Red masquerades: Gender and political subversion during the Cold War, 1945--1963

This project examines espionage cases that helped shape American cold war political culture. It focuses on one-time Communist spies active in the U.S. in the 1930s and 1940s, exploring how warring representations of their lives contributed to the postwar domestic red scare. This study investigates cold war debates about patriotism, appropriate gender behavior, affectional and political loyalties, and the rise of a national security state. Cold war spies were sites of ideological struggle, symbols whom interested parties interpreted for their own ends. Hence this study explores how contemporaries' reactions to these cases helped foster the ideological climate of the early cold war and contributed to ongoing dialogues over what constituted "proper" American womanhood and manhood.; This project also examines how renowned spy cases served as narratives supporting certain visions of America's supposed best destiny and criticizing others. Commentators used former spies' stories to praise traditional gender relations, defend against purported Communist subversion, and uphold various political positions. Spies themselves helped, sometimes unwillingly, to bolster anticommunist political culture and contribute to the growth of the national security state. Furthermore, portrayals of unrepentant alleged spies revealed much about authorities' gender expectations as well as their desires to protect the political and cultural status quo.; Utilizing FBI files, newspapers and periodicals, memoirs and private correspondence, House Un-American Activities Committee records, and decrypted telegrams between U.S.-based spies and their Soviet superiors, this study analyzes cold war arguments about gender, subversion, and espionage to reveal the limitations of the "truths" they claim to tell. Public debates about espionage had material consequences; through them, women and men faced weighty questions about the responsibilities of "good" citizens, "proper" men or women, "true" Americans, and whether these roles were always compatible. Spy scandals shaped cold war culture and damaged Americans' livelihoods, reputations, and relationships---often, ironically, in the name of truth, freedom, or domestic virtue.