The dissertation is a cultural and intellectual study of anticommunism in the United States before the Cold War. The thesis comprises two cases studies, one examining early efforts to uncover Soviet agents operating in the United States, the other looking at varieties of anticommunism in the city of Detroit, examined through print, radio, and in art and architecture. The first case study examines interwar efforts to expose Soviet espionage activities. In order to support the American policy of non-recognition towards Soviet Russia (before 1933), to attack the Roosevelt government for recognising Russia (after 1933), and to lobby for a substantial enlargement of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, anticommunists undertook a series of private efforts to expose Soviet espionage activities in America, almost all of which relied upon forged, libellous and sometimes defamatory material. The thesis looks at accusations made against progressive US Senators, and Russian Amtorg Trading Corporation and allegations regarding supposed Russian espionage networks operating in the United States. It addresses the impact these false claims had upon the anticommunist movement in the United States in the 1930s and beyond. The second case study, a social, cultural and intellectual examination of currents of anticommunist thought in Detroit in the interwar period, seeks to examine the interaction of conflicting interpretation of the Communist menace, in traditional venues for the advocacy of programmatic action (the press, the pulpit, and the political sphere), and in cultural venues, such as architecture, aesthetics, personal philosophy and social behaviour. Structured around an examination of the personal fiefdom set up by industrial Henry Ford after the then of the First World War, this section discuses currents of anticommunist thought in business, labour, and the churches, and argues that the depression encouraged a significant reformulation of anticommunism along largely national and liberal lines.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:599495 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Goodall, A. V. |
| Publisher | University of Cambridge |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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