Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia.

My name is Jody Avergan.

This day, September 19, 1952, the persecution of Charlie Chaplin.

The actor and comedian made his name in the 20s and 30s as a comic actor, a sort of slapstick silent film star, one of the most famous

actors and celebrities in the whole world, I think it's safe to say, and that may in many ways still

be the image people have in their heads of who Charlie Chaplin is.

But just to give you a sense listeners of the evolution of Charlie Chaplin, at least in certain circles,

by the late 1940s a US Congress person is saying things like this about

Charlie Chaplin quote his very life in Hollywood is detrimental to the moral fabric of America.

If he is deported, his loathsome pictures can be kept from before the eyes of American

youth.

He should be deported and gotten rid of at once.

So different stakes certainly than some, you know, fun slapsticks in the 20s and 30s.

And you know, what is at stake in this moment in 1952 is that Chaplin is on a trip abroad at sea and the US

Attorney General is announcing plans to launch an inquiry into whether he

should be readmitted into the United States all around questions about whether he should be readmitted into the United States all around questions

about whether he is un-American a communist sympathizer all sorts of big red scare

questions that are swirling in the early 50s.

It would in the end be 20 years before he would return to America.

There is so much to talk about in the life of Charlie Chaplin and this moment of persecution.

So here to discuss as always are Nicole Hammer of Columbia and Kelly Carter Jackson of

Wellesley.

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