Ellen Schrecker

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Bio

Ellen Schrecker has been Professor of American History at Yeshiva University for 16 years. She received a Ph.D. in History from Harvard University in 1974 and has served on the faculty of Columbia University, The Union Institute, New York University, New School for Social Research and Harvard University. She has lectured at Princeton University and served as Program Officer for the New York Council for the Humanities.

While in her first position teaching Expository Writing at Harvard in the 1970s, she was searching for a book on McCarthyism. Unable to find a suitable text, she decided to write her own book. No Ivory Tower: McCarthyism and the Universities, published by University Press in 1986, focuses on blacklisting in academia. This period in American history became her theme for future books:
The Age of McCarthyism: A Brief History with Documents, Bedford Books, Boston, 1994;
Many Are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America, Little, Brown, New York (paperback edition) and Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1999; and
Cold War Triumphalism: Exposing the Misuse of History after the Fall of Communism, ed., New Press, New York, 2004.

Dr. Schrecker, who credits her mother for influencing her values and interest in social justice, is currently at work with Corey Robin on a new book, Political Repression - American Style, on political repression in a modern democracy. She is also the author of numerous articles, an audio course, as well as lectures and scholarly presentations. Recipient of many fellowships and awards, she is a member of the Bill of Rights Defense Campaign, NYC, Speakers Bureau; the Review Panel, NEH Division of Public Programs; a visiting scholar at the History Department of New York University; and a member of the Committee on Research, Scholarship and Academic Relations at the Harry S. Truman Library Institute. She has also served as a Historical Consultant on numerous documentaries.

In this interview, Dr. Schrecker discusses repression in America from the Palmer Raids following World War I, to the rounding up and deportation of members of the Jewish Labor Bundt, to the House Un-American Activities Committee, to the present day Patriot Act. “People are disappearing. There is a loss of voices of the Asian and Mid-Eastern populations in American, people are afraid to speak an opinion.”

She believes that McCarthyism “narrowed political dissent in this country and we've never recovered.” And just as “the silence” during the witch hunts was a haunting phenomenon, she says “the Patriot Act slipped through Congress so easily.” The American government's first response to a crisis,” she states, is to “shut up the critics.”

More information about Professor Schrecker and a list of her publications can be found on www.yu.edu/faculty/schrecker/cv.htm.

Appearances on CUNY TV

Jewish Women in America