Matthew Ehret
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
What makes this so sickening is not that these memorials are untrue, but rather that it is these same MSM/Hollywood forces that are the heirs to the fascist McCarthyite machine which Kirk Douglass and his close network of collaborators fought so courageously against during their lives.
Kirk Douglas and his son Michael on set
Hollywood and the CIA Today
In recent decades, barring a few exceptions, Hollywood (just like much of the mainstream media) has become a branch of the CIA and broader military industrial complex. While fake news agencies as CNN spin false facts to the intellects of mushy-minded Americans, Hollywood prepares the fertile soil for those false seeds to grow by shaping the hearts and imagination in their victims through the important hypnotic power of storytelling. Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, Red Sparrow and Bitter Harvest are just a few of the most popular propaganda films which portray Russians as the nefarious villains of the earth and heroically elevate the CIA to patriotic heights.
Hacked emails from Sony pictures published on WikiLeaks provided a smoking gun when it was revealed that the Obama administration had courted Hollywood execs to the task of promoting films to “counter Russian narratives” and all of this in the midst of a renewed Cold War terror which has led to attacks on Chinese scholars in America and an attempted coup against a sitting U.S. President.
YET, just as Hollywood can serve as a force of great evil, Kirk Douglas and his small network of collaborators demonstrated that it could equally serve as a force of great good. This is because films exhibiting a spirit of honesty and courage can bypass the gatekeepers of intellect and strike at the inner being of the audience rendering a people, under certain circumstances better patriots of their nation and citizens of the world.
This brings us to the important question of “what truly made Kirk Douglas and his small but influential network of collaborators so important during such a dark period of World history during the peak of the Cold War?”
Ending the Blacklist: Douglas and Trumbo
The above quote from a CNN memorial cited Douglas’s efforts to end the Hollywood Blacklist. For those who are not aware, the blacklist was the name given to the “untouchables” of Hollywood. Those writers, directors and producers who courageously refused to cooperate with the fascist hearings of the House on Un-American Activities run under the dictatorial leadership of Senator Joseph McCarthy and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. By the end of the hearings, hundreds of careers were destroyed and examples were made of ten leading writers led by the great Dalton Trumbo- who were not only given prison sentences for defending the U.S. Constitution, but who became un-hirable for years after their release. Not only this, but anyone caught employing them were threatened with similar penalties.
In spite of that grim reality many of them continued to work under pseudonyms with Trumbo even winning two uncredited academy awards during the 1950s (Roman Holiday and the Brave One).
During this dark period, a network of brave film makers formed who worked very closely together for 20 years which centered around Trumbo, Kirk Douglas, David Miller, John Frankenheimer, Stanley Kramer, Burt Lancaster and producer Edward Lewis. Many of the films produced by these men not only carried stories which shook the foundations of the newly reorganized deep state, but also strove to awaken the moral sensibilities of Americans whose complacency had permitted the creation of a new Pax Americana abroad, and racist police state within.
Kirk Douglas responded to this early on by forming his own studio called Bryna Productions which created the anti-war classic Paths of Glory (1957) and Spartacus (1960).
Paths of Glory told the true story of the unjust execution of several French soldiers who refused to obey a suicide mission during WW1 and provided a strong statement against irrational wars but also arbitrary political power run amok.
Set in 72 BC, Spartacus told the true story of a Thracian slave who led a two year freedom struggle against Rome and spoke directly to the civil rights movement in America and fight against imperialism more broadly.
What gave Spartacus its strategic potency to end the Blacklist was due to the fact that it was written by the leading untouchable “commie-lover” of America… Dalton Trumbo. Kirk Douglas’ last minute decision to use Trumbo’s real name was more of a risk than most people realize, and in later years, Douglas described this period:
“The choices were hard. The consequences were painful and very real. During the blacklist, I had friends who went into exile when no one would hire them; actors who committed suicide in despair … I was threatened that using a Blacklisted writer for Spartacus — my friend Dalton Trumbo — would mark me as a ‘Commie-lover’ and end my career. There are times when one has to stand up for principle. I am so proud of my fellow actors who use their public influence to speak out against injustice. At 98 years old, I have learned one lesson from history: It very often repeats itself. I hope that Trumbo, a fine film, will remind all of us that the Blacklist was a terrible time in our country, but that we must learn from it so that it will never happen again.”
When the newly-elected president John Kennedy and his brother Robert crossed anti-Communist picket lines to first attend the film, and then endorsed it loudly, the foundations of the Blacklist were destroyed and the edifice of 15 years of terror came crashing down.
Kennedy’s Murder and Trumbo’s Revenge
Kennedy’s death in 1963 sent America into a spiral of despair, drugs and insanity. Films like Frankenheimber’s Manchurian Candidate (1962), and 7 Days in May (1964) attempted to shed light on the deep state takeover of America but it was too late. During the 1960s, Douglas, Ed Lewis, Trumbo and Frankenheimber continued to work closely together on films like Lonely are the Brave, Town without Pity, the Fixer, Last Sunset, Seconds, The Train, Devil’s Disciple, Johny Got His Gun, the Horsemen and more. Sadly, the cultural rot had set in too deeply and nothing came as close to the artistry of the dense 1957-1964 period of creative resistance.
One little known film stands out quite a bit however, and since so little is known of this small masterpiece, a word must be said now.
Ten years after Kennedy’s murder, Trumbo, Edward Lewis, David Miller, Mark Lane and Garry Horrowitz created a film which could be called “Trumbo’s last stand”. This film was called Executive Action (1973) and starred Kirk Douglas’ long-time collaborator Burt Lancaster as a leading coordinator of the plot to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. Edward Lewis, who had also produced Spartacus with Douglas earlier, spearheaded this film which tells the story of a cabal of oligarchs who arrange the murder of John Kennedy using three teams of professional mercenaries (former CIA men fired after the Bay of Pigs fiasco). This incredibly well-researched storyline infused fiction with powerful facts and was based upon the work of Mark Lane- a close friend of the Kennedys, NY State Attorney, and civil rights activist (the only legislator to be arrested as a Freedom rider fighting segregation).
During a powerful dialogue between James Farrington (Lancaster) and the leader of the cabal Robert Foster (played by Robert Ryan), the gauntlet is dropped, as the true reason is given for the need to murder Kennedy in chilling detail: Global Depopulation.
Farrington is told by Foster:
“The real problem is this James. In two decades there will be seven billion human beings on this planet. Most of them brown, yellow or black. All of them hungry. All of them determined to love. They’ll swarm out of their breeding grounds into Europe and North America… Hence, Vietnam. An all-out effort there will give us control of south Asia for decades to come. And with proper planning, we can reduce the population to 550 million by the end of the century. I know… I’ve seen the data.”
James: “We sound rather like Gods reading the Doomsday book don’t we?”
Foster: “Well, someone has to do it. Not only will the nations affected be better off. But the techniques developed there can be used to reduce our own excess population: blacks, Puerto Ricans, Mexican Americans, poverty prone whites, and so forth”.
Although the film was pulled from most American theaters, it still stands as one of the most direct and chilling refutations of the lone-gunman narrative and is also the only film this author is aware of which showcases the deeper neo-Malthusian agenda underlying the murder of Kennedy which feared the optimistic vision he had threatened to create as outlined in my previous paper “Remembering JFK’s Vision for the Future that Should Have Been”.
The oligarchs attempting to play God in today’s world, just as their predecessors who oversaw JFK’s murder know that hunger, war and disease are not the natural state of humanity, but simply means of checking population growth.
It is worth keeping in mind that those same media and Hollywood outlets mourning Douglas’ passing are the perpetrators of this Malthusian legacy, and are deathly afraid of a renewal of JFK’s legacy under a revived space program to establish permanent human colonies on the Moon and Mars as well as establish cooperative relations with Russia and China which provides humanity its last, best chance to end the oligarchy’s pandemic of wars, disease and hunger forever.
Matthew Ehret is the founder of the Canadian Patriot Review, author of the Untold History of Canada and BRI expert on Tactical Talk. His articles appear regularly on Zero Hedge, Strategic Culture, Sott, the Duran and Fort Russ. He can be reached at matt.ehret@tutamail.com
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Isn’t Sparticus a lefty these days. (jk) Issur Danielovitch was his name and like anyone with a name pertaining to lands under communist control, names like Yuli Borisovich Bryner, would put you very much on the side of the enemy. McCarthy really only cared for the politics, not Hollywood, but woe betide anyone that would bring the silver screen into disrepute. While McCarthy never intended or planned to go after Hollywood, anyone who would risk sedition would be persona non grata, effectively censored for any thought against the zeitgeist. P.S Mr Douglas’ parents were Belarussian and Mr Brynner was from… Read more »
Cudwieser, I am unwilling to have my thought constrained by the current engineered divisions of Left/Right ideology, while I won’t speak for Matt, I suspect he views things in much the same way.
