The Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions (ICCASP) (1945–1946) was an American association that lobbied unofficially for

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

causes, as well as the cause of world peace; members included future US President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

. Some members would later be accused of infiltrating the group to spread

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

, and occasionally pro-

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

ideas. The group included a chapter sometimes called the "Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions" (HICCASP) involved in the

Hollywood Ten The Hollywood blacklist was the mid-20th century banning of suspected Communists from working in the United States entertainment industry. The blacklisting, blacklist began at the onset of the Cold War and Red Scare#Second Red Scare (1947–1957 ...

Organization

January 1946 national group: * Chair: Jo Davidson * Treasurer: Fredric March * Members of the national board of directors:

Olivia de Havilland Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British and American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her tim ...

, William Rose Benét, Van Wyck Brooks, Louis Calhern, Marc Connelly, John Cromwell,

Morris Llewellyn Cooke Morris Llewellyn Cooke (May 11, 1872 – March 5, 1960) was an American engineer, best known for his work on Scientific Management and Rural Electrification. Biography Born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania as one of eight children of William Harvey ...

, Norman Corwin, Bartley Crum, Dr. Moses Diamond, Donald du Shank,

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

, Florence Eldridge, Rudolph Ganz, Moss Hart,

Lillian Hellman Lillian Florence Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) was an American playwright, Prose, prose writer, Memoir, memoirist, and screenwriter known for her success on Broadway as well as her communist views and political activism. She was black ...

, Howard Koch, John Howard Lawson,

Archibald MacLeish Archibald MacLeish (May 7, 1892 – April 20, 1982) was an American poet and writer, who was associated with the modernist school of poetry. MacLeish studied English at Yale University and law at Harvard University. He enlisted in and saw action ...

, John T. McManus,

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

, Alonzo F. Myers, John P. Peters,

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...

Harlow Shapley Harlow Shapley (November 2, 1885 – October 20, 1972) was an American astronomer, who served as head of the Harvard College Observatory from 1921–1952, and political activist during the latter New Deal and Fair Deal. Shapley used Cepheid var ...

, Herman Shumlin, Carl Van Doren Other sources: *National: ** Executive chair: Harold Ickes ** Chair: Jo Davidson ** Board members:

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...

;

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; born Louis Bernstein; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was th ...

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Cantor was one of the prominent entertainers of his era. Some of h ...

, John Hersey,

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*Chapters: ** New York: Hannah Dorner (executive director), Edward Condon ** Hollywood:

(vice president)

Members

* National:

* New York: Hannah Dorner * Hollywood:

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Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer, and Pin-up model, pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of ...

, Charles Laughton, Irving Pichel, Linus Pauling,

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...

* Others "associated": James Cagney,

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, Oscar Hammerstein, Walter Huston, Canada Lee, Edward G. Robinson

History

The ICCASP started in 1944, as an "Independent Voters Committee of the Arts and Sciences for Roosevelt" (IVCASR). After FDR's successful fourth election as US President in November 1944, the group formalized itself with professional staff. The ICCASP formed in 1945 shortly after the end of World War II. From the start, the group found itself at odds with the Truman administration's "aggressive anti-Soviet" and anti-labor policies, as well as his accommodation to racism. Tied to a primary issue of global peace was the issue of atomic power and, more immediately, a "May-Johnson Bill" started in June 1945 that would become the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (signed August 1, 1946). In November 1945, scientist Linus Pauling spoke to the group on atomic weapons; shortly after, his wife Ava Helen and he accepted membership. In late 1945, the ICCASP's Hollywood chapter ("HICCASP") published a scathing critique of Dies Committee chairman, entitled ''Introducing... Representative John E. Rankin.'' On January 21, 1946, the group met to discuss

academic freedom Academic freedom is the right of a teacher to instruct and the right of a student to learn in an academic setting unhampered by outside interference. It may also include the right of academics to engage in social and political criticism. Academic ...

, during which Pauling said, "There is, of course, always a threat to academic freedom – as there is to the other aspects of the freedom and rights of the individual, in the continued attacks which are made on this freedom, these rights, by the selfish, the overly ambitious, the misguided, the unscrupulous, who seek to oppress the great body of mankind in order that they themselves may profit – and we must always be on the alert against this threat, and must fight it with vigor when it becomes dangerous." Also in January 1946, ICCASP's Theatre Division, headed by actor José Ferrer, held a discussion on "Artist as Citizen" at the Henry Miller Theatre that featured US Rep. Joseph Clark Baldwin, war correspondent Quentin Reynolds, and Marxist economist J. Raymond Walsh. In February 1946,

Desi Arnaz Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III (March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986), known as Desi Arnaz, was a Cuban-American actor, musician, producer, and bandleader. He played Ricky Ricardo on the American television sitcom ''I Love Lucy'', in whi ...

appeared in a show sponsored by the ICCASP, "a group the FBI said was a communist front."

, then politically more a liberal, was former member of ICCASP's Hollywood chapter. Fellow actors, mostly Roosevelt supporters, like

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympatheti ...

