Title: Hollywood Democratic Committee Records
Inclusive Dates: 1942-1950

Creator:

• Hollywood Democratic Committee

Call Number: U.S. Mss 31AN; Audio 297A; Lot A106

Quantity: 3.2 c.f. (8 archives boxes), 17 tape recordings, and photographs

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society Archives / Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research
Contact Information

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of the Hollywood Democratic Committee (HDC), a group organized in 1943 to support the programs and re-election of Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1945 it re-formed as the Hollywood Independent Citizens of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions; in 1946 it became the Arts, Sciences, and Professions Council of the Progressive Citizens of Southern California; and finally, in 1948, the group withdrew from PCA and organized as the non-partisan National Council of Arts, Sciences, and Professions. Throughout its brief existence the group worked on behalf of liberal causes including civil liberties, racial justice, and peace, and it actively supported the Hollywood community against the Dies Committee and the House Committee on Un-American Activities. It was placed on the HUAC list of subversive organizations. Much of the collection consists of subject files related to wide-ranging political action including such topics as control of atomic weapons, the Bretton Woods agreement, the Hollywood Ten, the film strike of 1945, world peace, opposition to the Zoot suit riots, and relations with political leaders such as Henry Wallace and Harold Ickes and scientists such as Albert Einstein, Linus Pauling, and Harlow Shapley.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0031an

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In the final days of the 1942 California election campaign, a group from the motion picture industry which had previously helped to make Culbert L. Olsen the first Democratic governor of the state in almost half a century, reassembled to work for his reelection. Although unsuccessful, the response to their efforts suggested the potential of such a group, and plans were begun for an organization of industry people to work for progressive candidates in the 1944 elections and for other important issues.

Two hundred people responded to the general invitation to the industry to attend a meeting on January 14, 1943, and 123 joined that evening. On March 4 a constitution was adopted which named the group the Hollywood Democratic Committee. Officers were elected, including Marc Connelly as chair, and plans were formulated for the upcoming Los Angeles municipal elections and for a regular radio program. Forty-two new members were added at the time.

In the following month, the first issue of Target for Today, a bimonthly bulletin, made recommendations for the coming election and stated the organization's stand on a number of national issues. A mass meeting attracted 2500 who heard speeches by Senator Sheridan Downey and Congressman Will Rogers Jr., saw a skit presenting the aims of the committee, and sent a “Message to Washington” urging passage of the anti-Poll Tax Bill and the Kilgore-Tolan-Pepper Bill, continuance of Reciprocal Trade Agreements, added funds for child care, and defeat of the Hobbs Bill.

During the first year, the efforts of HDC were varied. The files include correspondence and data, sometimes extensive and sometimes very brief, supporting child care, soldiers' vote, and price control; opposing the Chinese Exclusion Act; commending the War Relocation Authority and aiding in the publicizing of loyal Japanese Americans; investigating the causes and cures of the L.A. “Zoot Suit” navy race riots and recommending passage of a number of anti-discrimination bills: the anti-Lynch Bill, the anti-Poll Tax Bill, the Lynch-Dickstein Bill to bar racist material from the mails.

By the beginning of 1944, the membership rolls included nearly one thousand names, many of them famous.

Many of its prominent members were very active. Marc Connelly continued as chairman; vice chairmen were Gene Kelly, John Cromwell, the president of the Screen Directors' Guild, and E.Y. Harburg, composer of the music for The Wizard of Oz. Olivia de Havilland, Duke Ellington, Rita Hayworth, Ira Gershwin, and William Wilder were among the board members. George Pepper was executive secretary, as he had been from the early establishment of the organization.

The rallying point was loyalty to Franklin D. Roosevelt. The platform voted at the January 1944, meeting backed “full mobilization of the country's resources for victory,... the President's foreign policy, realistic measures against inflation, full democratic rights for all racial and minority groups, opposition to all repressive attacks on labor, protection of the farmer and agricultural production, development and extension of a balanced social security program, immediate planning for full employment after the war, work and security for returning veterans.”

The primary “causes” of the year were the election - local and national. HDC campaigned for registration and for the election of its endorsed candidates, largely but not entirely Democratic, employing the talents of its members who provided research data, pamphlets, articles, slogans, songs, cartoons, speeches and entertainment for meetings of all sizes, and most important their names, endorsing candidates and causes.

The January 1945, membership meeting announced a membership of 2700. During the year HDC added to its activities support of the Crimea Conference and Bretton Woods; protest of the action of radio station KFI, which dismissed six news commentators and forbade future editorializing; and continued opposition to the Dies Committee on Un-American Activities, by January 3 a permanent House committee broadening its investigations and increasing its public statements.

