AT Tradition in Action, Lyle J. Arnold argues that Hollywood paved the way for the ’60s.

The valuable lesson for counter-revolutionaries here is that, already in the “good ole ‘50s,” the revolutionary forces in Hollywood were subtly undermining society and giving honor and political clout to rebels.

— Comments —

Ron writes:

For the past several years I have been thinking the same thing – that the 50’s did prepare us for the 60’s. Westerns, both on television and in film, were not the John Wayne conservative American tradition one expects when seeing them once again. Shows such as Bonanza, The Big Valley, Wanted Dead or Alive, and Have Gun Will Travel were all produced and written by those on the left. Check the credits at the end of these shows. The messages were quite liberal.

Typically the town folk were bigots ready to lynch a school teacher who thought “differently.” Angry farmers and ranchers were quick to ward off “innocent” Indians and Latinos. Newspaper editors continuously defended the immigrant, the poor and the “defenseless.” The protagonists of these shows sided always with the stranger, the minority and the alien in town.

In reviewing the producers, the directors and the writers of these programs, I was interested in seeing how many of them went on to write overtly leftist film fare in the 60’s and 70’s.

Folk music from the 40’s and 50’s (The Limelighters, the Kingston Trio, Harry Belafonte, etc.) at first appeared to be apolitical but the line led directly from Woody Guthrie (40’s) and Pete Seeger (50’s) to Bob Dylan (60’s).

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