Gregory Peck Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 12th-greatest male ...

and

were also in its Hollywood chapter. In 2006, De Havilland described her reason for joining: "I thought, 'I'll join and try to be a good citizen." In June 1946, De Havilland was asked to deliver speeches that seemed to come from the Communist Party line. She refused to deliver the speeches and rewrote them, this time championing President Truman's

anti-Communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

program. De Havilland described that in meetings of the Citizens' Group, the group rarely embraced the kind of independent spirit it publicly proclaimed. It always ended up siding with the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

even though the rank-and-file members were noncommunist: "I thought, 'If we reserve the right to criticize the American policies, why don't we reserve the right to criticize Russia?'" When reform efforts failed, a number of prominent members from the liberal side like De Havilland and Ronald Reagan left in 1946, causing the ICCASP to be seen increasingly as a Communist front group. In September 1946, ICCASP joined the CIO-PAC, the National Citizens PAC (NCPAC), the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

, the Railroad Brothers, the National Farmers Union, and the Southern Conference for Human Welfare for a Chicago Conference of Progressives. The Union for Democratic Action did not participate because of perceived Communist infiltration. On September 24, 1946, the ICCASP issued a joint declaration with CIO-PAC that opposed the Baruch Plan. A few months earlier, on June 14, 1946, Baruch (US representative to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission) (UNAEC) had presented his plan as a modified version of the Acheson–Lilienthal plan; it proposed international control of then-new atomic energy. The USSR rejected Baruch's proposal as unfair (given the fact that the US already had nuclear weapons) and counter-proposed that the US eliminate its nuclear arsenal.Leab, Daniel et al., ed. ''The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Thematic Encyclopedia'' ABC-CLIO LLC., 2010, p. 12. The ICCASP (like the Soviets) opposed the Baruch Plan. By October 1946, Ickes was urging the ICCASP to reconsider its position on atomic energy. The ICCASP's position on nuclear arms, plus Republican victories in the 1946 mid-term elections, led members like Ickes to resign "because of perceived Communist domination of the organization." (Baruch resigned from the UNAEC in 1947 as he grew further out of step with the views of the Truman administration.) On November 14, 1946, scientist Harlow Shapley appeared under subpoena by the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...

for his role as a member of ICCASP, a "major political arm of the Russophile left", specifically about ICCASP's Massachusetts's chapter, and also for opposing U.S. Representative Joseph William Martin Jr. during mid-term elections that year. HUAC committee chairman John E. Rankin commented, "I have never seen a witness treat a committee with more contempt" and considered contempt of Congress charges. Shapley accused HUAC of "Gestapo methods" and advocated for its abolition for making "civic cowards of many citizens" by pursuing the "bogey of political radicalism." On December 26, 1946, ICCASP and the National Citizens PAC merged to form the Progressive Citizens of America (PCA). In his 1993 memoir, John J. Abt ( CPUSA legal counsel in the 1950s), recalled negotiating the merger with Calvin Benham Baldwin ("Beanie Baldwin") and Hannah Dorner. A week later, the Union for Democratic Action reformed as

Americans for Democratic Action Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) is a liberal American political organization advocating progressive policies. ADA views itself as supporting social and economic justice through lobbying, grassroots organizing, research, and supporting p ...

and took an anti-Communist stance against the PCA. "The split in liberal ranks had become a chasm."

Legacy

Olivia de Havilland at the Academy Awards 1946

From its start, the ICCASP found itself overlapping in mission with the Artists League of America (ALA), successor of the American Artists' Congress (ACA). In 1947, the ICCASP came under attack by the

(HUAC) during congressional hearings on communist infiltration in Hollywood, which led to the indictment of the

. In 1948, the ICCASP and National Citizens PAC merged and supported former US Vice President Henry A. Wallace as presidential candidate for the

Progressive Party (United States, 1948) Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party of Aotearoa New Zealand * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia, Canada * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working Pe ...

. On August 2, 1948, Louis F. Budenz testified before the Senate subcommittee of the Committee of Expenditures in the Executive Department:

The Independent itizensCommittee of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions was worked out originally in my office in the '' Daily Worker'', of which Lionel Berman, of the cultural section organizer of the party, was a member, and he was entrusted not only by that meeting but by the political committee, as the result of these discussions with the task of forming the Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions.

HUAC published details from Budenz's testimony regarding the "National Council of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions," which (according to HUAC) was a "descendant" of ICCASP. In the 1950s, many former ICCASP members found themselves hounded for communist subversive activities during

McCarthyism McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a Fear mongering, campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage i ...

. For example, scientist Linus Pauling found himself under investigation by the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

(FBI), HUAC, and internal groups at

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...

, where he worked.

Works

* ''The Independent (CPUSA)'', bimonthly, ICCASP New York * ICCASP news letter (June 1946) * ''Don't You Believe It'', HICCASP (1946) * ''Report From Washington'', monthly, IAACP New York (1949)

References

{{reflist

External links

Digital Commonwealth
ICCASP membership card for W.E.B. Du Bois

* ttp://alberteinstein.info/vufind1/Record/EAR000074585 Einstein Archives Online - he Arts, Sciences and Professions Council requests the pleasure of your company at a Dinner
ICCASP membership card of W.E.B. DuBois

* ttp://scarc.library.oregonstate.edu/coll/pauling/peace/papers/bio6.004.12-19460114.html HICCASP invitation for Linus Pauling speech(21 January 1946)
ICCASP dinner for UN anniversary – Lana Turner with Trygve Lie
(25 April 1946)
ICCASP newsletter, ca. June 1946

(9 September 1946)
University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
Hollywood Democratic Committee Records, 1942-1950 Organizations established in 1945 Political advocacy groups in the United States Progressivism in the United States Liberalism in the United States 1945 establishments in the United States 1946 establishments in the United States United States political action committees Left-wing politics in the United States