HIST 1378 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Hollywood Blacklist, Henry A. Wallace, Mccarthyism
4 Nov 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
HIST 1378
Lecture 15
Duck and Cover
- Every student was told to prepare for a nuclear attack at any time
- Everyone knew how bad and dangerous atomic bombs were and yet the government
was showing videos and telling them to just “duck and cover” and that they can protect
themselves. It is quite chilling that the gov would put out info like that. Gov intent is,
Soviet Union is intent on global domination and attack is imminent and oh all you need
to do is cover yourself you’ll be fine
- ^shows the fear the cold war at home did
Women
- women are supposed to create the 1st line of defense against Communism
Hollywood/Culture
- American films were censored during early cold war
- Gov agencies like CIA worked closely with Hollywood to create this cold war culture
- “Hollywood Ten”
o group of actors, producers, and writers
o all political activists
o all lost their careers
o gov went after them because they were making movies that were not
adequately American
- comic books
o there were government hearings about comic books because they were not
patriotic enough, some had too grotesque images that were somehow
communist
- Blacklist
o People whose name appeared on a list and couldn’t find work
o Pseudonyms
- Suburbanization
o US was always segregated
▪ North you do not have legal apartheid, but there is diff neighborhoods for
diff people
▪ There are contracts with a restrictive covenant; when you sell your
house, you will not sell it to a black person
▪ post WWII housing evolved in a way in which black people with money
still wouldn’t be able to live in certain areas
▪ homeownership is key to social mobility and future economic stability
o Levitt town
▪ A guy named Levitt purchased thousands of acres in Log Island area, bull
dozed it and built track housing
▪ All houses built almost identically
▪ Built for white people only
▪ Excluded blacks, latinos, and jews
Document Summary
Every student was told to prepare for a nuclear attack at any time. Everyone knew how bad and dangerous atomic bombs were and yet the government was showing videos and telling them to just duck and cover and that they can protect themselves. It is quite chilling that the gov would put out info like that. Soviet union is intent on global domination and attack is imminent and oh all you need to do is cover yourself you"ll be fine. ^shows the fear the cold war at home did. Women are supposed to create the 1st line of defense against communism. American films were censored during early cold war. Gov agencies like cia worked closely with hollywood to create this cold war culture. Blacklist: people whose name appeared on a list and couldn"t find work, pseudonyms. Immediate cold war era: suburbs help with containment at home, containing poor, and minorities in one area.
