The Enabling of McCarthyism by the University of Michigan

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" summary

Argument states that during 1948–56 University of Michigan administrators collaborate with HUAC and the FBI to neutralize leftists on campus, using leaked files and personnel power rather than only prosecutions. Evidence includes five faculty and two graduate students subpoenaed, FBI-supplied intelligence, and university investigations that lead to dismissals, withheld PhDs, and ruined hires. The legal pivot focuses on Chandler Davis convicted and serving six months after invoking the First Amendment, while others see careers stunted—Smale loses a TAship and faces blacklisting.

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" chapters (12)

1. 0:00McCarthyism at Michigan
2. 1:12Defining McCarthyism
3. 3:00Hoover and FBI origins
4. 5:43HUAC vs Hoover campaigns
5. 7:55Hollywood Ten hearings
6. 11:18HUAC probes Michigan academics
7. 13:08Chandler Davis’s stand
8. 15:13UM complicity with HUAC
9. 18:43Shaffer and Sharpe punished
10. 20:33Steve Smale persecuted
11. 22:25Institutional complicity
12. 23:09Q&A