The Hunt for Red Menace, Full Report

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Hunt for Red Menace, Full Report The Hunt for Red Menace The Hunt for Red Menace: How Government Intelligence Agencies & Private Right-Wing Groups Target Dissidents & Leftists as Subversive Terrorists & Outlaws by Chip Berlet Political Research Associates Revised 19941 ”Our First Amendment was a bold effort. .to establish a country with no legal restrictions of any kind upon the subjects people could investigate, discuss, and deny. The Framers knew, better perhaps than we do today, the risks they were taking. They knew that free speech might be the friend of change and revolution. But they also knew that it is always the deadliest enemy of tyranny.” -U. S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black Since the colonial period in the late 1690s liberties for illusionary national security our land has been swept by witch hunts, moral safeguards. Some observers of this phenomenon panics, and fears of collectivist plots. Following see it as having fueled Cold War antagonisms the end of World War II, a coalition of and resulted in what they term the “National conservative, ultra-conservative, right-wing and Security State.” liberal anti- communist political movements and Within the United States there developed a groups organized support for high levels of covert apparatus to suuport domestic anti- military spending, promoted the use of covert communism in the form of a loosely-knit action abroad, and cultivated the acceptance of infrastructure where both public and private obsessive governmental secrecy, surveillance intelligence agents and right-wing ideologues and repression at home. In the domestic public shared information both formally and sphere this coalition shaped an overwhelming informally. The result was an ad-hoc domestic willingness among citizens to trade real civil counter-subversion network. Oliver North relied 1 The Hunt for Red Menace on elements of this institutionalized counter- commercial clients. subversion network to raise funds for the Private spies who supply information to a Contras and serve as a public lightning rod to variety of groups as part of a commercial enterprise. hide his own government- backed covert Corporate security specialists who utilize operation. In fact, some of the same players political intelligence operatives, hire private North orchestrated in the off-the-shelf private firms to supply political intelligence, or share foreign policy drama were also involved in an intelligence information with their public and off-the-shelf private domestic intelligence private counterparts. network. Groups specializing in workshops and seminars predicated on the supposition that The private domestic intelligence network is demands for social-change are frequently that sector of the counter-subversion network covers for foreign “active measures,” which conducts surveillance of progressive disinformation, criminal subversion, or groups, and then feeds the information to the terrorism. Federal Bureau of Investigation and other public Private right-wing intelligence gathering law enforcement and intelligence agencies, as groups which frequently publish their allegations in small limited- circulation well as other private right-wing groups, and in newsletters. some cases corporate and industrial security. Blacklisting publications that report on the Some of the groups involved in the domestic activities of community, labor, anti-nuclear, intelligence network utilized by North were civil-rights, peace and social justice outgrowths of McCarthy Period witch hunts, activists. others were projects of former agents who fled Ultra-conservative and far-right magazines federal employ in the wake of civil-liberties and newspapers and other publicly- disseminated publications that target liberal reforms of intelligence agencies prompted by the and left dissidents. intelligence agency scandals of the 1970's, still others were new groups created by ideologues Havens within the U.S. government for of the New Right. Many were formed after the members of the counter- subversion network terror attacks on September 11, 2001. include congressional committees such as the The counter-subversion network is now-disbanded House Committee on Un- comprised of many overlapping institutional and American Activities and the Senate individual components: Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (especially the Individuals employed at government law counter-terrorism section), military investigative enforcement and intelligence gathering agencies on the federal, state and local units especially Naval Intelligence, certain level. sectors of the Immigration and Naturalization Staff of various congressional committees Service, and many others. In pursuit of their goal and executive agencies. of exposing and stopping alleged subversion, Agents and officers of foreign intelligence government intelligence agents periodically services. make tactical alliances with conservative, ultra- Private associations made up primarily or exclusively of law enforcement personnel conservative, and even anti-democratic far right that share information, run computerized political groups and movements, both domestic data exchanges, and conduct training and foreign. Working cooperatively, the public seminars on suspected subversives and and private components of the domestic terrorists. counter-subversion network carry out legal, Associations of former intelligence agents electoral, political, and extra- legal attacks on that facilitate the sharing of information on subversives and jobs. dissidents—primarily on the political left. Private security firms with industrial and Political surveillance, by private or public 2 The Hunt for