No Ivory Tower: McCarthyism and the UniversitiesThe story of McCarthyism's traumatic impact on government employees and Hollywood screenwriters during the 1950s is all too familiar, but what happened on college and university campuses during this period is barely known. No Ivory Tower recounts the previously untold story of how the anti-Communist furor affected the nation's college teachers, administrators, trustees, and students. As Ellen Schrecker shows, the hundreds of professors who were called before HUAC and otehr committees confronted the same dilemma most other witnesses had faced. They had to decide whether to cooperate with the committees and "name names" or to refuse such cooperation and risk losing their jobs. Drawing on heretofore untouched archives and dozens of eprsonal interviews, Schrecker re-creates the climate of fear that pervaded American campuses and made the nation's educational leaders worry about Communist subversion as well as about the damage that unfriendly witnesses might do to the reputations of their institutions. Noting that faculty members who failed to cooperate with congressional committees were usually fired even if they had tenure, Schrecker shows that these firings took place everywhere--at Ivy League universities, large state schools and small private colleges. The presence of an unofficial but effective blacklist, she reveals, meant that most of these unfrocked professors were unable to find regular college teaching jobs in the U.S. until the 1960s, after the McCarthyist furor had begun to subside. No Ivory Tower offers new perspectives on McCarthyism as a political movement and helps to explain how that movement, which many people even then saw as a betrayal of this nation's most cherished ideals, gained so much power. |
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Page 66
... dismissal . The AAUP , in its cautious way , agreed . " It is difficult to avoid the inference that Pro- fessor Hicks would have been dealt with otherwise , but for his economic and social beliefs . " Except for a one - year stint that ...
... dismissal . The AAUP , in its cautious way , agreed . " It is difficult to avoid the inference that Pro- fessor Hicks would have been dealt with otherwise , but for his economic and social beliefs . " Except for a one - year stint that ...
Page 82
... dismissal . 41 These in - house trials , which began in June 1941 , continued through- out the rest of 1941 and 1942. Ultimately they resulted in the dismissal of twenty people . Eleven others resigned while their cases were pending ...
... dismissal . 41 These in - house trials , which began in June 1941 , continued through- out the rest of 1941 and 1942. Ultimately they resulted in the dismissal of twenty people . Eleven others resigned while their cases were pending ...
Page 152
... dismissal of a tenured professor at a university of Cor- nell's quality and prestige would require formal charges and a quasi- judicial hearing . Besides , what was the University to charge Morrison with ? Chairing a meeting at which ...
... dismissal of a tenured professor at a university of Cor- nell's quality and prestige would require formal charges and a quasi- judicial hearing . Besides , what was the University to charge Morrison with ? Chairing a meeting at which ...
Contents
McCarthyism The Anatomy of an Inquisition | 3 |
Academic Communists | 24 |
The Political Repression | 63 |
Copyright | |
12 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
AAUP academic freedom activities administration American answer anti-Communist apparently Archives asked Association become blacklist Board California called campus charges City civil claimed clear Cold colleagues College Columbia committee Communism Communist Party concern congressional cooperate Cornell course Davis dean decided Department discussion dismissal early Education evidence example explained faculty felt Fifth Amendment Files fired former give Harvard hearings Himstead History HUAC important institution interview involved issue June knew late later letter Loyalty March Marxism matter McCarthy meeting Michigan Morrison names never oath official organization period political position president Press problems professional professors questions radical reasons recalls refused Regents response result Robert schools seemed Senate Special statement teachers teaching tenure testimony tion told took trustees Union United University University's wanted Washington witnesses York