Elizabeth Dilling`s Crusade Against Communism in the 1930s

Journal of American Studies, 36 (2002), 3, 473–489 f 2002 Cambridge University Press
DOI: 10.1017/S0021875802006928 Printed in the United Kingdom
‘‘ I have not had One Fact
Disproven ’’ : Elizabeth Dilling’s
Crusade Against Communism in
the 1930s
CHRISTINE K. ERICKSON
Who, then, is Mrs. Dilling ? Upon what strange meat has she been fed that she hath
grown so great : And what inspired her, she who might have taken up knitting or
petunia-growing, to adopt as her hobby the deliberate and sometimes hasty criticism
of men and women she has never even seen.1
To see the lady in action, screaming and leaping and ripping along at breakneck speed,
is to see certain symptoms of simple hysteria on the loose.2
May God strengthen and uphold you, [Mrs. Dilling] _ May your wonderful
work grow and help save our Republic, _ a time is coming when you will
be blessed _ You deserve a place in history comparable to Washington and
Lincoln.3
Hysterical and demented, saintly and just, these were just some of the characterizations of the most prominent female activist on the right during the
Great Depression. Elizabeth Dilling embraced them all. For Dilling and her
supporters, service in the cause of Christianity and Americanism demanded
vigilance and determination, as well as a tough skin.
Dilling’s story is a fascinating one and deserves telling, if only because of the
passion she provoked in her audiences. Yet her story has larger historical
Christine Erickson is Assistant Professor of History at Indiana University–Purdue University at
Fort Wayne, Indiana 46805, USA.
The author gratefully acknowledges the following individuals for their helpful comments and
criticisms of various drafts : the anonymous reviewer for The Journal of American Studies, Patricia
Cline Cohen, Mary O. Furner, Stacey M. Robertson, and Georgia W. Ulmschneider.
1
Harry Thornton Moore, ‘‘ The Lady Patriot’s Book, ’’ The New Republic, 85 (8 Jan. 1936), 243.
2
Milton S. Mayer, ‘‘ Mrs. Dilling : Lady of the Red Network, ’’ American Mercury 47 ( July 1939),
294.
3
Quoted in Patriotic Research Bureau Bulletin (hereafter known as Bulletin), 4 July 1941,
National Republic Magazine Collection, Hoover Institution, Stanford, CA. (Hereafter,
NRM) Box 129 File : Elizabeth Dilling (hereafter F :ED).
474
Christine K. Erickson
significance. Dilling created her own unique style of politics – distinctly
gendered and explicitly personal, a feminine counterpunch to her male colleagues on the far-right who were relatively more aloof from their constituents.
For Dilling, involvement in the politics of anti-communism was not only a
personal source of strength and satisfaction but also a ticket to what she hoped
would be a long and respectable career as an authority on subversive movements. While her hopes would be dashed and her authority ultimately recognized within only a tiny circle of far-right believers, Dilling’s ambition to
forge a movement would have larger ramifications. From the mid 1930s to
early 1940s, she would use her skills to great effect. Her attacks, both verbal and
written, would anticipate the McCarthy-style witch-hunt of the Cold War, in
which lists of suspected subversive names and organizations were dramatically
brandished before the public and where reputations suffered crippling assaults. Dilling, of course, never came close to reaching McCarthy’s stature and
impact. Yet, her ability to seize the issue of communist infiltration, capitalize
on people’s suspicions, and create a one-woman crusade is reminiscent of the
Wisconsin’s Senator’s opportunism.
Elizabeth Kirkpatrick Dilling would not find her calling until late in life. She
was born on 19 April 1894 in Chicago into a financially comfortable uppermiddle-class family. After she married at the age of 22 to an engineer and law
student, Albert Wallwick Dilling, she continued to live a life of relative
prosperity. Dilling’s inheritance from her mother and aunts allowed the young
family to purchase a home and a 237-acre farm, while Albert, who became
chief engineer of the Chicago Sewage District for a brief time, managed to
acquire a small fortune through some underhanded and shady maneuvering.4
Throughout the 1920s, Dilling contented herself with raising two children and
minding other domestic responsibilities.
It was during her extensive journeys abroad that Dilling’s political views
began to crystallize. With a love for travel that stemmed from her childhood, a
husband and children in tow and expenses well funded, Dilling toured the
globe (a total of ten extensive trips abroad between 1923 and 1931).5 As Dilling
recollected in later years, her experiences overseas had a tremendous impact
on her political outlook. Offended by what she considered British insults to the
American navy and failure to acknowledge US support in World War I, as well
as her increasing disdain and intolerance for non-Christian cultures, Dilling
4
5
Glen Jeansonne, Women of the Far Right: The Mothers’ Movement and World War II (Chicago :
University of Chicago Press, 1996), 10–12.
Albert W. Dilling, ‘‘ Opening Speech to the Jury in Behalf of Elizabeth Dilling, ’’ 22 May
1944, FBI Files.
Elizabeth Dilling’s Crusade Against Communism in the 1930s
475
grew convinced of American superiority in all matters.6 Her convictions
solidified after a trip to the Soviet Union in 1931; the journey Dilling claimed
‘‘ changed’’ her life and catapulted her into the public arena.7
According to her well-worn story, the sightseeing affair of the Soviet Union
turned into a startling revelation of communism’s ‘‘atheism, sex degeneracy,
broken homes, [and] class hatred. ’’ The impoverished and wretched conditions of Stalinist Russia appalled Dilling. She noted with concern the ‘‘ idle
crowds’’ and abandoned children roaming the streets bordered by run-down
buildings in desperate need of repair. She described in vivid detail the ‘‘poor,
miserable workers ’ stores ’’ where the proletariat was forced to shop. What
little food stocked the shelves was overpriced and fly-infested. The sight
of Christian churches being ‘‘ converted into anti-religious museums’’ and the
shock of seeing nude bathers swim in a river under the shadow of one Moscow
church, an event Dilling captured on film, clearly signaled to her that communism bred atheism and encouraged immorality.8
Compassion and moral revulsion turned to alarm when, during a tour of the
Moscow Museum of the Revolution, the guide informed tourists that ‘‘ Our
world revolution will start with China and end with the United States. ’’ A
revised map of the United States with cities renamed completed a terrifying
picture of an expansionist Soviet Russia bent on creating a communist regime
in America. The final straw came for Dilling when she returned home to
Illinois to be met with what she labeled as ‘‘ bitter opposition against my telling
the truth about Russia ... from suburbanite ‘ intellectual’ friends and from my
own Episcopal minister. ’’ No longer could Dilling continue a quiet and
comfortable life devoted to husband, children, and harp. The combination of
her experiences in Russia and the unsympathetic hearing she received at home
convinced her that she had an urgent mission to fulfill : to expose communist
infiltration of American institutions and share her information with anyone
who would listen. ‘‘Good Christian women ’’ such as herself had no right to sit
6
7
8
Dilling to Henry B. Joy, June 1936, Henry B. Joy Collection, B7, F, 13 June – 30 June 1936,
Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan; Jeansonne, 10–12 ; Dilling, ‘‘ About
Elizabeth Dilling, ’’ Dilling Papers.
