October 23, 1947
Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild at this time.
His interest and involvement in politics was really only beginning.
He was, however, a committed anti-Communist, and here cooperated with HUAC
in commenting on the alleged activities of communists in Hollywood and
the Screen Actors Guild.
CHAIRMAN J. PARNELL THOMAS: The record will show that Mr. McDowell,
Mr. Vail,
Mr. Nixon, and Mr. Thomas are present. A subcommittee is sitting. Staff
members present: Mr.
Robert E. Stripling, chief investigator; Messrs. Louis J. Russell,
H.A. Smith, and Robert B.
Gaston, investigators; and Mr. Benjamin Mandel, director of research.
STRIPLING: When and where were you born, Mr. Reagan?
RONALD REAGAN: Tampico, Illinois, February 6, 1911.
STRIPLING: What is your present occupation?
REAGAN: Motion picture actor.
STRIPLING: How long have you been engaged in that profession?
REAGAN: Since June 1937, with a brief interlude of 3 1/2 years -- that
at the time didn't seem
very brief.
STRIPLING: What period was that?
REAGAN: That was during the late war.
STRIPLING: What branch of service were you in?
REAGAN: Well, sir, I had been for several years in the Reserve as an
officer in the United States
Cavalry, but I was assigned to the Air Corps.
STRIPLING: That is kind of typical of the Army, isn't it?
REAGAN: Yes, sir. The first thing the Air Corps did was loan me to the Signal Corps.
MCDOWELL: You didn't wear spurs?
REAGAN: I did for a little while.
CHAIRMAN: I think this has little to do with the facts we are seeking. Proceed.
STRIPLING: Mr. Reagan, are you a member of any guild?
REAGAN: Yes, sir, the Screen Actors Guild.
STRIPLING: How long have you been a member?
REAGAN: Since June 1937.
STRIPLING: Are you the president of the guild at the present time?
REAGAN: Yes, sir.
STRIPLING: When were you elected?
REAGAN: That was several months ago. I was elected to replace Mr. (Robert)
Montgomery
when he resigned.
STRIPLING: When does your term expire?
REAGAN: The elections come up next month.
STRIPLING: Have you ever held any other position in the Screen Actors Guild?
REAGAN: Yes, sir. Just prior to the war I was a member of the board of directors, and just after the war, prior to my being elected president, I was a member of the board of directors.
STRIPLING: As a member of the board of directors, as president of the
Screen Actors Guild, and
as an active member, have you at any time observed or noted within
the organization a clique of
either communists or fascists who were attempting to exert influence
or pressure on the guild?
REAGAN: Well, sir, my testimony must be very similar to that of Mr.
(George) Murphy and Mr.
(Robert) Montgomery. There has been a small group within the Screen
Actors Guild which has
consistently opposed the policy of the guild board and officers of
the guild, as evidenced by the
vote on various issues. That small clique referred to has been suspected
of more or less
following the tactics that we associate with the Communist Party.
STRIPLING: Would you refer to them as a disruptive influence within the guild?
REAGAN: I would say that at times they have attempted to be a disruptive influence.
STRIPLING: You have no knowledge yourself as to whether or not any of
them are members of
the Communist Party?
REAGAN: No, sir, I have no investigative force, or anything, and I do not know.
STRIPLING: Has it ever been reported to you that certain members of
the guild were
communists?
REAGAN: Yes, sir, I have heard different discussions and some of them tagged as communists.
STRIPLING: Would you say that this clique has attempted to dominate the guild?
REAGAN: Well, sir, by attempting to put their own particular views on
various issues, I guess
you would have to say that our side was attempting to dominate, too,
because we were fighting
just as hard to put over our views, and I think, we were proven correct
by the figures -- Mr.
Murphy gave the figures -- and those figures were always approximately
the same, an average of
90 percent or better of the Screen Actors Guild voted in favor of those
matters now guild policy.
STRIPLING: Mr. Reagan, there has been testimony to the effect here that
numerous
communist-front organizations have been set up in Hollywood. Have you
ever been solicited to
join any of those organizations or any organization which you considered
to be a
communist-front organization?
REAGAN: Well, sir, I have received literature from an organization called
the Committee for a
Far-Eastern Democratic Policy. I don't know whether it is communist
or not. I only know that I
didn't like their views and as a result I didn't want to have anything
to do with them.
STRIPLING: Were you ever solicited to sponsor the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee?
REAGAN: No, sir, I was never solicited to do that, but I found myself
misled into being a
sponsor on another occasion for a function that was held under the
auspices of the Joint
Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee.
STRIPLING: Did you knowingly give your name as a sponsor?
REAGAN: Not knowingly. Could I explain what that occasion was?
STRIPLING: Yes sir.
REAGAN: I was called several weeks ago. There happened to be a financial
drive on to raise
money to build a badly needed hospital called the All Nations Hospital.