Red Menace agencies, is designed to preserve and protect the or unwittingly serve the goals of radical politics, status quo. Often, the tactic of infiltration or global communism, or terrorism. This is not a surveillance is used to gather real, imagined, or rational critique of communism, radical political invented mud to sling at social change theory, or actual terrorism, but a non-rational organizers in order to smear their public image ideological construct which resembles the and neutralize their organizing efforts. Even Manichean rightist worldview described in when the spying fails to turn up any illegal (or Professor Richard Hofstadter's classic work The even faintly embarrassing) information, the Paranoid Style in American Politics. Despite its reports are dutifully filed, and frequently traded non-rational metaphysical nature, the views of back and forth between private and public these counter- subversion ideologues have intelligence-gathering agencies. Eventually the consequences which are real and documentable. information percolates into conservative and Many authors have discussed the recurring right-wing publications. themes of political repression by government Among the scapegoats historically and private groups, and noted how the end promoted by the counter-subversion network: result was a defense of the status quo that the Soviet military threat, the international benefits powerful ecomomic and political communist Red Menace, KGB spies, airplane interests. hijackers, terrorists, drug lords, secrets about Historian Frank Donner's 500-page book U.S. nuclear weapons, rioting by urban Blacks, The Age of Surveillance: The Aims &Methods persons organizing against the war in Vietnam, of America's Political Intelligence System is the Black Panther Party, the American Indian considered the definitive study of this Movement, political radicals, Palestinian rights phenomenon and its relationship to federal law activists, members of the Arab community in enforcement probes of dissent.2 Donner the U.S., protesters against U.S. policy in Central followed with Protectors of Privilege: Red America, environmental activists, feminists, Squads and Political Repression in Urban persons calling for equal rights based on sexual America. 3In Protectors of Privilege Donner preference, and AIDS activists. showed how local police intelligence units— Each of these targets have been portrayed often dubbed Red Squads—subverted the as powerful sinister forces attacking the very Constitution while justifying their actions as foundations of America. Each, we have been preserving democracy in the fight against told, could only be stopped by using law subversion. Because they believed the country enforcement and intelligence agency techniques was on the brink of ruin due to internal that required trading civil liberties for safety and subversion organized by communist agents, security. Real terrorists, airplane hijackers, and local police Red Squads not only conducted others engaged in criminal activity can and surveillance and built dossiers on a wide range should be prosecuted for their crimes—but for of activists, but also worked with far-right the most part, the persons spied on by the public vigilante groups to carry out break- ins and and private components of the counter- assaults, sometimes with an assist from the FBI. subversion network are not criminals, but Political Repression in Modern America, persons simply seeking to exercise their First 1870 to Present, by Robert J. Goldstein is Amendment rights to speech, association, another lengthy look at government and religion, or petitioning to redress grievances. corporate attacks on dissident political groups The domestic counter-subversive network through the years. 4 was built by persons who share a perception that Murray B. Levin examined the underlying the U.S. is constantly
Recommended publications
  • Ronald Reagan, SDI, and the Nuclear Freeze: Reordering the Ethics of Mass Destruction
    Ronald Reagan, SDI, and the Nuclear Freeze: Reordering the Ethics of Mass Destruction A Master’s Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Brandeis University Department of History Jacqueline Jones, Advisor In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by Joseph Brown July 2008 Copyright by Joseph Brown July 2008 ABSTRACT Ronald Reagan, SDI, and the Nuclear Freeze: Reordering the Ethics of Mass Destruction A master’s thesis presented to the faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts by Joseph Brown By proposing the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), Ronald Reagan co-opted the rhetoric of the nuclear freeze movement and reversed the relationship that had previously existed between himself and his anti-nuclear opponents. Prior to Reagan’s announcement of SDI, the nuclear freeze movement played the role of the ethically principled critic, denouncing Reagan for perpetuating the nuclear arms race and the policy of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD). By adopting a proposal for space-based missile defenses, Reagan took on the role of the peace-loving nuclear critic. The Strategic Defense Initiative eclipsed the ethical appeals of the nuclear freeze movement, promising the eventual abolition of nuclear weapons. Ironically, the nuclear freeze movement found itself promoting MAD, because its own proposal to halt the arms race would do nothing to change the dynamic of offensive nuclear deterrence between the United States and the Soviet Union. Although Reagan openly advocated the expansion of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, he was able to justify his strategic modernization plan as a temporary measure, necessary to preserve America’s security until his missile shield could be put in place.
