Harry, Tom, and Father Rice: Accusation and Betrayal in America's Cold War - Tapa dura

In "Harry, Tom, and Father Rice" Hoerr has turned his gaze to East Pittsburgh, the original home of Westinghouse, to tell the story of his own Uncle Harry. Harry Davenport was elected to the U.S. Congress after World War II with the backing of the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (CIO). When he sought re-election two years later, he was sharply attacked by Father Charles Owen Rice, the well-known pro-labor, anti-Communist priest with a large following among union members around Pitttsburgh. Hoerr vividly depicts these rough times and the pointed story of his uncle, the embattled Congressman who he scarcely knew he was young. Ronald Schatz, Wesleyan University" John Hoerr has done a splendid job of recreating the atmosphere of the Red Scare, the damage it inflicted on many people's lives, the ruthless battles that then divided the CIO in Allegheny County, and the profound and enduring impact of that epoch on the labor movement and on the nation's political life. Moreover, his tireless quest for participants' memories and the systematic research in primary sources through which he probed the reliability and significance of those memories provides a mode for other practitioners of oral history to follow. Few other studies of the tumultuous early years of the Cold War provide the reader with such rich insights into the period's political and social changes as those offered by "Harry, Tom and Father Rice." David Montgomery Yale University Farnam Professor Emeritus" "Harry, Tom and Father Rice" skillfully weaves together the stories of three people, each emblematic of important currents in mid-twentieth century America. Moreover, Hoerr does so in a way that sheds light both on the forces that shaped each man, and finally shows us why their entanglement mattered. Mark McColloch, Queensborough Community College, The City University of New York" " John Hoerr has done a splendid job of recreating the atmosphere of the Red Scare, the damage it inflicted on many people's lives, the ruthless battles that then divided the CIO in Allegheny County, and the profound and enduring impact of that epoch on the labor movement and on the nation's political life. Moreover, his tireless quest for participants' memories and the systematic research in primary sources through which he probed the reliability and significance of those memories provides a mode for other practitioners of oral history to follow. Few other studies of the tumultuous early years of the Cold War provide the reader with such rich insights into the period's political and social changes as those offered by "Harry, Tom and Father Rice,"" - David Montgomery Yale University Farnam Professor Emeritus " In "Harry, Tom, and Father Rice" Hoerr has turned his gaze to East Pittsburgh, the original home of Westinghouse, to tell the story of his own Uncle Harry. Harry Davenport was elected to the U.S. Congress after World War II with the backing of the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (CIO). When he sought re-election two years later, he was sharply attacked by Father Charles Owen Rice, the well-known pro-labor, anti-Communist priest with a large following among union members around Pitttsburgh. Hoerr vividly depicts these rough times and the pointed story of his uncle, the embattled Congressman who he scarcely knew he was young." -- Ronald Schatz, Wesleyan University " "Harry, Tom and Father Rice" skillfully weaves together the stories of three people, each emblematic of important currents in mid-twentieth century America. Moreover, Hoerr does so in a way that sheds light both on the forces that shaped each man, and finally shows us why their entanglement mattered." - Mark McColloch, Queensborough Community College, The City University of New York "John Hoerr has done a splendid job of recreating the atmosphere of the Red Scare, the damage it inflicted on many people's lives, the ruthless battles that then divided the CIO in Allegheny County, and the profound and enduring impact of that epoch on the labor movement and on the nation's political life. Moreover, his tireless quest for participants' memories and the systematic research in primary sources through which he probed the reliability and significance of those memories provides a mode for other practitioners of oral history to follow. Few other studies of the tumultuous early years of the Cold War provide the reader with such rich insights into the period's political and social changes as those offered by "Harry, Tom and Father Rice."" --David Montgomery Yale University Farnam Professor Emeritus "In "Harry, Tom, and Father Rice" Hoerr has turned his gaze to East Pittsburgh, the original home of Westinghouse, to tell the story of his own Uncle Harry. Harry Davenport was elected to the U.S. Congress after World War II with the backing of the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (CIO). When he sought re-election two years later, he was sharply attacked by Father Charles Owen Rice, the well-known pro-labor, anti-Communist priest with a large following among union members around Pitttsburgh. Hoerr vividly depicts these rough times and the pointed story of his uncle, the embattled Congressman who he scarcely knew he was young." --Ronald Schatz, Wesleyan University ""Harry, Tom and Father Rice" skillfully weaves together the stories of three people, each emblematic of important currents in mid-twentieth century America. Moreover, Hoerr does so in a way that sheds light both on the forces that shaped each man, and finally shows us why their entanglement mattered." --Mark McColloch, Queensborough Community College, The City University of New York

John Hoerr tells the story of three men - his uncle, Congressman Harry Davenport, union leader Tom Quinn, and Father Charles Owen Rice - whose lives became intertwined during the anti-Communist witch hunts of the McCarthy Era. The story helps illuminate one of the more repressive periods in American history, when thousands of Americans guilty only of enlisting in leftist causes were caught up in dragnets cast by overzealous Communist hunters on behalf of the House Un-American Activities Committee and other bodies. Much has been written about well-known cultural figures (the Hollywood Ten), and prominent writers (Arthur Miller and Lillian Hellman) who contended with HUAC. Hoerr tells of mostly ordinary Americans who were largely unknown at the time, but whose stories are nonetheless remarkable. Writing from personal experience with the title characters, as well as archival research, Hoerr recreates the events of the 1949 HUAC hearings, where rigged testimony by a few workers cast suspicion on their union brothers. The results would echo through the years, causing people to lose jobs, marriages, and self-respect. Hoerr traces the paths followed by Harry, Tom, and Father Rice and relates their individual experiences to the great conflict between anti-Communist and Communist forces in the American labor movement, leading to the eventual demise of the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations).