MGM was producing an anti-Reconstructionrnfilm, White complained tornLowell Mellett, director of the Bureaurnof Motion Pictures of the Office of WarrnInformadon. The OWI, a propagandarnagency created by one of FDR’s executivernorders, requested a copy of thernscreenplay from Louis B. Mayer. Mayerrncomplied, piously assuring WalterrnWhite that “I live and breathe the air ofrnfreedom and I want it for others as well asrnmyself”rnWhen Mellett and White previewedrnthe unedited film, they hit the roof Mellettrndemanded that key scenes be reshotrnor removed. Thad Stevens, the screenplay’srnvillain, was humanized; one newrnscene had him kissing and petting AndrewrnJohnson’s grandkids. A scene inrnwhich Stevens plied Johnson with drinkrnbefore his legendarily incoherent vicernpresidential Inaugural Address was leftrnon the cutting room floor. Rewritten dialoguernassured us that Stevens was “sincere”rnif a mite vengeful. The essentialrncharacter of Lydia Smith, Stevens’ mulattornhousekeeper and probable mistress,rndisappeared. Despite the changes, arngang of Hollywood liberals—Ben Hecht,rnZero Mostel, Vincent Price—petitionedrnthe OWI to destroy the picture, in bestrnfascist fashion, in the cause of nationalrnunity.rnTennessee Johnson —the OWI demandedrna conscience-less title—was releasedrnin its denatured form. It’s a fairiyrnstandard biopic; Johnson, nicely playedrnby Heflin, is the runaway tailor’s apprenticernand self-styled champion of “poorrnwhite trash” who is only trying to act uponrnhis predecessor’s wise policy of malicerntoward none and charity toward all.rnWith the exception of Jefferson Davis, secessionistsrnare depicted as huffy churlsrnand hotheads. Lionel Barrymore playsrnThad Stevens as though he’s rehearsingrnWh en in Rockford,rnEat atrnLee’s Chinese Restaurantrn3443 N. Main Streetrnfor the role of Mr. Potter. Growling,rnsnarling, commanding a wheelchair asrnhe would in It’s a Wonderful Life, hernseems to regard Johnson as a mere irritantrnwho exists only to distract him fromrnhis real quarry: George Bailey and thernBuilding and Loan.rnNevertheless, Tennessee ]ohnson is farrnbetter than a contemporaneous “Presidentrnmovie,” The Remarkable Andrew,rnwhich was written by the soon-to-beblacklistedrnDalton Trumbo. The RemarkablernAndrew is a witless fantasy inrnwhich Andrew Jackson, played as arnwhiskey-swilling lout by Brian Donlevy,rnmaterializes to assist William Holden inrnrooting out corruption in a Coloradorntown. The film presents Jackson as thernfirst New Dealer; think of it as a slapstickrnversion of Arthur Schlesinger’s The Agernof]ackson.rnOne consequence of Walter White’srnprotest was the omission of Lydia Smith,rna meaty role for a black actress. The partrnwas recast as the corpulent “laws a mercy!”rnblack maid of stereotype. (There arernparallels with today’s Hollywood, inrnwhich black actors can never play complicatedrnvillains, only bland authority figuresrnor the jivey sidekick of the whiternhero. Will Smith, meet Walter White.)rnThe excision of Lydia Smith not onlyrnwarred upon truth, it also made Stevens’rnNegrophilia less comprehensible. Love,rnafter all, is always a higher afflatus thanrnpolitical principle.rnWalter White’s autobiography makesrnno mention of his role in altering TennesseernJohnson. The title is absent fromrna shelf full of books on censorship andrnthe movies; censorship, it seems, onlyrnworked one way in Hollywood. Thernmost intelligent review of TennesseernJohnson was written by Manny Farber inrnthe New Republic, of all places. “Thernpicture looks to have been pretty thoroughlyrncensored, so as not to rake up anyrncoals still burning,” wrote Farber, whornconcluded, “censorship is a disgrace,rnwhether done by the Hays office andrnpressure groups, or by liberals and thernOWI.”rnThe bluenoses and red-baiters of thernHays office, HUAC, and the Legion ofrnDecency have gotten their historiographicalrndue; when, if ever, will LowellrnMellett and the OWI get theirs?rnBill Kauffman is the author, most recently,rnofWith Good Intentions? Reflectionsrnon the Myth of Progress in Americarn(Praeger).rnFOREIGN POLICYrnThe Agonyrnof Kosovornby Alex N. DragnichrnThe agony of Kosovo, Serbia’s illomenedrnprovince, is recorded inrnthe pages of history. Over the centuries,rnKosovo was transformed from an ethnicallyrnhomogeneous center of the Serbianrnmedieval empire to an embattledrnregion populated predominantly byrnethnic Albanians demanding independence.rnTo appreciate the position of thernSerbs, imagine Hispanics controllingrnlarge areas of Texas or Galifornia and demandingrnindependence, while at thernsame time engaging in guerrilla actionsrnagainst local police and state officials.rnTo understand how the Kosovo situationrnevolved, we must tiirn to history.rnAlthough the largest state in the Balkansrnfor over 100 years, Serbia left a legacyrnwhich is known mainly to the historians.rnArt historians have written volumesrnabout its Ghristian monuments, mainlyrnthe many churches and monasteriesrnwith their impressive frescos. Two of thernmonasteries (Sopocani and Studenica)rnhave been declared “World Art Treasures.”rnMedieval Serbia was a part of the internationalrncommunity, actively involvedrnin matters of political, military,rnand cultural importance. Serbian royalrncourts communicated on levels of respectrnand honor with Venetian Doges,rnHungarian Kings, Bulgarian Tsars, andrnByzantine Emperors. Unlike many ofrnthese, however, Serbian emperors didrnnot build fortresses or ostentatious castlesrnand palaces in which to enjoy the fruitsrnof this world. But all of them felt dutyboundrnto build at least one churchrnor monastery. Some built many. Pre-rnWorld War I archeological findingsrnshow that as of 1912, some 1300 monasteries,rnchurches, and other Serbianrnmonuments existed in Kosovo andrnMetohija (after a Greek word signifyingrnmonastery property). In the domesticrnpolitical sphere, medieval Serbia’s outstandingrnachievement is Tsar Dusan’srnGode of Laws, studiously prepared overrn40/CHRONICLESrnrnrn