    [Show full text]
  • ITP Core 1: History, Theory, and Practice of Interactive Media Professors Ximena Gallardo and Carlos Hernandez ITCP 70010: Fall 2018 Seminar: Mondays, 4:15-6:15 P.M
    ITP Core 1: History, Theory, and Practice of Interactive Media Professors Ximena Gallardo and Carlos Hernandez ITCP 70010: Fall 2018 Seminar: Mondays, 4:15-6:15 p.m. Seminar room 3309 Lab: Mondays, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Lab meets in GC Library Basement, room C196.01 Carlos Hernandez ([email protected]) Office Hours: By appointment. Often will be able to meet after class. Ximena Gallardo ([email protected]) Office Hours: By appointment. Often available to meet in the hour before class. Books to Purchase: All books are available in paperback and most for e-readers (Kindle, iPad, etc.). If you do use Amazon, you are encouraged to purchase books via the tiny icon link to Amazon on the bottom right corner of the GC Mina Rees Library webpage (http://library.gc.cuny.edu/), which yields a 5 percent contribution from Amazon to the GC library for book and electronic resource purchases. • Yochai Benkler, The Wealth of Networks, Yale Univ. Press, 2006. • Michael Fabricant & Stephen Brier, Austerity Blues: Fighting for the Soul of Public Higher Education, Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2016. • Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Planned Obsolescence: Publishing, Technology and the Future of the Academy, NYU Press, 2011. • James Gee, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy?, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. • Jane McGonigal. Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. Penguin (Reprint edition) 2011. • Franco Moretti, Graphs, Maps, Trees: Abstract Models for Literary History, Verso, 2007. Books available by purchase or freely available online: • Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities: Concepts, Models, and Experiments, Rebecca Frost David, Matthew K Gold, Katherine D.
    [Show full text]
  • 07 Soccerw Guide.Pmd
    CALIFORNIA Golden Bears 2007 GOLDEN BEAR SOCCER CAL QUICK FACTS TABLE OF CONTENTS Location ......................... Berkeley, CA 94720 Founded ............................................... 1868 Cal Campus ............................................ IFC Cal Records ....................................... 16-17 Enrollment .......................................... 33,000 Quick Facts/Media Contacts ...................... 1 Honors and Awards .......................... 18-19 Conference ................................... Pacific-10 2007 Outlook ............................................. 2 Year-By-Year Results/Postseason ... 20-23 Nickname ................................. Golden Bears 2007 Roster .............................................. 3 Cal vs. All Opponents ............................. 21 Colors ......................................... Blue & Gold 2007 Athlete Profiles............................ 4-10 The University of California ................ 24-25 Chancellor ......................... Robert Birgeneau Cal Coaching Staff ............................. 11-12 Academic Support/Strength Program ...... 26 Director of Athletics .............. Sandy Barbour Opponents .............................................. 13 Administration Bios ................................. 27 Asst. AD/Women’s Soccer ..............Liz Miles 2006 Season In Review/ Edwards Stadium/Goldman Field ............. 28 Home Field/Capacity ............... Goldman Field Pac-10 Standings .................................... 14 Bears Up Close .....................................
