America's misunderstood patriot.

• Author: Gehring, Wes D.
• Position: USA Yesterday - Charlie Chaplin

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THE LIBERAL POLITICS of Charlie Chaplin, creator of arguably cinema's most iconic figure ("the little fellow" Tramp), ultimately found himself being labeled un-American during the reactionary period now known as the witch-hunting Joseph McCarthy era, This travesty resulted in him being hounded from the country in 1952. Twenty years later, the U.S. would make amends with a series of awards culminating in an honorary Academy Award (April 10, 1972) for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of the century."

What has fallen through the cracks of time, however, is a more fleshed-out portrait of Chaplin as a World War I American patriot During this conflict, the comedian and fellow pioneering filmmakers Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Mary Pickford raised millions of dollars through a series of war bond rallies. This trio, dubbed the "Three Star Special," launched the Third Liberty Bond tour in Washington, D.C., moved the tour to New York City, and then split up to cover a series of Eastern and Southern states.

While these events often are noted briefly in Chaplin texts, they invariably get short shrift, but a closer examination of period publications provides a vivid account of these rallies and how passionately Chaplin, a native of England, embraced his adopted country, and how American citizens reciprocated these affectionately patriotic feelings. When coupled with Chaplin's later single-handed cinematic capture of the Kaiser in the groundbreaking dark comedy, "Shoulder Arms" (1918), one has quite the patriotic portfolio for World War I. If these events then are refracted through the overt un-American McCarthy era slandering of the comedian, one experiences a poignant lesson in the inherent history-impaired nature of humanity.

The war bond tour's greatest splash occurred when Chaplin, Fairbanks, and Pickford appeared on April 8, 1918, before a Gotham crowd in which the New York Sun stated, "The police estimated ... 50,000 were present." People had begun to gather early on Wall Street (from Broadway to William Street) and on Broad Street (from Wall Street to Exchange Place).

The New York Telegram reported, "There was a mar as Charlie Chaplin ... mounted the platform to announce that he had just come from addressing a Liberty Loan meeting in Washington, and that his 'British heart was 1130 per cent American today.' He said that if he would be not physically unfitted [sic] he would be in the trenches himself. He wore his trick derby and with the aid of a cane did the celebrated Chaplin walk."

However, the full extent of Chaplin's New York rally...