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
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