    [Show full text]
  • New Left Collection
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf3k4002tq No online items Register of the New Left collection Finding aid prepared by Ron Bulatoff; revised and edited by David Jacobs and Emilia Schrier Hoover Institution Archives 434 Galvez Mall Stanford University Stanford, CA, 94305-6003 (650) 723-3563 [email protected] © 1998, 2014 Register of the New Left 69001 1 collection Title: New Left collection Date (inclusive): 1923-2004 Collection Number: 69001 Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Archives Language of Material: English Physical Description: 70 manuscript boxes, 4 oversize boxes, 1 oversize folder, 1 envelope, 1 microfilm, 3 phonorecords(28.0 linear feet) Abstract: The New Left Collection largely relates to radical movements for political and social change in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. It is the largest resource in the archives devoted to this turbulent period in American history. Organized alphabetically by subject file, the collections consists of serial issues and other printed matter, and includes a great deal of ephemera, especially leaflets and flyers. Topics covered in the collection include the movement against the Vietnam War; student radicalism; the civil rights movement and black militancy; revolutionary organizations; the women's liberation movement; and the counter-culture. Access The collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least two business days in advance of intended use. Publication Rights For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives Acquisition Information Acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 1969. An increment was added in 2011. Related Collection(s) Radical Right Collection, Hoover Institution Archives Accruals Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared.
    [Show full text]
  • Midweek Regular Coupon 24/06/2019 10:25 1 / 2
    Issued Date Page MIDWEEK REGULAR COUPON 24/06/2019 10:25 1 / 2 BOTH TEAMS INFORMATION 3-WAY ODDS (1X2) DOUBLE CHANCE TOTALS 2.5 1ST HALF - 3-WAY HT/FT TO SCORE HANDICAP (1X2) GAME CODE HOME TEAM 1 / 2 AWAY TEAM 1/ 12 /2 2.5- 2.5+ 01 0/ 02 1-1 /-1 2-1 1-/ /-/ 2-/ 2-2 /-2 1-2 ++ -- No CAT TIME DET NS L 1 X 2 1X 12 X2 U O 1 X 2 1/1 X/1 2/1 1/X X/X 2/X 2/2 X/2 1/2 YES NO HC 1 X 2 Tuesday, 25 June, 2019 2001 KAZAM 11:00 L SDYUSSHOR NO 8 - - - OKZHETPES RESERVE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2002 KAZAM 11:00 L ZHETYSU TALDYKORGAN.. - - - AKTOBE RESERVE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2003 KAZAM 12:00 L AKADEMIA ONTUSTYK R.. - - - IRTYSH PAVLODAR RES.. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2004 AUS20 12:30 L BRISBANE CITY - - - LIONS FC - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2006 KAZAM 13:00 L SHAKHTAR KARAGANDA .. - - - FK RUZAYEVKA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2005 ACLPO 13:00 0-1 1 L HIROSHIMA 2.00 3.05 3.65 KASHIMA ANTLERS 1.21 1.29 1.66 1.60 2.25 2.70 1.95 4.40 3.40 4.70 27.0 14.5 4.70 15.0 7.40 7.70 36.0 1.95 1.70 0:1 3.75 3.55 1.70 2007 ACLPO 14:30 1-2 1 L SHANDONG LUNENG TAI.. 2.10 3.25 3.20 GUANGZHOU EV. 1.28 1.27 1.61 1.85 1.85 2.70 2.10 3.75 3.45 5.20 25.0 13.8 5.30 14.0 5.90 7.40 32.0 1.70 2.00 0:1 3.80 3.80 1.65 2009 URU19 15:00 L CA BELLA VISTA - - - CLUB NACIONAL DE FO.
