Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
and the
COLLEGES
by
J. B. MATTHEWS
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Dewey's pragmatism, known as determination to eliminate cominstrumentatism, replaced that of pletely the timeless verities and
Harvard's William James.
values around which western civiliWith the ascendancy of Dewey in zation had been so largely organized
the classroom, Teachers College of until the rise of the Soviet state, on
Columbia became the Mecca to the one hand, and the dominance in
which tens of thousands of American education of modern instrumentalteachers made pilgrimage to kiss the ism, on the other hand. Only juveblackened stone of progressive edu- niles playing at anti-Communism
cation, as reverently and as super- make the mistake of identifying
stitiously as any Moslem. From Communism with progressive educaMorningside Heights, there spread tion, or progressive education with
across the entire land the intellec- Communism.
tually envenoming and morally disThe fact is that progressive educaintegrating view that how-to-teach tion and Communism are at oppois more important than what-to- site poles in their basic philosophy.
teach and how-to-learn more impor- The former represents intellectual
tant than what-to-learn.
and moral anarchy, the latter the
Educators of the Dewey school of most rigid thought- and behaviorpragmatism began to profess a chill- control ever known to man.
What, then, is the relationship of
ing fear of indoctrination. In most
cases, this was sheer pretense; for the late, mild-mannered philosopher
what they actually did was to intro- of Columbia University to the Comduce their own new items of indoc- munist infiltration of education? To
trination for the older ones which state it, in an over-simplified proposition, it was this: The relaxation of
they discarded.
By the end of World War I, there the old intellectual and moral disciwas a quip in circulation at Teachers plines and loyalties, encouraged by
College which said: "There is no god Dewey's progressive education, bebut Dewey and Kilpatrick is his came Communism's opportunity.
The agents of the Kremlin always
prophet." This was the same Kilpatrick who figured recently in the find it easier to move into a situation
Pasadena affair which resulted in the of chaos, intellectual or social, than
dismissal of Willard Goslin, Pasa- they do to move into a situation of
dena's superintendent of public stability. That is why, in the preschools and an exponent of progres- liminary stages of the Communist
conspiracy, prior to the seizure of
sive education.
It is not suggested here that pro- power, Communists welcome all the
gressive education and Communism chaos which they or others (even the
are the same, or that they have any- anti-Communists) can produce. Stathing in common, unless it be a bility thwarts, and chaos aids, the
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is why it was so easy for Communists to infiltrate the RooseveltTruman administrations, and so
easy for the New Deal to have truck
with Communists and communistic
schemes. Communists were simply
one of the discordant elements in the
ideological chaos of New Dealism,
w.elcomed into what Roosevelt described as his national unity but
which would have been better
described as Hopkins' hodge-podge.
Roosevelt, it will be recalled, announced that his presidential release
of Communist leader Earl Browder
from the Atlanta prison was bestowed "in the interests of national
unity." The Communists, for their
part, looked upon this so-called national unity as an excellent cover
for carrying on their espionage activities. At the very moment of
Browder's release from prison, "in
the interests of national unity,"
Alger Hiss and the rest of the
traitors were at work right in the
heart of the federal government.
The record shows that hundreds
of educators addressed appeals to
Roosevelt on behalf of the Communist leader Earl Browder. Among
these professors were the following:
Roland H. Bainton, Yale; Edgar S.
Brightman, Boston U.; Henry Pratt
Fairchild, New York U.; Albert
Guerard, Stanford; Max Lerner,
then of Williams, now of Brandeis
U.; John P. Peters, Yale; Malcolm
Sharp, Chicago; Harlow Shapley,
Harvard; Goodwin Watson, Columbia; Edwin Borchard, Yale; Zecha-
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present-day Communist-front orIn attendance at the Waldorfganizations is the National Council Astoria were many well-known Euof the Arts, Sciences and Profes- ropean Communists. They were
sions. The Congressional Committee advertised in advance as prominent
on Un-American Activities issued a speakers of the conference. Even the
comprehensive report on the organ- State Department publicly recogization, demonstrating its Com- nized the Communist character of
munist character beyond any possi- the gathering by issuing a statement
bility of doubt.
denouncing it and by refusing to
The NCASP, as we shall designate grant visas to some of the European
it, was the direct continuation of the Communist applicants who wished
Independent Citizens Committee of to attend.
the Arts, Sciences and Professions,
In view of the subversive nature
an impressive Communist front of of the Waldorf-Astoria conference
which Harold L. Ickes and James and its parent organization, the
Roosevelt were high-salaried em- NCASP, it is revealing to find the
ployees, in the days when Com- names of seven presidents of institumunists and New Dealers were so tions of higher learning listed among
interlocked that they were hardly the sponsors. They were: Rufus E.
distinguishable from each other.
