************************************************************** Net Happenings - From Educational CyberPlayGround ************************************************************** From: "David P. Dillard" ?jwne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx? Sent: Mon, 12 May 2003 12:51:04 -0400 (EDT) There is substantial current media coverage of the ties the FBI suspicions that Aaron Copland, great American composer, was a Communist brought to attention again by the release of the McCarthy inquisition papers. --------------------- Posted on Sun, May. 11, 2003 FBI Probed Composer Copland in 1950s DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press ?http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/5837711.htm? WASHINGTON - FBI file 100-HQ-370562 begins simply enough. On July 21, 1950, the subject, thought "to be self-employed as a composer of music," is reported linked to communist front groups. Within six months, he is classified outright as a communist. So begins the government's surveillance of Aaron Copland, one of the country's most important composers, creator of such stirring music as "Appalachian Spring," "Fanfare for the Common Man," "Billy the Kid" and the patriotic "Lincoln Portrait." The government, using informants, spends the next two decades and more monitoring Copland's whereabouts, analyzing his comments and taking note of his friends and associates. --------------------- This AP wire story is making news sources outside of the United States: Aaron Copland, quintessential American composer, was a commie to the FBI Canadian Press Saturday, May 10, 2003 ?http://www.canada.com/ottawa/story.asp?id= B379D2B0-018C-49F6-8B60-43AC5228CD91? ---------------------- Secret McCarthy papers released By Steve Schifferes BBC News Online, Washington ?http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3002239.stm? At the height of the Cold War, the senator's subcommittee was granted almost unlimited powers to investigate alledged communist subversion in the government, following similar investigations by the House Un-American Activities Committee and the FBI. Senator McCarthy was judge, jury, prosecutor, castigator, and press agent all in one Senator McCarthy's tactics included wild accusations. For example, he said that there were 205 card-carrying communists working in the state department, launched simultaneous investigations into several subjects, and held secret hearings which he then leaked to the press. He often was the only member of his committee present at the hearings which were held not only in Washington but in Boston and New York. ---------------------- Another news story about the McCarthy era is in the news currently that may be of interest: How a snitch led McCarthy to Louis Bortz Washing machine repairman accused of plotting Red-baiting senator's death Sunday, May 11, 2003 By Milan Simonich, Post-Gazette Staff Writer ?http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/20030511mccarthy0511p3.asp? Louis Bortz, a communist and washing machine repairman with roots in Beechview, died in August at age 92. No reporter wrote so much as a paragraph about his passing. The quiet surrounding Bortz's death contrasted mightily with his life. A half-century ago, his name filled the newspapers after he was called to testify before Sen. Joseph McCarthy's committee investigating people who were suspected of being anti-American. ?snip? Bortz's long-forgotten name surfaced again last week when the Senate unsealed 4,500 pages of transcripts from McCarthy's private hearings. Bortz and other witnesses with connections to Pittsburgh account for several hundred pages of the documents, which were made public to mark the 50th anniversary of the hearings. ?snip? Bortz testified for two days in June 1953, first in a closed session, later in public. Then 42, Bortz arrived in Washington to answer a hastily issued subpoena from McCarthy. Bortz had no lawyer, and he immediately asked for a postponement so he could hire one. McCarthy said Bortz would be given time to obtain legal representation, then ignored his own ruling by plunging ahead with the hearing. McCarthy and the committee's chief counsel, Roy Cohn, hurled hundreds of questions and accusations at Bortz, who underwent a full day of interrogation without an attorney. Bortz chose not to answer most questions by invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Enraged, McCarthy threatened Bortz with contempt of Congress a dozen times. ?snip? Bortz landed in front of McCarthy's committee because of a portly snitch named Joseph Mazzei. Mazzei ran a theater in Millvale, but he skipped the movies many nights so he could pose as a communist and gather information to pass on to the FBI. Many people in Western Pennsylvania -- including blacks, Jews and unionists and others who felt the sting of discrimination -- had considered converting to communism during the 1930s and '40s. These people became Mazzei's fodder. --------------------------- Newsday has just published an article regarding the McCarthy hearings: A New Look At McCarthy Transcripts of closed-door hearings shed light on zealot's hardball tactics Senator Joseph McCarthy says the State Department is riddled with communists during hearings in 1950. (AP) (RealAudio) By Anne Q. Hoy WASHINGTON BUREAU May 6, 2003 Washington ?http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usmcca06327069 4may06,0,1579853.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines? The Senate yesterday unsealed thousands of pages of testimony taken behind closed doors by Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy, whose anti-communist crusade in the 1950s exploited a national mood of unease and transformed his name into his very own "ism" for witch-hunt. More than 4,000 pages, the transcripts of the sessions in 1953 and 1954 of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Government Operations provide the first public look at McCarthy's hard-nosed tactics in 160 closed hearings that often weeded out witnesses who confronted him and left the more vulnerable for televised sessions. Composer Aaron Copland, mystery writer Dashiell Hammett and Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes were among the 500 witnesses subjected to McCarthy's closed inquisitions, the latter two hauled back for a public hearing in March, 1953. The documents lay bare the danger of unbridled power and the threat that such excesses pose to the civil liberties of Americans. More Coverage: His In-Your-Face Style May 6, 2003 ?http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usexce06327069 5may06,0,5044077.story?coll=ny%2Dnationalnews%2Dheadlines? Tales From A Redbaiter's '50s Fishing Expedition By Ken Ringle Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, May 6, 2003; Page C01 ?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17913-2003May5.html? The ghost of Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy was exhumed for a new century yesterday as the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs released five volumes of long-secret testimony from 160 closed hearings held during McCarthy's red-baiting heyday half a century ago. There were no particular blockbuster revelations in the 4,232 pages, according to Donald A. Ritchie, associate historian of the Senate, but the volumes offer a new and deeper look -- cautionary and at times ridiculous -- at the unbridled recklessness with which the Wisconsin Republican escalated Cold War concerns about communism into witch hunts that destroyed careers and victimized the innocent. --------------------------- Full Stories May be Read at the URLs Above. To learn more of Aaron Copland's great contributions to music in general and to American music in particular, the websites below would be a good place to start: The Aaron Copland Collection: Ca. 1900-1990 Library of Congress American Memories Collection ?http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/achtml/achome.html? Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990) ?http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/copland.html? Copland House ?http://www.coplandhouse.org/? Featured Subject: Aaron Copland With News and Reviews From the Archives of The New York Times ?http://www.dl.ket.org/humanities/music/copland.htm? American Masters . Aaron Copland | PBS ?http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/copland_a.html? Sincerely, David Dillard Research Librarian david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ECP RingLeader http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html Temple University (215) 204 - 4584 jwne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<> EDUCATIONAL CYBERPLAYGROUND http://www.edu-cyberpg.com VENDORS REACH THE EDUCATION MARKET FREE EDUCATION VENDOR DIRECTORY LISTING Find PREMIUM & FEATURED MERCHANT LISTING ALSO http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Directory/default.asp HOT LIST OF SCHOOLS ONLINE http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Schools/default.asp SERVICES http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/PS/Home_Products.html Net Happenings,K12 Newsletters, Network Newsletters, New-list http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/index.html <>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>