    [Show full text]
  • The Nuclear Freeze Campaign and the Role of Organizers
    Week Three Reading Guide: The Nuclear Freeze campaign and the role of organizers The reading by Redekop has been replaced by a book review by Randall Forsberg, and the long rough- cut video interview of Forsberg has been replaced by a shorter, more focused one. We start the first day with a brief discussion of Gusterson’s second article, building on the previous long discussion of the first one. September 23, 2019 Gusterson, H. 1999, “Feminist Militarism,” PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review 22.2, 17; https://doi.org/10.1525/pol.1999.22.2.17 This article focuses on the feminist themes Gusterson touched on in his earlier one. He begins restating the essentialist position and its opposition by feminists via “social constructedness.” Second-wave feminism started with Simone de Beauvoir’s idea that gender is constructed (“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman”) and extending to post-structuralist Judith Butler, for whom gender is a performance, potentially fluid, learned and practiced daily based on cultural norms and discourses. Gusterson is intrigued by the idea of feminist militarism as performance. “If we weren’t feminists when we went in [to the military], we were when we came out.” What was meant by this? How does the military culture described in the article reflect gender essentialism? On p. 22, Gusterson argues that the women’s movement and the peace movement “remake their mythic narratives… through the tropes of revitalization.” What does he mean by this? Do you agree or disagree? Why? Is feminist militarism feminist? Does your answer depend on whether you adopt essentialist or constructivist reasoning? Wittner, L.
    [Show full text]
  • Teen Stabbing Questions Still Unanswered What Motivated 14-Year-Old Boy to Attack Family?
    Save $86.25 with coupons in today’s paper Penn State holds The Kirby at 30 off late Honoring the Center’s charge rich history and its to beat Temple impact on the region SPORTS • 1C SPECIAL SECTION Sunday, September 18, 2016 BREAKING NEWS AT TIMESLEADER.COM '365/=[+<</M /88=C6@+83+sǍL Teen stabbing questions still unanswered What motivated 14-year-old boy to attack family? By Bill O’Boyle Sinoracki in the chest, causing Sinoracki’s wife, Bobbi Jo, 36, ,9,9C6/Ľ>37/=6/+./<L-97 his death. and the couple’s 17-year-old Investigators say Hocken- daughter. KINGSTON TWP. — Specu- berry, 14, of 145 S. Lehigh A preliminary hearing lation has been rampant since St. — located adjacent to the for Hockenberry, originally last Sunday when a 14-year-old Sinoracki home — entered 7 scheduled for Sept. 22, has boy entered his neighbors’ Orchard St. and stabbed three been continued at the request house in the middle of the day members of the Sinoracki fam- of his attorney, Frank Nocito. and stabbed three people, kill- According to the office of ing one. ily. Hockenberry is charged Magisterial District Justice Everyone connected to the James Tupper and Kingston case and the general public with homicide, aggravated assault, simple assault, reck- Township Police Chief Michael have been wondering what Moravec, the hearing will be lessly endangering another Photo courtesy of GoFundMe could have motivated the held at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 7 at person and burglary in connec- In this photo taken from the GoFundMe account page set up for the Sinoracki accused, Zachary Hocken- Tupper’s office, 11 Carverton family, David Sinoracki is shown with his wife, Bobbi Jo, and their three children, berry, to walk into a home on tion with the death of David Megan 17; Madison, 14; and David Jr., 11.
