Talk:Lionel Stander

Direct Question
Was Stander a Communist?Lestrade (talk) 19:21, 10 January 2008 (UTC)Lestrade

Do you mean "card-carrying?" Do you mean ever? Or is this "direct question" a philosophocal query? If anyonr had proof that the answer to any of these variants was "yes," HUAC would have heard about it.

On March 21, 1951, the name of the actor Lionel Stander was uttered by the actor Larry Parks during testimony before HUAC. "Do you know Lionel Stander?" committee counsel Frank S. Tavenner inquired. Parks replied he knew the man, but had no knowledge of his political affiliations. No more was said about Stander either by Parks or the committee—no accusation, no insinuation. Yet Stander's phone stopped ringing. Prior to Parks's testimony, Stander had worked on ten television shows in the previous 100 days. Afterwards, nothing.

When Stander was himself called before HUAC, he began by pledging his full support in the fight against "subversive" activities:

"I know of a group of fanatics who are desperately trying to undermine the Constitution of the United States by depriving artists and others of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness without due process of law.... I can tell names and cite instances and I am one of the first victims of it.... [This is] a group of ex-Fascists and America-Firsters and anti-Semites, people who hate everybody including Negroes, minority groups and most likely themselves.... [T]hese people are engaged in a conspiracy outside all the legal processes to undermine the very fundamental American concepts upon which our entire system of democracy exists"

Of course, he was talking about red-baiters like HUAC.71.55.106.189 (talk) 18:02, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Do you mean "card-carrying?" I don't know the Communist Party's policy on the issuance of membership cards. Did Stander possess a membership card? If not, was one never issued? If it was issued, did he lose it? Do you mean ever? Yes, was he ever a Communist? Or is this "direct question" a philosophocal query? This is a direct question, not a philosophical query. As usual, it is almost impossible to receive an answer to a direct question. Stander's answer to the HUAC's direct questions seemed to have been similarly oblique.Lestrade (talk) 18:44, 1 May 2008 (UTC)Lestrade