Fear as Enforcer

As we continue to read Bernstein's experience as a blacklisted artist during the second red scare, the arbitrary ruthlessness of the persecution really stands out. It becomes apparent that communism stands in as a faceless scapegoat to rally the American people around the ambiguous rhetoric of the cold war. As Bernstein writes, “We were the only ones with the atom bomb. Still, the government and the press were telling us that we were being threatened from the outside and subverted from within” (145). The intense backlash against communists shows an insecurity and paranoia in the United States following the Second World War. By targeting high profile movie producers and television stars, the government was able to dazzle the public with spectacle while certain people (like Ronald Regan in Hollywood) were able to gain or consolidate power.

Additionally, it is interesting to see the role that profit played in enforcing the blacklist. Officially, there was no blacklist and Bernstein tells us that many TV stations, ad agencies and production companies actively denied the existence of the blacklist. This shows the hypocrisy of the whole situation. Admitting a blacklist would have been bad publicity for companies since it denied freedom of expression to individuals, but the presence of anyone with communist ties on the air would lead to serious concerns from advertisers. The importance of Laurence Johnson shows the central role that money played in the political purges of the entertainment industry. As Bernstein puts it, “they wanted to be left alone to make money” (166), and would do anything that let the movie studios get back to business as usual. This allowed the government to deny any sort of responsibility for the blacklist; they created the fear and let the entertainment and ad executives enforce an anti-communist agenda.

What really made the anti-communist moral panic so effective was its ambiguous status. On the one hand, the congressional hearings and HUAC created the spectacle of the government protecting people from the dangers of communist propaganda. However, surveillance, questioning and threats seem as far as officials would go. The government created an atmosphere of fear and paranoia in which communists would inevitably and openly discriminated against.