    [Show full text]
  • ASD-Covert-Foreign-Money.Pdf
    overt C Foreign Covert Money Financial loopholes exploited by AUGUST 2020 authoritarians to fund political interference in democracies AUTHORS: Josh Rudolph and Thomas Morley © 2020 The Alliance for Securing Democracy Please direct inquiries to The Alliance for Securing Democracy at The German Marshall Fund of the United States 1700 18th Street, NW Washington, DC 20009 T 1 202 683 2650 E [email protected] This publication can be downloaded for free at https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/covert-foreign-money/. The views expressed in GMF publications and commentary are the views of the authors alone. Cover and map design: Kenny Nguyen Formatting design: Rachael Worthington Alliance for Securing Democracy The Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD), a bipartisan initiative housed at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, develops comprehensive strategies to deter, defend against, and raise the costs on authoritarian efforts to undermine and interfere in democratic institutions. ASD brings together experts on disinformation, malign finance, emerging technologies, elections integrity, economic coercion, and cybersecurity, as well as regional experts, to collaborate across traditional stovepipes and develop cross-cutting frame- works. Authors Josh Rudolph Fellow for Malign Finance Thomas Morley Research Assistant Contents Executive Summary �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1 Introduction and Methodology ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
    [Show full text]
  • Stop Cheney's Monsters Now!
    LaRouche P ★ A ★ C ★ SoldiersSoldiers of of SatanSatan LAROUCHE SAYS: Stop Cheney’s Monsters Now! $ Suggested Contribution 5 Cheney’s ‘Spoon-Benders’ Pushing Nuclear Armageddon by Jeffrey Steinberg ometime in late 1980, then-Col. Paul E. Vallely, the But the subsequent paper co-authored by Vallely went Commander of the 7th Psychological Operations way beyond ESP and the other paranormal techniques SGroup, United States Army Reserve, Presidio of San advocated by Alexander: “Strategic MindWar must begin Francisco, Ca., co-authored a discussion paper, which the moment war is considered to be inevitable,” the docu- received wide and controversial attention within the U.S. ment stated. “It must seek out the attention of the enemy military, particularly within the Special Operations com- nation through every available medium, and it must strike munity. The paper was titled “From PSYOP to MindWar: at the nation’s potential soldiers before they put on their The Psychology of Victory,” and it presented a Nietzschean uniforms. It is in their homes and their communities that scheme for waging perpetual psychological warfare they are most vulnerable to MindWar. against friend and enemy populations alike, and even “To this end,” Vallely and co-author continued, against the American people. “MindWar must be strategic in emphasis, with tactical The “MindWar” paper was provoked by an article by Lt. applications playing a reinforcing, supplementary role. In Col. John Alexander, which appeared in the December 1980 its strategic context, MindWar must reach out to friends, edition of Military Review, advocating the introduction of enemies, and neutrals alike across the globe—neither ESP (extra-sensory perception), “tele-pathetic behavior mod- through primitive ‘battlefield’ leaflets and loudspeakers of ification,” para-psychology, psychokinesis (“mind over mat- PSYOP nor through the weak, imprecise, and narrow ter”), remote viewing, out of body experiences, and other effort of psychotronics—but through the media possessed New Age and occult practices into U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Catalog 11 Mare Booksellers | Email: [email protected] Phone: (603)742-1229
    Catalog 11 Mare Booksellers www.marebooksellers.com | email: [email protected] phone: (603)742-1229 Catalog 11… Featuring punk fanzines: Gun Rubber, London’s Burning, Trash ’77 and others new to us. New acquisitions of old favorites such as: All the Young Dudes, The Armagideon Times, Gabba Gabba Gazette, and others. What do punks think of sex and birth control? See entry #43 In the Underground Press: Make paint bombs and knock over lamp posts: entries #54 and #56 Several issues of The Black Panther and Muhammad Speaks: entries #46-49 www.marebooksellers.com | email: [email protected] phone: (603)742-1229 1. Slit Your Wrists if You Can’t Rock and Roll. Philly’s New Wave. No. 2 Various authors. Jack Off, Publisher. Philadelphia: no date, perhaps late 1977, early 1978. Side stapled format. 8 ½ by 11 inches. 18 pp., including covers. Black and white photos throughout. A punk and new wave zine from the Philadelphia area, presenting straight up coverage of various acts. With contributions by Jack Off, Jay Schwartz, Roid Kafka and others. This issue with news/commentary/interviews on The Stranglers, the Cramps, The Reds, The A’s, Elvis Costello and others. GOOD condition. Moderate browning to the piece, a bit heavier along the extremities. Minor wrinkling and edgewear. $125.00 www.marebooksellers.com | email: [email protected] phone: (603)742-1229 2. The Gun Rubber. Summer 1977. Issue #6. Bower, Paul (editor) Paul Bower, Publisher. Sheffield, UK: 1977. Single stapled format. 11 ¾ by 8 ¼ inches. 32 pp., including covers. Printed on different colored and stock paper.
