Was Ronald Reagan a secret snitch?

L.A. Times ^ | December 12, 2010 | John Meroney

[americanophile]

Did Ronald Reagan secretly give the FBI names of people he suspected were communists when he was a movie star and Hollywood labor chief in the 1940s?

This allegation resurfaced in the media just before Thanksgiving when the San Jose Mercury News, which published excerpts from Reagan's FBI file to great international acclaim in 1985, ran a column revisiting its original story about Reagan the snitch. It implies that Reagan was a shadowy operator in cahoots with the notorious FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, orchestrating their next Hollywood Red scare.

The answer? Maybe. But Reagan was hardly betraying friends and confidants. He told the bureau what he told others publicly about communist influences in the Hollywood he knew. He didn't seek out the FBI originally; agents came to him. Moreover, he had little to tell them that the bureau didn't already know. It's hardly the picture of a Red-baiting Judas.

[Secret Agent Man]

And if these daydreamers think socialism would be better than evil, selfish capitalism, think again. You think it’s bad currently, you can’t get anything done in a socialist country without paying a bribe to someone either in protection money or a poltical official. There is no way anything gets done for you without bribes over there.

Socialism is Obama. It promises one thing while doing the opposite to you. Socialism empowers the individual, in reality makes the individual totally dependent on the state for everything. Socialism believes ultimately there will be no more classes or state, in reality it’s set up so those in current control of the state never lose power.

[Chipper]

Apparently the newspapers have nothing better to report on than reexamining story they already did 25 years ago?

[muawiyah]

Yeah, I know, they still got commies in Hollywood but they're not like the old ones ~ these people have compounded their stupidity and hatred of humanity with heavy drug use.

Not a good combination anywhere.

[Savage Beast]

"Did Ronald Reagan secretly give the FBI names of people he suspected were communists when he was a movie star and Hollywood labor chief in the 1940s?"

I certainly hope so.

[muawiyah]

Woody Allen's fame starts, and ends, with the belief among so many homosexuals that he was among their number.

Can you imagine when they found out he was into even heterosexual incest (or darned near that). Heads were exploding.

[BenLurkin]

Only the Communists consider Hoover to have been “notorious”

[Cheetahcat]

The Commies are trying to smear Reagan that is good for a laugh. anything that is detrimental to our society,Marxism ,Islam,Illegals should be removed from our country.

[Bernard Marx]

Present tense verb also works.

There are far more Hollywood Commies now than in the 1940s. And they don't keep it secret. Maybe the Times should do some investigative journalism -- but they'd have to investigate their own staff first! They finally got rid of Bob Scheer and his wife too, I think, but how many more are there?

[Chode]

feh...

[Reagan Man]

This what I know.

Ronald Reagan loved America and was a patriot.

[Dogbert41]

I wish I knew Reagan personally. Wish I could have called him “friend”.

[Little Ray]

Did Ronald Reagan secretly give the FBI names of people he suspected were communists when he was a movie star and Hollywood labor chief in the 1940s?

I sure as heck hope so. I think I'd be very disappointed if he didn't notice and report the dangerous subversives who were members of the Guild.

[Da Coyote]

And the problem with that was?

[windsorknot]

There were communists then, and there are communists now. They and their leftist allies will always be a threat to this country as long as they live.

[2harddrive]

“There was no “Red Scare” in Hollywood ~ there really were commies in Hollywood.”

Good point! We as a NATION owe an apology to “Tailgunner Joe” McCarthy!

[citizencon]

The commies were the enemies - being a snitch was patriotic.

[milagro]

Am reading M. Stanton Evans excellent book--Blacklisted by History--about how the liberal "establishment", especially the press, totally demonized Sen. Joe McCarthy, despite the fact that most of the people he suspected of being "Reds"--were just that. It is fascinating--and very disturbing--to see our nation's foreign and domestic policies have been so strongly influenced by people in "high places"--including the White House-- who had strong ties to the Kremlin.

Wish this book were mandatory reading for every college class studying American History.

[jongaltsr]

Psst. Obama is a Commie.

[sushiman]

The movie was banned in the Soviet Union (USSR) by Joseph Stalin after being shown in Poland because of the unrealistic depiction that even the poorest Americans could afford a car .

[montag813]

Did Ronald Reagan secretly give the FBI names of people he suspected were communists when he was a movie star and Hollywood labor chief in the 1940s?

I sure hope so!