See Dilling to Henry B. Joy, June 1936, Henry B. Joy Collection, University of Michigan, B 7
F, 13 June – 30 June 1936 and Albert W. Dilling, ‘‘ Opening Speech to the Jury in Behalf of
Elizabeth Dilling, ’’ 22 May 1944, FBI Files.
Elizabeth Dilling, ‘‘ Red Revolution : Do We Want It ? ’’ (Kenilworth, Ill., 1932), 15 ; Elizabeth
Dilling, The Red Network : A ‘‘ Who’s Who’’ and Handbook of Radicalism for Patriots (Kenilworth,
Ill. By the author, 1934), 11. See also ‘‘ Red Revolution, ’’ 15 and Bulletin, 4 July 1941 and
August 1941 in NRM B129 F:ED. The question of ‘‘ immorality ’’ aside, Dilling was more on
the mark than realized. Subsequent research has shown that Stalin’s regime was terrifyingly
oppressive. See Robert Conquest, The Great Terror: A Reassessment (New York : Oxford
University Press, 1990).
476
Christine K. Erickson
passively in their homes while ‘‘ a fire burns in the nation’s basement and
[radicals] fill the platforms with their dirt and anti-American ideas. ’’9
Dilling made her public debut during the Great Depression, a crisis that
created circumstances conducive to political change. A host of voices from
across the spectrum emerged that challenged President Franklin D. Roosevelt
and the New Deal, each offering their own solution to the turmoil and a
promise to guide Americans out of the miasma and into a brighter future.
Huey Long, the ambitious senator from Louisiana, and Father Charles
Coughlin, the radio priest from Michigan, were two of FDR’s fiercest critics,
and, in the case of Long, FDR’s most dangerous adversary.
Long and Coughlin formed the backbone of dissent, the ‘‘ voices of protest ’’ as noted by historian Alan Brinkley.10 But beneath Long and Coughlin lay
another layer of ferment, the Protestant far right. Gerald L. K. Smith, Huey
Long’s former right-hand man, emerged as one of the leading spokesman of
the Protestant far right after Long’s assassination in 1935. Others included
Gerald P. Winrod, a fundamentalist minister who claimed that the ‘‘ Hidden
Hand of Zion ’’ guided the New Deal, and William D. Pelley, who modeled his
paramilitary organization, the Silver Shirts, after Hitler’s elite Nazi corps, the
SS. Smith, Winrod, and Pelley agreed with the conservative critique that the
New Deal posed a collectivist threat to capitalism, but they expressed greater
concern with its supposed antipathy toward Christianity. According to the
Protestant far right, the unique American constitutional government was so
intertwined with Christian principles that a socialist agenda, with its atheistic
tenets, would not only corrupt that special union but also dissolve a distinct
American identity. As with Coughlin, anti-Semitism permeated their world
view, particularly by the end of the decade.11
Dilling found her natural home in the Protestant far right. Like her
counterparts, Dilling contended that communism posed a dire threat to an
American way of life and its Christian heritage. It was communism that
endangered individual initiative and the free market, promoted atheism, and
encouraged amoral behavior; it was communism that gave the state unprecedented power and savaged the family.
More immediately, ‘‘the Roosevelt Regime’’ was launching a revolution
that represented just the ‘‘ first stage’’ in the communist conspiracy to subvert
9
10
11
Dilling, The Red Network, 9; Bulletin, 4 July 1941, NRM B129 F :ED ; ‘‘ Who is Elizabeth
Dilling ? ’’ (1965?) Radical Right Collection, Hoover Institution, Stanford, CA, B1 F :ED ;
Dilling, ‘‘ About Elizabeth Dilling, ’’ Dilling Papers.
Alan Brinkley, Voices of Protest: Huey Long , Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression (New York :
Alfred A. Knopf, 1982).
Leo P. Ribuffo, The Old Christian Right (Philadelphia : Temple University Press, 1983).
Elizabeth Dilling’s Crusade Against Communism in the 1930s
477
American democracy.12 Point by point, Dilling compared FDR’s agenda to The
Communist Manifesto. Karl Marx’s call for the abolition of private property was
reflected in New Deal tax increases for ‘‘ boondoggling’’ projects, fat
government loans for farms, houses, and businesses, and dark hints by
braintrusters for increased state control over land. Marx’s scheme of a
graduated income tax, centralized communication, state control over undeveloped lands, and work programs had already come to fruition with the
Revenue Act, the Federal Communications Commission, the Tennessee
Valley Authority, the Works Progress Administration, and the Civilian
Conservation Corps.13 While Dilling did not place the entire blame on
Roosevelt, whom she referred to as ‘‘ merely an ambitious rich man’s son,
eager for honors and dictatorial power,’’ she accused him of catering to
Moscow by appointing ‘‘ Red revolutionaries ’’ to implement his New Deal
program. According to her, reformers, intellectuals, and educators aided
Roosevelt in his scheme by spreading Marxist poison in churches, settlement
houses, and colleges.14 If Americans continued their apathetic ways, Roosevelt, he of the ‘‘winning smile and splendid voice ’’ would ‘‘ snap the handcuffs
on the wrists of American Constitutional liberty ’’ and establish a communist
dictatorship.15
Dilling’s attack on Roosevelt echoed charges launched by Smith, Winrod,
and others on the far right. What was remarkable was that she seized that
message and shaped it to suit her political style, a style that distinguished her
from her male colleagues. Dilling sought to forge personal relationships with
her followers. Her fierce dedication (many would say obsession) to her
mission and her talent to incite loyalty among both men and women combined
with an uncanny ability to promote herself gained her many admirers and set
her apart from her fellow anti-New Dealers.
