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A Cartoonist Spoofs Anti-Communist Crusaders

This 1949 Herb Block cartoon highlights the dangers to civil liberty and intellectual freedoms many Americans saw posed by overzealous and anti-Communist crusaders in the early years of the Cold War. Such fears were not unfounded: during the postwar years, hundreds of elementary and high school teachers lost their jobs as a result of such investigations, which often involved "blacklists" compiled by anti-Communist groups and individuals.

External Link: www.loc.gov

"You read books, eh?"
Source | Herb Block, "You read books, eh?," (Washington: Washington Post, 24 April 1949, from the Library of Congress, Herb Block's History: Political Cartoons from the Crash to the Millenium, http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/fire.html.
Creator | Herb Block
Item Type | Cartoon
Cite This document | Herb Block, “A Cartoonist Spoofs Anti-Communist Crusaders,” SHEC: Resources for Teachers, accessed March 19, 2024, https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/634.

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