Red Scare: Memories of the American Inquisition : An Oral History

by Griffin Fariello

This remarkable document of an era that permanently changed the American political landscape offers firsthand accounts of the 20 years of anti-Communist repression instigated by the U.S. Government in 1947, during which millions of Americans were investigated. Arthur Miller, Alger Hiss, and Pete Seeger join more than 60 others to reveal how the hunt for the "disloyal" penetrated every rank of American life.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Politics

575 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book covering the era of the "Red Scare" not just McCarthy, but the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover. A very sad period in U.S. history, and relevant today with NSA looking at the emails of US citizens. If you think you know how bad this period was for people, think again, the author of this book, Griffin Fariello, interviews people who went through those times, and includes interviews with those who did the prosecuting as well as those who were prosecuted and subsequently "hounded" -- and not only the famous (such as Linus Pauling) were subjected to hounding but school teachers and journalists were repeatedly hounded, so that if anyone did hire them, they quickly lost job after job. Very much worth the read.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is just about the best almost forgotten book that I have read. The heart of the book are the dozens of interviews conducted by Griffin Fariello with victims and a few perpetrators of the pervasive campaign of persecution initiated by the US government against anyone and everyone who expressed a progressive or vaguely radical position from 1945 through the 1960s. Everybody has heard about the McCarthy hearings but Fariello's work makes it clear that McCarthy was just one of hundreds of opportunists in that era who bullied their way from coast to coast. Not only did HUAC send out roving investigations to all parts of the country but many states set up their own little witchhunts and kangaroo courts. The author's view, and I think its a correct one, is that Harry Truman started the whole anti-communist mania to win support from rightwing congressmen who might have gone isolationist after 1945, as they did in 1919. That's all it took to set loose the likes of Nixon, McCarthy, J. Edgar Hoover and bullies everywhere. Public school teachers were fired, a to,Sr and writers blacklisted, aggressive union leaders forced out, legitimate scientists deprived of work. And as the author makes clear, the FBI devoted millions of dollars and about half of its work force to hunting "Reds" for years without finding any evidence of any real crime. The waste and futility of the whole era is illustrated by interviews with FBI men who spent decades hounding harmless people and with professional witnesses who lied on cue for HUAC and other investigating bodies. The people who played the coward and turned non lifelong friends and family unsurprisingly did not sit for interviews.

The national mania was enabled by the reality that many Americans had joined the Communist Party in the 1930s and were vulnerable to the infamous question: "Are you now or were you ever a member..." Many refused to answer on principle and went to jail for contempt. Others admitted membership and were jailed under the Smith Act and other laws making membership in the party a crime. Many of those victims interviewed by Fariello conceded that they were foolishly naive about Stalin for far too long. Many others left the party in 1956 after Khrushchev revealed Stalin's crimes and then proceeded to crush the Hungarian rebellion and by the late 50s it was an open secret that half the supposed party members were FBI informers and agents.

In the end, the deepest impression I took from the book was the overwhelming sense of waste - So many strong union leaders, talented actors and writers, community activists, scientists and inspiring teachers were hounded out of their careers and prevented from contributing to the progress of the United States. And the effects have been permanent. The opportunist hacks, for example. who forced out more radical anti-racist leaders of the once great labor unions ended up doing nothing about the dismantling of American industry and the outsourcing of so many jobs beginning in the 1980s.

A sad but necessary book for anyone who is curuous about the fairly recent past of the US.

[Noah LeFevre · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is long but expanded my knowledge of the Red Scare so well with parallels to modern day as well. If you are ever interested in the amazing 1950s, be sure to read this to truly understand what the period was like.

[Genie McFate]

The history of McCarthism.

[Lloyd Fassett]

found out about it on Dan Calin's Hardcore History podcast Oct 2011