HDC formulated a program of cooperation with the Independent Citizens Council of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions (New York) and in March changed its name to Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions, broadening its membership to workers in the other arts, the sciences and the professions. It retained its own constitution and its power to act independently, and resolved “support to President Truman in carrying out FDR's program for international security.” It also resolved to support labor, a permanent FEPC, anti-Poll Tax legislation, social security, jobs for veterans, and “extension of Bill of Rights.”

HDC had wired Harry Truman commending his first message to Congress as president, and pledging continued support of FDR's policies and programs. But the loss of FDR was a serious blow to the organization, apparently weakened already by divisions over policies and the tie with ICCASP. Some members withdrew, among them Jimmy Roosevelt, once an officer, and Will Rogers Jr., who had been supported by HDC from its beginning and had lent his name to their causes and his presence to their public meetings, declared that HICCASP “behaves like a Communist front group.”

The energies of HICCASP were increasingly directed toward fighting HUAC and HUAC-inspired attacks on the loyalty of artists in general and Hollywood personalities in particular. There is no evidence in these files that HICCASP was under Soviet influence, but there is much indication of the time and effort spent combatting charges brought by those fearful of the Communists. At the opening session of the 79th Congress, John Rankin denounced Hollywood as “a hotbed of subversive activities...the red citadel... [dominated by] aliens and alienminded people plotting to overthrow the government of the United States.” HICCASP responded with an eloquent pamphlet setting down, almost without comment, Rankin's previous record.

In a series of statements and meetings on atomic energy control, HICCASP called for a Big Three conference to establish international control, and a domestic policy which placed atomic power in civilian, not military hands.

In March 1946, HICCASP affiliated with ICCASP as its Hollywood chapter. At the end of the year, ICCASP joined with the National Citizens Political Action Committee and a number of small groups to form the Progressive Citizens of America, which at its founding convention in December voiced its dissatisfaction with both major parties and stated that it could not “therefore rule out the possibility of a new political party...” HICCASP retained its separate identity as the Arts, Sciences, and Professions Council of the Progressive Citizens of Southern California, ASP-PCA.

In California, HICCASP was called a “key Communist front.” In Washington, J. Parnell Thomas increased the investigations of Hollywood. ASP-PCA continued its general program, which included a conference, “Pattern for Survival,” called with Albert Einstein and Harlow Shapley and advocating USA-USSR co-existence. But primary efforts went to conferences on academic freedom; defense of the Hollywood Ten, most of them members of ASP; and campaigns against HUAC and all forms of “thought control” and censorship.

PCA grew louder in its protest of US policy in almost every field. When, in 1948, most chapters merged into a Third Party supporting Henry Wallace for president, ASP withdrew, stating that it was a non-partisan organization supporting individuals without regard for party lines. It reorganized as the National Council of Arts, Sciences and Professions, and in October endorsed Wallace.

In its final major undertaking, NCASP, with a list of 600 prominent sponsors, invited delegates from more than 20 countries to the “Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace” at the Waldorf Astoria, March 25-27, 1949. Publication of the acceptances sent from Communist countries began a storm of protest from the American Legion, the Catholic War Veterans, and other groups and individuals. Several sponsors withdrew. The State Department revoked the visas granted delegates from Britain, France, and Brazil, and denied subsequent applications from other western countries, although allowing those already granted official representatives from Communist block countries, saying that the visas denied were for persons not sent by their governments, that “the Communist side of the case will certainly be adequately presented by the twenty-one delegates from Eastern Europe, and by the Communists and Communist sympathizers in the United States,” and that “the American government entertains no illusions as to the manner in which the Communists will attempt to use and manipulate the present conference.” NCASP declared that the action was designed to make the meeting appear Soviet-dominated by refusing delegates from other countries, and stated that it was not a pro-Communist conference. Prominent Americans and Europeans, among them Thomas Mann, protested to the State Department. The conference met on a schedule reduced from earlier plans, and was picketed at every session. Three Canadians attending were held and questioned for Communist activities, and when many delegates announced their intention to travel and speak in the United States, their visas were restricted to Manhattan. The files end at this point. Although activities continued on a small scale during the following years the final history of the organization cannot be determined.

The records are the files of George Pepper, executive secretary of the committee. Coverage begins in 1942 with his involvement with Musicians for Victory and continues through 1950, although documentation is best for the period 1943 to 1947. For this period there are minutes of executive board and membership meetings and extensive files of correspondence concerning national and California elections and a host of issues ranging from control of atomic weapons to the Los Angeles Zoot Suit riots of 1943. In addition, there are files for the period in 1946 when Pepper worked in the Seattle ICCASP office and collected materials about national ICCASP activities and administration. The HDC records reflect the background of the membership in the entertainment business and there are scripts of numerous radio broadcasts (and some recordings) of productions staged by the committee in behalf of Franklin D. Roosevelt and liberal political candidates. The concern for peace in the post-war world, which brought the committee into close association with scientists such as Albert Einstein, Linus Pauling, and Harlow Shapley, is also well documented. A few photographs received with the papers document HDC's support of OPA and a 1944 dinner at which Harold Ickes was the guest speaker. There are also five tape recordings of this dinner, which included an appearance by Judy Garland. Other tapes include speeches, promotional radio spots and meetings.

The BACKGROUND AND ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS include a typed history of the organization that is of unknown authorship, constitutions which governed the organization during affiliations with various national groups, correspondence concerning the involvement of the Hollywood members in the reorganization of these national groups, miscellaneous papers concerning political philosophy, lists of officers and committee members, and extensive minutes of the executive board and the general membership. Both of the files of minutes cease in 1947.

The alphabetically-arranged SUBJECT FILES variously include correspondence, telegrams, scripts, financial records, clippings, scripts, newsletters and printed material issued by the committee, and recordings. The files on national organizations with which the committee was affiliated such as ICCASP and the National Citizens Political Action Committee and the Progressive Party consist of incomplete files of mimeographed minutes and informational distributions.

Many of the issues which concerned the committee were complex. As a result, for many topics researchers will find related material in several files.complex. As a result, for many topics researchers will find related material in several files. For example, the majority of the interest in electoral politics can be found documented under the heading “Elections,” although financial information (including detailed lists of contributors) was filed as “Financial reports,” “Campaign Expenditure Committee,” and “Special Committee to Investigate Presidential Expenditures.” There is also important election material filed directly under the name of the meeting or the candidate.

Acquisition Information

Presented by George Pepper, Mexico, D.F., 1962. Accession Number: MCHC62-078

Processing Information

Processed by NM, 1963; reprocessed with unaccessioned additions, Carolyn J. Mattern, 1991.

U.S. Mss 31AN	Series: Background and Administrative Records
Box   1 Folder   1	History and policy papers, 1943-1946, undated
Box   1 Folder   2	Constitutions, 1945-1946
	Organizational correspondence
Box   1 Folder   3	HDC-ICCASP merger, 1944-1945
Box   1 Folder   4	ICCASP-NCPAC merger, 1946
Box   1 Folder   5	Officer and committee lists, 1945-1947, undated
	Minutes
Box   1 Folder   6-8	Executive Board, 1943-1947
Box   1 Folder   9-13	Membership meetings, 1943-1947
	Series: Subject Files	⇧
Box   1 Folder   14	Academic freedom, 1945-1947
Box   1 Folder   15	Academic freedom meeting, 1946
Box   2 Folder   1	American Caravan meeting, 1945 June 27
Box   2 Folder   2	Arts, Sciences, and Professional Council of Hollywood, 1947-1950, undated
Box   2 Folder   3	Atomic power, 1945
Box   2 Folder   4	Atomic power mass meeting, 1945 December 12
Box   2 Folder   5	Beverly-Westwood Democratic Committee (Political Reporter), 1945
Box   2 Folder   6	Bretton Woods agreement, 1945
Box   2 Folder   7	“The Crew of the Model T” scripts, 1945
297A/14	Morgenthau program related to IMF Bretton Woods, 1945 April 30
U.S. Mss 31AN Box   2 Folder   8	CIO, 1945-1946
Box   2 Folder   9	California Democratic Party, 1944
Box   2 Folder   10	California State Central Committee, 1944-1945
Box   2 Folder   11	Campaign Expenditure Committee, 1946
Box   2 Folder   12	Censorship, 1948
Box   2 Folder   13	Child care, 1944-1945
Box   2 Folder   14	Chinese Exclusion Act, 1943-1945
Box   2 Folder   15	Correspondence, Miscellaneous, 1943-1945
	Corwin, Norman
Box   2 Folder   16	Award dinner, 1946 March 31
Box   2 Folder   17	Costello, John, 1943, undated
Box   2 Folder   18	Davidson, Jo, 1945-1947
Box   2 Folder   19	Dekker, Albert, 1945
Box   2 Folder   20	Democratic National Committee, 1943-1945
Box   3 Folder   1	Dewey, Thomas, 1944
Box   3 Folder   2	Douglas, Helen Gahagan, 1944-1946
	Elections
Box   3 Folder   3	1943 Municipal elections
	1944
Box   3 Folder   4	Assembly District Committee
Box   3 Folder   5	Coordinating committee
Box   3 Folder   6	Literature
Box   3 Folder   7	Miscellany
Box   3 Folder   8	Primary elections
	Radio advertising
Box   3 Folder   9	Scripts
	Recordings
297A/7	“Hollywood Town Meeting,” 1944 May 11
297A/15	“In Reference to Mr. Dewey,” 1944 November 3
297A/1-2	Norman Corwin election eve program, 1944 November 6
U.S. Mss 31AN Box   3 Folder   10	1945 Municipal elections
	1946
Box   3 Folder   11	Committee
Box   3 Folder   12	Fundraising
Box   3 Folder   13-14	Literature
Box   3 Folder   15	Primary elections
	Radio advertising
Box   3 Folder   16	General
Box   3 Folder   17-18	Scripts
Box   4 Folder   1	Scripts (continued)
Box   4 Folder   2	Fair employment practices, 1946-1947
Box   4 Folder   3	Film Committee, 1946
Box   4 Folder   4	Film strike, 1945
Box   4 Folder   5	Fine arts, 1945-1949, undated
Box   4 Folder   6-8	Financial reports, 1944-1948
Box   4 Folder   9	First Amendment Committee, 1947, undated
Box   4 Folder   10	Free Indonesia Committee, 1945-1946
Box   4 Folder   11	Full employment legislation, 1945
Box   4 Folder   12	Grafton, Samuel, 1943
Box   4 Folder   13	“Get Out the Vote,” 1944 September 12
297A/6	Recording
U.S. Mss 31AN Box   4 Folder   14	HUAC, 1945-1946, undated
Box   4 Folder   15	Hamilton, Charles, 1944
Box   4 Folder   16	Healy, Ned, 1945
Box   4 Folder   17	Hollywood Independent, 1945
Box   4 Folder   18	Hollywood Ten (The Other Side of the Story), 1947, undated
297A/21	Hollywood Ten: Gail Thunderbird
U.S. Mss 31AN Box   4 Folder   19	Housing, 1945-1946
	ICCASP
Box   4 Folder   20	Constitutions, 1945-1946, undated
Box   4 Folder   21	Correspondence, 1945-1946
Box   5 Folder   1	Directors minutes, 1945-1946
Box   5 Folder   2	Field Department, 1946, undated
Box   5 Folder   3	Legislative Office, 1945
Box   5 Folder   4	Miscellaneous chapter material, undated
Box   5 Folder   5	Miscellany, 1944-1946, undated
Box   5 Folder   6	Press releases, 1945, undated
Box   5 Folder   7	Report From Washington, 1945-1946, undated
Box   5 Folder   8	Philadelphia, 1946
	Seattle
Box   5 Folder   9	Minutes, 1946
Box   5 Folder   10	Correspondence, 1946
Box   5 Folder   11	Literature and publicity, 1946, undated
Box   5 Folder   12	Ickes, Harold, 1944-1946
297A/8-12	H.L. Ickes dinner, Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, California, 1944 October 8
U.S. Mss 31AN Box   5 Folder   13	KFI censorship, 1945
Box   5 Folder   14	Kenny, Robert, 1946-1947
Box   5 Folder   15	Kilgore, Harley, 1945-1946
Box   5 Folder   16	Lea labor bill, 1946
Box   5 Folder   17	“Let's Go Out and Ring Doorbells,” 1944 March 24
297A/13	“Let's Ring Doorbells” speech, 1944 March 24
U.S. Mss 31AN Box   5 Folder   18	Liberty Caravan, 1947
Box   5 Folder   19	Loyalty oaths, 1949, undated
Box   6 Folder   1	Lynching incidents, 1946, undated
Box   6 Folder   2	McDonough, Gordon, 1944-1945
Box   6 Folder   3	“Message to Washington,” 1943 April 28
297A/5	Miscellaneous recordings Scope and Content Note: Includes Olivia de Havilland speech and campaign spots.
U.S. Mss 31AN Box   6 Folder   4	Moss case, 1946
Box   6 Folder   5	Mundt bill, 1948
Box   6 Folder   6	Music Division, 1945-1946, undated
Box   6 Folder   7	Music for Victory, 1942
Box   6 Folder   8	National Citizens Political Action Committee, 1945-1946, undated
Box   6 Folder   9	National Council of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions, 1948-1950
Box   6 Folder   10	National Democratic Convention, 1944
Box   6 Folder   11	Newsboys' strike, 1946
Box   6 Folder   12	Nonpartisan Association for Franchise Education, 1944
Box   6 Folder   13	OPA, 1945-1946
Box   6 Folder   14	Palestine, 1946
Box   6 Folder   15	Pauling, Linus, 1946, 1948
	Peace
Box   6 Folder   16	General, 1945-1946, undated
	Conferences
Box   6 Folder   17-18	1948
Box   6 Folder   19	1949
Box   6 Folder   20	Pepper, George, Personal miscellany, undated
Box   7 Folder   1	Phillips, Hubert, 1946
Lot A106/WCFTR	Photographs of Ickes dinner and signature collection for buyers strike, circa 1943-1945 Scope and Content Note: Photos show John Garfield, Charles Boyer, Howard Koch, and Harold Ickes, among others.
U.S. Mss 31AN Box   7 Folder   2	Poll taxes, 1943-1946
Box   7 Folder   3	Poulson, Norris, 1943
Box   7 Folder   4	Presidential Expenditures, Special Committee on, 1944-1945
Box   7 Folder   5	Price controls, 1943
	Progressive Citizens of America
Box   7 Folder   6	General, 1947-1948
Box   7 Folder   7	California, 1947-1949
297A/18-19	Meeting with speeches by Katharine Hepburn and Henry Wallace, 1947 May 19
U.S. Mss 31AN Box   7 Folder   8	Convention, 1949 January
Box   7 Folder   9	Progressive Party, 1948
Box   7 Folder   10	Progressives, Conference of, 1946
Box   7 Folder   11-12	Publicity, undated
Box   7 Folder   13	Race relations, 1943-1945
Box   7 Folder   14	Race riots, 1943
Box   7 Folder   15	Radio, 1947
Box   7 Folder   16	Rankin, John, 1945-1946
Box   7 Folder   17	Reorganization of ICCASP and NCPAC, 1946, undated
Box   7 Folder   18	Roosevelt, James, 1945-1946
Box   7 Folder   19	Roosevelt, Death of, 1945
Box   8 Folder   1	Science Division, 1945-1946, undated
Box   8 Folder   2	Shapley, Harlow, 1948
Box   8 Folder   3	Smith, Gerald L.K., 1945-1946
Box   8 Folder   4	Soldiers' vote, 1943-1944
Box   8 Folder   5	Spain, 1945
297A/20	Spot Announcements
U.S. Mss 31AN Box   8 Folder   6	Styles, Hal, 1944
Box   8 Folder   7	Target for Tomorrow, 1943-1944
Box   8 Folder   8	Tenney, Jack, undated
Box   8 Folder   9	Thought Control conference, 1947
Box   8 Folder   10	Time article, 1946
Box   8 Folder   11	UNESCO, 1945-1947
Box   8 Folder   12	United Nations meeting, 1945
Box   8 Folder   13	“United We Stand” meeting, 1943-1944
Box   8 Folder   14	Voting records, 1945-1946, undated
Box   8 Folder   15	Wallace, Henry
Box   8 Folder   15	Correspondence, 1943-1946
Box   8 Folder   16	Presidential radio advertising scripts, 1948
Box   8 Folder   17	Presidential campaign literature (ICCASP and NCCASP), 1948
Box   8 Folder   18	War Relocation Authority, 1943-1945
Box   8 Folder   19	Warren, Earl, 1946

• 297A/1-2: Corwin Show, Election Eve, FDR, 1944 November 6
• 297A/3-4: [Numbers retired, now 1247A]
• 297A/5: Olivia de Havilland's speech
• 297A/6: Get out the vote, 1944
• 297A/7: Hollywood Town Meeting, 1945 May 11
• 297A/8-12: H.L. Ickes dinner, Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, California, 1944 October 8
• 297A/13: “Let's Ring Doorbells” speech, 1944 March 24
• 297A/14: Morgenthau program related to IMF Bretton Woods, 1945 April 30
• 297A/15: “In Reference to Mr. Dewey,” 1944 November 3
• 297A/16-17: [Numbers retired, now 1248A]
• 297A/18-19: Katharine Hepburn speech
• 297A/20: Spot Announcements
• 297A/21: Hollywood Ten: Gail Thunderguard