on certain set of being this enormous empty place that's been essentially perverse, it becomes properly industrial agriculture chiswick central valley. instead of having all of the area concentrated in the base income equal to one of the result of industrial agriculture and each side of the that to me is the downside of the counterfactual because it has been since the wide-open face. as an environmentalist that an interesting paradox because on the one hand, no matter what we think about l.a., it's a little bit heart rending to think about valhall for stealing on a platter and transporting them elsewhere. at the same time he essentially preserved this enormous beautiful basin. >> i want to thank all three of our panelists and thank you. both he and signing area seven. thank you all very much.

[applause] scheme and continuing live coverage of "the los angeles times" festival of books on the campus of you see los angeles, california. it is only fitting that we wrap up our saturday coverage here starts here in the home of hollywood with a book about hollywood. let me introduce you to stephen ross, professor of history at the university. also codirector of the only institute or humanities and author of several books on the american movie industry. this is his latest, "hollywood left and right." hollywood is in the process being criticized for how left and center it is. you're making the case not so much. tell your story. >> right, what i would argue it's even though the hollywood left has always been more numerous than this: the

hollywood right, the hollywood writers actually had a greater impact on american politics. if you think of the terms of quality rather than quantity, the right really has changed the nature of the american state. we can see hollywood writers have a greater impact. if you look at american politics writ large of the 20th century, derek into transformative moment in the very nature of the american government and its relationship to the american people. the first was creation of the new deal under franklin d. roosevelt second was the attempt to dismantle the new deal. the gun and honest under ronald reagan. and it isn't just read again. there is actually a trajectory that you can see from the week the mayor to his protége, george murphy who eventually became california senator, to his protége, ronald reagan. and right and in turn help

mentor charlton heston eventually wind up with governor arnold schwarzenegger could he have the slightest you can serve it as would've also transformed the way in which the relationship tree media and politics but read the mayor and brought radio into the republican party to grammar and said nsi said his protége george e. was really the first actor to train presidents. he tried to do it in 48 and didn't listen to them and then he did in 1952 and 56 was dwight eisenhower. it was to republicans again brought hollywood republicans throughout the party into the radio age and the hub of the democrats. he met we invite you to join a conversation. we'll put phone numbers for production on the screen here. you can also tweet a look tv or you can send an e-mail,

booktv@c-span.org. this discussion about the political impact of hollywood. on the left and right untypical discourse and policymaking. stephen ross teaches at the university and has done much of his academic work and the effects on the history of the film industry and effects on american society. you've given us names that are it is. could you do a series of biographical portrait of these folks and how they have been influenced by 80. were the people people on the left? >> i've taken five people on the left i on the right. they are not young activists, that erin of them tend most prominent activists. the people on the left i look at our charlie chaplin, edward g robinson, harry belafonte, james fonda and warren beatty. >> some of the later named familiar to us i was surprised to find that charlie chaplin was political. tell me how.

>> charlie chaplin was the first legal movie star. one of the things i argue in the book is politics take many forms. most americans when they think of hollywood and politics theater movie star involved with the electoral commanders any candidate or in some of us is running a phase where they will be involved in issue oriented politics. they will take a issue and promote it. in the case reese utley, george clooney and darfur were actually getting arrested and publicized in that issue. but chaplin practiced what he call visual polity. that is he was actually very shy. it was the most famous celebrity in the world who claim that every time he has to speak in public he would throw out before hand. and so he preferred to put his politics directly on the screen and in his early film, throughout his career, but he did was what i call it

antiauthoritarian politics. he slammed all authority figures are mainly those who gave working-class people a hard time from employers to form intimate to world figures like many the mussolini and adolf hitler. and because he owned his own company as he was both producer, here, right here, start, composer for the score and eventually distribute or come he could do anything he wanted to do. no studio hatchet on what he could or couldn't do. so he put his politics directly on the screen. by the 1930s he began to get much more overtly political and by the 1940s when he made the great tater, which was the first really the first american feature film other than confession of the spy which came out a year earlier to really deal with during mussolini and

fascism. >> umax calls into a discussion about the political impacts of hollywood on our society. our guys, stephen ross making the case that hollywood is not really solve the criticism we hear in fact have influence on the right as well. before you move into called come ec at the end we were actually at the dawn of a new age because of social media and also because the video. hollywood and movies have such a central role in communicating earlier in the 20th entry. now video is everywhere. we know where the road will take us quite >> most interesting campaign was arnold tries to make her when he ran for governor in the recall election in 2003. and while we have certainly twitter since then, what arnold schwarzenegger did as he was the

