In 1962, The Manchurian Candidate was released in movie theaters. Based upon the book by Richard Condon, it dealt with the Red Scare and the Korean War. After it was released, it was pulled from the market, for reasons that have never quite been explained. However, the fact remains that The Manchurian Candidate is a book that embodies the feelings of Americans toward Communism and functions as a tool to both reinforce these feelings and to parody them. In this paper, I will explore The Manchurian Candidate's role in society and how it functions as a reflection of the American society in the mid-1950s to the early 1960s.
The Manchurian Candidate is an incredibly complex film. The story is that an Army platoon in Korea was ambushed and taken prisoner by the Koreans, so that a team of doctors from the Pavlov Institute in Moscow could brainwash them. The sergeant of the platoon, Raymond Shaw is also the stepson of a powerful Senator, Johnny Iselin. Captain Marco (who is later promoted to Major) is instrumental to the Communist plot. Upon return to the United States, he recommends Shaw for the Medal of Honor; the platoon was brainwashed into believing that they were ambushed and that Shaw had taken out an entire company of enemy soldiers and saved the platoon, with only two men in the platoon dead. The truth of the matter is Shaw had killed the two missing members of the platoon himself under orders from the brainwashers. To prove the brainwashing was effective, Shaw killed "the member of the platoon you dislike the least" and "the platoon's mascot."
Iselin is a demagogue and a drunk. His wife dominates both of them (she calls them "my two little boys"), and is powerful and manipulative. Both Iselin and his wife appear to be Anti-Communists. However, Johnny is incompetent. He can never remember the exact number of communists that are supposed to be in the Department of Defense, and begs his wife to settle upon a "simple number that is easy for me to remember."
However, Major Marco begins having a strange nightmare about the time he spent in Korea. In one of the most chilling cinematic sequences ever made, Marco dreams that he was not at a ladies horticulture club meeting in New Jersey, as he was brainwashed to think, but that he is in a secret Manchurian base in which Chinese, Korean, and Russian military brass and scientists are scrutinizing the brainwashing. On leave, ordered because of his mental state (the Army psychologists attribute his dream to shellshock), he meets a girl, Jenny. The film is very vague in regards to the character of Jenny. It almost seems that she is a Soviet operative, functioning as Marco's "controller."
However, Marco discovers that another member of the patrol is having the exact same nightmare, and that the patrol's Korean interpreter (who set up the ambush and took part in the brainwashing process) is now functioning as Shaw's valet. The Army puts together a joint operation between the FBI, the CIA, and Army Intelligence to investigate Shaw. Major Marco leads the team. Marco begins to discover some interesting things about Shaw. Shaw's conditioning is triggered by the phrase "why don't you pass the time by playing a game of solitaire." When Shaw sees a queen of diamonds, his is under the control of anyone who speaks to him, and carries out their orders efficiently and without hesitation, and is released from the control when he completes his orders. He does not remember what he did at all; the time spent completing orders is a black hole in his mind. When Marco sees him jump in the lake in Central Park (his conditioning was accidentally triggered by and overheard conversation at as bar), Marco begins to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
However, it may be too late. Shaw is already beginning to fall apart. He has already been ordered to kill his boss. This was a smart move for the Communists: they wanted to test his brainwashing, and Shaw also became head of a powerful New York newspaper in the process. Shaw had taken the job because his boss (Holborn Gaines) and he had something in common: "We both detest you and Johnny." With Gaines out of the way, there is one less opponent to Johnny in the political arena.
Shaw's mother arranges for Shaw to become reunited with the girl he loved, Jocelyn Jordan. She is the daughter of a powerful Senator, Thomas Jordan, who hate Iselin and does his best to defeat Iselin. However, Shaw's mother made him leave her. She now thinks that he should get together with her. At the party welcoming Jocelyn back from France, we learn that Iselin is planning on running for Vice President. Jordan threatens to impeach him. More importantly, we learn that Shaw's American controller is his own mother. However, Jocelyn's costume for the party is a giant queen of diamonds. She sneaks in to see Shaw, and they elope.
When they return, Marco wants to immediately bring Shaw in for questioning. Jocelyn pleads for him not to, and Marco gives her 48 hours to be on honeymoon. In response to Senator Jordan's threat against Johnny, Shaw is ordered to kill both the Senator and his wife. After he does so, he calls Marco, who comes right over, armed with a deck of 52 queens of diamonds. He puts Shaw under his control, and begins to un-condition Shaw. He tells Shaw, "If anyone asks you to play another game of solitaire, you tell 'em, 'Sorry buster, the ball game's over!' The wires have been pulled! They can't touch you anymore!" Shaw's mother call up right after Marco thinks he has fixed Shaw; he doesn't seem better to anyone. He promises Marco he will call.
Marco knows that whatever Shaw has been trained to do, it will happen at the presidential nomination convention. We discover that Shaw is to kill the presidential candidate, and that Johnny will burst onto the stage, covered in blood, and make "the most rousing speech I have ever heard in my life." But Shaw's mother is furious with her controllers. She dedicated her entire life towards "giving them the biggest foothold they will ever have in America," and they have repaid her by stripping her son of his mind and soul. She promises that when Johnny takes power, she will "grind them into the dirt." Her motivations are very unclear; is she playing with the Communists because she believes in their ideology, or because of her desire for power? She already has power through Johnny, but she seems to be a staunch patriot. We simply aren't sure. She also gives Shaw a kiss that can only be described an incestuous.
