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November 25, 2002
Witness and False Witness

I used to have a dentist, by the name of (I am not making this up) Dr. Payne. He was an entertainer, as are many dentists, perhaps because the field is less regulated (i.e., the competition is more intense). During our first appointment, as his assistant got my head and mouth into a vulnerable position, he loomed over me to block out the bright lights, and asked, "Is it safe?"

He was alluding, of course, to that 1976 movie, "The Marathon Man," starring Dustin Hoffman, whose character is tortured by a former Nazi dentist who repeatedly asks this question. I recently re-watched this movie, and noticed something that I missed years ago. Hoffman plays a history graduate student who is writing a book on (of course) the reign of tyranny that was McCarthyism, and who has a special interest in it because his father was driven to suicide as a result of being hounded by the red-baiting totalitarians. There is a scene in which a U.S. government agent (of course) rifles through Hoffman's research work, and tosses aside a book titled False Witness.

Though I had never read Whittaker Chambers' Witness, I think I got the point. I decided to read the book. For those of you not familiar with the story, Chambers was a devoted communist spying for the Soviets in Washington, D.C. who became, in his own words, "an involuntary witness to God's grace and to the fortifying power of faith." Chambers was transformed like the unnamed Soviet he mentions in his introduction, whose daughter explained once to Chambers that her father abandoned the cause because "one night he heard screams." Chambers also heard the screams, which led him to realize that man has a soul, which led him to God, which led him to the conviction that communism is not only evil, but that it should be opposed, even unto calumny and death.

And so he named names, and one of those he identified was the spy and traitor Alger Hiss, a high-level State Department official and eventual head of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Hiss was part of the better half of Washington -- genteel, respected, progressive. Chambers was dumpy, of no particular breeding, and -- trés gauche -- a newly confirmed Christian. The dispute ranged through Congressional hearings, a perjury trial for Hiss, and a libel trial for Chambers. You needn't guess whose side the press, the President, the Washington establishment, and, of course, Hollywood, chose.

Over time Chambers was proven right, which means he has been unduly overlooked. The dedicated Left still thinks he lied, however, such that the few doubters find themselves in league with the likes of The Nation (recently noteworthy for the extent it is willing to excuse terrorism so long as the victims are American and/or Jewish).

The Nation and (of course) Hollywood. This is true in both large and small detail: anti-communism as entirely unfounded marks the changeless backdrop of any movie touching on the fifties, and anti-communists are usually murderous militarists. In 1964, for example, -- the year noted peace activist Lyndon Johnson opposed Barry Goldwater with his infamous "Daisy" ad -- there were no less than three Hollywood movies about nuclear war, and in two of these conservative anti-communists are the cause. (Anyone who thinks campaign finance reform will remove the adverse influence of the moneyed on U.S. public opinion should consider the net assets of major Hollywood filmmakers.) One might also consider on this topic Kenneth Billingsley's excoriation of Hollywood for failing to portray with accuracy the consequences of communism. And then there is this little detail from "The Marathon Man." I suspect there are others like it.

Perhaps I am wrong about the intent behind positioning False Witness on the desk of a hero researching McCarthyism, but I doubt it. Witness was a beacon for anti-communists, and hence the book -- and its author -- were the target of the anti-anti-communists, which included a large chunk of the creative talent in Hollywood. So I think the choice of titles was intentional. It is offensive to see people with little courage mock someone with Chambers' moral courage. This seems a fair description of the man who told his wife as he made his choice to speak out, "You know, we are leaving the winning world for the losing world," and who through years of vituperation and isolation could tell his children:

"True wisdom comes from the overcoming of suffering and sin. All true wisdom is therefore touched with sadness."

It seems strange that a man who was forced to write his story in a secluded farmhouse, with a gun on his desk, should be judged by people who write their meaningless stories in coffee shops and Hollywood beach houses, usually poorly at that, and who have never faced censorship beyond the overly minimal selectivity of the popular marketplace.

