Ronald Reagan @ 100: Portrait in Courage
"a one-man battalion"
Ronald Reagan's well-sorted views regarding the USSR, communism, and the then-emerging Cold War were initially formed by his own personal experiences in the Hollywood labor strike in the Fall of 1946.
According to author Peter Schweizer's (Reagan's War) research of Soviet archives, the Hollywood strike's leader - pugnacious rabble-rouser Herb Sorrell- was directly funded by the American Communist Party and received operational help/strategy from Soviet agents.
Sorrell was head of the Conference of Studio Unions (CSU), and the goal was nothing less than (communist) control of the Hollywood film industry. He had said at the onset of the of the strike "There may be men hurt, there may be men killed before this is over"- and had brought in crews of goons, just in case things got rough as he was predicting... a self-fulfilling prophecy.
According to author Peter Schweizer's (Reagan's War) research of Soviet archives, the Hollywood strike's leader - pugnacious rabble-rouser Herb Sorrell- was directly funded by the American Communist Party and received operational help/strategy from Soviet agents.
Sorrell was head of the Conference of Studio Unions (CSU), and the goal was nothing less than (communist) control of the Hollywood film industry. He had said at the onset of the of the strike "There may be men hurt, there may be men killed before this is over"- and had brought in crews of goons, just in case things got rough as he was predicting... a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The Screen Actors' Guild had voted on whether to join the pickets, but a majority of actors decided not to honor the strike. Reagan's own employer at the time -Warner Brothers Studio- was determined to keep up to production schedule, and simply advised SAG actors crossing the picket line to sneak-onto the studio lot through a drainage pipe...
But that rubbed Ronald Reagan the wrong-way right from the start, as he saw having to 'sneak' as being intimidated by an unjust cause, one that fought with underhanded methods... and he didn't like it. Reagan told WB security "If I'm going to cross the picket line, I'm going to cross the picket line"- and did just that, marching right through the daunting union crowd. The movie star soon emerged as the brave leader of the anti-strike, anti-communist movement in Hollywood.
But it wasn't long before he received a phone call that told him that if he continued to oppose the CSU strike, he would never be able to work in films again... as a union 'crew' would find him and "disfigure his face with acid." Reagan soon obtained a gun for the protection of himself and his family, which he kept packed in a holster or laying at arm's reach on his nightstand at night.
