McCarthyism Now
Barker, Lucius J.
McCarthyism Now In Clear and Present Danger, by John W. Caughey. University of Chicago Press. 208 pp. $4. Reviewed by Lucius J. Barker In the name of national security, our traditional freedoms...
...In such an environment, Caughey feels that many of our freedoms are being lost or distorted...
...and for a host of individuals, a reduction of the rights of due process, presumption of innocence, and of freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and political association...
...This is the central theme of John W. Caughey's interesting and readable volume...
...The "hue and cry" to ferret out Communists, the dema-goguery of McCarthyism, and the fear of being a non-conformist, all have combined to "shackle our minds...
...The major portion of the book is a description of the environment created by the reign of McCarthyism during the 1950's, and which, in a real sense, is still with us...
...requirement of anti-Communist oaths from tens of millions of Americans...
...legislative committee probes into labor, education, the press, the church, and the entertainment industry...
...Too few of us are aware of this danger...
...What has happened to academic freedom provides an example...
...In such circumstances, our freedoms are being impaired and bartered away bit by bit...
...Indeed, the true meaning and central purpose of this freedom has...
...And too few, among those who are aware, are willing to "stand for freedom," and fight for our "birthright...
...an elaborate and expensive probe into the "loyalty co-efficient" of every federal employee no matter how non-sensitive his position...
...Reviewed by Lucius J. Barker In the name of national security, our traditional freedoms such as speech and press are deteriorating at such an alarming rate that they are in a "clear and present danger" of being lost...
...Caughey, fired as a history professor at the University of California at Los Angeles for refusal to sign a loyalty oath but later reinstated, develops in detail how this futile quest for absolute internal security has led to "the silencing of speeches, writing, and argument that might have the appearance of being pro-Communist...
Vol. 22 • August 1958 • No. 8
