Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture: Envisioning the Totalitarian Enemy, 1920s-1950s

418 Pages·2003·5.41 MB·English

by  Benjamin L. Alpers

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A      
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sh DICTATORS,

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Y, ENVISIONING THE TOTALITARIAN ENEMY,
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I BENJAMIN L. ALPERS
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l TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPress ChapelHill&London
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ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
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MO Chapterappearedpreviouslyinslightlydifferentformin
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RS MilitaryinWorldWarII,’’JournalofAmericanHistory,no.
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67 LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Alpers,BenjaminLeontief,–
Dictators,democracy,andAmericanpublicculture:
envisioningthetotalitarianenemy,s–s/
BenjaminL.Alpers.
p.cm.—(CulturalstudiesoftheUnitedStates)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
---(cloth:alk.paper)
---(pbk.:alk.paper)
.Dictatorship. .Democracy. .Massmedia—
UnitedStates—Influence. .Publicopinion—
UnitedStates. I.Title. II.Series.
. 
.—dc

cloth          
paper          

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CA Acknowledgments,ix
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M Introduction,
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N  TheRomanceofaDictator:
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Y, DictatorshipinAmericanPublicCulture,s–,
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C  TheTotalitarianState:
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DE ModernDictatorshipasaNewFormofGovernment,s–,
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A DecliningRegardforDictatorsamidGrowingFearsofDictatorship,
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DI –,
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s  TheAudienceItselfIstheDrama:
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p DictatorshipandtheRegimentedCrowd,–,
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29  DictatorIsmsandOurDemocracy:
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TheRiseofTotalitarianism,–,
 ThisIstheArmy:
TheProblemoftheMilitaryinaDemocracy,–,
 HereIsGermany:
UnderstandingtheNaziEnemy,–,
 TheBattleofRussia:
TheRussianPeople,Communism,andTotalitarianism,–,
 ABootStampingonaHumanFace—Forever:
TotalitarianismasNightmareinPostwarAmerica,
Notes,
Bibliography,
Index,

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CA I am deeply indebted to the many people who have helped this project
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ER reachcompletion:toDanielRodgers,mygraduateadviser,andtherestof
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A mydoctoralcommittee,RichardChallener,ArnoMayer,andAlanBrinkley;
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AN to Gary Gerstle, without whom I would never have become a twentieth-
Y, centuryhistorian;toJoanRubin,BillJordan,TonyGrafton,andKarenMer-
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RA rill, who each taught me much about what it means to be a historian and
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MO a scholar; to Phil Katz, Kevin Downing, Darryl Peterkin, John Earle, Leslie
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D Tuttle, and many other fellow graduate students whose intellect, wit, and
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S fellowshipwillalwaysbewithme;toJenniferDelton,AndrewCohen,and
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T Rebecca Plante, with whom I shared many ideas and hope to continue to
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C do so; to David Nord and my other editors and readers at the Journal of
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American History, in which Chapter  appeared in slightly different form;
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s to Don B. Morlan and Abbott Gleason for bibliographic insights; to Randy
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p Lewis, who, in the final stages of this project, has been an indispensable
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readerandanevenbetterfriend.
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mademyresearchpossible:RosemaryHanesandtheotherlibrariansatthe
MotionPictureSectionoftheLibraryofCongress;thestaffoftheNational
Archives’MotionPicture,Sound,andVideoBranch;RobertDenhamofthe
Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana; Elizabeth Carroll-
Horrocks of the American Philosophical Society Library; the librarians at
HoughtonLibraryatHarvardUniversity;thewonderfulstaffofPrinceton’s
Firestone Library; and the many librarians at the Universities of Missouri
andOklahoma.
I am grateful for the material generosity of the Woodrow Wilson Na-
tional Fellowship Foundation (which, through the Mellon Fellowships in
theHumanities,thePrincetonWilsonFellows,andPrinceton’sMellonpost-
enrollmentdissertationfellowships,fundedmyworkforfourandone-half
academicyearsandtwosummers),theEisenhowerWorldAffairsInstitute,
andPrincetonUniversity.
IwishtothankallofthosewhohavemadetheUniversityofOklahoma’s
HonorsCollegesuchanextraordinaryplaceinwhichtowork:toSteveGil-
lonforlayingthegroundworkforawonderfulscholarlyenvironmentandto

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