Dilling’s entry into the public arena began shortly after her fateful trip to
Russia in 1931 when she struck up a friendship with Iris McCord, a radio
teacher at the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. McCord, in sympathy
with Dilling’s views, invited her to address local church groups about the
communist threat. Dilling also received encouragement from ‘‘ an old line
expert,’’ probably Harry Jung of the American Vigilant Association. As word
spread about Dilling’s talents as an anticommunist speaker, she began giving
lectures and showing her home movies across the country, from national
organizations such as the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and
12
13
Elizabeth Dilling, The Roosevelt Red Record and its Background (Chicago, Ill.: By the author,
1936), 3, 392.
14
15
Ibid., 24–36.
Ibid., 153–55.
Ibid., 4–5.
478
Christine K. Erickson
the American Legion to local civic and women’s clubs. She received a little
compensation for her efforts, usually travel expenses and a small percentage of
the nightly income. Despite the minimal financial rewards, Dilling felt inspired
enough by her success on the lecture circuit to write an expose´ of radicals in
the U.S.16
Her first efforts resulted in a small pamphlet in 1932 called ‘‘ The Red
Revolution: Do We Want It Here? ’’The collection of essays raged against
‘‘ Parlor Pinks, ’’ ‘‘Broadminded Pinks, ’’ and the subversives who lived in ‘‘ Red
Ravina,’’ with little distinction between shades. All, however, were burrowing
deep into schools and churches and corrupting them with dangerous ideas.17
According to Dilling, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)
reprinted the articles and distributed them by the thousands to local chapters
across the country.18
Anxious to reach a wider audience, Dilling published in 1934, The Red
Network: A ‘‘Who’s Who’’ and Handbook of Radicalism for Patriots. Essays, most
recycled from ‘‘The Red Revolution,’’ comprised the first half of the book
while a long detailed list of over 460 organizations that she labeled as
‘‘ Communist, Radical Pacifist, Anarchist, Socialist, I.W.W. controlled’’ and
1,300 people who either belonged to those organizations or sympathized with
them made up the second.19 Concerned, perhaps, that her word was insufficient and her credibility would be questioned, she inundated her essays with
long quotes from multiple sources. When Dilling did speak with her own
voice, her writing was descriptive, personal, and humorous, and informed by a
keen eye toward gender. Her observation that ‘‘ the bedbugs in the Grand
Hotel [in Moscow], were wild about me, the listless waiters not at all’’ revealed
an unsettling image of communism’s power to emasculate—how could any
man ignore Dilling?20 Moreover, she had witnessed male communists who
deceptively used their wiles and charm to persuade unsuspecting audiences,
primarily female, to swallow their propaganda ‘‘as smoothly as ... a chocolate
cream. ’’21
To critics on the left, however, The Red Network’s debut was not as palatable.
Dedicated to ‘‘those sincere fighters for American liberty and Christian
principles,’’ Dilling’s assault on communism elicited a flurry of responses.22
16
17
18
19
22
See ‘‘ Who is Elizabeth Dilling ? ’’ n.d. [1965], Radical Right Collection, B1 F:ED ; Obituary,
New York Times (May 1966), 88. Jeansonne, 15. ‘‘ About Elizabeth Dilling, ’’ [n.d., 1948 ?]. Also
see ‘‘ Jung is a Mystery of Dilling Case, ’’ The Chicago Sun, 24 July 1942, NRM B129 F :ED.
Dilling, The Red Network, 5.
‘‘ About Elizabeth Dilling, ’’ [n.d., 1948 ?], Dilling Papers.
20
21
Dilling, The Red Network, 7.
Ibid., 12.
Ibid., 55.
Dilling, ‘‘ Dedication, ’’ The Red Network.
Elizabeth Dilling’s Crusade Against Communism in the 1930s
479
As one contemporary journalist unfriendly to Dilling noted, ‘‘ professional
patrioteers ’’ across the country cited her research in their own efforts to expose radicals. The Red Network was ‘‘ accepted as expert testimony by a dozen
legislative and Congressional investigations’’ and used, successfully, in at least
one court case.23 The New Republic, no fan of Dilling’s, warned that The Red
Network carried ‘‘ considerable weight,’’ particularly among police stations
where officials were ‘‘ only too glad’’ to discover the identity of suspected
communists. Inclusion often resulted in canceled lecture engagements for
controversial scholars and diminished financial support for suspected red
organizations. The New Republic half-jokingly mentioned that it made a ‘‘ handy,
compact reference work’’ for those who wanted to get involved in worthy
organizations, while Survey stated that it was a ‘‘ ridiculous,’’ yet dangerous
book because of the potential for abuse.24 Another writer warned, ‘‘ long after
the Winrods, Kuhns, Gerald Smiths, and perhaps the Coughlins, have faded
from the picture, this woman’s book will continue to function. ’’25 Eminent
journalist Dorothy Thompson remarked that Dilling was ‘‘ one of the most
successful defamers of private character in this country. ’’26
Dilling’s willingness to irreverently paint all liberals with varying shades of
red won her many accolades from the right. What helped make The Red
Network an instant hit among patriots was its accessibility to older studies by
Representative Hamilton Fish, who headed an investigation in 1931 of
communist activities in the US and Senator Clayton R. Lusk, who compiled a
four-volume Report of the Joint Committee Investigating Seditious Activities
in New York in 1920. These reports, with their many inaccuracies and
overzealous claims, combined with data from other patriotic groups and
individuals such as Nelson Hewitt, a close friend and editor of the anticommunist Advisory Associates in Chicago, Francis Ralston Welsh, another
super-patriot activist from Philadelphia, Walter Steele, owner of the National
Republic Magazine, and Harry Jung, provided, according to Dilling, an indispensable and comprehensive guide for hunting communists.27
Dilling may have published The Red Network herself, but she enjoyed
tremendous help in marketing and distributing. Well-known fundamentalist
23
24
25
27
Milton S. Mayer, ‘‘ Mrs. Dilling : Lady of the Red Network, ’’ American Mercury, 47 ( July 1939),
294; Dilling, ‘‘ Dare We Oppose Red Treason ?’’ Red Network Bulletin, Thanksgiving Day,
1937, NRM B129 F:ED.
