MetaFilter posts tagged with mccarthyism

The Boys of Boise

jonp72 — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 18:39:18 -0800

In 1955, at least twelve men in Boise, Idaho were arrested for "infamous crimes against nature.". In the resulting dragnet, the vice president of the Idaho First National Bank was sentenced to seven years in prison, while national magazines fomented a McCarthyite Lavender Scare with headlines such as Male Pervert Ring Seduces 1,000 Boys. This dark chapter in Idaho gay history was documented in both John Gerassi's 1966 book, The Boys of Boise and the recent film, The Fall of '55, by documentarian Seth Randal, but neither Gerassi nor Randal could identify The Queen, a closeted but politically connected homosexual who allegedly used his massive clout to stop the witch hunt.

Sit down. Shut up.

jokeefe — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 10:51:59 -0800

Silence in class. "University professors denounced for anti-Americanism; schoolteachers suspended for their politics; students encouraged to report on their tutors. Are US campuses in the grip of a witch-hunt of progressives, or is academic life just too liberal?" From today's Guardian.

And We're Confiscating Those Cartoons, Professor

BT — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 21:46:13 -0800

Miguel Tinker Salas is the Arango Professor in Latin American History at Pomona College, a political historian and sometime commentator on U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. On Tuesday, an FBI/LA County Sherrifs Office Joint Terrorism Task Force came calling during Tinker Salas's office hours. "After identifying themselves, they proceeded to ask about my relation to Venezuela, the government, the community, my scholarship, my politics...After they departed, the three or four students who were outside my office informed me that these individuals had asked them about my background, my classes, what I taught, my politics and they even wrote down the cartoons that are on my door."

"The Hazards of Private Spy Operations"

trondant — Wed, 02 Feb 2005 21:14:53 -0800

The Pond is the history of a secret, independent US intelligence-gathering group which preceded (and outlasted) the OSS. Shuffled from Cabinet to Cabinet to the CIA, it eventually ran aground against the infighting of McCarthy's Red Scare hearings and was no more by 1955.

muckster — Wed, 12 Dec 2001 22:04:42 -0800

McCarthyism Watch: "The fact that they asked for anything but flag stamps did raise a question for the clerk." At which point do the anecdotes about irrational patriotism and paranoia add up to a genuine cultural shift? I mean, stamps?

Carol Anne — Mon, 08 Oct 2001 05:27:08 -0800

Herblock coined "McCarthyism." Longtime Washington Post cartoonist Herbert Block dies at 91. Wielding independence through his sketches, the artist who gave President Richard Nixon five o'clock shadow won three Pulitzer prizes and the admiration of loyal readers. Don't miss "Five Decades of Herblock" cartoons and essays.