When his developing radio career was cut short in the mid-1950s because of political blacklisting, Texas-born humorist John Henry Faulk decided to fight back. He undertook a six-year legal battle and eventually beat the right-wing blacklisters who had controlled network assignments of radio and television creative personnel for years.

Early Years

John Henry Faulk (he always used his full name) was horn in Austin, Texas, just before World War I. He grew up in a mixed-race neighborhood and was encouraged by his liberal parents to treat everyone alike. His own subsequent liberal politics were partially formed by his parents, both leftist political activists. Working and attending classes part-time, Faulk entered the University of Texas in 1929 but took a decade to earn his bachelor's degree in English. While in school he became fascinated with Texas and American folklore of all kinds. Just over a year later, with a Works Progress Administration research grant, he earned a master's degree with an emphasis in American folklore. He stayed on in Austin to teach English courses at the university for two more years. Despite the military build-up in the early 1940s, the army initially turned him down for health reasons, and Faulk served with the merchant marine and later the Red Cross. The army finally accepted him for stateside service as a medic in 1944.

All through this period, Faulk honed his already impressive storytelling abilities. Overhearing him at a New York party, a Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) official offered him a program slot of his own. Faulk hosted Johnny's Front Porch on the CBS radio network in 1945-46. He moved on to various on-air positions with stations WOY and WPAT in New Jersey from 1946 to 1948. He returned to CBS to host the weekday hour-long daily John Henry Faulk Show on the network's flagship station, WCBS in New York, starting in 1951. His good-natured Texas humor and characters gathered a growing listening audience and attracted appreciative advertisers.

Blacklisted and a Landmark Suit

By the mid-1950s, as his radio career developed, Faulk had became more concerned about the communist-baiting approach of the officers of the New York local chapter of the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists (AFTRA) performer's union, of which he was a member. For several years union officials had actively cooperated with (and some were officers in) AWARE, Inc., one of the blacklisting organizations that "investigated" the political backgrounds of performers and writers. Along with CBS journalist Charles Collingwood and comedian Orson Bean, Faulk ran for the AFTRA board and was one of 2.7 "middle of the road slate" members elected to the 35-member board. He was subsequently elected second vice president, taking office in January 1956. The new AFTRA officers promised to cut ties with the black listers.

Nursing their wounds, the former union officials used their newsletter to attack Faulk for his own political views and associations, including thinly veiled accusations that, based on his political activity (he had backed Henry Wallace in the 1948 presidential campaign, for example), he at least had strongly communist leanings. In the political climate of the times, with "McCarthyism" in full flower, this was a potentially damning indictment that often cost the accused his or her job. As the attackers expected and as Faulk feared, their classic tactic led to advertiser nervousness about Faulk, and he began to lose commercial advertisers for his program. Although the station initially stood by its employee, diminishing advertiser support and income raised concern, though his contract was renewed in December 1956.

Faced with the loss of his livelihood for a series of false accusations, Faulk decided to take on his tormenters, although he knew it would be a difficult and expensive process. With financial support from CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow, among others, Faulk filed a libel suit on 26 June 1956 against AWARE and its officers. But the overall situation turned bad- the"middle of the road slate" lost ground in AFTRA and became a minority again. Though his program continued for a few more months, Faulk was fired by registered letter from CBS while he was on vacation in July 1957.

AWARE managed to delay trial on the libel suit for some five years through a variety of legal maneuvers. In the meantime, Faulk could not obtain work in the broadcast or entertainment fields and had to rely on friends and supporters for the financial means to survive, let alone pay for the ongoing case. The trial of AWARE and its officers finally got under way in the spring of 1962 and lasted for 11 weeks. On 28 June 1962 the New Yo k State jury awarded $3.5 million in damages to Faulk (the largest libel judgment to that point), though this was later reduced to $550,000 by an appeals court. Faulk eventually received about $75,000 for his years of effort and deprivation. Through his lawsuit, he had made an important point about civil liberties that was widely reported, AWARE had declared bankruptcy, and the general public now knew about-and was increasingly appalled by-blacklisting.

Later Life

Faulk returned to Austin in I 968 and lived in Texas for the rest of his life. For a time he operated a small advertising agency. His blacklisting case became known to a new generation in October 197 5 when CBS broadcast a two-hour made-for-television docudrama movie based on Faulk's story. William Devane played Faulk, and George C. Scott played attorney Louis Nizer.

From 1975 to the early 1980s, Faulk played a homespun character on the nationally syndicated Hee-Haw television variety program. During the 1980s Faulk wrote and produced two one-man plays. In both Deep in the Heart and Pear Orchard, Texas, he portrayed characters with the best of human instincts but exhibiting the worst of cultural prejudices. He also lectured widely on college campuses, largely about civil liberties and freedom of expression, drawing on his own case. He died of cancer in Austin in 1990, aged 76.

The central branch of the public library in Austin is named after him, as are the John Henry Faulk Awards given out annually since 1986 by the Texas Storytelling Association for the state's best storyteller. The Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin (which holds Faulk's professional and legal papers) sponsors an annual John Henry Faulk Conference on the First Amendment.