McCarthyism vs. Clinton Jencks by Raymond Caballero (review)

Clinton Jencks was the president of Local 890 of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (Mine-Mill) located in New Mexico in the latter part of the 1940s and early 1950s. The majority of the workers he represented were Mexican American. They were discriminated against in terms of access to higher paying jobs, chances for promotion, pay and housing provided by the company–such as the provision of indoor plumbing and hot water. In October 1950 Jencks lead a strike of the Mine-Mill workers of the Empire Zinc company for improvements in pay, conditions and housing; a campaign based on the principle of "equality," especially for Mexican American workers.

Empire Zinc saw the strike as an opportunity to break the union and refused to negotiate. The dispute lasted 15 months. After several months, Empire Zinc obtained a court injunction banning miners from maintaining a picket line. Following a lengthy meeting of the miners and their wives it was decided that the wives would maintain the picket line; they were not covered by the injunction. Their action attracted widespread media attention. A deal was eventually negotiated.

Filmmakers who had been blacklisted by the anti-communist McCarthyistic hysteria that swept Hollywood decided to make a film of these events. Salt of the Earth, which was released in 1954, was one of the first "social realist" films of American cinema. It highlights the lot of Mexican Americans in 1950s America and their attempts, especially that of women, in enhancing their position. One of the strengths of McCarthyism vs. Clinton Jencks is how Raymond Caballero highlights the struggles the filmmakers had with the Hollywood establishment, especially its "boss," if not gangster-controlled unions in making the film. Salt of the Earth was blacklisted and only shown in 13 outlets across the USA.

In his youth and on returning to civilian life after serving in the air force in World War II (for which he was decorated), Clinton Jencks was a member of the Communist Party. Under the Taft Hartley Act of 1947 union officials were required to sign an affidavit that they were not members of the Communist Party. Jencks saw his union work as being more important than his membership of the party. In October 1949, he resigned his membership and signed the affidavit. Salt of the Earth provided Clinton Jencks, this low-level union official, with a national profile. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other arms of the state associated with the anti-communist zealotry of this period decided to add Jencks to those "communists" they would prosecute.

Cases against communists were mainly based on the testimonies of informers, persons who had either been former Communist Party members or undercover agents. The case against Jencks hinged on the evidence of two informers. The first maintained that Jencks had never resigned from the Communist Party and that his position in a New Mexico branch had never been refilled. The second, who prior to Jencks' case recanted and said that he lied about those that he had previously denounced, maintained that he had meet Jencks in 1950 and he told him he was working for the party. This meeting was after his "alleged" signing of the affidavit in October 1949. Jencks' lawyers petitioned to have access to the case notes that the informers had provided to the FBI to ascertain if the witnesses' testimony accorded with the written record.

This information was never made available in the various hearings associated with Jencks' case. In 1957, the Supreme Court in Jencks v. United States (353 US 657 (1957)) dismissed the case against Jencks, mainly on the basis of its rejection of the evidence of such witnesses. While it never examined the reports of witnesses held by the FBI or similar agencies, it established the principle that such statements could not be relied on unless they were made available to defendants. Congress later passed legislation requiring federal courts to adopt this procedure in criminal cases in the...