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Second Red Scare (1947–57)

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William F. Buckley Jr. in 1958.

When Right-Wing Attacks on School Textbooks Fell Short

Some essential lessons from an earlier culture war.
by Jonathan Zimmerman via The Nation on May 18, 2022
Paul Ryan against a background of graph paper and a dotted line.

The Struggle for the Soul of the GOP

Is the Republican Party compatible with democracy?
by Timothy Shenk via The New Republic on April 12, 2022
Actors James Stewart as George Bailey, Donna Reed as Mary Hatch, and Frank Faylen as Ernie in the 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection / Getty Images)

That Time the FBI Scrutinized “It's a Wonderful Life” for Communist Messaging

The film “deliberately maligned the upper class,” according to a report that didn’t like the portrayal of Mr. Potter as a bad guy.
by John Nichols via The Nation on December 24, 2021
Frame from the film Being the Ricardos, features Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball and Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz at a screen reading for the "I Love Lucy" show.

The True History Behind 'Being the Ricardos'

Aaron Sorkin's new film dramatizes three pivotal moments in the lives of comedy legends Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
by Meilan Solly via Smithsonian on December 13, 2021
Artwork of mountain peaks and landscape.

Not Belonging to the World

Hannah Arendt holds firm during the McCarthy era.
by Samantha Rose Hill via Lapham’s Quarterly on October 14, 2021
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg after their arrest in New York for espionage in 1950.

The Rosenbergs Were Executed For Spying in 1953. Can Their Sons Reveal The Truth?

The Rosenbergs were executed for being Soviet spies, but their sons have spent decades trying to clear their mother’s name. Are they close to a breakthrough?
by Hadley Freeman via The Guardian on June 19, 2021
John F. Kennedy at his graduation from Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1940

Ending the Kennedy Romance

The first volume of Frederik Logevall’s biography of JFK reveals the scope of his ambition and the weakness of his political commitments.
by Michael Kazin via New York Review of Books on May 7, 2021
a stadium full of people

McCarthyism Was Never Defeated. Trumpism Won’t Be Either.

Censure brought down a crusading anti-communist senator but fired up his followers.
by Beverly Gage via Washington Post on December 4, 2020

The Small, Midwestern Town Taken Over by Fake Communists

In the 1950s, residents of Mosinee, Wisconsin, staged a coup to warn of the red menace. The lessons of that historical footnote have never been more relevant.
by Brett Rosenberg via The New Republic on October 22, 2020
Artistic photo with american flags

Richard Hofstadter’s Discontents

Why did the historian come to fear the very movements he once would have celebrated?
by Jeet Heer via The Nation on October 6, 2020
Joseph McCarthy presenting a map.

The Real Legacy of a Demagogue

A new biography of Joseph McCarthy does not reckon with the devastating effects of anti-communism.
by Dan Kaufman via The New Republic on October 2, 2020
A photograph of Richard Hofstadter in front of a library of books.

Politics, Populism, and the Life of the Mind

An interview with Sean Wilentz on Library of America's new collection of Richard Hofstadter's works.
by Sean Wilentz, Daniel Wortel-London via Journal of the History of Ideas Blog on July 27, 2020

Joseph McCarthy and the Force of Political Falsehoods

McCarthy never sent a single “subversive” to jail, but, decades later, the spirit of his conspiracy-mongering endures.
by Louis Menand via The New Yorker on July 27, 2020
Frances Perkins on a ship, wearing a winter coat and gloves.
partner

Frances Perkins: Architect of the New Deal

She designed Social Security and public works programs that helped bring millions out of poverty. Her work has been largely forgotten.
by Bat-Ami Zucker, Hannah Steinkopf-Frank, DeLysa Burnier via JSTOR Daily on July 8, 2020
partner

"No" on Impeachment Unites Today's GOP. In the 1950s, a Renegade Dared to Break Ranks

Breaking with party unity can be costly. In the 1950's, Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine faced backlash after she condemned McCarthy, a fellow Republican.
by Karen M. Sughrue via Retro Report on December 3, 2019

The Mafia Style in American Politics

Roy Cohn connects the McCarthy era to the age of Trump across more than half a century.
by George Packer via The Atlantic on October 3, 2019

Before the Central Park Five, There Was the Trenton Six

In both cases, false confessions were used against a group of black men with only precarious links to one another.
by Denise Lynn via Black Perspectives on July 3, 2019

The Rocket Scientist Who Had to Elude the FBI Before He Could Escape Earth

Frank Malina's scientific dreams were as radical as his politics.
by Fraser MacDonald via Literary Hub on June 26, 2019
Senators Joseph McCarthy and Kenneth Wherry.

Democracy and Misinformation

The Cold War and today.
by Jennifer M. Miller via Perspectives on History on June 10, 2019
Illustration of Peurifoy and others attempting to find homosexuals within the federal government.

The Homophobic Hysteria of the Lavender Scare

Despite a thriving queer community in Washington, the 1950s State Department fired gay and lesbian workers en masse.
by Kazimir Lee, Dorian Alexander via The Nib on May 31, 2019

We’re Never Going to Get Our “Have You No Sense of Decency, Sir?” Moment

Because that moment isn’t quite what we remember.
by Rebecca Onion via Slate on July 26, 2018
Will Lee as Mr. Hooper

Spotlighting Communism & Hollywood in the Papers of Sesame Street’s Mr. Hooper

The actor who played the loveable grocer found his way to Sesame Street after being blacklisted during the Red Scare.
via American Heritage Center Blog on April 18, 2018
Political cartoon of the Populist Party python eating the Democratic Party donkey.

The Myth of 'Populism'

It's the transatlantic commentariat’s favorite political put-down. It’s also historically illiterate.
by Anton Jäger via Jacobin on January 3, 2018

Memorial Day and Our African American Dead

Are we honoring all of our American heroes this Memorial Day?
by Robert Greene II via U.S. Intellectual History Blog on May 28, 2017

America's Obsession With Rooting out Communism Is Making a Comeback

California lawmakers debate barring Communist party members from government jobs.
by Julia Carrie Wong via The Guardian on May 22, 2017
Political cartoon depicting fat-cat tycoons sitting on money on a dock made of commodities held aloft by struggling laborers.

From Fat Cats to Egg Heads: The Changing American 'Elite'

American has long been suspicious of “elites”, but just who they are has changed a lot over the last 200 years.
by Steven Conn via Origins on May 1, 2017
William Gropper's map of American folklore.

A Popular '40s Map of American Folklore Was Destroyed by Fears of Communism

The government saw Red when looking at William Gropper's painting of the United States.
by Kyle Carsten Wyatt via Atlas Obscura on March 27, 2017
Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn during the Army-McCarthy hearings.

The Ugly History Behind Trump’s Attacks on Civil Servants

President Trump’s criticisms of government workers have something in common with Joe McCarthy’s.
by Landon Storrs via Politico Magazine on March 26, 2017
W.E.B. Du Bois

When W. E. B. Du Bois was Un-American

W. E. B. Du Bois may be our keenest critic of Trumpism today.
by Andrew Lanham via Boston Review on January 13, 2017

Ellis Island's Forgotten Final Act as a Cold War Detention Center

The idealistic interpretation of Ellis Island should be revisited.
by Brianna Nofil via Atlas Obscura on February 2, 2016
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