Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-7qhmt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T16:13:20.577Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Anticommunist White Ethnics in Search of True Americanness: Ideas and Alliances in the 1950s–1970s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2013

Abstract

This study explores the ways in which certain groups of white ethnics understood the idea of the un-American between the 1950s and the 1970s. Their definition of the un-American was determined by their perception of true Americanness, which in turn was connected to their anticommunist beliefs. Such an understanding of true Americanness helped these white ethnics build political alliances, particularly with the Republican Party. However, by the mid-1970s, the white anticommunist ethnics found themselves outside of the political mainstream, with anticommunism a heavy ideological burden to carry. The article is based on archival materials from presidential libraries and sources from within the ethnic communities themselves.

Type
Un-American Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Horowitz, Irving, Foundations of Political Sociology (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1997)Google Scholar.

2 Gerson, Louis, The Hyphenate in Recent American Politics and Diplomacy (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1964)Google Scholar; and Weed, Perry, The White Ethnic Movement and Ethnic Politics (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1973)Google Scholar.

3 Novak, Michael, The Rise of Unmeltable Ethnics (New York: Macmillan, 1972)Google Scholar.

4 Greeley, Andrew, Why Can't They Be Like Us? (New York: E. P. Dutton 1971)Google Scholar.

5 Fried, Albert, ed., McCarthyism: The Great American Red Scare. A Documentary History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 118Google Scholar.

6 See Sexton, Cayo Patricia, The War on Labor and the Left: Understanding America's Unique Conservatism (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1991), 144Google Scholar; Nielsen, Kim E., Un-American Womanhood: Antiradicalism, Antifeminism, and the First Red Scare (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2001)Google Scholar. Nielsen's work proceeds in this direction and, although it attempts to present an objective analysis, her overall argument still treats un-Americanism as a rhetorical construction. According to her, those who opposed un-Americanism were also vehemently opposed to the communist and Bolshevik political beliefs. Her research focuses on the conservative women's movements in the 1920s and shows that they were opposed to any form of radicalism, including the feminist one. According to Nielsen, the conservative women's movements used the term “un-American” to characterize their political opponents claiming, that “feminist influence upon the new enfranchised woman citizen would cause her to support, in ways never possible before, dangerously radical state-expanding measures” (ibid., 1). These antifeminists saw radical feminism as destroying the very essence of the American nation and its liberal democratic system's foundation; that is, the family and patriarchy. In other words, being un-American meant, to them, being opposed to the traditional family in the name of womanhood – or being a feminist. Based on this evidence, Nielsen argues that un-Americanism was used by the conservative women's movement as an accusatory political tool against the feminist-oriented movement.

7 Friedrich, Otto, City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s (New York: Harper & Row, 1980), 301Google Scholar.

8 Buckley, William F. Jr., The Committee and Its Critics: A Calm Review of the House Committee on Un-American Activities (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1962)Google Scholar.

9 Ibid., 141–42.

10 Council for the Liberation of Captive Peoples from Soviet Domination, Press Release, 23 June 1964, Eriks Dundurs Papers, Folder 7, Box 6, Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

11 Denis Wadley, “HUAC,” Means (Nov.–Sept. 1964), 8–29.

12 Eriks Dundurs, “HUAC,” Means (Nov.–Sept. 1964), 9–11.

13 See Zake, Ieva, ed., Anti-communist Minorities in the U.S.: Political Activism of Ethnic Refugees (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Zake, Ieva and Gormley, Graham, “Integration or Separation? Nationalities and the Republican Party's Ethnic Politics, 1960s–80sNationalities Papers, 38, 4 (2010), 493514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14 Wadley, p. 11.

15 Kuropas, Myron, “Fighting Moscow from Afar: Ukrainian Americans and the Evil Empire,” in Zake, Anti-communist Minorities in the U.S., 4366, 62Google Scholar.

16 I. B. Dzinich to Gerald Ford, 16 Jan. 1976. Gerald Ford Library, Myron Kuropas Papers, Box 2, Folder “Croatian Ethnic Groups.”

17 Kuropas, 62.

18 Sonia Havelka, Additional Notes, 15 August 1975, President Ford Committee Records, Folder “DeBolt Subject File – Eastern Europeans,” Box A13, Gerald R. Ford Library, Ann Arbor, MI.

19 James Tashjian to Edward Dervinski, 1 March 1976, Gerald Ford Library, Myron Kuropas Papers, Box 1, Folder “Armenian Ethnic Groups.” It has to be noted that the Armenian community wanted President Ford to announce an Armenian American Day; however, the National Security Council put a veto on this idea by advising against any President's messages to the Armenians. See National Security Council to Myron Kuropas, Gerald Ford Library, Myron Kuropas Papers, Box 1, Folder “Armenian Ethnic Groups.”

20 M. George Mooradian to Gerald Ford, 11 Sept. 1975, Gerald Ford Library, Myron Kuropas Papers, Box 7, Folder “Armenian Bicentennial Commemoration.”

21 Steven Markowski to Myron Kuropas, 14 May 1976, Gerald Ford Library, Myron Kuropas Papers, Box 7, Folder “Polish-American Bicentennial Committee of New York, 5/30/76.”

22 Radzilowski, John, “Ethnic Anti-Communism in the United States,” in Zake, Anti-communist Minorities in the U.S., 124, 2Google Scholar.

23 Rev. Walter Szczypula to Gerald Ford, 12 Oct. 1976, Gerald Ford Library, Myron Kuropas Papers, Box 5, Folder “Polish Ethnic Groups,” File 7.

24 Anonymous, “Romanian Ethnic Group: Memo Prepared for the use of Dr. Myron B. Kuropas, Special Assistant to the President for Ethnic Affairs,” undated, Gerald Ford Library, Myron Kuropas Papers, Box 5, Folder “Romanian Ethnic Groups.”

