The Great Red Menace: United States Prosecution of American Communists, 1947-1952During the years 1947-1952 the Cold War, the anti- communist foreign policy of the U.S. government, and the reassertion by the American Communist party of its allegiance to the Soviet Union, the international communist movement, and a literal Marxist-Leninist ideology gradually gave rise to an anti-communist hysteria and to the repression and persecution of American Communists. Author Peter L. Steinberg shows that both the Truman Administration and the Communist Party were in part responsible for the McCarthy era that followed. Both were reacting to the ideologiical warfare conducted by J. Edgar Hoover. Using his allies in government, Hoover took advantage of the Cold War atmosphere to demand demonstrable action against communists. The Truman Administration responded with a loyalty program that seemed to legitimze the American people's worst fears, leading to demands for further action. The Communist Party's decision to go underground played into the hands of its enemies. Steinberg sees the attack on American communists as a necessary prelude to the demand for patriotic conformity and as a factor contributing to the development of an internal political police. |
Contents
An Internal Cold War | 3 |
The Politics of Disloyalty | 19 |
The Politics of Anticommunism | 35 |
Copyright | |
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The Great Red Menace: United States Prosecution of American Communists, 1947 ... Peter Steinberg No preview available - 1984 |
Common terms and phrases
action activities administration Alexander Bittelman American Communist American Communist Party anticommunist apparently April arrests Athan Theoharis attack Attorney author by FBI bill Browder Budenz Bureau Clark to author Clifford Cold War communism Communist Party Congress Court CP's CPUSA criticism Daily Worker danger defendants Democratic Dennis Department of Justice Edgar Hoover effort Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Eugene Dennis fascism federal File Flynn Folder force Foster Gates to author government's Harry Vaughan hearings Hoover to Harry HSTL Ibid indictments internal security issue John Gates John Lautner Judge July June Justice Department leadership legislation loyalty major March McCarthyism Medina Memorandum ment munist National Committee October organizations overthrow Papers of Harry Papers of Stephen Party's Political Affairs position President President's prosecution Republican Senate September Smith Act Soviet Union Spingarn statement subversive testimony third party threat tion Tom Clark trial Truman underground United Wallace William Z witness York