Joe Papp, Future Theater Great, Takes the Fifth Before HUAC – Is Fired by CBS
Joe Papp, later famous as an innovator in American theater was fired by CBS television on this day for taking the Fifth Amendment before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in a hearing about his political beliefs and associations. Supported by his union, Papp appealed the firing and an arbitrator ordered him reinstated, on November 12, 1958.
Papp was a stage manager for CBS television. A number of organizations had a policy in the 1950s of firing anyone who pleaded the Fifth Amendment before a legislative committee. Unlike many people who were fired for not answering questions before HUAC and other investigating committees, Papp was a member of a strong union who helped him get his job back.
Papp later became one of the most important figures in American theater, and was the founder of the Public Theater and Shakespeare in the Park, both in New York City.
Because so many people refused to testify before HUAC and other investigating bodies regarding their political beliefs and associations, the term “Fifth Amendment Communists” arose as a derogatory label. Many organizations developed a policy of firing any employee who asserted Fifth Amendment rights before any investigating committee. In 1954 a national controversy arose over the issue, and there were calls to amend the Fifth Amendment. Erwin Griswold, Dean of Harvard Law School, spoke out in defense of the Fifth Amendment on February 5, 1954.
On August 20, 1954, President Eisenhower signed a new law, the Compelled Testimony Act, empowering congressional investigators to compel testimony from reluctant witnesses in return for a grant of immunity from prosecution on the issues involved in the testimony. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the government compelling testimony in Kastigar v. United States (1972) in a 5-2 vote. But The court ruled that compelled testimony could not subsequently be used to prosecute the individual. The law as the most serious erosion of the historic protection against self-incrimination in American history.
Read: Helen Epstein, Joe Papp: An American Life (1994)
Honor Joe Papp by spending an evening Joe’s Pub at the NYC Public Theater: http://www.joespub.com/
Learn more about Joe Papp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Cn2L6CTcvI
Learn more about the NYC Shakespeare in the Park today
Read about the power to compel testimony