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FROM NOVELIST TO PHILOSOPHER, 1944–1957
propaganda into innocent stories.” Eventually these bits “will act like
the drops of water that split a rock if continued long enough. The rock
they are trying to split is Americanism.” 62 To resist, movie producers
and writers must understand that politics fl owed from moral premises,
Rand wrote. After this assertion, however, she backed away from sweeping
statements, keeping most of her suggestions specifi c and practical.
She opposed any formal movie code but listed thirteen ways to keep
movies free of Communist undertones. Rand told moviemakers to
avoid smearing the free enterprise system, industrialists, wealth, or the
profi t motive. They should celebrate success and avoid glorifying failure
or the common man. Movies should also be careful about using current
events or criticizing American political institutions.
Rand’s “Screen Guide” caught the eye of a congressional committee,
the House Un-American Activities Commission (HUAC), which
was investigating Communist penetration of the movie industry. The
committee had begun sniffi ng out Communists in 1938, and its activities
picked up steam in the postwar years, eventually resulting in the
celebrated confrontation between the former Communist Whittaker
Chambers and the accused spy Alger Hiss that riveted the nation. In
1947, one year before the Hiss case broke, HUAC was just starting its
fi rst high-profi le investigation, a probe into the political associations of
famous actors, directors, and screenwriters.
Rand was eager to help. At HUAC’s request she arranged her next trip
east so that she could stop in Washington to appear as a friendly witness.
Unlike most witnesses who were subpoenaed to testify about their
past Communist associations, Rand took the stand willingly. After a few
perfunctory remarks about her background, she launched into an attack
on Song of Russia, a syrupy romance fi lmed at the height of America’s
wartime alliance with the Soviet Union. Her testimony gained notoriety
when she told the committee that the movie was propaganda because it
showed too many Russians smiling. “Doesn’t anybody smile in Russia
anymore?” a congressman queried. “Well, if you ask me literally, pretty
much no,” Rand responded, drawing laughter from the audience. 63
What is most striking about the testimony, however, is how slow
Rand was to understand that Song of Russia was not Communist propaganda,
but American propaganda about a wartime ally. When Georgia
Representative John Stevens Boyd questioned her about this, Rand
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