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Pete Seeger was a member of the popular folksinging group, The Weavers, from 1948 to 1953, when their record contract was canceled by Decca records. The political activities of the group, and the political songs that they sang brought them the attention of J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover launched an FBI investigation, the first ever of musicians in the United States and leaked their names to “Red Channels,” which published them, causing the group to be blacklisted. The Weavers were unable to get radio airplay and many of their performances were canceled. It has been reported that Pete and the other members of the group may have been members of Communist Party USA. Communist Party membership roles have been kept secret and I can not verify that, but it seems likely as many show business and intellectual Americans were party members during the depression era and WWII.

When called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1955 Pete Seeger refused to name other members of the various political organizations that he belonged to and received a jail sentence for contempt of Congress, later rescinded. He has been continually active in political and environmental causes, including the civil right movement and the anti (Vietnam) war movement. I have heard that Seeger is scheduled to appear at an environmental rally, to take place at Lake Baikal in Siberia, sometime later this decade.

Pete Seeger did not appear on network television as an entertainer for almost two decades after his blacklisting. Here is a segment from the Oct. 25, 1968 Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, which broke that cycle. He still sings this song and still makes the connection to current events that is implicit in it.

Editors note: (This text was copied from an email from The Bob Edwards show on XM radio. Pete is Bob’s guest in today’s (Feb. 22) edition.)

Pete Seeger was banned from American commercial television for more than 17 years after topping both the pop charts and the blacklist. He wrote or co-wrote many of our most iconic folk songs. Now almost 90, Seeger is still performing and still writing. He’s publishing a new songbook this year. And the PBS program American Masters pays tribute on February 27 with Peter Seeger: The Power of Song.

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