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ecover from the HUAC investigations and the Dabneys' fight against the Confederacycould be read as Hollywood's fight against HUAC. Hollywood took its usual approach andthe Dabney's prevailed.29 The film, however, lost much of what it might have contributedto the civil rights debate as the romantic element dominated in the manner of GWTW.The brief period, 1945-49, between the end of World War II and the rabid anti-communismof the Cold War saw a continuation of the liberal agenda. Hollywood produced a numberof short anti-racist films such as The American Creed (1947). Frank Sinatra sang 'All racesand religions, that's America to me' in The House I Live In (1946). Liberal directors, whohad trained in the politically charged 1930s, such as Carl Foreman and Stanley Kramer,moved into mainstream production whilst the decade ended with a number of 'message'films on the themes of anti-Semitism - Crossfire (1947) and Gentleman's Agreement(1947) and racism - Home of the Brave, Lost Boundaries and Pinky (all 1949) and No WayOut (1950),There were other indications of a more inclusive and tolerant society - especially inpopular culture. Professional sport, show business and the theatre became more integrated.Plays and novels too examined racism whilst academics undermined the cornerstones ofracial superiority. There was hope too on the political front. Truman promised to continuethe election pledges of 1944 to provide better housing, education and health care and an'economic bill of rights.' In 1946 he appointed a Committee on Civil Rights and supportedits wide-sweeping civil rights conclusions. His election programme of 1948 - the 'FairDeal' - was a promise to extend the New Deal and civil rights legislation. In June, heordered the desegregation of the army by Executive Order 9981 and in the Novemberelection defeated the 'Dixiecrat' challenge. 30 The Justice Department began assisting civilrights suits through the courts in amicus curiae briefs from 1948, while in California theSupreme Court overturned the state's anti-miscegenation statute. 31This liberal attitude found expression in Civil War films. The Romance of Rosy Ridge(1947)32 addressed racial equality with a plea for tolerance and civil rights. 33 Just after theCivil War Henry Carson wanders into a divided rural Missouri community. He had 'signedup for the Union army....till we won and there was peace, and there was a good free placefor everyone to live in. We fought because we believed it didn't make any difference whatcolour a man's skin was....that's what I signed up for and that's what I'm still fighting63