The New Republic (4 July 1934) ; Survey ( Jan. 1935).
26
Mayer, ‘‘ Mrs. Dilling : Lady of the Red Network, ’’ 299.
Ibid., 293.
Even in 1965, Dilling was still selling ‘‘ the famous Red Network ... as accurate as ever, ’’ from
her Research Bureau. She had apparently received donated copies (it was out of print) and
was willing to sell them for $25.00. See ‘‘ Who is Elizabeth Dilling ?’’ Radical Right Collection,
B1 F :ED.
480
Christine K. Erickson
preacher W. B. Riley sung The Red Network’s praises and claimed that he had
‘‘ personally disposed of some hundreds of copies,’’ while a national officer of
the American Legion declared it a ‘‘ splendid’’ piece of work and a ‘‘useful ’’
reference tool. ‘‘ It should be carefully read and studied, ’’ urged the national
president of the Sojourners, a patriotic organization dedicated to the preservation of the family.28 ‘‘Exactly what was needed, ’’ and ‘‘ very valuable ’’
agreed two prominent officials from the DAR.29 One journalist complimented
Dilling ‘‘ for her courage and her patriotism’’ and also noted that 2,000 copies
of The Red Network sold within ten days of publication.30 Another supporter
declared that he ‘‘consult[ed] The Red Network almost daily for the invaluable
reference data’’ it contained.31 The president of the Ladies Auxiliary of
Pullman Porters and Maids strongly recommended that her co-workers
purchase The Red Network, sold at ‘‘ all first class bookstores ’’ to discover the
extent of communist infiltration in the union.32 The Moody Bible Institute
advertised and sold The Red Network, while Gerald Winrod gave away a free
copy of Dilling’s book with each new subscription to The Revealer. The
German–American Bund and the Aryan Bookstores also distributed Dilling’s
book.33
Despite the success of The Red Network, Dilling failed to write a sequel equal
to it. Her next effort, The Roosevelt Red Record, ignited little controversy, perhaps
because Dilling had nothing new to say; moreover, by 1936, other voices more
powerful and more persuasive than hers were attacking FDR and the New
Deal. Far more than in The Red Network, Dilling cut and pasted long quotes
from other sources, offering only a few hurried comments of her own. Her
lack of analysis and insight did not stop Dilling from claiming that both books
prompted the founding of the House Committee to Investigate Un-American
Activities in 1938, although she certainly took more credit than she deserved.34
More suggestive here was the importance she attached to her work and her
need for credibility. Perhaps creditability, or more precisely, marketability, was
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
‘‘ Some of Hundreds of Other Favorable Comments, ’’ FBI Files.
‘‘ The Red Network : Favorable Comments ’’ and ‘‘ Some of Hundreds of Other Favorable
Comments, ’’ FBI Files.
The Press [city unknown] (3 May 1934), NRM B129 F:ED.
H. A. Whipple, American Mercury 48 (Sept. 1939), 122.
Leota G. Harris, President, Ladies Auxiliary, P.P. & M.P.A. [n.d], Dilling Papers.
Chicago Tribune (3 June 1944) in NRM B129 F :ED.
In 1965, Dilling wrote that she had sent The Red Network and The Roosevelt Red Record to VicePresident John Garner. She ‘‘ was told ’’ that Garner ‘‘ stayed up all night reading them and
had his friend Cong. Dies of Texas start up the Dies Com. (later called the House Com.) as a
result. ’’ See ‘‘ Who is Elizabeth Dilling ? ’’ 1965, Radical Right B1 F :ED. See also Bulletin,
4 July 1941, NRM B129 F:ED. Times-Leader – The Evening News (Wilkes-Barre, PA) 30 April
1940. Attached to Bulletin, May 1940, NRM B129 F :ED.
Elizabeth Dilling’s Crusade Against Communism in the 1930s
481
the reason she chose to include in The Roosevelt Red Record a photograph of ‘‘ The
Author’’ as a very young woman – a far cry from a seasoned 42 years at the
time of publication – a visionary, a prodigy perhaps, wise beyond her years
who saw through the transparency of the Roosevelt administration and had
the courage to tell the truth.
Dilling’s books, however, did not come close to revealing fully her ambition
to create a personal network of friends, followers, and fellow patriots. Her
genuine enthusiasm for her mission emerged in her Patriotic Research Bulletins, which she started publishing regularly in 1938. Hand mimeographed in
her office and subsidized by Dilling and her husband, the bulletins were mailed
free of charge to her subscribers. These bulletins set her apart from her
colleagues, who often published newsletters but without the individual touch
that characterized Dilling’s work. Her photograph on the front page indicated
a desire to personalize her political message. Showing a much younger Elizabeth Dilling with a serene expression on her face and a black dress with
a white lace collar, the photograph sought to assure readers that Dilling
was a trustworthy woman dedicated solely to the cause of Christianity and
patriotism.
Reminiscent of letters to close friends in which confidences were shared,
her monthly bulletins overflowed with news, often for 25 to 30 pages, about
her very busy life. Dilling consistently maintained that her patriotic work did
not interfere with her motherly duties and proudly interspersed the latest data
on subversion with updates on her children’s achievements in academics and
school plays. When her daughter married in 1945, for instance, Dilling shared
her joy by treating her followers to a full-length photograph of ‘‘ Babe’’ in her
wedding dress.35 Like other conservative women who claimed a maternalist
mantel to legitimize their political activities, Dilling wanted to clarify that her
children came first ; moreover, they were an important reason why she worked
so hard to purge the communist threat. She freely shared her personal difficulties; the most devastating of which was her highly publicized divorce trial
in 1942.
