American Federation of Labor. - Commonsense anticommunism: labor and civil liberties between the world wars

Roy Rosenzweig convinced me to write this book. As a new Ph.D., I taught a survey class as an adjunct at George Mason University, and met Roy in early 2006. He asked me to visit one of his graduate courses to talk about dissertation writing, and his unaffected kindness immediately put me at ease. Roy insisted on driving me home, a long drive from Fairfax, Virginia, to Washington, D.C., and his warmth loosened my tongue. In class he had already heard about my dissertation on labor spies. Now he listened intently as I told him about the fascinating clues I had found about labor anticommunism. I confessed that I wanted to put aside my dissertation and work on this new project instead. Go ahead! he said. Its a great project! I had not realized that Roy was a member of the editorial board of the journal American Communist History, and he knew a lot about Communism and anticommunism. The car periodically drifted across the freeway lanes as we gossiped about labor conservatives and Communists. Send me your research, he urged as he dropped me off, and I promised to do so, suddenly resolved to start the book. Roy Rosenzweig died the following year. As one of untold scholars who benefited from his encouragement, I want to say thanks to Roy Rosenzweig.

Generous funding made my research possible. A postdoctoral fellowship from the Center for the United States and the Cold War at New York Universitys Tamiment Library gave me a glorious year in the archives and access to the remarkable librarians and holdings of the Tamiment. Thanks especially to Michael Nash and Peter Filardo for their support and advice. A second postdoctoral fellowship year at UCLAs Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) allowed me to draft the manuscript in a stimulating and nurturing environment. At the IRLE, Ruth Milkman created an extraordinarily warm scholarly climate and helped me test and develop my ideas. A short-term fellowship at the Newberry Library introduced me to its friendly community of scholars and especially James Grossman, who is a model of collegiality.

Many librarians and archivists tracked down documents and helped me interpret my findings. I am especially grateful to Peter Filardo at the Tamiment Library; Jim Quigel at Penn States Historical Collections and Labor Archives; Sarah Springer and Robert Reynolds at the George Meany Archives; Patrizia Sione and Barb Morley at Cornells Kheel Center; and Traci Drummond of Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University. Darlene Mott at the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center and Aaron Lisec at the Southern Illinois Universitys Special Collections found important materials for me. Rod Ross at the National Archives Center for Legislative Archives spent time helping me navigate the papers of congressional committees. John Earl Haynes graciously helped me with the John Frey papers at the Library of Congress, and a visit to San Francisco State Universitys Labor Archives and Research Center was productive and fun thanks to Catherine Powell. A special thanks to Peter Drinkwater at Footnote.com, the digital repository of several collections of the National Archives. When I complained about difficulty navigating the huge Franz von Rintelen file in the Department of Justice papers, Peter burned a CD of the entire file for me. The interlibrary loan service at Georgetown Universitys Lauinger Library supplied me with obscure materials quickly and efficiently.

It has been wonderful to work with the staff at the University of North Carolina Press. Chuck Grench supported this project in its earliest stages, and his encouragement sustained my resolve through the long writing process. The good cheer of Beth Lassiter, Rachel Berry Surles, and Katy OBrien made the editorial process fun. Paul Betz and Liz Grays painstaking work on the manuscript enabled me to produce a much better book.

Many people read and critiqued chapters of the manuscript in seminars and colloquia. Writing groups in New York and Los Angeles helped me puzzle through the earliest drafts. In New York, Jonathan Soffer, Nancy Kwak, Sarah Phillips, Anne Kornhauser, Richard Greenwald, and Neil Rosendorf gave me invaluable comments and advice, along with plenty of good cheese from Murrays. In Los Angeles, the long-running Los Angeles Social History Study Group welcomed me to their convivial dinners and rigorous discussions; thanks to John Laslett, Becky Nicolaides, Steve Ross, Frank Stricker, Allison Varzally, Toby Higbie, Hal Barron, Nancy Fitch, Leila Zenderland, and Craig Loftin. Beverly Gage and Donna Haverty-Stacke generously read and critiqued chapters, and I am indebted to them for their insightful comments and suggestions.

Discussions and debates with other scholars and friends helped me sharpen my ideas. Gabe Kramers comments on an early draft of the book proposal have shaped my thinking throughout the entire process of research and writing. Thanks especially to Toby Higbie, Anthony Destefanis, David Chu, Rich Yeselson, Patrick Iber, Christine Walker, Robin Veder, Katie Corrigan, Sandy Jacoby, Nancy Maclean, Ruth Milkman, Leon Fink, Seth Newton Patel, Donna Haverty-Stacke, and Kim Phillips-Fein. Ruth Price shared her vast knowledge of American radicalism and antiradicalism, and sent me the announcement for the Tamiment fellowship, right after my inspirational conversation with Roy Rosenzweig. I am grateful to readers at the Newberry Seminar in Labor History, the Tamiment Library, the U.S. History Colloquium at UCLA, and the Pennsylvania Labor History Workshop, especially Rosemary Feurer, Colleen Doody, Ellen Carol DuBois, Will Jones, David Montgomery, and David Witwer. Conference audiences and commentators provided helpful comments at the American Studies Association, the American Historical Association, the North American Labor History Conference, the Policy History Conference, and the University of Arizonas Decentering Cold War History conference. A visiting teaching post in the Student Recommended Faculty Program at the University of California, Irvine, allowed me to try out some of my research in the classroom. Thanks to my students at Irvine and colleagues in the history department there; thanks also to my students at Georgetown University, who discussed some of these ideas as well.

Friends and family gave me places to stay on research trips, shared dinners and drinks, and lent a friendly ear. Thanks to Ed Keyser, Janet Mitchell, Sam Luebke, Traci Zambotti, Philip Giordano, Robin Veder, Vanessa White, Katerina Semyonova, Emily Mieras, Scott Zdrazil, David Miller, Rebecca Hanson, Cathy Feingold, Susan Dundon, Eric Perkins, George Boas, Shari Nutter, Kim Armbrecht, Chris Bohner, and Pilar Weiss. It is a pleasure and honor to work with my colleagues at Georgetowns Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor: Joe McCartin, Katie Corrigan, Seth Newton Patel, Sarah David Heydemann, and John Tremblay. My parents, Diane Luff and Dick Luff, taught me to love books and learning. Christine Walker, my sister, moved me in and out of various apartments, talked through my research, and gave me refresher history lessons along the way. My brother, Thomas Luff, inspired me with his wisdom and grace and gave me hope. Thanks also to my extended family of in-laws, cousins, and aunts and uncles who cheered me on and buoyed my spirits.