Viewpoints: From McCarthyism to Today: Demagoguery Then and Now

Setting the stage for the era in which Red Letter Days takes place, Professor Emerita Isebill (“Ronnie”) Gruhn will describe world events of the 1950s and subsequent developments to the current day. She will define the various “isms” (authoritarianism, socialism, and others) that are often misused in today’s political discussions and explore any similarities between the McCarthy era and today. Professor Gruhn joined the UC Santa Cruz Political Science department in 1969 (she has chaired the department twice), and today she is a regular lecturer for the Osher Lifelong Learner Institute.

Our Community Reads is a series of programs inspired by a book selected in a public vote. Red Letter Days tells of Phoebe Adler, a young television writer in 1955 New York. Finding herself suddenly blacklisted, she flees to London and the seeming security of a community of fellow expatriate blacklistees. But not even the Atlantic Ocean can protect her from the reach of the FBI. This timely book reminds us of our heritage of free speech and independent thought and how they can be put at risk.