Chris Yogerst; University Press of Mississippi, 2020

Yogerst, assistant professor of communication in the College of General Studies, investigates how a handful of isolationist United States senators tried to prevent Hollywood “anti-Nazi propaganda,” reflected in such movies as “The Great Dictator” and “The Mortal Storm.” This political film history examines the 1941 Senate subcommittee’s investigation of alleged efforts by Jewish studio heads to agitate for war. Yogerst shows how the hearing’s results were an embarrassment for the Senate and a victory for freedom of speech.