    [Show full text]
  • ABSTRACT Title of Document: from the BELLY of the HUAC: the RED PROBES of HOLLYWOOD, 1947-1952 Jack D. Meeks, Doctor of Philos
    ABSTRACT Title of Document: FROM THE BELLY OF THE HUAC: THE RED PROBES OF HOLLYWOOD, 1947-1952 Jack D. Meeks, Doctor of Philosophy, 2009 Directed By: Dr. Maurine Beasley, Journalism The House Un-American Activities Committee, popularly known as the HUAC, conducted two investigations of the movie industry, in 1947 and again in 1951-1952. The goal was to determine the extent of communist infiltration in Hollywood and whether communist propaganda had made it into American movies. The spotlight that the HUAC shone on Tinsel Town led to the blacklisting of approximately 300 Hollywood professionals. This, along with the HUAC’s insistence that witnesses testifying under oath identify others that they knew to be communists, contributed to the Committee’s notoriety. Until now, historians have concentrated on offering accounts of the HUAC’s practice of naming names, its scrutiny of movies for propaganda, and its intervention in Hollywood union disputes. The HUAC’s sealed files were first opened to scholars in 2001. This study is the first to draw extensively on these newly available documents in an effort to reevaluate the HUAC’s Hollywood probes. This study assesses four areas in which the new evidence indicates significant, fresh findings. First, a detailed analysis of the Committee’s investigatory methods reveals that most of the HUAC’s information came from a careful, on-going analysis of the communist press, rather than techniques such as surveillance, wiretaps and other cloak and dagger activities. Second, the evidence shows the crucial role played by two brothers, both German communists living as refugees in America during World War II, in motivating the Committee to launch its first Hollywood probe.
    [Show full text]
  • The Long New Right and the World It Made Daniel Schlozman Johns
    The Long New Right and the World It Made Daniel Schlozman Johns Hopkins University [email protected] Sam Rosenfeld Colgate University [email protected] Version of January 2019. Paper prepared for the American Political Science Association meetings. Boston, Massachusetts, August 31, 2018. We thank Dimitrios Halikias, Katy Li, and Noah Nardone for research assistance. Richard Richards, chairman of the Republican National Committee, sat, alone, at a table near the podium. It was a testy breakfast at the Capitol Hill Club on May 19, 1981. Avoiding Richards were a who’s who from the independent groups of the emergent New Right: Terry Dolan of the National Conservative Political Action Committee, Paul Weyrich of the Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress, the direct-mail impresario Richard Viguerie, Phyllis Schlafly of Eagle Forum and STOP ERA, Reed Larson of the National Right to Work Committee, Ed McAteer of Religious Roundtable, Tom Ellis of Jesse Helms’s Congressional Club, and the billionaire oilman and John Birch Society member Bunker Hunt. Richards, a conservative but tradition-minded political operative from Utah, had complained about the independent groups making mischieF where they were not wanted and usurping the traditional roles of the political party. They were, he told the New Rightists, like “loose cannonballs on the deck of a ship.” Nonsense, responded John Lofton, editor of the Viguerie-owned Conservative Digest. If he attacked those fighting hardest for Ronald Reagan and his tax cuts, it was Richards himself who was the loose cannonball.1 The episode itself soon blew over; no formal party leader would follow in Richards’s footsteps in taking independent groups to task.
    [Show full text]