The bulletins also revealed that there was little room for ambiguity in
Dilling’s world. ‘‘ I call filth filth where ever I run into it, ’’ she declared in
1940.36 ‘‘ Plenty of people hate me, ’’ she added, ‘‘ but I’ve never been sued for
libel yet.’’37 This was not to say that Dilling passively accepted her detractors’
comments. She did not. She viciously lashed out at her ‘‘ enemies’’ or at those
35
36
Dilling, Bulletin, ‘‘ Wedding Month, ’’ June 1945, NRM B129 F:ED.
Wilkes-Barre Record, Wilkes-Barr, Pennsylvania, 1 May 1940. Attached to Bulletin, 4 May
37
1940, NRM B129 F:ED.
Ibid.
482
Christine K. Erickson
she simply did not like ; and, more often than not, her attacks simmered with
unflattering jabs at physical appearances and mannerisms in speech. Good and
evil existed in the world, and Dilling told people exactly where that evil lay in
language that was emphatic, urgent, and frequently bitter. The evil, which
threatened America’s Christian foundations, stemmed from communism,
New Deal statism, atheism, and, as she was asserting by 1940, Judaism.
Tolerance was not part of her rhetoric : either one agreed with her or one did
not, either one championed the cause of Christianity and Americanism or one
thwarted it.
Dilling’s followers responded with loyalty, applause, and sometimes a
check. Both men and women not only commended her patriotic work but also
offered sympathy in times of personal trouble. Admirers over the years praised
her. One man contended that Dilling should be America’s first female vicepresident, reasoning that women voters would likely choose a female candidate; moreover, she was ‘‘ the best informed, most courageous woman’’ he
knew.38 Dilling basked in this wealth of encouragement; she also wanted to let
her readers know that she deserved it. To ‘‘ serve the cause of Christianity and
Americanism in whatever way is best, dead or alive, in jail or out, smeared or
vindicated, ’’ was Dilling’s task, and she delighted in her image of a martyr
willing to sacrifice herself for a higher purpose.39
That the ‘‘ anti-Red movement ’’ needed Dilling’s savvy and drive was a
given, according to Dilling; it also needed her Patriotic Research Bureau which
she founded in Chicago in 1938. Staffed by several ‘‘ Christian women and
girls ’’ associated with the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, the Patriotic
Research Bureau provided a vast archive brimming over with material about
radical individuals and organizations. Serious patriots could peruse the files at
their leisure or request information through the mail.
Much of the data came from Dilling’s work in the field: she attended
Communist Party meetings, saw plays she believed were red-directed, and read
the platforms of Communist and Socialist parties.40 She pored over ‘‘ the Red
press continuously and extensively’’ such as The Daily Worker and the Jewish
Sentinel to decipher communist intentions.41 The usual suspects also included
institutions of higher learning. To her horror, an investigation of the University of Michigan’s library in the spring of 1939 (financed by Henry Ford)
revealed a seething cauldron of radicalism. Dilling’s ‘‘ incomplete ’’ survey of
the library revealed 189 books on communism, 76 on the Soviet Union, 656
38
40
George Hornby, Boise, Idaho, Disabled American Veterans of World War to Dilling, 3 Aug.
1944, Gerald L. K. Smith Collection, B12 F 1944, Bentley Historical Library, University of
39
Michigan.
Bulletin, 27 March 1942, NRM B129 F :ED.
41
Dilling, The Roosevelt Red Record, 247.
Ibid., 259.
Elizabeth Dilling’s Crusade Against Communism in the 1930s
483
written by ‘‘ radicals,’’ and 74 on ‘‘ materialism (Atheism). ’’ Dilling was particularly incensed when she counted 81 books with Sigmund Freud in the title,
a man who had ‘‘probably done more to break down moral decency and to
spread sex filth under the guise of science’’ than any other individual. Not
satisfied with simply counting the number of books listed in the card catalogue
that mentioned Freud, Dilling located his books on the shelves and noted with
alarm that the pages were ‘‘well-thumbed, ’’ which clearly indicated that they
were recommended reading.42
When she was not actively seeking out evidence of subversion, Dilling
traveled the lecture circuit. Her stinging commentaries given at ‘‘breakneck
speed ’’ with ‘‘ a swift, staccato tempo’’ on the perils of communism and the
treachery of the New Deal found appreciative audiences from Los Angeles to
Chicago, from Rotary clubs to, as one journalist condescendingly noted,
‘‘ women’s clubs of the simpler sort.’’43 As with her writing, Dilling lectured in
her own, unique style. She often passed out original lyrics to well-known tunes
and led audiences in ‘‘ songfests ’’ that lampooned radicals, among whom she
included the New Dealers. Singing in a ‘‘ clear and confident voice,’’ Dilling
made cutting and often vicious remarks about her targets, much to the delight
of her audiences. Her husband, whom Dilling praised for his seeming dedication to her and the cause, obliged her by trotting forth descriptive posters
and banners before the crowds. Home movies from her visits to Stalin’s Russia
and Franco’s Spain, complete with a running commentary on communist
destruction of churches, frequently highlighted the meeting.44
Dilling was also willing to use whatever tools she had to elicit support for
her cause. In many cases, gender was her weapon of choice. When, for
example, she pleaded to a Rotary club in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1940
to leave their golf clubs at home and use their ‘‘ executive ability, power and
brains ’’ to root out communist infiltration in schools, government, and
churches, she hastened to add that she was ‘‘ just a woman with a mouth who
has spent the past nine years of my life and my husband’s money to get to the
42
43
44
Dilling, Bulletin, Oct. 1941, 18, 20, NRM B129 F :ED ; Jeansonne, Women of the Far Right, 20.
