Dalton Trumbo: One of the Ten
Dalton Trumbo was a successful novelist and writer in Hollywood prior to the HUAC proceedings of 1947. Although Trumbo refused to testify in the court, he was a member of the Communist party and had often communicated leftist ideas in his novels and films. For example, in Script magazine, he wrote an article entitled, "The Russian Menace" that described the United States as the threatening power to Russia instead of Russian being the menace to the United States. This is but one example of his Communist writings.
Interestingly, after being imprisoned and blacklisted, Trumbo moved to Mexico City with his family and continued to write for Hollywood under various fronts or pseudonyms, including "Robert Rich". "Robert Rich" wrote "The Brave One" and won an Oscar for it in 1956. He also won an Academy Award after his death for "Roman Holiday" (1953).
Trumbo's life is but one example of how those who were blacklisted continued after they were cast out of Hollywood. The blacklisted represent a microcosm of the complexity of the Cold War. The government was frantically trying to eradicate Communism from Hollywood and from other aspects of American life in order to better control what the American public consumed and consequently believed, simultaneously willing to falsely or correctly accuse in the name of protecting against the Red threat. Therefore, Trumbo and the rest of the Hollywood Ten point to the depth of suspicion and uncertainty within the government and the American public that characterized the hysteria of the Cold War.
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