Clement, Atlanta University; AbraOn March 25, 1949, this long arm ham Cronbach, Hebrew Union Colof the Kremlin, the NCASP, con- lege (Cincinnati); Herbert John
vened the Cultural and Scientific Davis, Smith College; Cecil E.
Conference for World Peace in the Hinshaw, William Penn College
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York (Iowa); Charles S. Johnson, Fisk
City. The Communist control and University; David D. Jones, Bennett
purposes of this conference were College (South Carolina); and Arthur
crystal clear. We have selected it, Upham Pope, Asia Institute. The
somewhat arbitrarily, as the starting heads of two Communist Party
point of the contemporary Com- training schools were also listed as
sponsors, namely, Holland Roberts
munist-front apparatus.
It should be recalled that the of the California Labor School and
Berlin airlift was almost exactly one Howard Selsam of the Jefferson
year old when the Waldorf-Astoria School of Social Science.
conference met. There was no
World-famous scientists and their
longer any reason for intelligent peo- prestige were exploited by the Comple to doubt that the Soviet Union, munist manipulators of this conferits American agents, and their ence. It is always safe to anticipate
Communist-front apparatus were finding the name of Albert Einstein
enemies of the United States. Cold among the sponsors of such an afWar I was full upon us.
fair, and it was there. The name of
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unrelated fields. Professors who are particularly the granting of a scholtruly great scientists seem to be the arship to Hans Freistadt, an avowed
frequent victims of this illusion.
member of the Communist Party.
Let us take the case of Harold C. "I consider it dangerous," shouted
Urey.
Urey, "to inquire into the political
Harold C. Urey is professor of affairs of such students." Quite obchemistry at the University of Chi- viously, Urey is not an expert on
cago. He has achieved great distinc- Communism, although he has been
tion in the field of chemistry, having affiliated with more than ten Combeen awarded a Nobel Prize for his munist-front organizations.
discovery of "heavy water." He was
Albert Einstein is, in some reone of the foremost scientists on the spects, a very special case. He holds
Manhattan project, which produced the position of professor of mathethe atomic bomb.
matics at the Institute for AdProfessor Urey has sounded off vanced Study at Princeton, New
with bitter invectives against the Jersey. Beyond any question, Einsecurity regulations of the Atomic stein is one of the great scientific
Energy Commission. He has de- geniuses of world history. This fact
clared that he would fire every does not, however, confer upon him
security officer on all our atomic any competence in politics, in
energy projects throughout the which he is nothing more than a
United States.
dabbler, but a dabbler who freOn May 19, 1949, Professor Urey quently comes up on the proappeared as a witness before a com- Communist side.
mittee set up by the Illinois LegislaDespite the fact that Einstein is a
ture, which was charged with the refugee from Hitler's totalitarianinvestigation of subversive activities ism, he has on many occasions supat the University of Chicago and ported the causes of Stalin's even
Roosevelt College. He heatedly as- more brutal totalitarianism. It is
sailed the Attorney General ot the clear that he has grossly abused the
United States for issuing lists of sub- privileges which he has been acversive organizations. With emotion corded by the gift of American
bordering on the psychopathic, he citizenship.
declared: "I consider the designaEinstein has been affiliated with
tion by the Attorney General of or- approximately forty fronts of the
ganizations as subversive or Com- Communist apparatus. That puts
munist one of the most dangerous him up near the top of collaborators
things in American life." Further- with Communists.
more, Professor Urey defended the
How lightly Professor Einstein
granting of government atomic en- regards the blessings of his American
ergy scholarships to Communists, citizenship is illustrated by his attiPRODUCED 2005 BY UNZ.ORG
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tie ringer to ferret out the Communists on their faculties until after
the academic agents of the Kremlin
have been exposed by legislative investigations.
Nevertheless and notwithstanding, there are academicians, newspapers, and politicians who take the
stupid and untenable position: "Let
the colleges and universities themselves do the job."
The Case of
Robert Maynard Hutchins
For more than twenty years
Robert Maynard Hutchins headed
one of the great universities of this
country. As chancellor of the University of Chicago, he reached one
of the highest positions in the academic world.