Mayer, ‘‘ Mrs. Dilling : Lady of the Red Network, ’’ 294, 298; Memo to Director, FBI, re:
Elizabeth Eloise Dilling, 28 Aug. 1943, FBI Files.
Dilling visited Spain by herself in the summer of 1938. According to her husband, Dilling
gained permission to visit the battlefront in ‘‘ Christian Spain ’’ by showing her literature to
General Franco’s headquarters in Lisbon, Portugal. She traveled to Spain again in 1939, this
time with her husband. Albert W. Dilling, ‘‘ Opening Speech to the Jury in Behalf of
Elizabeth Dilling, ’’ 22 May 1944, FBI Files ; Bulletin, July 5, 1941, NRM B129 F :ED ;
Bulletin, August 1941, NRM B129 F :ED ; Case Report,12 April 1944, FBI Files ; Mayer,
‘‘ Mrs. Dilling : Lady of the Red Network, ’’ 295 ; Jeansonne, 13 ; PM (1 Aug. 1943) in NRM
B129 F :ED.
484
Christine K. Erickson
bottom of it. ’’ Her Patriotic Research Bureau gathered critical information to
help patriotic men ‘‘who haven’t the time to do this drudgery.’’45 In one
respect, Dilling’s characterization of herself as ‘‘just a woman’’ placed the
burden of guilt on her male audience. The implication was that if she could
ferret out subversion, they certainly could ; after all, as she told them : ‘‘ You
have what I lack – money and brains.’’46 Yet, while Dilling played up her
inferiority to her male audiences, she implicitly reminded women followers
that they should battle against ‘‘ the Red Cancer ’’ for their children and their
country.47
Besides relying on a gendered appeal to patriotic duty, Dilling enjoyed
portraying herself as a helpless victim confronted with diabolical evil. One
telling example was when a federal subpoena in 1941, issued by the Justice
Department, ordered her to Washington DC to explain her alleged affiliations
with Nazi sympathizers. She described her experiences at the ‘‘ New Deal
O.G.P.U.,’’ an unsubtle reference to Stalin’s secret police, in the format of
a play, in which she acted the part of the victim interrogated by an agent of
the New Deal. The dramatic scene overflowed with ‘‘ sinister glower[s],’’
‘‘ sarcastic questions ’’ and ‘‘ long harangue[s].’’ The victim, ‘‘ a bit weary with
the endless hectoring,’’ answered unfair questions with righteous indignation.
Throughout this little skit, Dilling downplayed her public role and denied the
accusation that she was ‘‘ an important woman ’’ and that her ‘‘ name carr[ied]
weight.’’ A sincere act of humility this was not, but it did reveal Dilling’s
inclination for martyrdom and self-importance, as well as a talent for
propaganda.48
While Dilling treasured her role as a lone crusader, nothing pleased her
more than ‘‘gabfesting ’’ with other super patriots.49 This was how Dilling
made important contacts. She was on a friendly basis with several top leaders
of the DAR, an organization she greatly admired but was ineligible to join. She
associated with prominent men of the Protestant far right, especially Gerald L.
K. Smith, but she met more frequently with the smaller patriotic groups such
as the Constitutional Educational League, Women Investors of America, and
American Women against Communism.50 Kindred spirits with whom she
45
46
47
48
49
50
Times-Leader, The Evening News (Wilkes-Barre, PA) 30 April 1940. Attached to Bulletin, 4 May
1940, NRM B129.
Wilkes-Barre Record, Wilkes-Barr, Pennsylvania, 1 May 1940. Attached to Bulletin, 4 May
1940, NRM B129 F:ED.
Dilling, Bulletin, Memorial Day, 1939, NRM B129 F:ED.
Bulletin, Oct. 1941, NRM B129 F :ED. Also see Jeansonne’s chapter on the Mass Sedition
Trial inWomen of the Far Right, 152–64.
Bulletin, 4 May 1940, NRM B129 F :ED.
Patriotic Research Bureau, 4 May 1940, NRM B129 F :ED.
Elizabeth Dilling’s Crusade Against Communism in the 1930s
485
shared ideas and information included Nelson Hewitt, Harry Jung, and Henry
B. Joy, a retired industrialist who often sent her money and who was her most
faithful supporter. Henry Ford also supported her for a short time.51 Dilling
courted the fundamentalists and lectured on a regular basis in fundamentalist
churches, institutes, and conventions.
Dilling’s efforts to rouse Christians from their apathy often proved
extraordinarily frustrating. Financing the research trips for the monthly
bulletins, let alone footing the costs of printing and mailing, took its toll on her
personal resources. More aggravating were ‘‘ the airy individual’’ and the
‘‘ debonair patriots’’ who failed to appreciate how much time and energy she
put into her work. Only a person with courage and determination, such as
herself, could stand up to the pressure and criticism.52 As she dramatically
stated in 1932, ‘‘ neither personal ridicule or hackneyed argument, but only a
bullet ’’ could stop her from completing her mission.53
Bullets aside, and no attempt was ever made on her life, Dilling continued
her quest to wake America’s conscience to the dangers that loomed. In
1941, angry that the Roosevelt administration sought to push through a
‘‘ dictatorship’’ bill that would create Lend Lease, Dilling spearheaded the
‘‘ Mothers’ Crusade to Defeat H.R. 1776. ’’ Dilling’s organization was part of
a loose coalition of some fifty to one hundred mothers’ groups that formed
across the country in vigorous opposition to US involvement in Europe.
With an estimated membership of almost one million women, what Laura
McEnaney has called the America First Movement accused Roosevelt and the
New Dealers of conspiring to plunge the US into a dangerous cycle of global
war that would, among other catastrophes, tear men away from their families
and ultimately destroy the cornerstone of democracy, the nuclear family.54 Dilling and the other women activists organized meetings and pageants, protested
and picketed the White House, distributed newsletters, and, on more confrontational days, verbally attacked Congressmen in their offices. Their tactics
often ended in arrests and finally, for Dilling, a conviction and a $25.00 fine.55
In early 1942, directly after Dilling’s involvement in the Mothers ’ movement and the battle over Lend Lease, her marriage disintegrated. A complicated tangle of financial misdealings and personal attacks, the divorce trial
dragged on for four months during which dozens of fist fights erupted
51
53
54
52
Jeansonne, 18, 20.
