Naming Names, written by Viktor S. Navasky, published by The Viking Press, 1980

In 1947 the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) commenced hearings to determine the level of communist influence within Hollywood and the entertainment industry. Ten witnesses, known as the Hollywood Ten, refused to answer whether or not they had ever been a member of the Communist Party. As a result, they were cited for contempt of Congress. The committee then suspended its hearings until all appeals had been exhausted. After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case, the Hollywood Ten began serving their one year prison sentences.

The Hollywood Ten had declined to answer questions on the basis of the 1st Amendment. Following their imprisonment for contempt, it was belatedly recognized that the better approach would have been to invoke the 5th Amendment and rely upon its privilege against self-incrimination. This approach was later supported by the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the case of Blau v. U.S. handed down in 1950. The committee then recommenced its hearings in March, 1951. This led to a succession of witnesses reluctantly answering questions concerning themselves and others who were members or former members of the Communist Party, or who were otherwise familiar with the Party. This was what it meant to "name names." Alternatively, witnesses could take the 5th Amendment and escape testifying, but, as a consequence, they would then risk being "blacklisted" by the industry and thus lose employment opportunities. Another option would have been to flat our refuse to testify and risk a contempt citation with a jail term plus loss of employment.

Naming Names by Victor S. Navasky provides a comprehensive analysis of the issues created by
"informing" as it occurred during the hearings of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Unquestionably, the author has produced a compelling and thorough narrative of who "named names" and why. One of the incidents illustrating the lasting impact of the hearings was the occasion in 1970 when Dalton Trumbo (one of the Hollywood Ten and a former member of the Communist Party) was honored by the Screen Writers Guild for his notable achievements. In his acceptance speech for the Laurel Award, Trumbo created a controversy when he said "it will do no good to search for villains or heroes or saints or devils because there were none; there were only victims." Trumbo then went on to say that the real enemy was not those who testified, rather it was "the Committee." This comment vividly illustrates a thread that runs throughout Naming Names, as well as most treatises on the subject. That thread is the unwillingness to address the culpability of those who aided and abetted the agenda of Soviet Marxism. Perhaps it is time to acknowledge the identity of the real enemy.