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In the years after World War II, the United States labor movement was at a peak of its strength.  In 1950 Clint Jencks was a young union organizer for the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (IUMMSW).  The members of New Mexico Local 890 of the union were overwhelmingly Latino; these workers experienced terrible wages and working conditions.  Clint and Union president Juan Chacon led a strike against the Empire Zinc Company over wages and safety conditions in the mines.  In an attempt to break the strike, the company obtained an injunction preventing the workers from picketing.  In an event unique for its time, the workers were replaced on the picket line by their wives, despite the obvious danger to themselves and their families.  This was long before the rise of the modern feminist movement.  After a fifteen month struggle, the company capitulated and  the strike ended successfully.

The years after World War II also saw the start of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, an extreme fear of Communism and internal “subversion”, and persecution of the political left.  One consequence of the anti-Communist hysteria was the Hollywood Blacklist: actors, directors, screenwriters, and support staff with suspected left wing connections were not allowed to work in the film industry.  Many careers were ruined, people committed suicide, others left the country, the lives of many families were destroyed, and a climate of fear and paranoia prevailed. 

In this climate, a group of film industry professionals, including director Herbert Biberman, producer Paul Jarrico, and screenwriter Michael Wilson decided to fight the blacklist by creating their own film independently of the major studios.  These artists wanted to create a film that would reflect their views on labor, race and gender.  The story of the Empire Zinc Company strike, with its important subtext of women playing important roles inside and outside of the home, was a perfect model.  A major obstacle was that, with the exception of blacklisted actor Will Geer and Mexican actress Rosaura Revueltas, professional actors were afraid to appear in the film.  As a consequence, most of the actors were the actual workers and families who had participated in the strike.  The key roles were played by Clint Jencks, now a movie star, Juan Chacon, and Rosaura Revueltas.

The film these blacklisted artists created was “Salt of the Earth.”  Released in 1954, “Salt” was subjected to the same treatment as those involved in its production.  The major studios blackmailed theaters around the country into refusing to show it.  Newspapers refused to print advertisements, reviewers attacked it as Communist propaganda.  As a result, this film remained practically unknown in the United States for many years.  The film was even suppressed in Mexico, and the promising career of Rosaura Revueltas was destroyed.    However, as years went by, the reputation of “Salt of the Earth” steadily increased.  It is today recognized as one of the all time great classic films; and, forever secured for Clint Jencks the admiration and respect of all those who fought for civil liberties during the years of the witch hunt.

Clint Jencks faced another struggle in 1953.  The Taft Hartley Law required all union leaders to sign an affidavit saying they were not members of the Communist Party.

Clint had signed that affidavit, but was then indicted for perjury when professional witness Harvey Matusow claimed that Clint had admitted Party membership to him.  Matusow made similar claims against many others.  Eventually Matusow explained the he was paid to make these claims, recanted his accusations, and went on to write a book False Witness.  Even with all this evidence, Clint was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison.  In his appeal, Clint’s lawyers objected that the FBI had denied them the right to see the original statements made by Matusow and others.  The Supreme Court agreed, reversed the conviction, and in their famous “Jencks Decision”,  demanded that the statements be made available.  Rather than turn over the documents, the government dropped the case, and Clint was spared from having to serve prison time.  As a result of the Jencks Decision, Congress then passed the Jencks Act which deals with witness statements and considerably weakens the protection for defendants created by the Supreme Court.  To this day, the Jencks Decision and the Jencks Act are routinely used by lawyers arguing their cases.

Clint did not go to prison, but his career as a union organizer and activist was over.  After several years when he had difficulty finding any work at all, he won a Woodrow Wilson Foundation Fellowship to study economics at UC Berkeley.  After earning his PhD he joined the faculty at SDSU in 1964.  His years as an honored and esteemed professor of economics at SDSU were not as public as the years of the witch hunt, but Clint put as much dedication and energy into his roles as a teacher, faculty unionist, and community activist.  Clint retired from SDSU in 1988 but continued his public activity until the day he died. 

I am honored to have had Clint Jencks as a friend and colleague.  In this age of enemy combatants and the war on terrorism, the causes Clint fought for: equal rights, working people, civil liberties, and government accountability are as relevant as they were when “Salt of the Earth” was filmed.