Bulletin, 22 Oct. 1940, NRM B129 F :ED.
‘‘ The ‘ Broadminded’ Pink, in ‘‘ Red Revolution, Do We Want It ?’’ Elizabeth Dilling,
Kenilworth, Ill., 1932, NRM B129 F :ED.
Laura McEnaney, ‘‘ He-Men and Christian Mothers : The America First Movement and the
Gendered Meanings of Patriotism and Isolationism, ’’ Diplomatic History, 18 (Winter 1994) :
55
47–57 ; Jeansonne, Women of the Far Right.
Jeansonne, 79.
486
Christine K. Erickson
between both men and women, at least two spectators were ejected, and three
contempt citations were issued – all to Elizabeth Dilling. During the trial,
Dilling remarked that her husband, Albert, had ‘‘threatened ’’ to end her work
and ‘‘smear ’’ her good name across the country by claiming she was a drug
addict and an alcoholic (charges which were unsubstantiated and which Albert
later rescinded). Much to the surprise of the lawyers involved and to the judge
who expressed fear that the case would give him ‘‘a nervous breakdown,’’ the
Dillings agreed to an amicable split. Albert, in fact, moved back in with Dilling
and served as her lawyer in a sedition trial later that summer. But he continued
to be unfaithful and in September 1943 moved to Nevada to seek a divorce,
which Dilling did not contest.56
Elizabeth Dilling’s sense of victimization grew even more acute when she
was charged with sedition on 21 July 1942. The mass sedition trial, known as
United States v. Winrod, would be the pinnacle event of what Leo P. Ribuffo
astutely called the Brown Scare, a determined effort by the federal government
to discover and prosecute known and suspected sympathizers with the Axis
powers. Prompted by President Roosevelt, Attorney General Francis Biddle
appointed Special Assistant William P. Maloney to investigate far right activity
in the United States – Dilling’s federal subpoena was just one part of the
government’s sweep. In United States v. Winrod, the Justice Department accused 26 defendants, including Dilling, Pelley, Winrod, and other far right
activists, of launching a conspiracy to incite mutiny in the armed forces by
distributing Nazi propaganda, an allegation Dilling repeatedly denied. On
4 January 1943, Maloney expanded the indictment, still named U.S. v. Winrod,
to include evidence dating back to Hitler’s assumption of power in 1933. The
final transformation of the case occurred on 3 January 1944 when Maloney’s
successor, O. John Rogge, issued a new indictment, U.S. v. McWilliams. The
government now charged the defendants with belonging to a conspiratorial
‘‘ worldwide Nazi movement. ’’57
The charges were eventually dismissed in 1946: the case was weak, the
evidence scanty, and the prosecutors overzealous in their attack. What the trial
revealed, noted Ribuffo, was FDR’s desire to silence all critics of the administration’s wartime policy without regard to civil liberties. Indeed, the
sedition trials gave a governmental stamp of approval for targeting ‘‘ unpopular dissidents ’’ who disagreed with the political status quo, thereby
56
57
The Chicago papers (and others) gave plenty of press coverage to the raucous divorce trial.
Bulletin, 28 Feb. 1942, 4, NRM B129 F :ED ; Washington Times Herald (17 Apr. 1942) ; Chicago
Tribune (23, 30 Apr. 2 May 1942), NRM B129 F:ED ; Jeansonne, 81.
See Leo P. Ribuffo’s chapter on the ‘‘ Brown Scare’’ in The Old Christian Right, 178–224 ;
O. John Rogge, quoted in Ribuffo, 206.
Elizabeth Dilling’s Crusade Against Communism in the 1930s
487
helping to set the stage for the McCarthy witch-hunt.58 As to the veracity of the
charges, evidence linking Dilling and the other defendants to an international
Nazi conspiracy was on shaky ground at best. Dilling was more than willing to
milk the government’s weak case for all it was worth. To be sure, she disseminated anti-Semitic and anti-Roosevelt literature, expressed publicly her
vehement opposition to Roosevelt’s foreign policy, and admired frankly the
Nazis ’ seeming emphasis on ‘‘ home life and Christianity.’’59 This proved only
that Dilling was a bigot – not a conspirator.
The trial also provided Dilling with another outlet to vent her anger and
frustration toward the Roosevelt administration. Convinced that the trial was a
personal attack on her politics and character, Dilling depicted herself as the
lone and fearless avenger for truth and right against injustice and villainy. This
‘‘ Moscow purge trial,’’ as she called it, was simply another rotten plot instigated by her ‘‘ New Deal and Red enemies’’ to discredit her. ‘‘I am guilty only of
pro-Americanism’’ she declared, as she implored her supporters to ‘‘ beg ’’ for
donations and urged them to form support committees and prayer groups.
This was not a personal fight, she reminded them, but ‘‘ a fight for the cause of
American George Washingtonian principles versus New Deal dictatorship.’’60
By the time Maloney had issued the first indictment, Dilling’s battle against
the New Deal had assumed an anti-Semitic cast. She was not alone: fellow far
right activists considered Henry Ford’s ‘‘The International Jew,’’ a widely read
series published in the Dearborn Independent during the 1920s, and The Protocols
of the Learned Elders of Zion, a malicious forgery whereby Jewish elders plotted
to take over the world and undermine Christian civilization, a model for
the Roosevelt administration.61 Despite Dilling’s claim that she wanted to
‘‘ avoid baiting Jews as a race,’’ her hostility towards Jews in the New Deal
and elsewhere poisoned her bulletins and speeches by the early 1940s.62
On a more clandestine level, she published a stridently anti-Semitic tract,
The Octopus, under a pseudonym in 1940. Her viciousness and paranoia
became more acute as she grew convinced that Jews had masterminded the
divorce and sedition trials.