Shaw never calls Marco, and he runs to Madison Square Garden to try to stop whatever is going to happen. He spots Shaw's shooting spot, and he runs up, hoping it's not too late. He arrives seconds after Shaw has finished. Instead of assassinating the presidential nominee, Shaw has shot Johnny and his mother. He is wearing his Medal of Honor that he never wanted. He tells Marco that "you couldn't stop them, the Army couldn't stop them, I had to stop them," and shoots himself. In the final scene, Marco describes Shaw as a hero.
The Manchurian Candidate raises some very good questions, and it makes some very good points. The brainwashing scene shows the Communists are being cruel, and brutal. But they are human; they have fantastic senses of humor. When it is said that Shaw is to be reported as having killed a company of enemy soldiers, a Russian generals says, "Comrade Dimitri; if your army is to be so embarrassed in the American press, why don't we make it a full battalion and make sure that he gets the medal?" The entire room is filled with laughter, and Dimitri thanks the general for thinking so highly of them. Yen Lo (Yen Lo) has replaced the patrol's cigarettes with a "variety of tobacco substitutes." Everyone finds this amusing. He then questions one of the Americans, "how do you like your cigarette?" The soldier replies, "Its fine ma'am" (the soldiers think they are at a women's gardening club meeting.) Yen Lo translates to the audience: "it's good. Taste like cigarette should!" They all find this funny.
When Yen Lo visits America to check up on Shaw, the Soviet operative prides himself that "this operation was one of the few Soviet operations to make a profit this fiscal year." When the brainwasher warns him that he is beginning to sound like a capitalist, the Soviet operative looks ashamed. But it is merely a joke. The brainwasher then excuses himself so that he may go to the sale at Macy's. "My wife has given me an appalling list!"
Is this how Americans viewed Communism? Certainly. Communists were viewed as cruel and sadistic. Because "our system" was so much better, naturally Communists would have to destroy it through underhanded means. And, of course, the Communist system was seen as not providing a high standard of living; any wife would have an "appalling list" in a Communist country. Or so we thought. The film Dr. Strangelove immortalized this view of Communists.
The cinematic stereotype of Communism is well established. From the early documentaries seen in movie theatres such as The Allies in Russia up to films such as Rocky IV, Americans have been told that Communism was un-American. Senator McCarthy's committee used the word "un-American" in its name. Communism was (and still is) viewed as not just wrong, but as being against everything that America stands for: free trade, white picket fences, and Mom's apple pie. During World War I, many parts of German-American culture were "Americanized." Hamburgers became "liberty sandwiches" and so forth. Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which put anyone who spoke out against the government in jail. Eugene V. Debs, a Socialist and union leader, was jailed for stating, "rich men start wars and poor men fight them."[1] In this environment, Americans saw the new enemy of America, Bolshevism, as a threat.
The American Communist Party did not help to make things better. Although Communists in the ACP often placed their political views second to their other roles in life, the secrecy of the ACP helped to promote the image of Communism as being something like a Masonic secret society. In addition, the pact between Hitler and Stalin in the division of Poland helped Americans see the USSR (and thus, Communism), as being more akin to fascism than something Americans should support.[2] By the time of the Berlin Air Lift, Americans were firmly rooted in the belief that Communism was pure evil and should be destroyed. Ronald Reagan dubbed the USSR, "the evil empire."
But what of the image of the Far Right? McCarthy was dead by 1962, and much of the hysteria had died down.[3] But Communism was still feared, and McCarthyism had already done its damage. The Army-McCarthy hearings had done much to discredit McCarthy. In The Manchurian Candidate, references are made to those hearings. In one scene, Marco has been assigned as a public relations officer. During a press conference, Iselin comes in and challenges the Secretary of Defense. He wants to know why the Secretary of Defense has allowed known Communists to remain in the Department of Defense. The Secretary tries to kick Iselin out, but Iselin will not move. However, Iselin cannot keep the number of Communists straight. By the end of the press meeting, the question that every reporter has for Iselin is, "how many Communists did you say were in the Department of Defense." Iselin cannot give the same number twice. Later in the film, his wife tells him "you are not allowed to think hon. Just keep shouting 'point of order' into the network television cameras." Point of Order was a film that condensed the Army-McCarthy hearing into a palatable package.
The Manchurian Candidate portrays the Far Right as a tool of the Far Left. Iselin would rather infringe upon the liberties of Americans than have a single Communist alive and free. But yet, he is a dupe. His wife, under a veneer of patriotism, has been plotting to seize power for some time. In her final meeting with Shaw, she reveals that the plan has been under development for over 8 years. The film was supposed to have taken place in 1954. That means that even as the United States was helping Stalin defeat Hitler, the Soviets were working to destroy the United States.
