Editing Burt Lancaster (section)

==Political activism==
Lancaster was a vocal supporter of progressive and liberal political causes.<ref>{{cite book | first1 = Peter | last1 = Stanfield | first2 = Frank | last2 = Krutnik | first3 = Brian | last3 = Neve | first4 = Steve | last4 = Neale | title = 'Un-American' Hollywood: Politics and Film in the Blacklist Era | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ItXpEDXFrncC&pg=PA212 | publisher = [[Rutgers University Press]] | location = New Brunswick, New Jersey | date = 2007 | page = 212 | isbn = 978-0813543970}}</ref> He frequently spoke out in support of racial and other minorities. As a result, he was often a target of FBI investigations.<ref name="ACLU HQ Serial"/><ref name="Marquette Archives">{{cite archive |first= |last= |item=Series 70 |type=manuscript |item-id=810-1032 |series = |file=61-10149 |box=1 |collection=1 |collection-url =https://www.marquette.edu/library/archives/Mss/FBI/FBI-sc.php |repository = |institution=Marquette Archives |location=Marquette University |quote=Actor Burt Lancaster was investigated by the FBI for affiliation with the Communist Party of America in the 1940s, for alleged homosexual behavior in the 1950s, and participating in the activities of the Civil Rights Congress in the 1960s.}}</ref> He was named in President [[Richard Nixon]]'s 1973 "[[Nixon's Enemies List|Enemies List]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.enemieslist.info/list2sc.php |title=The Second Enemies List |website=enemieslist.info |access-date=July 5, 2021 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091006100522/http://www.enemieslist.info:80/list2sc.php |archive-date=October 6, 2009 }}</ref>

A vocal opponent of the [[Vietnam War]], he helped pay for the successful defense of a soldier accused of "[[fragging]]" (i.e., murdering) another soldier during war-time.<ref>Buford 2008, p. 266.</ref> In 1968, Lancaster actively supported the presidential candidacy of anti-war Senator [[Eugene McCarthy]] of [[Minnesota]], and frequently spoke on his behalf during the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] primaries.<ref>{{cite book | last = Wheeler | first = Mark | title = Celebrity Politics | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Yu-U5tfCaqoC&pg=PA48 | publisher = [[Polity (publisher)|Polity]] | location = Cambridge| date = 2013 | page = 48 | isbn = 978-0745652498}}</ref>

Lancaster was also active in [[Opposition to capital punishment in the United States|anti-death penalty activism]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mandery |first1=Evan |title=A Wild Justice |date=2013 |publisher=W.W. Norton |isbn=978-0393240641 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SWQV5jG5rz0C |access-date=June 27, 2022}}</ref> He campaigned heavily for [[George McGovern]] in the [[1972 United States presidential election]].<ref>{{cite news | title = The Daily News from Port Angeles, Washington | url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/25642163/ | page = 4 | date = July 20, 1976 |access-date=August 1, 2018 | newspaper = [[Peninsula Daily News]] | publisher = Black Press Ltd. | location = Port Angeles, Washington | via = [[Newspapers.com]]|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

In 1985, Lancaster joined the fight against AIDS after fellow movie star [[Rock Hudson]] contracted the disease.<ref>{{cite news | first1 = Mary T. | last1 = Schmich | first2 = Gene | last2 = Siskel |author2-link=Gene Siskel | url = https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/10/03/actor-rock-hudson-59-victim-of-aids/ | title = Actor Rock Hudson, 59, Victim Of Aids | newspaper = [[Chicago Tribune]] | publisher = [[Tronc]] | location = Chicago, Illinois | date = October 3, 1985 |access-date=August 1, 2018 | page = 2}}</ref> Lancaster delivered Hudson's last words at the Commitment to Life fundraiser at a time when the stigma surrounding AIDS was at its height.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/20/us/hollywood-turns-out-for-aids-benefit.html | title = Hollywood Turns Out for AIDS Benefit |access-date=October 23, 2019 | newspaper = [[The New York Times]] | date = September 20, 1985 | last1 = Harmetz | first1 = Aljean |author1-link=Aljean Harmetz}}</ref><ref name="Buford"/>

Of his political opinions, frequent co-star [[Tony Curtis]] said: "Here's this great big aggressive guy that looks like a ding-dong athlete playing these big tough guys and he has the soul of—who were those first philosophers of equality?—[[Socrates]], [[Plato]]. He was a Greek philosopher with a sense that everybody was equal."<ref name="Buford"/>

Actor and [[Screen Actors Guild|SAG]] president [[Ed Asner]] said he showed everybody in Hollywood "how to be a liberal with balls".<ref name="Buford"/>