I think the purpose of
the building is so obvious by the title that it has the support of
most of the people of Los
Angeles. Certainly of most of the doctors. Some time ago I was
called to the telephone. A
woman introduced herself by name. I didn't make any particular note
of her name, and I couldn't
give it now. She told me that there would be a recital held at which
Paul Robeson would sing,
and she said that all the money for the tickets would go to the hospital,
and asked if she could
use my name as one of the sponsors. I hesitated for a moment, because
I don't think that Mr.
Robeson's and my political views coincide at all; and then I thought
I was being a little stupid
because, I thought, here is an occasion where Mr. Robeson is perhaps
appearing as an artist, and certainly the object, raising money, is above
any political consideration: it is a hospital supported by everyone. I
have contributed money myself. So I felt a little bit as if I had been
stuffy for a minute, and I said, "Certainly, you can use my name." I left
town for a couple of weeks and, when I returned, I was handed a newspaper
story that said that this recital was held at the Shrine Auditorium in
Los Angeles under the auspices of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee.
The principal speaker was Emil Lustig, Robert Burman took up a collection,
and the remnants of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade were paraded on the platform.
I did not, in the newspaper story, see one word about the hospital. I called
the newspaper and said I am not accustomed to writing to editors but would
like to explain my position, and he laughed and said, "You needn't bother,
you are about the 50th person who had also been listed as sponsors of that
affair."
STRIPLING: Would you say from your observation that that is typical
of the tactics of the
communists, to solicit and use the names of prominent people to either
raise money or gain
support?
REAGAN: I think it is in keeping with their tactics, yes sir.
STRIPLING: Do you think there is anything democratic about those tactics?
REAGAN: I do not, sir.
STRIPLING: As president of the Screen Actors Guild, you are familiar
with the jurisdictional
strike which has been going on in Hollywood for some time?
REAGAN: Yes, sir.
STRIPLING: Have you ever had any conference with any of the labor officials
regarding this
strike?
REAGAN: Yes, sir.
STRIPLING: Do you know whether the communists have participated in any
way with this
strike?
REAGAN: Sir, the first time that this word "communist" was ever injected
into any of the
meetings concerning the strike was at a meeting in Chicago with Mr.
William Hutchinson,
president of the carpenters' union, who were on strike at the time.
He asked the Screen Actors
Guild to submit terms to Mr. (Richard) Walsh, and he told us to tell
Mr. Walsh that, if he would
give in on these terms, he in turn would break run this Sorrell and
the other commies out -- I am
quoting him -- and break it up. I might add that Mr. Walsh and Mr.
Sorrell were running the
strike for Mr. Hutchinson in Hollywood.
STRIPLING: Mr. Reagan, what is your feeling about what steps should
be taken to rid the
motion picture industry of any communist influences?
REAGAN: Well, sir, 99 percent of us are pretty well aware of what is
going on, and I think,
within the bounds of our democratic rights and never once stepping
over the rights given us by
democracy, we have done a pretty good job in our business of keeping
those people's activities
curtailed. After all, we must recognize them at present as a political
party. On that basis we have
exposed their lies when we came across them, we have opposed their
propaganda, and I can
certainly testify that in the case of the Screen Actors Guild we have
been eminently successful in
preventing them from, with their usual tactics, trying to run a majority
of an organization with a
well organized minority. In opposing those people, the best thing
to do is make democracy
work. In the Screen Actors Guild we make it work by insuring everyone
a vote and by keeping
everyone informed. I believe that, as Thomas Jefferson put it, if all
the American people know
all of the facts they will never make a mistake. Whether the party
should be outlawed, that is a
matter for the government to decide. As a citizen, I would hesitate
to see any political party
outlawed on the basis of its political ideology. However, if
it is proven that an organization is an
agent of foreign power, or in any way not a legitimate political party
-- and I think the
government is capable of proving that -- then that is another matter.
I happen to be very proud of
the industry in which I work; I happen to be very proud of the way
in which we conducted the
fight. I do not believe the communists have ever at any time been able
to use the motion picture
screen as a sounding board for their philosophy or ideology.
CHAIRMAN: There is one thing that you said that interested me very much.
That was the
quotation from Jefferson. That is why this committee was created by
the House of
Representatives: to acquaint the American people with the facts.
Once the American people are
acquainted with the facts there is no question but what the American
people will do the kind of
job that they want done: that is, to make America just as pure as we
can possibly make it. We
want to thank you very much for coming here today.
REAGAN: Sir, I detest, I abhor their philosophy, but I detest more than
that their tactics, which
are those of the fifth column, and are dishonest, but at the same time
I never as a citizen want to
see our country become urged, by either fear or resentment of this
group, that we ever
compromise with any of our democratic principles through that fear
or resentment. I still think
that democracy can do it.