American citizenship -Liberty for Chaplin

Born in London on April 16, 1889, Charles Spencer Chaplin rose from crippling poverty to become the preeminent comedic star of his day. Employing a fake moustache and splayfooted walk, he specialized in slapstick portrayals of the quintessential everyman.
Despite living in the United States for almost 40 years, Chaplin never became an American citizen. Meanwhile, due in part to “Modern Times,” a satire of the machine age, he gained a reputation as a communist sympathizer.

Troublesome Speech of Truth

During the McCarthy era, the FBI put him under surveillance, and a Mississippi congressman called for his deportation.  Then the US Attorney-General announced plans to lauch an inquiry into whether he would be re-admitted to the US.

They arrived one day at his home. When the deputation arrived, it consisted of a stenographer, an FBI agent and an immigration officer, who told him that they had the right to demand Chaplins evidence under oath. 

The unexpected inquisition lasted for four hours and was recorded by the stenographer. It contained personal questions about Chaplins racial origins, political views and sex life. He found the enquiries into his life, thought and opinions most personal, insulting and disgusting.

The U.S. government then revoked his re-entry permit in 1952 as he traveled to England on vacation. Mr Chaplin is still a British citizen, despite living in America for almost 40 years, and has no automatic right to re-enter the country.

Under US law, grounds for denying a foreigner admission include "moral turpitude" and "political affiliations".  

GUARDIAN_ Video- BBC -here 

He turned against his erstwhile home, saying, "I would not go back there even if Jesus Christ was the president."

For a Follow-up

The Banishment of Charlie Chaplin

   ADDENDA  

• English writer Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, and his wife Maria applied for U.S. citizenship in 1953 after having lived in the United States for fourteen years.  

• Huxley renounced all war, and his pacifist views ultimately prevented him from becoming a U.S. citizen.  

• Huxley presented themselves for examination. When Huxley refused to bear arms for the U.S. and would not state that his objections were based on religious ideals, the judge had to adjourn the proceedings.

• ... Huxley never received U.S. citizenship.

On 21 October 1949, Huxley wrote to George Orwell, author of Nineteen Eighty-Four, congratulating him on "how fine and how profoundly important the book is." In his letter to Orwell, he predicted:

• Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narcohypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience.