American science in an age of anxiety : scientists, anticommunism, and the cold war / Jessica Wang.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wang, Jessica.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Science--United States--History--20th century.

Science.

Science and state--United States--History--20th century.

Science and state.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (380 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill, NC : University of North Carolina Press, c1999.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

No professional group in the United States benefited more from World War II than the scientific community. After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, scientists enjoyed unprecedented public visibility and political influence as a new elite whose expertise now seemed critical to America's future. But as the United States grew committed to Cold War conflict with the Soviet Union and the ideology of anticommunism came to dominate American politics, scientists faced an increasingly vigorous regimen of security and loyalty clearances as well as the threat of intrusive investigations by the notorious House Committee on Un-American Activities and other government bodies. This book is the first major study of American scientists' encounters with Cold War anticommunism in the decade after World War II. By examining cases of individual scientists subjected to loyalty and security investigations, the organizational response of the scientific community to political attacks, and the relationships between Cold War ideology and postwar science policy, Jessica Wang demonstrates the stifling effects of anticommunist ideology on the politics of science. She exposes the deep divisions over the Cold War within the scientific community and provides a complex story of hard choices, a community in crisis, and roads not taken.

Contents:

Intro

contents

introduction

1 Competing Political Visions for Postwar Science Scientists and Science Legislation, 1945-1947

2 Fear, Suspicion, and the Surveillance State The fas, huac, and the fbi, 1945-1948

3 Individual Encounters I Scientists and aec Security, 1946-1948

4 Individual Encounters II Scientists and huac, 1946-1948

5 Negotiating Security The fas, the aec, and the jcae, 1947-1948

6 Responses Scientists' Associations and Civil Liberties, 1948-1949

7 Drawing the Line The aec, the National Academy of Sciences, and the aec Fellowship Program, 1948-1950

8 Consequences The 1950s and Beyond

conclusion

notes.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9798890867698

9780807867105

0807867101

OCLC:

45843984