I do know both of us lean traditional FDR left on economic and social policy, but do not at all accept the current neo-liberal identity politics driven “left” ideology which you are thinking of, and actively reject it as a false narrative designed to deflect people from traditional leftist economic and social policy.
Yes, of course. It’s important to understand that the “left” is not the left but has changed dramatically in recent years. Identity politics and political correctness are two movements that have been the most deeply damaging to those of us who see class-struggle as central to any politics particularly at this time of the right has come to the left–remember the left as such is simply the movement opposed to the ruling class and seeks some justice. This was a central theme in Livy. The Democrats and their allies are a right-wing, authoritarian party as are their opposite numbers. These… Read more »
I’ll go further with a greater insult and say they a reworking of the Wilsonian Southern Democrat. They swear blind that one has a devine appointment to carry thesins of the world and to impose a righteous view on everyone. A Jesus complex as you will. I’m not one to lean one way or another, but I do like to be pragmatic and logical if possible. One thing I detest is sanctamony and an agrandised authority that serves no basis but to merely impose a view.
Excellent analysis by both of you, dead on the money. I say this often, but its worth pointing out here, its un-nerving to read Eisenhower quotes and realize that in many of them, he is actually expressing positions and attitudes that are left of what Sanders can/will express today. This isn’t to hold Eisenhower up as some kind of leftist paragon, but to show just how far the current political pendulum has swung to the right under neo-liberalism. Modern “Left” economic policy is actually “right” of the right-wing economic policy of the fifties, which is readily obvious when you compare… Read more »
There are times I’d push the button myself for times it seems the most reasonable. I fear many are as exasperated as I, but are we just trying to speak sense to madness?
The madness is intentionally being induced. Many on here really are deluded enough by the current social engineers to really believe that it is a means of revenge on those they see as their persecutors.
One of the central goals of those inducing the madness is to attempt to reduce us to an infantile state. I think maybe they have inadvertently miss-set the dial to reptilian.
Cudwieser, I HIGHLY recommend this BBC documentary. Its loosely based on Stewart Ewens book “PR: A Social History of Spin” which kicked off my deep dive into understanding social engineering, and where we are presently at as a society. Its four hours long, and WELL worth the time. If you can Find Ewens book, so much the better, but its from the nineties, and has been out of print for a while. It led me into studying Gustav LeBon, Walter Lippman, Edward Bernays, Michael Hoffman, MK-Ultra, MK-Delta, The MIT Group Networks Lab, The Frankfurt School, the Tavistock Institute and so… Read more »
I’ll have a look. I don’t concieve anything being as convenient as a grand plan, but a greater intent to corrupt some genuine fair thinking towards mor nefarious ends. If there was truly a grand plan there would be an end in sight and a clearer path to avoid it. While madness is certainly a tool for many (Gods and who they’d destroy and all that), so to is madness a creature that knows no master and forever demands of those that purvey it as of those beguiled with it.
Chomski still has an office within MIT with an emeritus professor status. In this video (link below) he is speaking in his usual modulated voice regardless of the words he says, which I suppose he thinks has some type of hypnotic effect. I’ll be honest, I haven’t listened to more than 15 minutes of this because I find him beyond annoying.
“…but anyone caught employing them were threatened with similar penalties.” …but anyone caught employing them was threatened with similar penalties. – “…crossed anti-Communist picket lines to first attend the film, and then endorsed it loudly,…..” …crossed anti-Communist picket lines to attend the film, and then endorsed it loudly,…
I am watching “Executive Action” right now, I have wanted to watch it for years, but for one reason or another, never got around to it (thanks again Matt, you always inspire me to look at stuff I haven’t unpacked before) I am half an hour in, and the stuff on Oswald is truly uncanny in its accuracy, it dovetails almost perfectly with the information in “JFK and the Unspeakable” which is VERY impressive, considering it was released 40 years earlier. Its not surprising all the CIA controlled movie critics panned it so hard when it came out, “nothing to… Read more »
Is Will Geer’s character supposed to be Prescott Bush? Or an amalgamation of Bush and Nelson Rockefeller? Anyone know?
what IS missing from “Executive Action” is any mention of the “Chicago plot” scheduled to coincide with the Henry-Cabot Lodge organized assassination of Vietnamese President Diem on November 2. The “patsy” they had set up for that deal,Thomas Arthur Vallee, was also an ex-Marine, had served at the same U-2 base in Japan as Oswald, and had the same security clearance as Oswald.
But the information on the “Chicago plot” wasn’t released by the CIA until 2002ish. They wouldn’t have had access to it at the time “Executive Action” was made.