When we consider Hutchins' ideas
about Communism, we are not dealing with the views of an academic
small-fry. True, Hutchins no longer
heads a university, but he is much
more strategically situated with
respect to education now than he
was formerly. As an associate director of the Ford Foundation, the
former controversial chancellor "devotes himself," says the New York
Times, "to education and civil liberties." His devotion is stimulated
by the funds of the largest foundation in human history, computed at
present earnings of the Ford industrial empire to aggregate more than
a half billion dollars. Subdivisions of
this gigantic organization include
the Fund for the Advancement of
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in the chamber of the Illinois Legislature, Chancellor Hutchins delivered the 237th convocation address
at the University of Chicago. Presenting his view of life in the
United States in this period of Cold
War I, the one-time boy prodigy of
the academic world said: "Every day
in this country men and women are
being deprived of their livelihood,
or at least their reputations, by unsubstantiated charges. These charges
are then treated as facts in further
charges against their relatives or
associates. W7e do not throw people
into jail because they are alleged to
differ with the official dogma. We
throw them out of work and do our
best to create the impression that
they are subversive and hence dangerous, not only to the state, but
also to everybody who comes near
them."
Continuing his effort to make the
investigation and prosecution of
Communists look silly, Hutchins
said: "The result is that every public servant must try to remember
every tea party his wife has gone to
in the past ten years and endeavor
to recall what representatives of
what foreign powers she may have
met on these occasions."
When it comes to distortion of the
truth, Hutchins is a perfectionist.
On the subject of professors' collaboration with Communists and
participation in Communist enterprises, he sketched the following
picture: "A professor cannot take a
position on any public question
134
without loqking into the background Jefferson have no conceivable appliof everybody who may be taking cability to the members and stooges
the same position on the same ques- of the Communist Party. Acting as
tion. If he finds that any person who part of a conspiratorial fifth column
is taking the same position on this in the interests of a foreign state is not
question has been charged with tire same thing as "error of opinion."
taking an unpopular position on Reason is not free to combat the
another question, the professor had activities which are plotted in the
better not take any position on this dark cellars of Communist conspirquestion, or he may be haled before acy.
some committee to explain himself."
It is improbable that many AmeriThus spoke one of the topmost cans know of the connection befigures of the American educational tween the Ford Foundation and the
scene, a man who is a trustee of a Armed Forces of the United States.
half billion dollars, a large part of In the language of the World Alwhich is to be devoted to the "ad- manacfor 1953, project number five
vancement of education." Is it sur- of the Fund for the Advancement of
prising that intellectual integrity Education is described as follows:
has vanished from large areas of the "Improvement of education in the
academic world? Or that the Com- armed services. At the request of the
munist-front apparatus finds so many Department of Defense, the Fund
willing collaborators among profes- has initiated a program aimed at
improved information, education,
sors?
Sooner or later, many of the pro- and orientation programs in the
Communists and fake liberals among Armed Forces." This request of the
educators get around to quoting Department of Defense, it should be
from Thomas Jefferson's First In- stated, was made prior to the change
augural Address. In his convocation in administrations at Washington;
address, Hutchins fell into line. but Robert Maynard Hutchins still
What Jefferson said has become the has his finger in the "information,
principal smoke screen for subver- education, and orientation prosion. Here are his words: "If there grams" of the Armed Forces. Unbe any among us who wish to dis- believable, but true, thanks to the
solve this union, or change its repub- earnings of the vast industrial emlican form, let them stand undis- pire founded by Henry Ford.
turbed, as monuments of the safety
An incidental sidelight on the
with which error of opinion [italics Ford Foundation is that one Bermine] may be tolerated where reason nard Berelson is the director of its
is left free to combat it." It does not Behavioral Sciences Division, which
take a university education to un- has just been allotted $3,500,000 for
derstand that these words of Thomas the establishment of what is to be
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explains its origin, as follows: "During the summers of 1943 and 1944,
Cornell University, with the support
of the Rockefeller Foundation, offered a series of courses known as an
Intensive Study of Contemporary
Russian Civilization. This program
was a unique educational approach
to a planned and integrated study of
the total civilization of a historical,
geographical, and economic area."
It is entirely untrue to say, as the
preface to USSR does, that the
Cornell series of courses, or the book
which grew out of them, presented
the "total civilization" of the
Soviet Union. Nowhere in the book
is there any adverse criticism of the
Soviet regime. There is not a word
in the book about the Soviet slave
labor camps in which ten to twenty
million human beings rot in a living
death.
But, to proceed with the book's
preface, we read the following:
"When the various members of the
staff and several other scholars, each
an expert in a special field, were invited to write the whole section on
Russia and the USSR for the Encyclopedia Americana, it occurred to
some of them that these articles,
when brought together, provided
the kind of basic, factual survey
that was needed for an introduction
to the study of the civilization of
Russia and the Soviet Union. Accordingly, with the kind permission
of the Americana Corporation, Cornell University Press is now issuing
these related articles in book form."
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