We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 February 2017
Refuse to allow your children to be taught by radical teachers. In some places that may mean teaching them at home. Well, then, teach them at home! No matter if it is the fashionable thing in your town to send girls to one of the colleges dominated by socialists—refuse to send your daughter—better for her to be without an A.B. than to be a disloyal citizen.
1 Mrs. B.L. [Margaret] Robinson, President of the Massachusetts Public Interests League, Women's Patriotic Conference on National Defense (WPCND), “The Responsibility of Being Led,” February 1927, National Republic Magazine Collection, Hoover Institution, Stanford, CA, (hereafter NRM) R362 B386 F11.Google Scholar
2 For example, see Jeansonne, Glen, Women of the Far Right: The Mothers’ Movement and World War II (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1996); Blee, Kathleen M., Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920s (Chicago: University of California Press, 1991); McEnaney, Laura. “He-Men and Christian Mothers: The America First Movement and the Gendered Meanings of Patriotism and Isolationism.” Diplomatic History 18 (Winter 1994): 47–58; Erickson, Christine K. “I have not had One Fact Disproved': Elizabeth Dilling's Crusade Against Communism in the 1930s.” Journal of American Studies 36, no. 3 (2002): 473–489; and Erickson, Christine K. “‘So much for men': Conservative Women and National Defense in the 1920s and 1930s.” American Studies 45, no. 1 (Spring 2004): 85–102.Google Scholar
3 Nash, George H., The Conservative Intellectual Movement in American: Since 1945, 2nd ed. (Wilmington, DE: Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 1996; originally, 1976), xv.Google Scholar
4 Kliebard, Herbert M., The Struggle for the American Curriculum, 1893–1958, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 1995), 7–8; Goldin, Claudia and Katz, Lawrence F. “The Shaping of Higher Education: The Formative Years in the United States, 1890 to 1940.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives 13, no. 1 (Winter 1999): 49–50; Tyack et al. note that “the percentage of persons aged five to seventeen attending school increased steadily each year from 1920 (83.2) to 1940 (94.2).” David Tyack, Robert Lowe, Elizabeth Hansot, Public Schools in Hard Times (Harvard University Press, 1984), 144.Google Scholar
5 Angus, David L., Jeffrey Mirel, E., The Failed Promise of the American High School 1890–1995 (New York: Teachers College Press, 1999), 60.Google Scholar
6 Tyack, Public Schools in Hard Times, 148.Google Scholar
7 See Kliebard, The Struggle for the American Curriculum. Google Scholar
8 Kliebard, The Struggle for the American Curriculum, 24.Google Scholar
9 Ibid., 194.Google Scholar
10 Ibid., 23–24.Google Scholar
11 For a compelling argument that the Red Scare continued through the 1920s, see Nielsen, Kim E., Un-American Womanhood: Antiradicalism, Antifeminism, and the First Red Scare (Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2001).Google Scholar
12 The early to mid-1920s was also the heyday of the Klan, Ku Klux, which championed a white, Protestant America and attacked anyone who did not agree with its views. While women were active in the Klan, membership demographics likely differed from those who belonged to the DAR or the WPCND—who would have considered the Klan too crude and its tactics too violent.Google Scholar
13 Kilbreth, Mary, Congress, Senate, Subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor, To Create a Department of Education: Hearing before the Subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor, 68th Congress, 1924.Google Scholar
14 Dilling, Elizabeth, The Roosevelt Red Record and Its Background (Kenilworth, IL: published by the author, 1936), 217. Dilling was the most prominent female activist on the right during the 1930s. See Erickson, Jeansonne, and McEnaney.Google Scholar
15 Kliebard, The Struggle for the American Curriculum, 159–160. Local school boards “were mostly composed of business and professional elites in cities and the more prosperous residents of the smaller districts.” Tyack, Public Schools in Hard Times, 21.Google Scholar
16 Counts, George S., Dare the School Build a New Social Order?, with a new preface by Urban, Wayne J. (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1978, c. 1932), 26.Google Scholar
17 Urban, Counts, Dare?, xi.Google Scholar
18 Urban, Counts, Dare?, vii; Kliebard, The Struggle for the American Curriculum, 168.Google Scholar
19 Cremin, Lawrence A., American Education: The Metropolitan Experience 1876–1980 (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1988), 187–190.Google Scholar
