‘How the FBI and CIA Confronted the Cinematic Color Line in Cold War Hollywood’

This article analyzes how the FBI and CIA anticipated and reacted to the cycle of racial problem films that first appeared in the late 1940s. Initially the FBI fretted that films critical of American racism furthered the Communist Party line; but after these movies were received positively by some of their anti-Communist allies while simultaneously being subjected to blithering criticism by communist cultural commentators, FBI film interpretation fell silent. The CIA, in its more limited dalliance with Hollywood, engaged with an industry insider who sought to blunt cinematic criticism of American racism while simultaneously encouraging the insertion of scenes that would present artificial integrated images of American society in order to undercut Soviet criticism of Jim Crow. At best, this ‘Cold War imperative’ championed a cinematic tokenism that sought to sweep American racism under the rug.