False Witness

by Melvin Miller Rader

Book Overview

In the summer of 1948, with Cold War tensions rising, a young state legislator from Spokane, Washington, named Albert Canwell set out to combat the ?communist menace? through a state version of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0295956607
• ISBN13: 9780295956602
• Release Date: May 1979
• Publisher: University of Washington Press
• Length: 235 Pages

Customer Reviews

Chronicle of a "Communist" witch hunt in Washington State.

False Witness is the story of Prof. Melvin Rader¹s experiences as a target of the Washington State Legislature¹s Committee on Un-American Activities in 1948. In his own words, Rader vividly describes the tactics and procedures used by Albert Canwell and others in this ³investigation². Although eventually able to clear his name, Rader¹s chronicle reveals the civil rights violations which led to the dismissal of three University of Washington professors, punishments for three more, and the abandonment of ³due process² in the rush to find and punish ³Communists². A short, easy, informative read.