The combined trauma of the FBI investigation, the divorce trial, and the
sedition trial clinched Dilling’s suspicions about a conspiracy determined to
crush her. Through the rest of the 1940s and 1950s, her world shrank to a
frighteningly small sanctuary in which she still trusted her family but few
58
60
62
Ribuffo, 215. Also see Glen Jeansonne’s chapter on the Mass Sedition Trial in Women of the
59
Far Right.
FBI Files, Case Report, San Francisco, 3 Sept. 1943.
61
Bulletin, 29 July 1942, NRM B129 F :ED.
Ribuffo, 8–9, 17.
Dilling to Rev. Nollner, 27 Aug. 1936, File 26 Aug. – 3 Sept. 1936, B7, Henry B. Joy
Collection. Also see Bulletin 4 July 1941, NRM B129 F :ED.
488
Christine K. Erickson
others, outside of the friends who subscribed to her monthly bulletins. At least
one long-time supporter had abandoned her by 1939. Nelson Hewitt informed
the FBI that Dilling had become, in a telling description, ‘‘ neurotic, ’’
‘‘ completely cracked, ’’ and ‘‘ entirely unbearable.’’63 She remarried in 1948 to
Mormon attorney Jeramiah Stokes, a long-time anti-communist crusader and
anti-Semite. After his death in 1954, Dilling moved in with her son, Kirkpatrick Dilling, and continued to publish her bulletins once every two months.
More and more, her bulletins rambled on about Jewish threats to Christianity,
even devoting an entire bulletin to the supposed connections between Barry
Goldwater and an international conspiracy of Jewish bankers (a charge that
prompted William F. Buckley Jr. to assert that Dilling ‘‘ belong[ed] in the
category of people who see ghosts ’’).64
Dilling’s activism was significant in several respects. First, she deftly melded
gender and the anti-communist cause in a calculated ploy to elicit support
from both men and women. She capitalized on her identity as a mother of two
children and, during the divorce trial, a wife wronged by a sinful husband in
cahoots with her Jewish enemies. She also recognized the power of a personal
approach to gain sympathy and support. Her decision to combine political
activism with her private circumstances was an unusual move: no other
individual male activists or female organizations on the right appealed to their
constituency in quite the same way. While one can argue that personality
naturally permeates political behavior, the difference in Dilling’s case is that
she carefully cultivated an image as a dedicated patriotic crusader who was only
concerned about the welfare of her country and was doing the best job that a
woman with her ‘‘ limited’’ abilities could do.
Her Red Network was also the first comprehensive reference guide to
communists and their sympathizers that was easily accessible to the public. Far
more than the Spider-Web chart of the 1920s – a chart composed by a
member of the DAR that plotted suspected red-affiliated organizations with
progressive individuals – The Red Network revealed the power of ‘‘ guilt by
association,’’ a tactic that would be used all too often by future Red baiters
with devastating effectiveness. While Dilling’s future efforts would fall well
short of The Red Network’s reception, Dilling’s book remained an important
source of information in the patriotic network.
Moreover, Dilling’s efforts to paint the New Deal every shade of red
reflected not only a personal, often visceral dissatisfaction with Roosevelt’s
reform agenda, but also a broader current of hostility towards big government and the intellectuals who supported it. The fear that a huge, faceless
63
64
Memo to Director, 30 Nov. 1939, FBI Files.
William F. Buckley Jr. to Walter H. Wheeler, 28 July 1961, Dilling Papers.
Elizabeth Dilling’s Crusade Against Communism in the 1930s
489
bureaucracy would crush American initiative and freedom was not uncommon
among the general public by the late 1930s and it had long been a staple
of conservative attacks on the New Deal. Where Dilling took a sharp right
turn from the Republican Party and the American Liberty League was in her
fierce anti-intellectual lashing of the New Dealers and their supporters, from
Rexford ‘‘ Dr. of Foolosophy’’ Tugwell to the ‘‘ Kelley–Addams–Roosevelt
type ’’ of ‘‘ intellectuals’’ who were making Marxist thought ‘‘ fashionable.’’
The Communist Manifesto, the blueprint for the Roosevelt conspiracy, used
‘‘ pompous poly-syllabled words’’ and a ‘‘ pedantic style, perhaps deliberately
obscure’’ that ominously mirrored confusing language in New Deal legislation.
Dilling’s anti-intellectualism, combined with a simmering class resentment
towards prominent and wealthy individuals, suggests a populist flavor to her
argument. The language of populism, as Michael Kazin has noted, echoes in
part the concerns of ordinary people who believe that powerful and elite forces
in government and Wall Street understand little and care even less about how
their economic policies impact a struggling middle-class.65 In the 1930s, Father
Charles Coughlin grabbed this theme and fashioned a populist response to the
economic crisis. According to Coughlin, ‘‘ money-changers’’ had purposely
manipulated the international economy to plunge the US into a depression
that resulted in thousands of lost jobs and broken confidence. One difference
between Coughlin and Dilling however, besides the priest’s obvious edge in
power and influence, was that Dilling rarely concerned herself with the larger
picture of the Great Depression. Instead, she linked concentrated wealth with
a communist threat. ‘‘ Cream-puff millionaires, ’’ by foolishly supporting
socialist schemes, were slitting their own throats; they were also sliding neatly
into the designs of the Roosevelt plan. How could ‘‘ patriots in modest circumstance ’’ possibly hope to compete against the overflowing coffers of
Carnegie, Rockefeller, and others of their ilk ? It was not without a sense of
hopelessness that Dilling likened human society to a glass of beer, ‘‘the froth at
the top, the dregs on the bottom, and the best in the middle.’’66
Dilling’s frustration and resentment struck a chord among thousands of
Americans, many of whom were unsure and unsettled about the direction in
which their country was headed. Her criticism of the New Deal, her disdain
towards its sympathizers, and her unrelenting attack on communism, which
she expressed in her biting, personal, and often compelling manner, helped
solidify her position as the most well-known female activist of the Protestant
far right during the 1930s.
65
66
Michael Kazin, The Populist Persuasion (Basic Books, 1995).
Elizabeth Dilling, Patriotic Research Bulletin, 10 Aug. 1942.