Gunny G: Was John Wayne Targeted?
By Gunny G | January 30, 2009 TARGET: PATTON:
The Plot To Assassinate General George S. Patton, by Robert K. Wilcox
Excerpt: “Into the Night,” pp. 358-360
Just how bizarre and international Stalin’s plots could become is shown in the recent revelation that American icon John Wayne, the actor, was among his intended victims, according to British film historian and Wayne biographer Michael Munn. In the late 1940s, Wayne, a symbol of American independence and ruggedness, spurred by revelations of communist infiltration into the U.S. government, became an ultra-Right anti-communist. He supported Senator Joseph McCarthy in denouncing communists, while most in Hollywood, where Wayne worked, attacked McCarthy and the blacklisting of Hollywood Leftists which McCarthy was spawning. He was elected president of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals and spoke frequently at “Crusade for Freedom” rallies where he denounced such films as All the King’s Men, the 1949 Best Picture winner which he felt “smeared the machinery of the country’s government” and would “tear down people’s faith inthe American way.” (11)
According to sources Munn interviewed (British actor Peter Cushing, movie legend Orson Wells, and American stuntman Yakima Canutt, a personal friend of Wayne’s), Sergi Gerasimov, a Soviet film director, was in Hollywood and became aware of Wayne’s activism. Gerasimov returned to Russia to tell Stalin, who took an active part in Russian film making, about Wayne’s crusade and influence in America. Stalin became convinced that Wayne “was one of the greatest enemies to the Soviet Union,” and a major obstacle to world revolution. (12)
In 1983, writes Munn, Orson Wells, no conservative, told him, “I do not know if the name John Wayne was already known toStalin before 1949, but in 1949 he came to hate it. He feared it. He felt that the name had become a major threat to him and his ideals. In Stalin’s warped mind, the Americans had invented some new secret weapon, more subtle than a nuclear bomb, but just as destructive. Stalin was mad, of course should have been put in a straightjacket. Only a madman like Joseph Stalin would have tried to have John Wayne killed.” (13)
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The Plot To Assassinate General George S. Patton, by Robert K. Wilcox
Excerpt: “Into the Night,” pp. 358-360
Just how bizarre and international Stalin’s plots could become is shown in the recent revelation that American icon John Wayne, the actor, was among his intended victims, according to British film historian and Wayne biographer Michael Munn. In the late 1940s, Wayne, a symbol of American independence and ruggedness, spurred by revelations of communist infiltration into the U.S. government, became an ultra-Right anti-communist. He supported Senator Joseph McCarthy in denouncing communists, while most in Hollywood, where Wayne worked, attacked McCarthy and the blacklisting of Hollywood Leftists which McCarthy was spawning. He was elected president of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals and spoke frequently at “Crusade for Freedom” rallies where he denounced such films as All the King’s Men, the 1949 Best Picture winner which he felt “smeared the machinery of the country’s government” and would “tear down people’s faith inthe American way.” (11)
According to sources Munn interviewed (British actor Peter Cushing, movie legend Orson Wells, and American stuntman Yakima Canutt, a personal friend of Wayne’s), Sergi Gerasimov, a Soviet film director, was in Hollywood and became aware of Wayne’s activism. Gerasimov returned to Russia to tell Stalin, who took an active part in Russian film making, about Wayne’s crusade and influence in America. Stalin became convinced that Wayne “was one of the greatest enemies to the Soviet Union,” and a major obstacle to world revolution. (12)
In 1983, writes Munn, Orson Wells, no conservative, told him, “I do not know if the name John Wayne was already known toStalin before 1949, but in 1949 he came to hate it. He feared it. He felt that the name had become a major threat to him and his ideals. In Stalin’s warped mind, the Americans had invented some new secret weapon, more subtle than a nuclear bomb, but just as destructive. Stalin was mad, of course should have been put in a straightjacket. Only a madman like Joseph Stalin would have tried to have John Wayne killed.” (13)
Read the rest of this entry »
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