Today in Disney History

[CoasterMatt]

Oct 24 1947
In a very un-American fashion, Walt Disney testifies to the House Unamerican Activities Committee, naming Disney employees he believes to be Communists, ranting about how Communists were infiltrating the unions he has to deal with, and how "Commie groups began smear campaigns against [him]."

60 years ago today...

[barfownz]

Walt Disney accused some of his employees of being communist?

[figment1986]

Multiple companies were doing it at the time... it was the McCarthyism erra if i remember, might be wrong though.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Walt Disney accused some of his employees of being communist?
Walt was strongly anti-union. He felt betrayed by workers that unionized, considering it a slap in the face when he felt he ran his company like a family. He had strong ties to some anti-union/anti-communist activist groups, which also happened to have ties to anti-semitic groups which is where the perception that he was an anti-Semite stems from, though an examination of the people he worked closely with and was good friends with makes it hard for me to believe that part.

[barfownz]

Walt was strongly anti-union. He felt betrayed by workers that unionized, considering it a slap in the face when he felt he ran his company like a family. He had strong ties to some anti-union/anti-communist activist groups, which also happened to have ties to anti-semitic groups which is where the perception that he was an anti-Semite stems from, though an examination of the people he worked closely with and was good friends with makes it hard for me to believe that part.

I should add that to my list of 'why Walt Disney was the greatest man alive' list.

Today, Disneyland is unionized... :/

[DreadPirateRoberts]

Walt Disney accused some of his employees of being communist?

yes, he did. David Hilberman (http://www.cartoonbrew.com/classic/rip-david-hilberman) was a member of the communist party at one point in time. But he also joined the Army during WWII, so like most events in real life, there is a lot of gray area, and you could interpret the events both ways, depending on your perspective.

[Alex]

Today, Disneyland is unionized... :/

It was then too. The first union contract at Disney was signed in 1941 following the strike.

As a result of that strike the employees got union organization and we got The Three Cabelleros (to get Walt Disney out of the picture so things could be resolved he was sent on the goodwill tour of South America that resulted in that movie as well as Saludos Amigos).

Put another way, if those dedicated animators hadn't gone on strike in 1941, unsuspecting Epcot visitors would still be subjected to El Rio del Tiempo.