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CHAPTER TEN: “Property”
Jack Valenti has been the president of the Motion Picture Association
of America since 1966. He first came to Washington, D.C.,
with Lyndon Johnson’s administration—literally. The famous picture
of Johnson’s swearing-in on Air Force One after the assassination of
President Kennedy has Valenti in the background. In his almost forty
years of running the MPAA, Valenti has established himself as perhaps
the most prominent and effective lobbyist in Washington.
The MPAA is the American branch of the international Motion
Picture Association. It was formed in 1922 as a trade association whose
goal was to defend American movies against increasing domestic criticism.
The organization now represents not only filmmakers but producers
and distributors of entertainment for television, video, and
cable. Its board is made up of the chairmen and presidents of the seven
major producers and distributors of motion picture and television programs
in the United States: Walt Disney, Sony Pictures Entertainment,
MGM, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal
Studios, and Warner Brothers.
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