20 Kliebard, Herbert M., Changing Course: American Curriculum Reform in the 20th Century (New York: Teachers College Press, 2002), 64–65. See also Moreau, Jospeh, Schoolbook Nation: Conflicts over American History Textbooks from the Civil War to the Present (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2003), 225–27.Google Scholar
21 Kliebard, The Struggle for the American Curriculum, 173.Google Scholar
22 Ibid., 175; Kliebard, Changing Course, 69. For more on Harold Rugg's thought, see Carbone, Peter F., The Social and Educational Thought of Harold Rugg (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1977) and McKinnon, Harold R., Changing Our Children: Harold Rugg's Crusade to Remodel America (Berkeley, CA: The Gillick Press, 1943).Google Scholar
23 Kliebard, The Struggle for the American Curriculum, 175; Tyack, Public Schools in Hard Times, 65.Google Scholar
24 Kliebard, The Struggle for the American Curriculum, 171–72.Google Scholar
25 Business, for example, was hardly pleased with any teachings that questioned individualism and profit. Tyack, Public Schools in Hard Times, 64; Kliebard, The Struggle for the American Curriculum, 176–78.Google Scholar
26 The Guardians of Education, “Undermining Our Republic,” (n.d.), 3–4, Dilling Library, Christian Liberty Academy, Arlington Heights, Illinois (hereafter known as ED Library); Dilling, Elizabeth, The Red Network: A “Who's Who” and Handbook of Radicalism for Patriots (Kenifworth, IL: By the author, 1934), 318.Google Scholar
27 Tyack, Public Schools in Hard Times, 65.Google Scholar
28 The Sodality Union, “Wolves in Sheep's Clothing” (Washington, DC (n.d., 1937), 50, ED Library; Mrs. Imogen Emery, B., Committee on National Defense Through Patriotic Education, Handbook 1938–1939, 33., NRM R140 B125 F9.Google Scholar
29 Kliebard, The Struggle for the American Curriculum, 169.Google Scholar
30 McIlvaine, Florence Sturgis, “Education for a New Social Order,” National Defense Through Patriotic Education Committee (n.d., 1938), NRM R140 B125 F9.Google Scholar
31 The American Historical Association, Investigation of the Social Studies in the Schools: Conclusions and Recommendations of the Commission (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1934), 16.Google Scholar
32 AHA, Investigation, 127.Google Scholar
33 See, for instance, Mrs. John Laidlaw Buel, National President National Society of Daughters of Founders of Patriots of America, “Visions and Values,” 32nd General Court, April 10, 1930, NRM R263 B264 F8; McIlvaine, “Education for a New Social Order.”Google Scholar
34 Ibid.Google Scholar
35 Cremin, American Education: The Metropolitan Experience, 191–95.Google Scholar
36 Kliebard, The Struggle for the American Curriculum, 170, 171; Tyack, Public Schools in Hard Times, 66.Google Scholar
37 Tyak, Public Schools in Hard Times, 24.Google Scholar
38 Ibid., 22–24.Google Scholar
39 McIlvaine, “Education for a New Social Order.”Google Scholar
40 Buel, “Visions and Values.”Google Scholar
41 Schnapper, M.B. “D.A.R. in the Schoolroom.“ The Nation 145 (September 18, 1937): 288.Google Scholar
42 Schnapper, “D.A.R. in the Schoolroom,” 288; Hewitt, Nelson E., “How Red Is the University of Chicago?” (Chicago: Advisory Associates, May 18, 1935), 3; Becker, Florence, “Good Citizenship Medal,” National Defense Committee, DAR (n.d.) NRM R139 B125 F7.Google Scholar
43 Resolution, “Schools and Colleges” adopted by the 39th Continental Congress of the DAR April 1930. This was the same resolution passed by the WPCND that same year. NRM R140 B125 F9; Dilling, Elizabeth in Comment, University of Chicago (Spring 1934), quoted in Hewitt, Nelson E., “How Red Is the University of Chicago?” Chicago: Advisory Associates, May 18, 1935), 4.Google Scholar
44 Ibid.Google Scholar
45 Resolution, “Schools and Colleges” adopted by the 39th Continental Congress of the DAR April 1930, NRM R140 B125 F9. See also Buel, “Visions and Values.”Google Scholar
46 May, Geraldine F. “The Right Education of Youth.” DAR Magazine 70 (June 1936): 499.Google Scholar
47 Hewitt, “How Red Is the University of Chicago?”Google Scholar
48 Hewitt, “How Red Is the University of Chicago?” Hewitt was not the only one who declared the UC a school of Reds. The Chicago Tribune during the 1930s ran a series of articles that accused the university of harboring radicals.Google Scholar
49 Jeansonne, Glen, Women of the Far Right: The Mothers’ Movement and World War II (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1996), 18–19.Google Scholar
50 Resolution, WPCND, 8th Conference 1933, NRM R362 B386 F10. See also Gibbs, Margaret, The DAR (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969), 149.Google Scholar
51 Resolution, DAR 39th Continental Congress, April 1930, NRM R140 B125 F9.Google Scholar
52 May, Geraldine F. “The Right Education of Youth.” DAR Magazine 70 (June 1936): 497.Google Scholar
53 Walker, Mrs. Sherman, address at the 4th Women's Patriotic Conference on National Defense (n.d., 1929), NRM R140 B125 F9.Google Scholar
