Chaplin and the Red Scare
By Denis Mueller
Charlie Chaplin was loved by millions. His comedy and his character
"the little tramp" had made people laugh throughout the world. One of those groups who did not admire him were the witch hunters
of the "Red Scare" era. Chaplin for years had associated with various artists like Clifford Odets, Picasso, Brecht, Dreiser,
Thomas Mann among others. These artists, who read like a who's who of 20th century arts, had supported leftist causes throughout
the years. To the congressional committee's who were guarding us from the evils of communism, artists, with their great breath
of social compassion, were a threat to their limited world.
Chaplin's great crime was that he supported a second front against
Germany. Chaplin for years had fought for progressive causes. In the First World War he had made films for the government,
and two of his sons were fighting in the war. But he had protested in behalf of Eugene Dennis when he was cited for contempt
of Congress.
This infuriated the right wing in Congress. Senator Harry Cain,
of Washington said that Chaplin had sat out two wars and is now "perilously close to treason." I guess the Senator never heard
of the Bill of Rights and had never read the first amendment. Cain urged that Chaplin be deported. Chaplin had lived in the
United Sates for 41 years but had maintained his British citizen- ship but that very fact was now used against him. In 1952,
on a visit to Europe, his re-entry permit was delayed and a team of Immigration Department investigators was sent to question
him. "You say you have never been a communist?" "You made a speech in which you said comrades-what did you mean by that?"
"Have you ever committed adulatory?" "But you have never become as citizen." "But why did you follow the party line?"
Chaplin saw the writing on the wall and did not return to the
United States. The Immigration office was preparing morals charge against him so "the little tramp" decided it was best for
him to leave and for his wife to come and transfer Chaplin's money out of the United States. Chaplin would not come back for
over twenty years. The public outcry stirred up by the American Legion and the Catholic War Veterans caused the CBS cancellation
of his films. I guess they just didn't like to laugh. What makes this ridiculous treatment of one of the great artists of
the 20th century so relevant today is the Immigration Services treatment of artists trying to come to the United State today.
It is now predicable impossible for an artist from Iran to gain entry into the United States. Never mind that their art is
breaking down some of the barriers that exist between us or that their critiques of their own country are breaking through
closed barriers at home, ignorance will not be thwarted.
This administration has alienated the world. History now views
the "Red Scare" as a time of ignorance. It will view our times as the same.
Sources: David Caute: The Great Fear
Copyright 2002 by Pulse Direct, Inc. All rights reserved.
