McCARTHYISM BEFORE McCARTHY: THE 193B ELECTION IN SOUTH DAKOTA 3B by JOhn E. Miller 'TIER 22 Election campaigns illuminClte not only public problems Clnd VEST 27 is sues; they Cllso lay bare the private fantasies and frustrations of peo­ ple and provide clues to the symbolic mental environments within which they operate. Campaigns are cultural as well as political processes • •ND The rewards they offer are symbolic as well as tangible, elusive and 37 ambivalent as well as concrete and direct. While there Is utility in Harold Lasswell's model which states that politics determines "who gets whClt, when, how," 1 much CCln be gClined by conceiving of politics as a process involving the manipulation of symbols, the working out of justifications Clnd rationales for public actions, and the development of relatively consistent ideologies useful for explaining stands on issues Cl nd estClblishing group identifications. 2 story at South Dakota St2te lolitical history but <'lc:nita to After the First World War, Western intellectuals grew increasingly :ory. His present interest is sophisticated about the processes by which people acquired their ideas It Plains during the twentieth and the manner in which political rhetoric and propaganda could be put to use in thro service of pClrtisan causes. Walter Lippmann, in Public Opin­ ion, a p2th-brcaking work published in 1922, stated that it was "clear It Patton Junior High School enough that under certain conditions men respond as powerfully to fic­ 15 in genealogy and family tions as they do to realities, and that in many cases they help to create from old family pa;Jers and thc very fictions to which they respond." He went on to observe that "no successful leader has ever been too busy to cultivate the symbols which organize his following." They establish unity, he said, and . of English at Wichita Stdte therefore they "have been cherished by leaders, many of whom were L9th century prairie writers themselves unbelievers, because they were focal points where differences ,c has published articles in merged." In addition, leaders realize that symbols can be used to move the Kansas Writing Project. a crowd. "In the symbol emotion is discharaed at a common target, and the idiosyncrasy of real ideas blotted out. ,,1 . of History at the Dyson Us research is in political Hitler's rise to power demonstrated how easily publics could be ~ Bulletin of the Missouri manipulated. During the twenties, discus sion of Freud's theories under­ ~ Presidential Studies Quarterly. girded the notion that hnman nature is essentially iITi',tional. During the ;, N.Y. thirties, propaganda analysis attracted widespread 1lttention while se­ mantics grew in influence, Books such as Stuart Chase's The Tyranny gJ Words (193B), which introd"lced general iOudiences to the insights of scmanticists such as Alfred Korzybski and I. A. Richards, and the widely popular books of Thurman Arnold, The Symbols,2f Government (1935) and The Folklore of Capitalism (1937), helped convert what had been a minor academic specialty into a widely discussed topic. 4 The New Deal challenged many traditions and shibboleths of American capitalism while il welter of new federal agencies performed .. ---­ i 1 2 the much ne"'ded task of shoring up its foundations. There were many, however, who believed that Roosevelt and hie brain trusters were under­ mining everything dear to American society and that they were leading the country toward Communism or fasc13ffi. These fears, exaggerated as the~' were, were undoubtedly real in the minds of many Americans, and it re­ quired little imagining on their parts to give credence to stories and rumors circulating about Communists in government offices "'nd treason in high places. 5 In recent years historians hove demollshed the notion that Mc­ Carthyism emerged full-blown on February 9,1950, in Wheeling, West Virginia, when Wisconsin's junior SenCltor told a Republican women's club that he had a list of 205 card-carrying Communists who were in the employ of the State Department. 6 South Dakota history provides further evidence of how anti-communism was utilized for partisan political ends during the years before 1950. In 1932, South Dakotans, suffering from unprecedented problems of unemployment, drouth, and low fann prices, deserted tradition and returned Domocratic maJori.ties in the presidential, congres:;;ional, guber­ natorial, ,md legislative faces. The social and political uphe<lval of the decade polarized voters, who lined up with the New Deal or against it, on the side of labor or the M<lin Street businessm<ln. 7 As in m<lny other st<ltes, the election of 1938 in South Dakot<l culmin<lted a long series of ideologic<lJ battles. After six years of Demo­ CT<ltie rule in Washington, the sit-down strikes, court paCKing, an cJ\ec­ utive reorganization bill conservatives denounced <IS dictatorial, and Roosevelt's unsuccessful "purge" of the Democratic party, the ejection drew out conservatives of all types who cO<llesced to vent their frustra­ tions against liberal New Deal policies. 