In the film, the Red Scare is a manufactured movement of the Far Left, a tool to gain power. The Communists are much smarter than the Americans, and much more devious. Their plan only falls apart due to the quick thinking of Major Marco. But Marco knows he has been outwitted. Near the end, he says, "Intelligence Officer. Stupidity officer is more like it! If the Army ever decides to start a Stupidity division, they know who they can find to head it!" Marco does not score a victory for the US; he merely blocks a Soviet goal. If that is the best the US has to offer, the fate of the Free World is much in doubt. This resonates well with the events that had recently happened. Eisenhower had declared a victory in Korea, but no one was fooled. A small country had managed to create a condition of permanent warfare against the US. Many Americans agreed with General Macarthur in that Red China should have been invaded or attacked with nuclear weapons.[4] Sanity had given way to insanity.
One of the film's focuses is the topic of brainwashing. Throughout the 1950s, Freudian psychology had gained mass understanding in America.[5] In addition to Freud, stage hypnotists and rumors of Pavlov's dogs had made the idea of mind control seem possible. In addition, it was believed that the Chinese based their brainwashing techniques upon Pavlov's work. The treatment of American POWs by the Japanese during World War II made the idea of Chinese brainwashing seem very possible.[6] Many Americans took the threat of Communist brain control seriously. The CIA began experiments with brain control, going as far as performing underground research with LSD and electroshock therapy. Like the "missile gap," we were fearful of a "brain control gap." After the war in Korea, Americans were worried because twenty-one American GIs chose to stay in Korea rather than return to the US. This was "proof" to many Americans that the Soviets had perfected mind control techniques – after all, what American boy wouldn't want to return home?[7]
Neither the Chinese nor the Koreans used any type of brainwashing. They did try to promote Communism, and many POWs did make anti-American statements, or express pro-Communist beliefs, but under the circumstances, this was understandable. Later investigation revealed that the majority of these cases were simply that the GIs knew almost nothing about Communism, and were not being un-American, but that their "un-American" statements were along the lines of "Communism doesn't seem that bad." The Army's reaction to these events was to better educate American soldiers about the Communist belief system. The Army decided not to overreact to the events in Korea. Unfortunately, McCarthyism had made Communism such a taboo topic that no one seriously discussed it beyond, "it is bad."[8] However, the Army had also warned America in 1953 that returning GIs might come back spouting Communist propaganda. By the end of the McCarthy era, Americans thought that the only way a sane American could support Communism was by being brainwashed.[9]
The Manchurian Candidate, however, is a very good image of what Americans thought was going on in Korea. Shaw is made to kill people his wife and his father-in-law (who he adored) and to commit treason. Marco and the other members of the patrol completely forgot about what happened. The Communists used a combination of drugs and other unspoken methods to brainwash the men. During the brainwashing process, when Shaw is asked to strangle one of his fellow soldiers, no one in the patrol tries to stop him. In fact, when the soldier being strangled begins to object, the controller asks him to cooperate, and he does. This was the American image of brainwashing. As Yen Lo states with a chuckle, "their brains are not merely washed; they have been dry cleaned."
The Manchurian Candidate is a fine film. Frank Sinatra (Major Marco) said that it was his best performance. Angela Lansbury (Shaw's mother) carries herself with a perfect combination of sophistication and power. Yen Lo is funny and frightening at the same time. But what makes the film so great? Put simply, it is the fact that it plays upon our fears so perfectly. In cinema, the 1950s were the era of "can do." By the 1960s, the mood was one of desperation.[10] The Communists have perfected a method of making anyone do anything against their will and without their knowledge. And they have been planning since the days when we were allies to use this weapon against us. And even more frightening, they are able to engineer a mass movement in which millions of Americans are supporting; yet the thoroughly un-American Communists are controlling it. The audience remembers the McCarthy era, and the idea that they were the dupes of the Soviets is unthinkable. We are reminded of Hitler and his followers, and the thought that we were victims of something similar is shocking.
In the final sequence, Marco reads the citations for two Medal of Honor recipients, then creates his own for Shaw. Marco describes the acts that Shaw was forced to do as "unspeakable." These are the very themes that The Manchurian Candidate speaks of. As a result of this film, anyone we feel is being controlled by an enemy unwittingly is known as a "Manchurian Candidate." This list of these people ranges from Timothy McVeigh to President Clinton, to Senator John McCain. The Manchurian Candidate has spawned ideas as well as represented them to a tee.
[1] Professor James Reed, lecture for Development of the US II, Fall 1999.
[2] Schrecker, Ellen. The Age of McCarthyism. New York: St. Martin's Press. 1994. p. 7.
[3] Schrecker, p. 1.
[4] Professor James Reed, lecture for Development of the US II, Fall 1999.
[5] Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: Dell Publishing. 1983. Chapter 5.
[6] Rawnsley, Gary D. Cold War Propaganda in the 1950s. New York: St. Martin's Press. 1999. p. 50.
[7] Rawnsley, p. 47.
[8] Ibid. p. 60.
[9] Ibid. p. 51.
[10] Dixon, Wheeler W.: Disaster and Memory: Celebrity Culture and the Crisis of Hollywood Cinema. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. p. 59.
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