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Anti-Communist hysteria had a wide-ranging impact on Hollywood across the postwar period. As writers, directors and stars came under the scrutiny of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) due to the content of their films and their political activities, careers were interrupted indefinitely and Hollywood's ability to promote cultural change in the new era following World War Il was severely hampered. Frank Sinatra's heavy involvement in liberal politics during this period illustrates the problems confronting the American film industry as it attempted to address the country's imperfections. Commentary denouncing Sinatra's politics makes plain the role played by sections of the press in cultivating the atmosphere of anti-liberal witch-hunts promoted by HUAC. In November 1944, prior to the re-election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt for a third term, Westbrook Pegler, a political writer for the Hearst publication The New York Journal-American, wrote: 'There are among the Roosevelt political following some thorough Americans who support him though they know that thereby they put themselves in alliance with the Communists.1 Pegler's easy branding of FDR's supporters as Communist sympathisers is indicative of the reaction of a number of journalists to Sinatra. As a prominent campaigner for FDR, and a star who became particularly associated with the cause of tolerance and civil rights, Sinatra provoked negative reactions from the right-wing press who viewed the star's politics and proudly asserted ethnicity as equal evidence of his un-American tendencies. Gerald Meyer's consideration of Sinatra's connection to liberal organisations in the 1940s positions the star in the history of Hollywood's Popular Front.2 Sinatra's active involvement in the politics of race equally locates him in the specific culture of anti-Communist extremism during the postwar period.
The 'Good War' versus American Racial Inequality
Sinatra was initially drawn into the political arena by his mother Dolly, who served as a Ward Leader in the Ninth District of Hoboken, New Jersey in the 1920s, using her knowledge of Italian dialects to recruit immigrant support for the Democrats. In 1944 he campaigned extensively for a fourth term for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, recording radio programmes for the Democratic National Committee, donating funds to the President's election campaign, and telling his fans: This peace will depend on your parents' votes on November seventh.'3 Sinatra's public support of FDR and...