But things are what they are, and so perhaps I should not have been surprised to see the likes of Dustin Hoffman helping to deliver a little jab from the safe confines of Left-mindedness. Hoffman, who will most likely find that his enduring claim to fame is playing the part of an idiot (albeit a useful one, if I remember the plot of "Rainman"). Perhaps this is not the end that an objective viewing of Hoffman's oeuvre would dictate, but it certainly seems a just one.

Posted by Woodlief on November 25, 2002 at 09:18 AM


Comments

A light-hearted comment on the beginning of the column, without digging into the rest (which I thought was rahter good, as usual).

I grew up with a dentist with a funny name also - Dr. Savage. No, I am not making that up. He was (and I suppose still is) a good dentist.

Posted by: Deoxy at November 25, 2002 11:04 AM

Yes, it's odd how the whole McCarthy era has not been portrayed from a "he may have been a little out of control but he was largely correct" POV. Not that odd, I guess, considering Hollywood and all that comes with it. Yet another reason that people need to READ THEIR HISTORY!

Excellent article, as always. I'll be linking to it.

Posted by: Jeff Brokaw at November 25, 2002 12:22 PM

Couple more points -

1. The author of the book, William Goldman, would have to share in some blame here too, assuming the movie didn't just throw all that McCarthy stuff in there - I can't remember, I read the book in high school! 25+ years ago. It was an excellent book though, as was the movie.

2. When I first saw the movie, I was 18, and didn't really pick up on the sympathy with the anti-McCarthy position, nor did I pick up on it later (late 20s maybe?); but I just watched it 2-3 months ago, and definitely picked up some spin coming from that direction. Due to age/wisdom, maybe a little; lots of reading and education in the conservative direction the last 2 years, definitely. A good example of how lack of knowledge subjects you to subtle but important cues as to what is good, and what is not good.

Posted by: Jeff Brokaw at November 25, 2002 12:57 PM

Great Post! How profound the quote on wisdom is... I have often thought that we learn through failure, but perhaps it is that we learn through suffering...

Happy Thanksgiving to you and the family!

Posted by: Gray Brendle at November 25, 2002 1:40 PM

Mr. Woodlief mentions Dustin Hoffman in Marathon Man; Mr. Brokaw in his response alludes to William Goldman. Meanwhile, an article is linked to by Kenneth Lloyd Billingsley. Mr. Billingsley article contains the following paragraph on the recent film Total Eclipse, which is interesting in light of the above:

"Dustin Hoffman's persuasive portrayal of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin obviously emerges from his close study of how power and perversity converged in the dictator...[Robert] Duvall's delivery of Molotov's line that "fascism is a matter of taste" is a key moment, and deserves at least as much admiration as Duvall's famous quip from Apocalypse Now about the smell of napalm in the morning. The Molotov speech has drawn some objections for being over the top, but it was not invented by screenwriter William Goldman (Marathon Man); it's an actual quote.

Posted by: Anonymous at November 29, 2002 10:44 AM

Mr. Woodlief mentions Dustin Hoffman in Marathon Man; Mr. Brokaw in his response alludes to William Goldman. Meanwhile, an article is linked to by Kenneth Lloyd Billingsley. Mr. Billingsley's piece contains the following paragraph on the recent film Total Eclipse, which is interesting in light of the above:

"Dustin Hoffman's persuasive portrayal of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin obviously emerges from his close study of how power and perversity converged in the dictator...[Robert] Duvall's delivery of Molotov's line that "fascism is a matter of taste" is a key moment, and deserves at least as much admiration as Duvall's famous quip from Apocalypse Now about the smell of napalm in the morning. The Molotov speech has drawn some objections for being over the top, but it was not invented by screenwriter William Goldman (Marathon Man); it's an actual quote.

Posted by: Ken Begg at November 29, 2002 10:45 AM

Oops, is my face red! First I posted the above message twice, and now I read further into the article and learn that the movie is a satirical invention of the author.

Please feel free to have a laugh at my expense!

Posted by: Ken Begg at November 29, 2002 10:48 AM

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