I saw a documentary back in the 90’s about Ronald Reagen and his life. I seam to remeber that he considered to join the communist party when he was young. He was on a meeting, but changed his mind about it (or something like that).
I also seam to remember that he was confronted about this in the 50’s - in the Macarthy period. (was he working with a union for actors in Hollywood ?)
I’ve tried to search about this on the net, but didn’t come up with something good.
So I ask people here ?
I doubt the confrontation part. Reagan was a friendly witness during the hearings and fought vigorously to rid Hollywood of Communists.
I saw the same show. Reagan did consider joining the Communist Party when he was a young actor. IIRC, he saw how the Party was “strong arming” actors in SAG and decided that it was not a good thing. From then on, he was a devout anti-Communist.
Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan, by Edmund Morris, contains an interview with historian and former Communist Party member Howard Fast. Here’s an excerpt:
Fast goes on to give Morris the names of some other actors and Communist Party members who could confirm the story; Morris reports that he did get a corroborating story from one of these people.
This biography was authorized, but I seem to recall that when it was released, there was a fair amount of controversy regarding its accuracy, so take this all with a grain of salt. Take care.
-KillerFig
Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan, by Edmund Morris, contains an interview with historian and former Communist Party member Howard Fast. Here’s an excerpt:
Fast goes on to give Morris the names of some other actors and Communist Party members who could confirm the story; Morris reports that he did get a corroborating story from one of these people.
This biography was authorized, but I seem to recall that when it was released, there was a fair amount of controversy regarding its accuracy, so take this all with a grain of salt. Take care.
-KillerFig