Seeds of Repression: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of McCarthyism

by Athan G. Theoharis

Book by Athan Theoharis

238 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1971

About the author

Athan George Theoharis is an American historian, professor of history emeritus at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Reviews

[Tommy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for anyone interested in how America became so scared. Truman's deceitful and stupid rhetorical extremism and overall liberal flabbiness created McCarthyism and the modern cult of national secrecy and security.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The American Historical Review
October 1974

How informative are book-jacket blurbs? The front flap of Seeds of Repression begins,"In this provocative new interpretation of the McCarthy years in American, Athan Theoharis lays the major responsibility for the Senator's rise at the doorstep of the White House during the Truman administration. He convincingly argues that President Truman helped create a political climate which made possible the McCarthy phenomenon in the early 1950s.

....

The book is provoking rather than provocative, unconvincing in its simplistic and poorly documented circumstantial case against Truman, and unlikely by itself to cause much revision of historical thinking.