The Waldorf Statement was a two-page press release issued on 25 November 1947, by Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, following a closed-door meeting by forty-eight motion picture company executives at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The Statement was a response to the contempt of Congress charges against the so-called "Hollywood Ten".
Participants
The names of the 48 men who attended the meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel were printed in the Motion Picture Herald and Daily Variety, the film industry's primary trade publications. The principal participants who formulated the Waldorf Statement included:
- Louis B. Mayer: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Harry Cohn: Columbia Pictures
- Spyros Skouras: 20th Century Fox
- Nicholas Schenck: Loews Theatres
- Barney Balaban: Paramount Pictures
- Samuel Goldwyn: Samuel Goldwyn Company
- Albert Warner: Warner Bros.
- William Goetz: Universal-International
- Eric Johnston: Association of Motion Picture Producers and Motion Picture Association of America
- Mendel Silberberg: lawyer for Association of Motion Picture Producers
- James F. Byrnes: former United States Secretary of State
- Dore Schary: RKO Pictures