first to take the media revolution. in the mainstream press in the past politicians would occasionally go on starting with 1960, for example i went on that jack parr show, nixon went on. we can even go to bill clinton or arsenio hall. the most politicians, those kinds of entertainment shows were at the edge of their campaigns come ashore at make or put entertainment and programming at the core of the campaign and rather than speak to reporters and editors for "the new york times," l.a. times, "washington post," he went and talked to sean hannity, larry king and announced his campaign the tonight show and he know he could get access to shows like e. entertainment tonight. and when he used those to do two

things, to lay out his policy is as much time does he want wanted, which you would never get a mainstream news shows without getting any criticism of our questions on the second ring he did was i going on the shows, he was reaching the fit these 7% of americans who usually don't vote, but watch entertainment programming and he was able to mobilize a large percentage according to exit polls later on, a large percentage of people who said they usually don't vote in elections. the social media sets a precedent that if other politicians were smart would pay much more attention. back when i met romney will will guest host "saturday night live." president obama on jimmy kimmel. >> these things are old school. i am saying put that at the center of your camp and, not at the very edges as a guest appearance in women. instead try and reach. conventional wisdom is 50% of

the population is going to go. you don't have enough time or money to do with those who don't don't vote. 40% vote republican, democrat. it's decided by who wins a 20%. those people who go beyond conventional wisdom are trying to reach into the 50% so in 2008, for example, oprah winfrey's endorsement was the single most important endorsement in that election because she targeted women who usually don't vote and various studies have shown her endorsement caught him 1.2 million votes in the primaries and these two economists at a multiple regression analysis showed without those those they came in critical areas. hillary would've won the election or at least denomination rather. jeanette professor stephen ross, first question from shirley and reno, nevada. welcome to the book festival here in los angeles.

>> high, they are. i am just wondering how much influence john wayne had for director john ford. >> john wade or director john ford, how much influence they had. he met wayne was prominent republican, but he wasn't a republican hack based. people were talking to him in the late 40s about running for political office. the president of the united states in 1948. but wayne was unwilling to give up his career. he still wanted to be a movie star. and ford was quite politically and that is behind the scenes, the wasn't politically active in a very public way. he started off in many ways the liberal and moderate does it targeted towards the end of his career. but he was in a hollywood that exists. >> would-be mayor had decided what movies get financed and how americans with the themselves on

the silver screen. what about studio owners today, the politics generally? >> politics are the same as it's always been, such as the moneymaking business, not the conscious misreads indigenous. if you have to make a film that has social impact, that is finding good. from the very beginning they have always aimed at making a profit, whether it was the moguls are the corporations today, that is the bottom line, which is the bottom line. a >> next comes from so in hollywood, california. in a tie there, you doing? mr. ross -- as if your program and the book sounds fascinating and i wish i was at the festival right now. but she caught my interest about the 50s, mccarthy era and all the actors getting involved one way or the other, people turning themselves in and pattern entries e. come in the first time she wore a dress when

she was fighting an anti-mccarthy speech on the radio. of course it is the pain as she could've killed yourself for that. just trying to find a word about some of the actors from that area. i was really pro-mccarthy were turning people in his communists in who are trying to defend them? i always wanted a clear picture about what the final analysis wise and the final ending. maybe you can enlighten me. >> i should tell the viewer that the book spends a good deal of time un-american activities committee and the whole period of time. >> rate. i focus on the main person i identify as edward g robinson who spoke out against -- you do in a active anti-not be during the 1930s, part the anti-nazi lee, calling for an american boycott of germany and taught hitler would stop persecuting

all minorities. the familiar story is how the u.s. went after the people known as the hollywood 10. that is the 10 hollywood directors and producers who refuse to answer questions that were sent to jail for a year. and the stories told about them by and large. but i tell the story about robinson because i think he had a much greater impact on hollywood. because when you after the hollywood 10, movie activists and movie stars on the left now that the 10 have been either communist party members were very close to them and they didn't and he was okay to go after them, but they understood why they would market them. what really frightens how to do this when they went after someone like edward g robbins then, who was known to be a left liberal, but not a communist, not a fellow traveler, he believed in the bill of rights