25 The Czechoslovak National Council of America, “Foreign Policy towards the Soviet Union and East Central Europe,” 8 June 1976, Gerald Ford Library, Myron Kuropas Papers, Box 2, Folder “Czechoslovak Ethnic Groups.”

26 Reminiscences of James Sheldon (1972), in the Columbia University Oral History Research Office Collection, 17.

27 Ibid., 24.

28 Ibid., 104–5.

29 Ibid., pp. 46–47.

30 Gerson, The Hyphenate, 214; Reminiscences of James Sheldon, 22.

31 Reminiscences of James Sheldon, 126.

32 Ibid., 159.

33 Ibid., 35.

34 Zake and Gormley, “Integration or Separation?”. Undoubtedly, the white ethnics groups welcomed this since they had been asking for it. For example, the Croatian community in Illinois made it very clear that having participated actively in the election of Nixon in 1968 they expected that “our Nationalities groups' work be continued at once.” See Thaddeus Ripa to I. B. Dzinich, 25 Nov. 1976, Gerald Ford Library, Myron Kuropas Papers, Box 2, Folder “Croatian Ethnic Groups.”

35 Laszlo Pasztor, “Annual Report of the Heritage Groups (Nationalities) Division,” 1 June 1970–31 Dec. 1971, White House Central Files, Staff Member and Office Files, Michael P. Balzano, Folder “(RNC-Heritage Groups Nationalities Division) Reports,” 1.

36 Ibid., pp. 2–8.

37 National Republican Heritage Groups (Nationalities) Council, “Monthly Report,” Jan–Feb. 1972, White House Central Files, Staff Member and Office Files, Michael P. Balzano, Folder “(RNC-Heritage Groups Nationalities Division) Reports.”

38 Spilners, Ilgvars, Mēs uzvarējām! (Riga: Elpa, 1998), 84Google Scholar.

39 Lee, Martin, The Beast Reawakens (New York: Little, Brown and Co. 1997)Google Scholar.

40 Pienkos, Donald, “The Polish American Congress, Polish Americans and the Politics of Anti-communism,” in Zake, Anti-communist Minorities in the U.S., 2542Google Scholar.

41 Zake, Anti-communist Minorities in the U.S.; Zake and Gormley, “Integration or Separation?”.

42 Laszlo Pasztor to Charles Colson, Memorandum and Proposal, 9 June 1972, Michael Balzano Papers, Box 5, White House Central Files: Staff Member and Office Files, College Park, MD.

43 Charles Colson to Fred Malek, “Advertising in Catholic and Ethnic Newspapers,” 20 June 1972, White House Special Files, Staff Members and Office Files, H. R. Haldeman, Box 99.

44 John A. Volpe to Daniel T. Kingsley, “Ethnic and Minority Census,” 7 Sept. 1971, White House Central Files, Staff Member and Office Files, Michael P. Balzano, Box 1.

45 Robert M. Teeter to John Mitchell, “Spanish-American Bloc,” 12 June 1972, Gerald Ford Library, Robert M. Teeter Papers, Box 65, Folder “June 10, 1972 – John N. Mitchell – Spanish-American Bloc.”

46 Laszlo Pasztor to Vice President Gerald Ford, 15 Jan. 1974, Gerald Ford Library, Ford Vice Presidential Papers, Box 118, Folder “National Republican Heritage Groups.”

47 Laszlo Pasztor to Tom Evans, Memorandum, 11 May 1972; Laszlo Pasztor to Rogers Morton, Memorandum, 9 June 1970; Laszlo Pasztor, Proposal, June 1972, Michael Balzano Papers, Folder “(RNC – Heritage Groups, Nationalities Division) Reports,” White House Central Files: Staff Member and Office Files, College Park, MD.

48 Fred Malek to Laszlo Pasztor, “Assignment of Responsibilities,” 22 June 1972, White House Central Files, Staff Member and Office Files, Michael P. Balzano, Folder “(RNC-Heritage Groups Nationalities Division) Reports.”

49 Laszlo Pasztor to Chuck Colson, 13 March 1972, White House Central Files, Staff Member and Office Files, Michael P. Balzano, Folder “(RNC-Heritage Groups Nationalities Division) Pending Requests.”

50 W. Richard Howard, “Memorandum for Mike Balzano,” 14 March 1972, White House Central Files, Staff Member and Office Files, Michael P. Balzano, Folder “(RNC-Heritage Groups Nationalities Division) Pending Requests.”

51 John Volpe, “Memorandum for the President,” 13 Dec. 1972, White House Central Files, Staff Member and Office Files, Michael P. Balzano, Folder “(RNC-Heritage Groups Nationalities Division).”

52 Charles W. Colson to Bruce Kehrli, “Volpe Letter with Recommendations re the Relationship of H.G.'s effort to the RNC Action Memo,” 21 Dec. 1972, White House Central Files, Staff Member and Office Files, Michael P. Balzano, Folder “(RNC-Heritage Groups Nationalities Division).”

53 White House Central Files, Staff Member and Office Files, Michael P. Balzano, Box 1.

54 Anathole Bedriy to Nohemi Labrada, 30 Oct. 1975, Gerald Ford Library, Myron Kuropas Papers, Box 6, Folder “Ukrainian Ethnic Groups,” File No 3.

55 Laszlo Pasztor to Michael Balzano, 26 Jan. 1973, White House Central Files, Staff Member and Office Files, Michael P. Balzano, Box 7.

56 Laszlo Pasztor to George Bush, 30 Jan. 1973, White House Central Files, Staff Member and Official Files, Michael P. Balzano, “(RNC-Heritage Groups Nationalities Division) Reports.”