===Hollywood Ten===
In 1947, Lancaster reportedly signed a statement release by the [[National Council of Arts, Sciences and Professions]] (NCASP) asking Congress to abolish the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] (HUAC).<ref name="ACLU HQ Serial"/> He was also a member of the short-lived [[Committee for the First Amendment]], formed in support of the [[Hollywood Ten]]. He was one of 26 movie stars who flew to Washington in October 1947 to protest against the HUAC hearings.<ref name="ACLU HQ Serial"/> The committee's ''Hollywood Fights Back'' broadcasts on [[ABC Radio Network]] were two 30-minute programs that took place on October 27 and November 2, 1947, during which committee members voiced their opposition to the HUAC hearings.<ref>{{cite book | last = Smith | first = Ronald L | title = Horror Stars on Radio: The Broadcast Histories of 29 Chilling Hollywood Voices | url = https://archive.org/details/horrorstarsonrad00smit | url-access = limited | year = 2010 | page = [https://archive.org/details/horrorstarsonrad00smit/page/n174 168] | publisher = McFarland & Co | location = Jefferson, NC | isbn = 978-0786457298}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6HpeyPjYxI | title = Hollywood Fights Back - 10/26/1947 (1 of 2) | date = December 23, 2014 | via = www.youtube.com}}</ref> Many members faced blacklisting and backlash due to their involvement in the committee. Lancaster was listed in anti-communist literature as a [[fellow traveler]].<ref name="Red Stars In Hollywood">{{cite book |last=Fagan |first=Myron |date=1948 |title=Red Stars In Hollywood |url=https://archive.org/details/1948RedStarsInHollywoodMyronCourevalFagan/page/n5 |page=6}}</ref>

===Civil rights movement===
He and his second wife, Norma, hosted a fundraiser for [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] and the [[Student Diversity Leadership Conference]] (SDLC) ahead of the historic [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom|March on Washington]] in 1963.<ref name="Buford"/> He attended the march, where he was one of the speakers.<ref>{{cite journal | url = https://variety.com/2015/biz/columns/1963-march-on-washington-hollywood-bob-dylan-sidney-poitier-1201580118/ | title = Hollywood Turned Out for Historic 'I Have a Dream' Speech | last = Gray | first = Tim | date = August 28, 2015 |access-date=August 1, 2018 | journal = [[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] | publisher = [[Penske Business Media, LLC.]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/28/politics/march-on-washington-kennedy-jitters/index.html | title = Kennedy White House had jitters ahead of 1963 March on Washington | last = Matthews | first = David | date = August 28, 2013 |access-date=August 1, 2018 | work = [[CNN Entertainment]] | publisher = [[Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.]]}}</ref> He flew in from France for the event, where he was shooting ''[[The Train (1964 film)|The Train]]'', and flew back again the next day, despite a reported [[fear of flying]].<ref name="Buford">{{Cite web | url = http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Burt+Lancaster:+An+American+Life.-a067051657 | title = Burt Lancaster: An American Life }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=U54KWuN0lIE | title = Burt Lancaster speaks at the "March on Washington" | website = YouTube |access-date=October 23, 2019}}</ref>

On August 28, 1963, at the [[March on Washington]] Lancaster "read the speech that [[James Baldwin]] was supposed to make," because (as [[Malcolm X]] said in a speech delivered in Detroit at the King Solomon Baptist Church in late 1963) "they wouldn't let Baldwin get up there because they know Baldwin is liable to say anything."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Boyd |first1=Herb |title=Baldwin's Harlem |date=2008 |publisher=Atria Books |location=New York |isbn=9780743293075 |page=70}}</ref>

===ACLU===
In 1968, Lancaster was elected to serve as chairman of the [[Roger Baldwin Foundation]], a newly formed fund-raising arm of the [[American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California]]. His co-chairs were [[Frank Sinatra]] and [[Irving L. Lichtenstein]]. In October 1968, he hosted a party at his home to raise money for the [[ACLU]] to use for the defense of the more than four hundred people arrested at the [[1968 Democratic National Convention]].<ref name="Buford"/> Throughout the years, he remained an ardent supporter and a fundraiser for the organization.

While serving as a member of the five-person ACLU Foundation executive committee, he cast the key vote to retain [[Ramona Ripston]] as executive director of the Southern California affiliate, a position she would build into a powerful advocacy force in Los Angeles politics. Ripston later recalled: "There was a feeling that a woman couldn't run the ACLU foundation, nor have access to the books. The vote finally came down to two 'yes' and two 'no.' Who had the deciding vote? Burt. He had a scotch or two and finally he said, 'I think she should be executive director.' I always loved him for that."<ref name="Buford"/>

When President [[George H. W. Bush]] derided Democratic candidate [[Michael Dukakis]] as a "card-carrying member of the ACLU", Lancaster was one of the supporters featured in the organization's first television advertising campaign stating: "I'm a card-carrying member of the ACLU" and "No one agrees with every single thing they've done. But no one can disagree with the guiding principle—with liberty and justice for all.'"<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwAVj-L0lck | title = ACLU PSA with Burt Lancaster | website = YouTube | date = September 17, 2010 |access-date=October 23, 2019}}</ref> He also campaigned for [[Michael Dukakis]] in the [[1988 United States presidential election]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/articles/burt-lancaster|title=Burt Lancaster|author=Elisa Leonelli|date=February 7, 2014|website=goldenglobes.com}}</ref>