8 That year Karl Mundt first went to Congress, where he built a reputation as an outspoken anti­ communist over the next 34 years. His succe:;;s and that of his Republi­ can colleagues came at thE' expense of Democr"'tic candidates who were sme",rcd <IS being radical and communistic, The election thus provides a case study of McCarthyism befOre McCarthy--an election in which candidates were recklessly accused of communistic leanings in order to discredit them. Heading the Republican ticket in 1938 was Chan Gurney, <3 Yank­ ton husinessman wflO defeated GOvernor Leslie Jensen in the RepubJ1c-an Senatorial primary, Jensen's decision to try for the Senatl? opened the way for state party chairman Harlan J. Bushfield to run lor the governor­ ship. The popular and staunchly consen'alive attorney from Miller de­ feoted Sioux Falls ilttomey Blaine Simons, a representative of the Nor­ beck progressive facti0n in the prImary. Running for re-electiOn in the Sec0nd Congressional District, which covered the sparsely populated area ",est of the Missouri River, was Franci:;; Case, a newspaper editor and pllblisher from Hot Springs. • 2 3 undations. There were many, 1 his brain tl",n>ters were under­ The first district Congressional nominee, Karl Mundt of Madison, although never having held elective cffice, was already one of the best­ ty and that they were leading the :'bese fE'"rs, exaggerated as they known politicians in the state. After losing by only 2,570 votes to Demo­ of many Americans. and it re­ cratic Congressman Fred Hildebrandt two years earlisr, he encountered lve credence to stories and no primary opposition in 1938. Holding an M.A. degree from Columbia ovemment offices and treason Teachers College, he hdd taught public school before going into the Teal estate and insurance business with his father in Madison. In addi­ tion, he taught speech, political science, and economics at Easteru lmolished the notion that Mc­ State Normal SChool until resigning in 1936 to run for Congress. He r9, 1950, in Wheel1ng, West helped organize the National Forensics League, was named state presi­ r told a Republican women's dent of the Izaak W'llton League, became district go'.remor of Kiwani~ clubs in Minnesota and the Dakotas, and served on the State Gilme and ~g Communists who were in the Dakota history provides further Fish Commission. He was also a Mason, an Elk, an Odd Fellow, 3­ lized for partisan political ends Woodman, a Methodist, and a member of the Eastern Sl:!r. He became widely known for his oratoli.cal skill and spoke frequently before civic groups. Since his chlldhood he held possessed an "urge to sell, a and 19 from unprecedented problems throughout life, according to his secretary when he entered Congress, ices, deserted tradition and he W<lS "associated with salesm<lnship and selling--products from his sidential, congressional, g uber­ truck garden, the Hsh he caught, fire extinguishers, books, y.nowledge ial and political upheaval of to students, real estate, insurance, and- -now--governmental policies and legislative ide"s." 9 ~ with the New Deal or against t busmessman. 7 On the Democratic side, Oscar Fosheim, a larmer from Howard, don of 193B in South Dakota won the gubernatorial nomination. He had been born in 1895 on the farm lttles. After six years of Demo­ his father, a Norwegian immigrant, had homesteaded 15 years earlier. :trikes, court packing, an exec­ Although he toOY. courses at South Dakota State College and at Mankato, ,nounced <!IS dictatorial, and Minnesota, he later recounted, "Most of my education was deri'J-ed when )emocratic party, the election walking back of th;: wiJlking plow in bare feet." After serving in the Army 'oalesced to vent their frustra- during World War L he sold real estate in Californi<l before returning to That year Karl Mundt first fann neilr Howard. Encouraged by friends, he ran successfully for the ltion as an outspoken anti­ legislilture i.n 1930 and won re-election to the lower house in 1932,1934, uccess and that of his Republi­ and 1936. He and Emil Loriks, the First District Congressional nominee, l.mocratic candidates who were were dubbed the "Gold Dust Twins" for their vigorous efforts to put an :. The election thus provides ore tax on the Homestake gold mine, located at Lead in the Black Hills .10 <!Irthy--<!In election in which ,mmunistic leanings in order to Loriks, a farmer from Arlington, had to dde<lt five other Democratic contenders to earn the right to oppose Karl Mundt. f, year younger th<ln Fosheim, Loriks worked <l farm that his grandfather had homesteaded when 1938 was Chan Gurney, a Yank­ the railroad came through during the early 1&80's.