54 Iversen, Robert W., The Communists and the Schools (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1959), 125–27.Google Scholar
55 Mishler, Paul C., Raising Reds: The Young Pioneers, Radical Summer Camps, and Communist Political Culture in the United States (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999) 32.Google Scholar
56 Iversen, Communists and the Schools, 23.Google Scholar
57 Ibid., 28–29.Google Scholar
58 Ibid., 31.Google Scholar
59 Mishler, , Reds, 24, 28; Iversen, Communists and the Schools, 60–61.Google Scholar
60 Ottanelli, Fraser M., The Communist Party of the United States: from the Depression to World War II (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1991), 61–62.Google Scholar
61 Ibid., 59, 62.Google Scholar
62 Coolidge, Calvin, “Enemies of the Republic: They Must Be Resisted,” The Deliniator (August 1921), 42.Google Scholar
63 Dilling, Patriotic Research Bureau Bulletin, October 1941, 8, NRM B129, F:EDGoogle Scholar
64 Dilling, “Red Revolution: Do We Want It?” 1932, 10, NRM B129 F:ED.Google Scholar
65 Dilling, Patriotic Research Bureau Bulletin, October 1941, 18, NRM B129 F:ED.Google Scholar
66 Ibid., see also Erickson, “‘I have not had One Fact Disproven.’”Google Scholar
67 “Meeting, Daughters of the American Revolution,” National Republic Magazine (June 1931).Google Scholar
68 The Guardians of Education, “Undermining Our Republic,” (n.d.), 3, ED Library.Google Scholar
69 Haskin, Frederic J., The American Government (New York: J. J. Little and Ives Co., 1912); Gibbs, 154–55.Google Scholar
70 Strayer, Martha, The DAR: An Informal History (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, Publishers, 1958), 70; Gibbs, 155.Google Scholar
71 This was a long time concern of the DAR. Becker, Florence, Chairman, National Defense Committee, 1932–1933, Report. NRM R140 B125 F9. Schnapper, M. B., “D.A.R. in the Schoolroom,” 289.Google Scholar
72 See, for instance, Robinson, Mrs. B.L., president of the Massachusetts Public Interests League, February 10, 1927, “The Responsibility of Being Led,” American Women Incorporated, By Laws (n.d.), B2, Margaret Kerr Collection, Hoover Institution; “To the Women of America” (n.d.) American Women Against Communism, NRM R47 B42 F7; Buel, “Visions and Values”; “Committee and Membership Under Board of Directors,” American Women, Incorporated, (n.d.), B2, Margaret Kerr Collection.Google Scholar
73 Walker, address at the Fourth Women's Patriotic Conference on National Defense (1929), NRM R140 B125 F9.Google Scholar
74 Walker, Report of the National Defense Committee, 1932, NRM R139 B125 F7.Google Scholar
75 Walker, Report of the National Defense Committee, 41st Continental Congress, 1932. NRMC R139 B125 F7.Google Scholar
76 It is unclear whether or not the DAR actually denied student loans to those in need—but leaders certainly used a litmus test to determine the candidates’ worthiness. Walker, National Defense Committee Report, 1931. NRMC R140 B125 F9; Becker, Florence, Report of the National Defense Committee, 1932–33, NRM R140 B125 F9; DAR, 44th Continental Congress, April 1935. NRM R471 B523 F4.Google Scholar
77 Becker, Florence Hague, Editorial, DAR Magazine 70 (February 1936): 71.Google Scholar
78 “What the Daughters Do.” DAR Magazine 16 (March 1942): 227–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
79 A quick Google search reveals that the Smith, Kate Duncan DAR school is still operating in Alabama. It is a privately owned public school that services around 1,200 students from kindergarten through high school. Tamassee DAR school also provides education for students in the same grades. See The DAR, 157.Google Scholar
80 See also DAR National Publicity Committee Bulletin, “Sound Citizenship Is the Foundation of D.A.R. Patriotic Education Plan,” 11; NRM R140 B125 F9; Gibbs, The DAR, 155–157.Google Scholar
81 See, for instance, Resolutions, Women's Patriotic Conference on National Defense, Fifth conference January 1930, NRMC R362 B386 F10; “D.A.R. Meets in Washington,” National Republic 19 (June 1931), 40th Congress, Resolutions.Google Scholar
82 Iversen, Communists and the Schools, 177.Google Scholar
83 Reese, William J., Power and the Promise of School Reform: Grassroots Movements during the Progressive Era (Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986), 242; Schrecker, , Ivory Tower, 68; Gibbs, The DAR, 149; Resolution, WPCND, 8th Conference 1933 NRM R362 B386 F10.Google Scholar
84 See Moreau, Schoolbook Nation. Google Scholar
85 Dilling, Elizabeth, “Reply to a Clergyman,” in “Red Revolution: Do We Want It?” 2.Google Scholar
86 Dilling, Elizabeth, Patriotic Research Bulletin (August 10, 1942).Google Scholar
87 Robinson, Margaret, “The Responsibility of Being Led,” 14.Google Scholar
