the majority voted that the proposed statement of affirmation be adopted as a policy.*

  At the same meeting, each officer was asked to sign an affidavit stating that he or she was not a member of the Communist par
ty. This was now a requirement for labor-union officers because of the recent passage (over President Truman’s veto) of the Taft-Hartley Act,† which also established federal control of labor disputes and empowered the government to obtain an eighty-day injunction against any strike that it deemed a peril to national health and safety. In addition, the act forbade unions to contribute to political campaigns.

  The Screen Actors Guild had seven officers: Reagan, Gene Kelly, William Holden, George Murphy, Paul Harvey, Anne Revere and Murray Kinnell.* Anne Revere was treasurer and had been a diligent worker for the Guild since her arrival in Hollywood from the New York theater in 1940, a member of the board since 1944. One of the industry’s finest character actresses, she had won the Academy Award (for Best Supporting Actress) in 1945 as Elizabeth Taylor’s stoic yet soft-hearted mother in National Velvet. And she had just given a startling performance in Gentleman’s Agreement, for which she would be nominated again.† She was at the peak of her career. Her gaunt, patrician face, the large, dark, expressive eyes, the well-modulated articulate voice made her an unforgettable film personality. Offscreen, unlike many of her co-actors, she had as strong an impact.

  Revere had always contributed intelligent debate to the board meetings. “The thing that I found was most extraordinary when I came on the Board,” she recalled, “was there was a minimal concern with the membership. I remember my first session with the Board.… When I started to speak [on behalf of the membership] it was as though a cataclysm hit. All eyes were on me. There were some clear problems… no one [the membership] ever came to [mass] meetings and they couldn’t understand why.

  “I said, ‘Well, I think there’s a good reason.… You have it once a year on Sunday night and you read a financial report and shortly thereafter they can read that in the [trade] magazines. So why should they come?’“ Revere then recommended they hold four meetings a year and give the membership “some definite participation in the evening. The board agreed. Meetings began to be well attended. Then, in the second year (1945), the board took exception to a great many of the resolutions [being made by members]… and the four meetings were cancelled and no more resolutions.”

  Although Revere did indeed take the part of the membership in most meetings, she had never been known to be disruptive (in fact, no one on the board had been linked with the “disruptives”). The majority held her in high esteem and personally liked and respected her. On September 25, she wrote the members of the Screen Actors Guild board:

  139 So. Camden Drive

  Beverly Hills, Calif.

  Sept. 15, 1947

  Members of the Screen Actors Guild Board

  7046 Hollywood Blvd.,

  Hollywood, Calif.

  Dear Fellow Board Member:

  It is with extreme regret that I tender to you my resignation as Treasurer of the Guild. After prolonged consideration, however, I cannot bring myself to sign the affidavit prescribed by the Taft-Hartley law. I hold membership in a number of organizations. None of these in my opinion seeks to overthrow the government by force or by illegal or unconstitutional methods. My opinion, however, is not shared by certain gentlemen who, today, hold rather strategic positions: Mr. Rankin, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Wood, Mr. Tenney, to name but a few. Membership in an organization which seeks to dislodge these gentlemen from public office in the customary democratic American tradition, constitutes subversive activity in their opinion.

  Furthermore, if charges were brought against me by these self-appointed judges and I were found not guilty, one would likely find the acquittal buried among the obituaries. My name would never be cleared even tho my innocence were established.

  I stand ready to go to jail for the Guild whenever her welfare so requires, but then let it be for principle, not for perjury. I also stand ready to serve the Guild in less spectacular fashion if it should be so ordered. If not, my thanks to you all for hearing me out.

  Sincerely yours,

  [signed] Anne Revere

  Revere was asked to resign as treasurer and was eventually replaced by Olivia de Havilland. However, for the time, she remained on the board. A new atmosphere hung heavily over the Monday night meetings. The officers and board were predominantly conservative, or right wing. And no one was quite sure where Reagan stood. They had no idea that he was cooperating with the FBI. They knew he had quit HICCASP and was anti-Communist. But, on the other hand, he still seemed to be a Democrat and had backed Helen Gahagan Douglas.

  “We all thought he was ‘walking the line,’“ the late Dorothy Tree Uris, who served on the SAG board from 1937 to 1946, said. “Meaning he was playing both sides. We [the left wing] weren’t sure we could trust him, so we kept pretty much out of his way.”

