Little 'Red Scares': Anti-Communism and Political Repression in the United States, 1921-1946

ISBN-13: 9781138290501 / Angielski / Miękka / 2016 / 380 str.

Robert Justin Goldstein

Opis

Anti-communism has long been a potent force in American politics, capable of gripping both government and popular attention. Nowhere is this more evident that the two great 'red scares' of 1919-20 and 1946-54; the latter generally - if somewhat inaccurately - termed McCarthyism. The interlude between these two major scares has tended to garner less attention, but as this volume makes clear, the lingering effects of 1919-20 and the gathering storm-clouds of 'McCarthyism' were clearly visible throughout the 20s and 30s, even if in a more low-key way. Indeed, the period between the two great red scares was marked by frequent instances of political repression, often justified on anti-communist grounds, at local, state and federal levels. Yet these events have been curiously neglected in the history of American political repression and anti-communism, perhaps because much of the material deals with events scattered in time and space which never reached the intensity of the two great scares. By focusing on this twenty-five year 'interim' period, the essays in this collection bridge the gap between the two high-profile 'red scares' thus offering a much more contextualised and fluid narrative for American anti-communism. In so doing the rationale and motivations for the 'red scares' can be seen as part of an evolving political landscape, rather than as isolated bouts of hysteria exploding onto - and then vanishing from - the political scene. Instead, a much more nuanced appreciation of the conflicting interests and fears of government, politicians, organised labour, free-speech advocates, employers, and the press is offered, which will be of interest to anyone wishing to better understand the political history of modern America.

Spis treści

Contents: Preface: Little’ Red scares’: anti-Communism and political repression in the United States, 1921-1946, Robert Justin Goldstein; After the Red scare: civil liberties in the era of Harding and Coolidge, Ernest Freeberg; The FBI and the politics of anti-Communism, 1920-1945: a prelude to power, Athan Theoharis; Citizens versus outsiders: anti-Communism at state and local levels, 1921-1946, M.J. Heale; Red herrings? The Fish Committee and anti-Communism in the early Depression years, Alex Goodall; Little Red schoolhouses? Anti-Communists and education in an ’age of conflicts’, Timothy Cain; Fighting the ’Red danger’: employers and anti-Communism, Chad Pearson; Leftward ramparts: labor and anticommunism between the World Wars, Markku Ruotsila; Premature McCarthyism: Spanish Republican aid and the origins of Cold War anti-Communism, Eric Smith; Laying the foundations for the post-World War II Red scare: investigating the left-feminist consumer movement, Landon R.Y. Storrs; The Dies Committee v. the New deal: real Americans and the unending search for un-Americans, Kenneth O’ Reilly; The long Black and Red scare: anti-Communism and the African American freedom struggle, Robbie Lieberman; Shooting rabid dogs: New York’s Rapp-Coudert attack on teachers unions, Stephen Leberstein; The history of the Smith Act and the Hatch Act: anti-Communism and the rise of the conservative coalition in Congress, Rebecca Hill; Index.

O autorze

Robert Justin Goldstein is professor emeritus of political science at Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA, and currently research associate at the Center for Russian, E. European & Eurasian Studies at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, USA.