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The Red Plot Against America
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
300 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1949
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 9, 2019
My review is based on the Kindle version of this book. The book was published in 1949, but I am not sure if the original version had all of the government pamphlets in it as included in this Kindle version.
About half of this book is about Robert Stripling’s career as one of the chief investigators for the House Un-American Activities Committee between 1938 to 1948. It also covers his brief stint in the US Army towards the end of WW2, in which it appears that that he was deliberately targeted by very influential people high up to as punishment for his abilities as the chief investigator into communist activities in the US or upsetting Eleanor Roosevelt by proving one of her favorite patrons was a security risk as a communist sympathizer and preventing him from getting a Naval Intelligence post that she thought was good for him (see Joseph P Lash’s chapter). Stripling doesn’t suggest it, but it is kind of hard not to think that she might have been the influence in his treatment during his time in in the Army (there is a lot covered in that chapter that I am not addressing here).
Both most of the first half of the book covers several key investigations durning his tenure as chief investigator, including Joseph P Lash, the Hollywood trials, Gerhart Eisler, Elizabeth Bentley, Whittaker Chambers, and Alger Hiss, to name a few. The largest section is about the Alger Hiss case in which Whittaker Chambers’ “pumpkin papers” was able to trap him in perjury of his activities as a communist sympathizer and later sentenced to five years in jail.
The other half of the book is a collection of various government publications about public warnings on communism in various aspects in America (churches, education, labor movements, etc.). As they are a collection of different pamphlets, several things are repeatedly used in each chapter.
This is an interesting look into the early years of the post-war communist scare and exposing actual Soviet espionage in the USA. It is also worth a note that after Soviet Union collapsed and the US’s Venona project’s documents were declassified that we discovered how correct that some of his discoveries were correct based on intercepted Soviet transmissions.
About half of this book is about Robert Stripling’s career as one of the chief investigators for the House Un-American Activities Committee between 1938 to 1948. It also covers his brief stint in the US Army towards the end of WW2, in which it appears that that he was deliberately targeted by very influential people high up to as punishment for his abilities as the chief investigator into communist activities in the US or upsetting Eleanor Roosevelt by proving one of her favorite patrons was a security risk as a communist sympathizer and preventing him from getting a Naval Intelligence post that she thought was good for him (see Joseph P Lash’s chapter). Stripling doesn’t suggest it, but it is kind of hard not to think that she might have been the influence in his treatment during his time in in the Army (there is a lot covered in that chapter that I am not addressing here).
Both most of the first half of the book covers several key investigations durning his tenure as chief investigator, including Joseph P Lash, the Hollywood trials, Gerhart Eisler, Elizabeth Bentley, Whittaker Chambers, and Alger Hiss, to name a few. The largest section is about the Alger Hiss case in which Whittaker Chambers’ “pumpkin papers” was able to trap him in perjury of his activities as a communist sympathizer and later sentenced to five years in jail.
The other half of the book is a collection of various government publications about public warnings on communism in various aspects in America (churches, education, labor movements, etc.). As they are a collection of different pamphlets, several things are repeatedly used in each chapter.
This is an interesting look into the early years of the post-war communist scare and exposing actual Soviet espionage in the USA. It is also worth a note that after Soviet Union collapsed and the US’s Venona project’s documents were declassified that we discovered how correct that some of his discoveries were correct based on intercepted Soviet transmissions.
October 6, 2023
This is an excellent resource for the struggles of the House on Unamerican Activities in the 1930s and 1940s, written by the chief investigator. It underscores the massive infiltration of our government by Stalin's agents, communist influencers, and just plain dupes. Very important source for understanding some of what has been taking place in our country over the last century. His findings were eventually backed up by the temporary opening of the KGB archives and the Venona intercepts
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews