{"id":1694,"date":"2019-08-01T09:10:06","date_gmt":"2019-08-01T09:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/?page_id=1694"},"modified":"2019-08-01T09:10:06","modified_gmt":"2019-08-01T09:10:06","slug":"lillian-hellman-refuses-to-name-names-1952","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/25-the-cold-war\/lillian-hellman-refuses-to-name-names-1952\/","title":{"rendered":"Lillian Hellman Refuses to Name Names (1952)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The\nHouse Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) held hearings in 1947 on\nCommunist activity in Hollywood. Many were called to testify and some, like playwright\nand screenwriter Lillian Hellman, refused to \u201cname names\u201d\u2014to inform on others.\nHellman invoked the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. Her\ndecision landed her on the Hollywood \u201cblacklist\u201d and film companies refused to\nhire her. In the following letter to HUAC\u2019s chairman, Hellman offered to\ntestify as to her own activities if she would not be forced to inform on\nothers. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lillian Hellman, Letter to HUAC, May 19, 1952<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Mr. Wood:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you know, I am under subpoena to appear before\nyour committee on May 21, 1952.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am most willing to answer all questions about myself.\nI have nothing to hide from your committee and there is nothing in my life of\nwhich I am ashamed. I have been advised by counsel that under the fifth\namendment I have a constitutional privilege to decline to answer any questions\nabout my political opinions, activities, and associations, on the grounds of\nself-incrimination. I do not wish to claim this privilege. I am ready and willing\nto testify before the representatives of our Government as to my own opinions\nand my own actions, regardless of any risks or consequences to myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I am advised by counsel that if I answer the\ncommittee\u2019s questions about myself, I must also answer questions about other\npeople and that if I refuse to do so, I can be cited for contempt. My counsel\ntells me that if I answer questions about myself, I will have waived my rights\nunder the fifth amendment and could be forced legally to answer questions about\nothers. This is very difficult for a layman to understand. But there is one\nprinciple that I do understand: I am not willing, now or in the future, to\nbring bad trouble to people who, in my past association with them, were\ncompletely innocent of any talk or any action that was disloyal or subversive.\nI do not like subversion or disloyalty in any form and if I had ever seen any I\nwould have considered it my duty to have reported it to the proper authorities.\nBut to hurt innocent people whom I knew many years ago in order to save myself\nis, to me, inhuman and indecent and dishonorable. I cannot and will not cut my\nconscience to fit this year\u2019s fashions, even though I long ago came to the\nconclusion that I was not a political person and could have no comfortable\nplace in any political group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was raised in an old-fashioned American tradition\nand there were certain homely things that were taught to me: To try to tell the\ntruth, not to bear false witness, not to harm my neighbor, to be loyal to my\ncountry, and so on. In general, I respected these ideals of Christian honor and\ndid as well with them as I knew how. It is my belief that you will agree with\nthese simple rules of human decency and will not expect me to violate the good\nAmerican tradition from which they spring. I would, therefore, like to come\nbefore you and speak of myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am prepared to waive the privilege against self-incrimination\nand to tell you everything you wish to know about my views or actions if your\ncommittee will agree to refrain from asking me to name other people. If the\ncommittee is unwilling to give me this assurance, I will be forced to plead the\nprivilege of the fifth amendment at the hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A reply to this letter would be appreciated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sincerely yours,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lillian Hellman<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Letter to the House Un-American Activities\nCommittee (HUAC) from Lillian Hellman regarding testimony, May 19, 1952;\nInvestigative name files, series 1, House Un-American Activities Committee;\nRecords of the United States House of Representatives, Record Group 233;\nNational Archives Building, Washington, DC. Available online via National\nArchives (https:\/\/catalog.archives.gov\/id\/24200384<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) held hearings in 1947 on Communist activity in Hollywood. Many were called to testify and some, like playwright and screenwriter Lillian Hellman, refused to \u201cname names\u201d\u2014to inform on others. Hellman invoked the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. Her decision landed her on the Hollywood \u201cblacklist\u201d and film companies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":816,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1694","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1694"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1695,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1694\/revisions\/1695"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}