Tangled up in red: The Smith Act, Cold War repression, and the trials of Communists in New York and Detroit

<p>A comparison of the 1949 Smith Act trial of Communist Party leaders in New York and the 1952 Smith Act prosecution of six Detroit communists shows that Cold War anticommunism in the United States was not uniform; instead, it was shaped by local political contexts. While some New York communist leaders had ties to Soviet intelligence, they were ultimately prosecuted for their political speech which, under the Smith Act, rose to a crime. Conversely, the Detroit defendants had no clear ties to any Soviet intelligence officers and were simply prosecuted under the Smith Act for their political speech and local activities. Situated within a broader historiographical debate between revisionist and traditionalist historians, this comparative analysis demonstrates how anticommunist repression varied by region and by application. Through these contrasts, this piece challenges simplistic McCarthy-era narratives and contributes to Cold War scholarship by offering an abundance of nuance.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History and Philosophy

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Sangster, Alan

Contributors dc:contributor

• Ashley Johnson Bavery, Ph.D.
• John G. McCurdy, Ph.D.
• Steven J. Ramold, Ph.D.

• communism
• CPUSA
• Detroit
• FARA
• SDNY
• smith act
• History

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1323

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.emich.edu:theses-2670