  Reagan had received a pink subpoena dated September 25, demanding he appear before the Un-American Activities Committee of the House of Representatives, of which “the Hon. J. Parnell Thomas of New Jersey is Chairman.” He left the day he and Wyman returned home from Mendocino, along with Adolphe Men-jou, Gary Cooper, Robert Taylor, George Murphy, Walt Disney, Robert Montgomery, Rupert Hughes, and Ginger Rogers’s mother, Lela—all to be “friendly witnesses.” Most of this group would name men and women they had worked with as Communists infiltrating Hollywood. The purge was on. So far mainly writers and a few directors had been named. Now, members of the SAG who veered Left held their breath, expecting the worst.

  * The title is derived from Psalm 19: “The heavens declare the Glory of God… Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.”

  * During an investigation into labor by Congress (1953), Joe Tuohy, business agent for the Teamsters, admitted that he had ordered his men to cross the picket lines and had threatened that if they didn’t do so, he would bring in drivers from outside to take their jobs. A few months later, Warners offered him a job for $500 a week (he was making $175 with the Teamsters). Coincidentally, the Teamsters was the only trade union that endorsed Ronald Reagan’s campaign for the presidency.

  * Other nominees in the same category were Jennifer Jones (Duel in the Sun), Rosalind Russell (Sister Kenny) and Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter). Best Years of Our Lives won the award for Best Picture, Best Actor (Fredric March) and Best Director (William Wyler). The Yearling took the Cinematography and Interior Decoration awards, and Claude Jar-man, Jr., was voted the outstanding child star of the year and given a miniature Oscar,

  † Cagney had recently left Warners to produce, with his brother, William Cagney, his own films. Two years earlier Warner had called him into his office. “ ‘You’ve got two more years on your contract. Want to make another contract?’“ Warner asked. “I said no,” Cagney recalled. “He said, ‘Why not?’ And he had a whole line of those pills on his desk. I said, ‘There’s your reason.’ He said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘You’re taking pills for your stomach, aren’t you?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘That’s the reason. I don’t want to.’ Head man of the studio, and every time he felt bad, he took another pill.”

  ‡ The majority of artists’ unions, then and now, require a ballot be circulated to the membership. The SAG today requires election of their officers by the membership.

  * Gene Kelly was elected first vice-president; William Holden, second vice-president; George Murphy, third vice-president; Anne Revere, treasurer. Present and voting at this meeting were Paul Harvey, Anne Revere, Leon Ames, Robert Armstrong, Edward Arnold, George Chandler, Ben Corbett, Rose Hobart, William Holden, Marjorie (“Babe”) Kane, Warner Anderson, Boris Karloff, Gene Kelly, Cliff Lyons, Kermit Maynard, J. Carroll Nash, Jeffrey Sayre, Larry Steers, Tudor Williams and Jane Wyman.

  * Johnny Belinda, by Elmer Harris, opened at the Belasco Theatre on September 10, 1940, for 321 performances. Helen Claire originated the role of Belinda.

  * This is not to be confused with the Loyalty Oath voted for in 1953 by 96 percent of Guild members, which was required for membership until 1974. “I am not now and will not become a member of the Communist Party nor of any other organization that se
eks to overthrow the government of the United States by force or violence.” Reagan was on the board but not president when the SAG approved this oath, which was removed when members of the rock group Grateful Dead and others refused to sign,

  † Sponsored by Senator Robert A. Taft and Representative Fred Allen Hartley.

  * The thirty-one directors of the SAG were not affected by this law.

  † Revere had also been nominated for her supporting role in The Song of Bemadette (1943).

  16

  THE MEN WHO LED THE ANTI-COMMUNIST PURGE were often out to settle old scores. Others saw the House Un-American Activities Committee as a means to notoriety and power. Some honestly believed that the Communists were undermining the country. Public support of HUAC mushroomed in 1946 and 1947. A costly war had been fought. The pain was still fresh, emotions high-keyed. HUAC appropriation requests were granted and Congress left the committee to its own devices. A new chief investigator, Robert E. Stripling, and a new chairman, J. Parnell Thomas, were installed in the fall of 1946. Shortly after, HUAC was granted the power to subpoena witnesses. The committee’s chief objective was to declare the Communist party—which they viewed as a criminal conspiracy—illegal. But the hearings into Communist activities in Hollywood often became exercises in harassment and were to leave behind them broken families, shattered careers and suicides—as well as compromised, victimized and disillusioned men and women, some never again able to function properly in society.

  The first investigations in Hollywood had had more to do with the number of Jews in the industry than it did with Communists. John Rankin, Thomas’s predecessor, had claimed that “Communists [Jews] crucified Christ then gambled for his garments at the foot of the Cross.”