Session Abstract

This panel will explore how Hollywood personalities, forums, and institutions have shaped twentieth-century American political history. Despite the popular conception of Hollywood as a superficial component of American politics, this panel will demonstrate how celebrities, studio executives, and gossip columnists have contributed their unique publicity talents, networking connections, and fundraising skills to political parties, ideologies, and movements.  Moreover, the panel with also discuss the various interdisciplinary sources and archival collections available for scholars interested in the extremely vibrant and frequently overlooked political history of Hollywood.  Steven Ross will explore how to write the political history of celebrity activists. From Charlie Chaplin to Arnold Schwarzenegger, movie stars have spoken out about political issues over the course of the twentieth century.  Ross will discuss how to think conceptually about different modes of movie star activism and the sources available to writing the political history of movies stars.  Kathryn Cramer Brownell will explore the political history of Hollywood studios and the manner in which studio structures became institutionalized in the American political process. Brownell’s paper will show how negotiations, consultations, and personal relationships that developed between studio executives and politicians helped Hollywood entertainment replace party spectacle as a political strategy to win votes, raise money, and communicate to the public.  Jennifer Frost and Kathleen Feeley will examine the political history of Hollywood gossip and how gossip, by figures such as Hedda Hopper, emerged as a central component of Cold War politics.  Frost and Feeley will also discuss how writing the politics of gossip demands different methodological strategies and relies on alternative sources that reveal how citizens turned to gossip columns as a source of political news.  By discussing how celebrity activists, studio structures, and gossip have impacted American politics, this panel will highlight the influential role the entertainment industry has played across the political spectrum in shaping the course of modern American political history.