There is a new NBER working paper on this topic by Hui Ren Tan and Tianyi Wang, here is the summary:
We are reading the most far-reaching episode of demagoguery in American history. From the late 1940s to the 1950s, anti-communist fervor led by Senator Joseph McCarthy and others gripped the nation. Hundreds of professionals in Hollywood have been accused of having ties to communists. We show that this accusation was not random, it was directed at those who hold an opposing view. Actors and screenwriters who have been accused have faced a crackdown on their work. Apart from the suspects, we find that the anti-communist war also had a negative impact on film content, as suspect filmmakers avoided progressive topics. The decline of progressive films, too, made society more conservative.
Here is a comprehensive (good) comment by Alice Evans:
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- Abusers who organized against the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) were 27 to 32 percent more likely to be blamed.
- Celebrities – actors with more experience and Academy Award nominations are more likely to be blamed.
- Actors and writers involved in progressive films were often criticized.
It’s faster and easier to read than paper. I would also like to see the numbers of how many were actually communists.
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