Dalton Trumbo

James Dalton Trumbo (December 9, 1905 – September 10, 1976) was an American screenwriter and novelist, who scripted films including Roman Holiday, Exodus, Spartacus, and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. One of the Hollywood Ten, he refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947 during the committee's investigation of Communist influences in the motion picture industry, and was subsequently jailed and blacklisted by that industry. He continued working clandestinely, and his uncredited work won two Academy Awards; the one for Roman Holiday (1953) was given to a front writer, and the one for The Brave One (1956) was awarded to a pseudonym. The public crediting of him as the writer of both Exodus and Spartacus in 1960 marked the end of the Hollywood Blacklist, and his earlier achievements were eventually credited to him.

Early life

Trumbo was born in Montrose, Colorado, the son of Maud (née Tillery) and Orus Bonham Trumbo. His family moved to Grand Junction in 1908. He was proud of his paternal ancestor, a Swiss immigrant named Jacob Trumbo, who settled in the colony of Virginia in 1736. Trumbo graduated from Grand Junction High School. While still in high school, he worked as a cub reporter for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, covering courts, the high school, the mortuary and civic organizations. He attended the University of Colorado at Boulder for two years, working as a reporter for the Boulder Daily Camera and contributing to the campus humor magazine, the yearbook and the campus newspaper. He was also a member of Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity.

Executive actions of the CIA

Executive Action is a term that may have been used by the Central Intelligence Agency starting in the early 1950s. It refers to assassination operations. It is said that these operations may have been conducted by the CIA's Division D, a subsection of the agency's Directorate of Operations. A possible list of "Executive Action" operations may include an attempt to kill Fidel Castro using a cigar injected with Botulism toxin and an alleged plan to kill rebel leader Che Guevara.

The Ford administration forbade assassination in 1976 with Executive Order 11905. A Washington Post article, c. 1989, may have reported that a "secret" ruling of the U.S. Department of State's Office of Legal Advisor had interpreted that Ford's Executive Order only banned intentional killings of foreign leaders, thus clearing the way for "accidental" killings of foreign leaders; for example, during the confusion of a coup or invasion. Since this ruling was one of at least four preceding the U.S. invasion of Panama, some saw the ruling as giving a green light for Manuel Noriega to be killed "accidentally". Noriega survived the invasion and surrendered to US forces.

Executive Action (film)

Executive Action is a 1973 film about the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, written by Dalton Trumbo, Mark Lane, and Donald Freed, and directed by David Miller. Miller had previously worked with Trumbo on his film Lonely Are the Brave (1962). It stars Burt Lancaster and, in his final film, Robert Ryan.

Donald Sutherland has been credited as having the idea for the film and for hiring Lane and Freed to write the screenplay. Sutherland planned to act in and produce Executive Action; however, he abandoned the project and took a role in another film after failing to obtain financing for the film.

Plot

A narrator states that when President Lyndon Johnson was asked about the Kennedy Assassination and the Warren Commission report, he said he doubted the findings of the Commission. The narration ends with the mention that the segment did not run on television and was cut from a program about Johnson. The narration does not actually include the quote: "Kennedy was trying to get Castro, but Castro got to him first."