and he said publicly bill of rights will receive me from any persecution because i'm exercising my constitutional right. well, he got blacklisted. he got name as a fellow traveler and in 1950 that was the end of his career. warren mcculloch and others have noted when robbins and went down if they could go after liberal like eddie robinson no one would say something i'll shut up. and in fact, the hollywood left kept pretty much not entirely, the underground in the 50s and those who were turning people in, probably the most conservative during that period was adolf maggio who want to find a communist as anyone who would trade paul robeson concert and applauded. >> so sorry if this question sounds naïve, but they have the big megaphones. why not use a to rebut the

critics? >> because they're afraid of losing their jobs. anyone who appeared on that list either have the career ended when they had to go to either ronald reagan or lloyd brewer who is the west coast head of the international alliance of theatrical stage employees union, which was the main hollywood union and they have to go through what i call a ritual of humiliation, rehabilitation through humiliation. they had to be there name name what they had to publicly confessed that they had been derived and then write an article to that effect for the american legion magazine. see what some people like to do it, but a lot of people just kept quiet. they were going to do it. >> next question comes from california. the viewer is scurvy. >> yes, thank you. i'm curious what role did robert montgomery, the father of elizabeth montgomery play on the

whole hollywood clinical game? >> well, robert montgomery actually tend to price goes george murphy and the two of them were very close friends. and murphy, during the late 40s and safe use was a very prominent republican it is. in fact he was louis b. mayer's point man running around the country. and in 1952, eisenhower wanted some help from hollywood. or should i say the gop got isenhour. it pays the media strategy montgomery and murphy. eisenhower liked the two of them so much that he basically told his madison avenue firm that had been hired to do the tv, you can keep her in the, of the potion he had to appear on tv. afterwards i than asked both men to come to washington with them. murphy kindly deferred and

montgomery still kept his career, but he actually had an office in washington to help eisenhower for eight years was sorted media appearances and helping them stages presents because remember, this is a period when tv is just really emerging as a national phenomenon politicians don't want to deal with television. they're teaching things like how to use makeup, what color that is to use, how to face the camera, how to use soundbites and hold your body, everything that is biscuit actor with her attack to eisenhower. >> some people are critical of celebrities for mixing their celebrity with politics and believe the world should be separate. that you are viewing your view that people involved in the process deserve respect. why is that? >> well, i would say yes you cannot celebrities divorced from politics that you figures

abortion politics. if you have all the ceos in america divorce and every other american to yours. their citizens first, actors that can't. why should we single out. the reason why most people don't like it is nobody wants their dream factory first. we all have our celebrity images. we'll have our belief of who we are an early as 191850 will like it brolin who found the famous roman chinese theater brought the handprints and footprints telling a series to keep your mouth shut when it comes to politics because the moment you open your mouth can you alienate half of your audience. >> next up is wrong and lynchburg, virginia. hello, ron. >> hello. great segue. regarding ronald reagan, who was a longtime leader of the screen that are skilled, didn't he

flirt with joining the communist party early on in his career in hollywood or is that just a myth click >> no, it was rumored ronald reagan was through the end of world war ii is very hard-core liberal as he wrote in his own autobiography i was a bleeding heart liberal. and in fact it is suspect to rumored that he was either a communist party member, which was a rumor, but more that he was sympathetic to the communist cause, which just wasn't true. and in fact at one meeting after -- around the mid-40s, 1945, 1946 and, he goes to a meeting with olivia have been just as i always thought you were a communist. he says i thought you were a communist and they both agreed that they want to carve out a mid-ground between the far left and the far right by calling for coexistence that america can never be communist, but we

should have coexistence between the two nations. not also got some people thought reagan was a communist because he called for coexistence, but he certainly wasn't. back the other of the 10 you profiled them a personal migration from left to right as charlton heston. but began his movement across the political spectrum? >> i think it was the late 1960s. he didn't like what was going on. he didn't like the sorted cultural revolution. and the turning point for him was 1972 when the house democrats nominated george mcgovern. mcgovern hugged a few years before then the head of rules delegation within the convention and changed the rules by the 1970s convention you had a huge number of women, blacks, young radical men as i must've gone radical women and a lot of

