The Cold War and the college campus



The Cold War and the college campus

On the heels of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a Cold War in which each country (and their allies) brokered military coalitions and engaged in espionage and propaganda in an attempt at world supremacy. This meant that any and all efforts that even hinted at communist sympathies were deemed evil and a threat to the national security of the United States. The federal government created the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) to root out communists or communist sympathizers, and individual states did the same. In the State of Washington, it was called the Interim Committee on Un-American Activities, better known as the Canwell Committee. Washington legislators passed a law that demanded that all public employees sign an oath disclaiming membership in organizations that advocated strikes, undermined American values, or supported an overthrow of the government. Also, they empowered the Canwell Committee to investigate organizations or groups that might house such individuals, including the University of Washington.

A handful of professors at the University of Washington were target for suspected membership in the Communist Party (CP) or communist sympathies. This left the faculty, the trustees, and President Raymond B. Allen in a precarious situation. Universities were supposed to be bastions of free inquiry, discovery and critique. And, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), a national organization with campus affiliates, supported the notion of academic freedom, the guaranteed right of free speech, research, and publication for faculty (Your primary source is one of the AAUP’s definitive statements on academic freedom). But, many campus constituents were vehemently anti-communist and were willing to sacrifice civil liberties in the name of national security. Also, the university was dependent on public money and good will to survive--and many citizens and legislators were similarly willing to sacrifice civil liberties.

The theme of sacrificing civil liberties in the name of national security is also present in the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Some college students were allowed to leave the internment camps and attend institutions in the Midwest or East in order that they become more Americanized and, eventually, help other Japanese Americans become more Americanized, also. Therefore, the price of freedom from the camp was total compliance and assimilation, a situation that haunted many of the college-going students.

(points of info for Sanders chapter: Henry Wallace was a presidential candidate in 1948; he advocated an end to the Cold War and friendly relations with the Soviet Union as well as full racial equality—which meant that some people considered him a communist and a danger to the state. Martin Dies and J. Parnell Thomas, both elected officials, were rabid anti-communists who headed important committees that interrogated and harassed suspected communists in the spirit of Joseph McCarthy.)

As you are doing the reading, think about these questions:

• How should academic freedom and national security be balanced? How should civil liberties and national security be balanced?

• Should elected officials or the general public have a say in what happens on a public college campus?

• When should faculty be considered citizens protected by the constitution and when should they be considered employees bound by employer mandates and regulations?

• Is assimilation part of the purpose of higher education? Should it be?

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