Anti-Communism in Twentieth-Century America: A Critical History

✍ Scribed by Larry Ceplair

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 385
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

In the United States today, communism is an ideology or political movement that barely registers in the consciousness of our nation. Yet merely half a century ago, "communist" was a buzzword that every citizen in our nation was aware of--a term that connoted "traitor" and almost certainly a characterization that most Americans were afraid of.



Anti-Communism in Twentieth-Century America: A Critical History provides a panoramic perspective of the types of anti-communists in the United States between 1919 and the collapse of the Soviet Union. It explains the causes and exceptional nature of anti-communism in the United States, and divides it into eight discrete categories. This title then thoroughly examines the words and deeds of the various anti-Communists in each of these categories during the three "Red Scares" in the past century. The work concludes with an unapologetic assessment of domestic anti-communism. This book allows readers to more fully comprehend what the anti-communists meant with their rhetoric, and grasp their impact on the United States during the 20th century and beyond--for example, how anti-communism has reappeared as anti-terrorism.

✦ Table of Contents

Dedication
Contents
Introduction
1 Official Anti-Communism, 1919–1939
2 Unofficial Anti-Communism, 1919–1939
3 The Second “Red Scare,” 1939–1941
4 World War II
5 Official Anti-Communism, 1945–1948
6 Official Anti-Communism, 1949–1957
7 Institutional Anti-Communism, 1945–1957
8 Ex-Communist and Conservative Anti-Communism, 1945–1957
9 Liberal and Left-of-Liberal Anti-Communism, 1945–1957
10 Civil-Libertarian Anti-Communism, 1945–1957
11 The Decline and Periodic Revivals of Domestic Anti-Communism
Conclusion
Afterword: Can It Happen Again? Or, Is Anti-Terrorism the New Anti-Communism?
Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index