McCarthyism Aimed at the Press

217 Pages·2010·0.69 MB·English

DARK DAYS IN THE NEWSROOM

DARK DAYS
in the
NEWSROOM
McCarthyism Aimed at the Press
EDWARD ALWOOD
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Philadelphia
Temple University Press
1601 North Broad Street
Philadelphia PA 19122
www.temple.edu/tempress
Copyright © 2007 by Edward Alwood
All rights reserved
Published 2007
Printed in the United States of America
Text design by Lynne Frost
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Alwood, Edward.
Dark days in the newsroom : McCarthyism aimed at the press / Edward Alwood.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 13: 978-1-59213-341-3 ISBN 10: 1-59213-341-X (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN 13: 978-1-59213-342-0 ISBN 10: 1-59213-342-8 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Anti-communist movements—United States—History—20th century.
2. McCarthy, Joseph, 1908–1957—Relations with journalists. 3. Journalists—
United States—History—20th century. 4. Journalists—United States—
Political activity—History—20th century. 5. Press and politics—United
States—History—20th century. 6. United States—Politics and government—
1945–1953. 7. United States—Politics and government—1953–1961.
I. Title.
E743.5.A66 2007
973.921—dc22 2006034205
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
In Memoriam
Margaret A. Blanchard
Teacher, Mentor, and Friend

Do the people of this land . . . desire to preserve those so
carefully protected by the First Amendment: Liberty of
religious worship, freedom of speech and of the press, and
the right as freemen peaceably to assemble and petition
their government for a redress of grievances? If so, let them
withstand all beginnings of encroachment. For the saddest
epitaph which can be carved in memory of a vanished
liberty is that it was lost because its possessors failed to
stretch forth a saving hand while yet there was time.
— Supreme Court Justice Owen Josephus Roberts,
Associated Press v. National Labor Relations Board,
301 U.S. 103 (1937)

Contents
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
CHAPTER ONE Awakening the Newsroom 12
CHAPTER TWO The Politics of Anticommunism 24
CHAPTER THREE Prelude to an Investigation 40
CHAPTER FOUR Reds in the Newsroom 51
CHAPTER FIVE The Specter of McCarthy 65
CHAPTER SIX Dark Clouds over the Newsroom 80
CHAPTER SEVEN The Investigation 95
CHAPTER EIGHT Deeper Trouble 108
CHAPTER NINE Journalists and the First Amendment 122
CHAPTER TEN Living with the Legacy 138
Epilogue 149
Notes 155
Selected Bibliography 191
Index 195