Are you willing to fight for free speech?

This week, I went to see "Trumbo," the movie about James Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted as one of the Hollywood Ten. When the movie takes place (mid-1940s to 1970), it was not a great time for free speech in the United States. James Trumbo was subpoenaed before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Trumbo was in prison for contempt of Congress. He served 11 months. He continued to be blacklisted and wrote scripts for movies under different names.

The time period of the House Un-American Activities Committee was a painful moment in our history. Ronald Reagan, then-president of the Screen Actors Guild, testified as a friendly witness, although he didn't name names. The McCarthy hearings, which also took place at the time, also listed supposed Communists. The House Un-American Activities Committee encouraged Hollywood blacklisting 300 people. Many of those people never recovered their jobs or their careers. Many left the United States for Europe, where they could write and act.

Joseph McCarthy first became famous for a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, where he said he had a list of Communists. "The State Department is infested with communists. I have here in my hand a list of 205 – a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department," he said during the West Virginia speech.

The people on McCarthy's list, varied in number from 57 to 205. The committee was run by Democrat Sen. Joseph Tydings. After the hearings, the report issued by the committee said the charges were "a fraud." Robert Kennedy was minority counsel for Joseph McCarthy's committee. John Fitzgerald Kennedy also supported Joseph McCarthy, although "Trumbo" shows President Kennedy bucking anti-communist protests and seeing the movie "Spartacus" even though he crossed the picket line to do so.

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People cared deeply about free speech, but I grew up in an era where people were afraid to be "un-American." I also went to see the movie because a cousin I had never met was also blacklisted. He was not a closely related cousin (third cousin) but well known in Hollywood circles – Paul Jarrico. Like Trumbo, he wrote for many studios. His film, "Tom, Dick and Harry" (1941), was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. It starred Ginger Rogers. During World War II, Paul served in the Merchant Marine.

After someone gave his name and accused him of being a Communist, Paul Jerrico refused to testify before the Un-American Activities Committee. His refusal meant that his name was left off the 1952 "The Las Vegas Story." He also had his passport confiscated. In 1953, along with Herbert J. Biberman (who like Trumbo also served time in prison, six months), Paul Jarrico produced "Salt of the Earth," a movie about Mexican-American miners in New Mexico. The film was sponsored by the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, and they had been expelled from the CIO for being led by supposed Communists. The film was investigated to determine whether Communists provided the funding for it. Paul Jerrico had chosen to work with people who had been blacklisted by Hollywood as being Communists. Because people who had been blacklisted made the film, the film was also blacklisted.

Like others, Paul Jerrico went to Europe, but he also used a pseudonym, "Peter Achilles." Cousin Paul Jerrico's life story is like Trumbo's. He was honored with other blacklisted Hollywood people, but he died in a car accident after an event honoring him. The New York Times, reporting his death, said, "Mr. Jarrico was honored especially for asking that his name continue to be withheld from his work until all others on the blacklist had their credits restored as well.

"He not only challenged the fear and actions of the blacklist era,'' said Daniel Petrie Jr., president of the Writers Guild of America, ''he worked tirelessly to assure that those writers who were denied the credit for their work would have their credits restored."

"Trumbo," the movie, ends with Dalton Trumbo being honored in 1970. Trumbo received the Screen Actors Guild Laurel Award and made a forgiving speech saying no one was immune from the blacklist and its repercussions. This movie is coming at the right time, when there is a lot of name-calling happening in America.

This holiday season is a great time to remember the work of Dalton Trumbo and my cousin, Paul Jerrico. They were both heroes at time when free speech was in peril. It is important to remember that people were willing to go to prison for that freedom, and many lost their careers and livelihoods to protect free speech. Are people willing to do the same in 2015 and 2016?

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