Ronald Reagan

40th President of the United States (d. 2004)

In October 1947, drawing upon the list named in the Hollywood Reporter, the House Committee on Un-American Activities subpoenaed a number of persons working in the Hollywood film industry to testify at hearings. It had declared its intention to investigate whether Communist agents and sympathizers had been planting propaganda in U.S. films. The hearings opened with appearances by Walt Disney and Ronald Reagan, then president of the Screen Actors Guild. Disney testified that the threat of Communists in the film industry was a serious one. In his testimony before the HUAC, Reagan named several members of his union as communist sympathizers. (Later his first wife, actress Jane Wyman stated in her biography with Joe Morella (1985) that Reagan's allegations against friends and colleagues led to tension in their marriage eventually resulting in their divorce.) Actor Adolphe Menjou declared, "I am a witch hunter if the witches are Communists. I am a Red-baiter. I would like to see them all back in Russia.” In contrast, several leading Hollywood figures, including director John Huston and actors Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Danny Kaye, organized the Committee for the First Amendment to protest the government's targeting of the film industry. The group came under attack as being naive or foolish. Under pressure from his studio, Warner Brothers, to distance himself from the Hollywood Ten, Bogart negotiated a statement that did not denounce the committee, but said that his trip was “ill-advised, even foolish.” At a Committee for the First Amendment meeting, Bogart shouted at Danny Kaye, “You fuckers sold me out.” Billy Wilder told the group that “we oughta fold.” Many of the film industry professionals in whom HUAC had expressed interest—primarily screenwriters, but also actors, directors, producers, and others—were either known or alleged to have been members of the American Communist Party. Of the 43 people put on the witness list, 19 declared that they would not give evidence. Eleven of these nineteen were called before the committee. Members of the Committee for the First Amendment flew to Washington ahead of this climactic phase of the hearing, which commenced on Monday, October 27. Of the eleven "unfriendly witnesses", one, émigré playwright Bertolt Brecht, ultimately chose to answer the committee's questions.

Ronald Reagan delivers a speech on behalf of Republican candidate for president, Barry Goldwater. The speech launched his political career and came to be known as "A Time for Choosing".

Ronald Reagan elected 40th President of the United States in landslide victory over President Jimmy Carter.

Iran-Contra Affair: Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the Central Intelligence Agency the authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

U.S. President Ronald Reagan proclaims a War on Drugs.

U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

The ''Iran-Contra Affair'': The American press reveals that U.S. President Ronald Reagan had authorized the shipment of arms to Iran.

Cold War: In Geneva, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.

Cold War: U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, in an effort to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe.

Iran-Contra scandal: U.S. President Ronald Reagan announces the members of what will become known as the Tower Commission.

President Ronald Reagan proclaims September 11, 1987 as 9-1-1 Emergency Number Day.