x going in the delegate and heston felt this was the destruction of the old democratic party he knew emma. and so he became one of the leaders of democrats for nixon and from 72 on he really became a republican and moved further in further to the right. >> ultimately, ytd make your list? what impact did he have? >> he made my list because i'm trying to take 10 people who are not just political, but doing different kinds of politics. i talked about charlie chaplin doing visual politics, because you run your own studio you can do anything you want and put your message on the screen. heston represents what i call image politics that are literally a handful of that yours on the left and the right. we played roles come the same kinds of roles in those roles give them a cinematic persona of what i call cause. so on the right, for example, people like john wayne, people

like jimmy stewart, on the lecturer gregory peck and today george clooney. these people have played serious characters in the movies and for heston, he played as a, john the baptist, played presidents geniuses, so he had the sort of most other than john wayne, he was the most serious image-conscious actor at this time. but it's interesting to see a list on his as his role on the screen so what people don't remember his heston was a liberal early on. he was the first hollywood celebrity to march in a civil rights demonstration. he went to oklahoma city and made it 61 to help picket against restaurant segregation. he also led a hollywood delegation to washington in 1963 for martin luther king's march on washington and remained a

liberal up until the vietnam war started to change and then in 72 he became a full-fledged conservative. >> next question comes from los angeles. >> hello, thank you for taking my call. first of all hollywood does films about 9/11. how come they don't talk about the motivation of it, which is israel and how come they won't do a movie about the uss liberty attack? >> rachel, rachel, will stop you right there. her first question was sounds about 9/11. how has 9/11 been treated about hollywood? >> i think the industry has actually tried to avoid dealing with it. you just had the film that came out recently, incredibly i forget the incredibly loud, incredibly close.

it's a complicated story with complicated politics and i think the other thing after dealing with the war films, the iraq and afghanistan are his did not do well at the box office. and via much they try to avoid it. >> went back to your observation the end business people making money rather then using hollywood for political reasons. next is well in roseville, california. hello, well. >> yes, good afternoon. thank you for taking my call. i wanted to ask mr. ross about his book. i haven't read it of course, but some of these hollywood stars and personalities and movers and shakers have been conservative and i am wondering why that hasn't translated into more conservative pro-american content because largely out of

hollywood in the fall liberal. >> i think that is a good question. it is a tough one to answer. why hasn't it been more conservative? they are going with what they believe audiences want by and large. audiences seemed to go with films that tend to be more liberal than films that are more conservative. >> that changes over the arc of american history? can you see the product coming out of hollywood changing at different points in our society? >> well, depends how you define liberal and conservative. so you can go back to the 1930s, for example in the most successful financially mgm series ever was the hardy family series, one of the few things that louis b. mayer really pay close attention to. and it offered a very conservative worldview.

if you want to see the roots of reagan this morning in america, you can find them in the hardy family series. and when you get to wartime, whenever you are in a war, hollywood is always making a pro-war film except where were they totally avoid other than the green beret. but world war ii was making progress soames, world war i. and they were trying to make pro-war films during iraq and afghanistan and discovered they just didn't work. and so they just stuck making them. >> next caller from longview texas. this is wanda appeared welcome to the conversation, wanda. >> hi, this is really interesting. i wanted to ask mr. ross is he a thing -- of course they do have lots of money behind him and try to influence us on a lot of things and a lot of people say no, just entertain us and i'll

be lecturing us. do you think that there is a lot of info in? you think they move things today acquired >> tanks. her question ultimately is how much do movies that the population to appoint a few? how much influence do they really have? >> at the very subtle one. one of the things i would argue his movies mattered the most about the things we know the least. if you see a film about something you know, you can do a reality test to get to the film and just laugh at it or say it's absurd. but if you watch a film about them if you don't know, whether it is a war in iraq were enough guinness and, whether it is about college life today and whether it's about drugs, marriage, whatever, things who are not familiar with it is not one film that matters, but the repetition of the same kind of image over and over and over again i think actually can begin to move the population and begin to reshape the way you think

about the world. again for things you don't have much knowledge about. i will just point out one film. mississippi burning that came out a few decades ago with made by a british director who really knew nothing about american history. if you watch mississippi burning, the fbi is a great hero of the civil rights movement. well, that's about 180 degrees from what actually happened. jay edgar hoover tried everything he could to bring down martin luther king. so you know, those kinds of films can give you misinformation about what actually happened in american life in the american past. >> one other aspect of a running out of time so it's not just using celebrity or studios for messages, it's also dollar contribution. have you studied and are you interested if money goes to the left into the right in terms of actual dollar