Eric Johnston

Eric Allen Johnston (December 21, 1896 – August 22, 1963) was a business owner, president of the United States Chamber of Commerce, a Republican Party activist, president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and a U.S. government special projects administrator and envoy for both Democratic and Republican administrations.

As president of the MPAA, he abbreviated the organization's name, convened the closed-door meeting of motion picture company executives at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel that led to Waldorf Statement in 1947 and the Hollywood blacklist (including firing of the Hollywood Ten), and discreetly liberalized the Motion Picture Production Code.

He was promoted to captain, fought with the American Expeditionary Force, Siberia in the Russian Revolution, and was named military attaché in Peking (now Beijing).

He became a vacuum-cleaner salesman, and bought the Power Brown Co., the Pacific Northwest's largest independent appliance distribution business.

Johnston became head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce after a revolt by younger, moderate business executives pushed several older, conservative candidates aside.

He refused to antagonize the American Federation of Labor or the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and advocated labor-management cooperation.

[1] Johnston was named president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association (MPPDAA), the predecessor of the MPAA, in 1946.

Spurred by Red-baiting members of the MPAA as well as a fear of government censorship, Johnston agreed to institute a blacklist.

[8][9][10] On November 25, 1947, Johnston was part of a closed-door meeting with 47 motion picture company executives at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel that resulted in the "Waldorf Statement".

[18] In January 1951, Johnston was appointed administrator of the Economic Stabilization Agency by President Harry S. Truman, replacing Alan Valentine.

[1][6][24] Johnston appears a key character in the play The Waldorf Conference, written by Nat Segaloff, Daniel M. Kimmel, and Arnie Reisman.