The Culture of the Cold War PDF
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THE CULTURE OF THE COLD WAR THE AMERICAN MOMENT Stanley I. Kutler, Editor The Twentieth-Century American City JON C. TEAFORD American Workers, American Unions, 1920-1985 ROBERT H. ZIEGER A House Divided: Sectionalism and Civil War, 1848-1865 RICHARD H. SEWELL Liberty under Law: The Supreme Court in American Life WILLIAM M. WIECEK Winning Is the Only Thing: Sports in America since 1945 RANDY ROBERTS AND JAMES OLSON Am erica’s Half- Cen t ury: United States Foreign Policy in the Cold War THOMAS J. MCCORMICK American Anticommunism: Combating the Enemy Within, 1830-1970 M. J. HE A LE The Culture of the Cold War STEPHEN J. WHITFIELD T H E C U L T U R E OF T HE C O L D WAR BY S T E P H E N J. W H I T F I E L D THE JOHNS HOPKI NS UNI VERS I TY PRESS B A L T I M O R E • L O N D O N This book is dedicated, with love, to RON AND DEENA © 1991 The Johns Hopkins University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Originally published, hardcover and paperback, 1991 Second printing, paperback, 1992 The Johns Hopkins University Press 701 West 40th Street Baltimore, Maryland 21211-2190 The Johns Hopkins Press Ltd., London The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Whitfield, Stephen J.# 1942- The culture of the cold war / Stephen J. Whitfield. p. cm. — (The American moment) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-8018-4081-3 (hardcover). — ISBN 0-8018-4082-1 (pbk.) 1. United States—Popular culture—History—20th century. 2. Cold war—Social aspects—United States. I. Title. II. Series. E169.12.W47 1990 306'.0973—dc20 90-4599 CIP CONTENTS Foreword vii Acknowledgments ix 1. Politicizing Culture: Suspicious Minds 1 2. Seeing Red: The Stigma 27 3. Assenting: The Trend of Ideology 53 4. Praying: God Bless America 77 5. Informing: Many Are Called 101 6. Reeling: The Politics of Film 127 7. Boxed-In: Television and the Press 153 8. Dissenting: Pity the Land 179 9. Thawing: A Substitute for Victory 205 Bibliographical Essay 231 Index 253 F O R E W O R D Anti-Communism has been a recurring theme in American political life for more than a century. But because the perceived threat from international Communism receded by the beginning of the 1990s, we run the risk of remembering the nation's crusade against Com munism as an isolated historical happening, one that affected only diplomatic and military policies of the Cold War. On the contrary, that struggle deeply scarred the nation's social order as well. Vigilance against Communism was a national priority during the darkest days of the Cold War, from the late 1940s until the mid- 1950s. Abroad, the government mobilized alliances and vast mili tary resources to combat Soviet expansionism, both real and imag ined. At home, politicians vied with one another to demonstrate their devotion to the cause of the "Free World." "McCarthyism" is the convenient historical shorthand to describe the political behav ior of the period, but it was far more than a phenomenon associated with a relatively obscure junior senator from Wisconsin. The na tional fetish with anti-Communism pervaded American society, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the popular culture of the era. Few could escape or miss the message. Literature, movies, art, and the media—particularly the then-new form, television—consistently hammered the theme of an enemy within, working to subvert the American Way of Life. Movies jus tified informing on the behavior of one's family or friends; popular novels glorified trampling on constitutional and democratic values in pursuit of the necessary end of destroying the Communist men ace; and organized religion sanctified the crusade against Godless Communism. Stephen J. Whitfield has skillfully recalled that cul tural milieu. His engaging summaries and vignettes of events are linked to an analysis informed with criticism, empathy, and wit— and one that deftly combines a civil libertarian and an anti-Com- munist perspective. The domestic war against Communism had profound conse quences beyond political results. The cultural assault on Commun ism unleashed a fear and loathing that weakened and even subdued viii FOREWORD traditional commitments to an open society and the Rule of Law. The hypocrisy and self-righteousness that animated so much of anti communism had a corrosive effect that proved more real than spies or subversives. Whitfield's work is timely, for it reminds us that in tolerance and demands for conformity assault and strain the fragile bonds of our pluralist society. Stanley I. Kutler THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON, WISCONSIN ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In thinking about the 1950s, and then writing this book, I have incurred many debts. A fellow graduate student, David Axeen, taught me the phrase "Cold War liberalism," which he meant some what pejoratively. Readers should nevertheless be advised of my belief that this orientation remains the soundest guide to a historical consideration of the period, which did not confine the political choices to Cardinal Spellman or Lillian Heilman. But I have bene fited over the years from pungent conversations with Phillip M. Weitzman and Henie Lustgarten, who disagree. Nor can the debts that I very much owe to two particular historians, Richard S. Tedlow and Raymond O. Arsenault, be easily repaid. By assuming that a manuscript is guilty unless proven innocent, Richard H. King has continued to demonstrate the compatibility of skepticism and friendship. Edward S. Shapiro, David M. Oshinsky, James B. Gilbert, David Starr, and Thomas Doherty also read—in whole or in part— an earlier draft of The Culture of the Cold War. I am grateful for their criticism, their learning, their instruction, and their encour agement; but they are not to blame for my stubbornness or for the errors that persist. As consulting editor of this series and as an au thority on this period, Stanley I. Kutler was both noodge and Nestor; he made this book happen. This is also the right moment to thank Michael Rothschild, another child of the fifties, whose reactions to the cinema of that era shaped my own and whose memories remain much sharper. Because of a paid leave of absence from Brandéis Uni versity, the completion of this book was possible. But because my wife, Lee, wanted to live in southern France, the completion of this book was also fun. That is only one reason why my deepest gratitude is reserved for her.
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