On this day in 1951, Supreme Court Justice Stanley Reed agreed that the contempt of court convictions of Dashiell Hammett and two other defendents, stemming from their refusal to testify regarding the skipping bail of four Communist leaders, should be upheld. This assured that one of the most prominent members of the American literary community would spend the next six months in prison. It should not have surprised anyone that prison was an experience of which Hammett would avail himself. Nor should it surprise anyone that it was over a matter of political principle.
Rarely has such an enormous lack of personal responsibility and such an extraordinary level of personal integrity been found in one person. He was an alcoholic who cheated on every woman with whom he ever became involved. He never saved any money, despite the fact that he made more money than anyone should ever need. And despite his profound gifts as a writer, he never wrote a book, or for that matter, anything of importance during the last twenty seven years of his sixty one year life. Still he served his country in two world wars. He went to jail for a principle. And the novels he wrote and the characters he created in those novels have reached an iconic status that is of the highest echelon. He is fairly, in the end, an heroic figure of the American literary tradition and a symbol of perilous political times.
No matter what your nationality, your gender, your race, your religion, your sexual orientation, or your ethnicity, there is a detective novel whose hero shares your heritage. And there seems to be a natural pride that accompanies that association. Not ignoring the greatest literary detective, Sherlock Holmes, and without intending to diminish the accomplishments of other writers and the characters they created, I think much of that pride, as well as the aura and regard that have arisen around the hero-antihero nature of the hard boiled detective, traces back to a single novel and one character. The novel is Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon" and the character is Sam Spade. And in a nutshell, what Sam Spade does, that makes him so powerful a symbol, is in a world that is all wrong, he sets things right. He not only solves the mystery, but he does so in such a way that justice is served. Of course Humphrey Bogart's portrayal in the third film version of the novel also contributed to the character's legend, a movie that is remarkably true to the novel. Watch the movie with the novel in front of you, it's almost verbatim.
Hammett also wrote: Red Harvest, The Dain Curse, The Glass Key and The Thin Man, as well as numerous short stories. Other than Sam Spade, among the charcters he created were Nick and Nora Charles, the Continental Op, Casper Gutman, Joel Cairo, Brigid O'Shaughnessy, Ned Beaumont and Asta, the matchless troublemaking pet schnauzer of Nick and Nora Charles. And while I believe his contributions to American culture are undeniable, it is his own character that is so compelling.
As a young man, before the First World War, Hammett joined the Pinkertons. It was his experiences in this job that formed the basis for much of his writings. When the War came, Hammett joined up. He briefly served as an ambulance driver, before he fell victim to the flu pandemic of 1918. He was released from the service, but continued to suffer from illnesses including TB. He met his wife in a hospital in Washington state and married her after she became pregnant.
The Twenties began with Hammett and his family in San Fransisco. He was again working for the Pinkertons, but his frail health was making this work impossible. He began taking part time jobs in advertising and exploring newfound ambitions to be a writer. As the Twenties progressed, his talents developed. His short stories began appearing in the pulp magazines, most famously in Black Mask. His tuberculosis worsened and his wife and daughters temporarily left him to avoid infection. During these absences, Hammett was not faithful.
Hammett's first novel, Red Harvest, was initially published under a different title in serial form in Black Mask commencing in November 1927. Eventually he signed with Alfred Knopf to become his publisher. Between 1927 and 1934 he would write, and they would publish, all his novels. And his career as a novelist would be over. In 1930 he began a famous and tempestuous relationship with Lillian Hellman. In many different incarnations, this relationship would last the rest of his life. As the Thirties progressed, Hammett did work for Hollywood, working on scripts including sequels for the movie version of his novel "The Thin Man". While he had been developing his political beliefs since he was a youth, it was in the latter half of the decade that he began to really explore Communist politics. It was also during this time, that for the first time, the FBI became interested in Hammett.
Given the current FISA controversary, it's somewhat chilling to realize that a comic strip could be enough to arouse the suspicions of the Justice Department. Hammett was writing the captions for a comic serial in the newspaper and the lead character was a former Justice Department agent. This was enough to precipitate an investigation. At this time the investigation went nowhere. It would not be the only time Hammett would come to the attention of the FBI.
When the U.S. entered World War II, Hammett joined up as soon as the physical restrictions had been relaxed to the point he was eligible. He was eventually assigned to duty in the Aleutian Islands with the 14th Signal Service Company. As a morale booster, he was given the job of starting a newspaper. Every indication is that he enjoyed this assignment and did a very good job, for which he was commended. His service career ended at Fort Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska in 1945. He was writing for an Army newspaper, but his bad habits were making him more of a liability than an asset. When he was made aware of this fact he decided to leave the service.
By the time of his enlistment, Hammett had become prominent in left wing causes, which had rekindled an interest in his pursuits within the Justice Department. There is an amusing account of how the FBI loses track of him when he joins the Army. They keep asking the Army to locate him and the Army keeps replying he is not a member of the Army. This can be found in Diane Johnson's biographical work, "Dashiell Hammett A life". I don't know if it's still in print, but it's an enjoyable read that I have used as a source for many of the biographical details in this diary.
After the war, while his politics remained very left wing, it's difficult to know precisely where his concerns really were. Civil Rights, Workers Rights, various charitable causes associated with the Communist party all attracted his attention. Whatever his true beliefs were, when the government began to target prominent Americans with Communist sympathies, it was inevitable he would become a subject.
Hammett was a trustee of the bail fund of The Civil Rights Congress. They had supplied the bail for several prominent Communists who were convicted of un-American activities under the Smith Act. When four of these men jumped bail while awaiting appeal, Hammett and the other trustees were called to testify. Basically the government wanted to know who the contributors to the bail fund were and whether Hammett or any of the other trustees knew anything about whereabouts of the bailjumpers. Hammett took the Fifth and refused to testify. For legal reasons, of which I do not have a complete understanding, but principally regarding the refusal to assist in the apprehension of those men for whom the Congress had provided bail, the Fifth did not protect the trustees from a contempt of court conviction. The trustees felt naming the many contributors to the bail fund would have subjected them to the unwarranted attention that had ruined so many lives during that period. Hammett spent the next six months in prison.
Hammett was a frail man when he was released from prison. And he faced the possibility of further prosecution related to the bail fund and its management. In March of 1953 he was called to testify before Senator McCarthy's subcommittee. Again he took the Fifth on any questions regarding communism, and his activities and connections to the Communist party. This time no legal proceedings would follow. He would be investigated by the FBI for much of the rest of his life. He died in January of 1961. It was expected, he had been gravely ill for some time.
I hope my sketch of the life of a man, who spent most of that life under investigation by his government for nothing more than his fame and the fact that he held unpopular political beliefs, is accurate.