Bulletin 663
September 22, 2015
Dear
Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,
We
are please to invite you to the campus showing of Archie Baron’s award-winning
film, The Un-Americans, on Thursday, 1 October, at the University of
Grenoble, beginning at 6:30.
For
further information, please see the items below.
Sincerely,
Francis
Feeley
Projection-débat
Francis McCollum Feeley
Professeur des Etudes
américaines
à
L’Université Stendhal
VOUS PRESENTE
Un film documentaire sur le
‘Terrorisme de l’Etat’ aux Etats-Unis dans les années 1950 :
The Un-Americans
v.o.
(From the BBC TimeWatch Series)
Archie Baron, producer
LE JEUDI, 1 OCTOBRE 2015
à
18h30
LA GRANDE DE SALLE DES COLLOQUES
_____________________________________________
Between
1945 and the early 50's the lives of thousands of ordinary citizens were
destroyed because they were accused of un-American activities. Government
workers, teachers, union leaders, scientist, artists, writers-anyone who
expressed a liberal or leftwing opinion could be identified as a Communist or a
fellow traveler.
In
this film both the anti-Communists and the victims of the notorious McCarthy
witch hunts talk candidly about the era of anti-Communist hysteria and
blacklists. We meet men and women who had joined the Communist Party out of
idealism and in reaction to injustices in American society, such as poverty,
and racism. They had no thoughts of violently overthrowing the government and
indeed, only 43,000 Americans were members of the Communist party.
More
than 400 people were brought to trial and about a third were
sent to prison and assessed huge fines. The execution of the Rosenbergs was the culmination of the hysteria. Arthur Kinoy, a constitutional lawyer, recalls his efforts to stay
the execution. Archival newsreels, old propaganda films, and newspaper cartoons
recapture those days.