A Good American Family

by David Maraniss

  John Stephens Wood stayed in Georgia: Atlanta Constitution, Sept. 13, 1968; Washington Post, Sept. 14, 1968.

  Charles E. Potter . . . lasted only one term in the Senate: Washington Post, Nov. 25, 1979; Potter, Days of Shame.

  One winter afternoon more than a half-century later: Notes from reporting trip to Woodstock, Dec. 7, 2016. Among the many interesting things I learned during my time in Woodstock: (1) Fred Painter, who worked as a deputy sheriff there, wrote that during the Prohibition years his pay was based on the number of arrests and warrants served rather than a salary; (2) tobacco was the early money crop in Shenandoah County, and the pay for testifying in court was twenty-five pounds of tobacco in 1779; and (3) it was from the Old Shenandoah House that Gen. Philip Sheridan wrote his famous message back to Washington during the Civil War: “I have made the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia so bare that a crow flying over it would have to carry its knapsack.”

  Bereniece Baldwin kept testifying: Interviews with Susan Vella and Michael Wiethoff, Baldwin’s grandchildren; Investigative Name Files, Bereniece Baldwin, HUAC Papers, National Archives; Babson et al., The Color of Law, 259–60; Detroit Free Press, Mar. 19, 1961.

  The focus in Bob’s retirement story: Ann Arbor News, July 29, 1978.

  Why it took my parents and uncle so long to reject: Correspondence with Jean (Maraniss) Alexander and Jim Maraniss, Apr. 2018.

  Until then he did not know the full story: Letter from Jim Maraniss to Bob Cummins, spring 1981. Although the letter is undated, Jim mentions that he is writing after a visit to San Antonio, where he participated in a symposium on Pedro Calderón de la Barca on the three hundredth anniversary of the Spanish playwright’s death. Jim is a Calderón scholar.

  It was in the summer of 2006 when we gathered at the cemetery: I wrote about the graveside ceremony in “Crossing the Water,” an essay in Into the Story (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010): “My parents left Wisconsin forever last Saturday morning at dawn. Their ashes were contained in two urns in the trunk of my car—my dad’s made of solid wood, my mom’s of intricate cloisonné. The August morning sky was high and cloudless, so soft and blue it hurt, like the sound of a melodious cello hurts. The world never seems more achingly fragile than on a late-summer day when you can sense something slipping away.”

  Selected Bibliography

  Appleman, Roy E. The War in the Pacific. Washington, DC, Department of the Army, 1947.

  Babson, Steve, Dave Riddle, and David Elsila. The Color of Law. Detroit, Wayne State Press, 2010.

  Barbas, Samantha. The First Lady of Hollywood. Berkeley, University of California Press, 2005.

  Bayley, Edwin R. Joe McCarthy and the Press. Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1981.

  Beeching, William C. Canadian Volunteers: Spain 1936–1939. Regina, Saskatchewan, University of Regina Press, 1989.

  Bernstein, Carl. Loyalties. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1989.

  Bernstein, Walter. Inside Out. New York, Knopf, 1996.

  Bessie, Alvah. Men in Battle. New York, Scribner’s, 1939.

  Brater, Enoch. Arthur Miller. New York, Thames and Hudson, 2005.

  Carroll, Peter N. The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press, 1994.

  Caute, David. The Great Fear. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1978.

  Chambers, Whittaker. Witness. New York, Random House, 1952.

  Cogley, John. Report on Blacklisting. New York, Fund for the Republic, 1956.

  Cohen, Robert. When the Old Left Was Young. New York, Oxford University Press, 1993.

  Communism in the Detroit Area, Hearings before the Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives. 82nd Congress, 2nd Session. Parts 1–2. Washington, DC, Government Printing Office, 1952.

  Cowley, Malcolm. The Dream of the Golden Mountains. New York, Viking Press, 1964.

  Eatwell, Robert. Fascism: A History. London, Pimlico, 2003.

  Eby, Cecil. Comrades and Commissars. University Park, Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007.

  Farrell, John A. Richard Nixon. New York, Doubleday, 2017.

  Frankel, Glenn. High Noon. New York, Bloomsbury USA, 2017.

  Griffith, Robert. The Politics of Fear. Amherst, University of Massachusetts Press, 1970.

  Halberstam, David. The Fifties. New York, Villard Books, 1993.

  Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom the Bell Tolls. New York, Scribner, 1940.

  Hernández, Miguel. Poemas Sociales, de Guerra y de Muerte. Madrid, Alianza Editorial, 1977.

  Hoar, Victor. The Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion. Toronto, Copp Clark, 1969.

  Hochschild, Adam. Spain in Our Hearts. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016.

  Jackson, Angela. At the Margins of Mayhem. Pontypool, UK, Warren & Pell, 2008.

  Kazan, Elia. A Life. New York, Knopf, 1988.

  Klingaman, William K. Encyclopedia of the McCarthy Era. New York, Facts on File, 1996.

  Kutler, Stanley. The American Inquisition. New York, Hill and Wang, 1982.

  Lee, Ulysses. The Employment of Negro Troops. Washington, DC, Center of Military History, 1963.

  Martelle, Scott. The Fear Within. Piscataway, NJ, Rutgers University Press, 2011.

  Mason, Gabriel. Gabriel Blows His Horn. Philadelphia, Dorrance, 1972.

  Mason, Gabriel, editor. Great American Liberals. New York, Starr King Press, 1956.

  Miller, Arthur. The Portable Arthur Miller. New York, Viking Press, 1971.

  Miller, Arthur. The Theater Essays of Arthur Miller. New York, Viking Press, 1978.

  Miller, Arthur. Timebends. New York, Grove Press, 1987.

  Miller, Edward G. A Dark and Bloody Ground. College Station, Texas A&M Press, 1994.

  Morgan, Ted. Reds. New York, Random House, 2003.

  Murphy, Brenda. Congressional Theatre. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, 1999.

  Navasky, Victor S. Naming Names. New York, Hill and Wang, 1980.

  Neugass, James. War Is Beautiful. New York, New Press, 2008.

  Oney, Steve. And the Dead Shall Rise. New York, Vintage Books, 2003.

  Orwell, George. Homage to Catalonia. London, Secker & Warburg, 1938.

  Pearson, Drew. Diaries: 1949–1959. New York, Holt, Rinehart, 1974.

  Roth, Norman. Conversos, Inquisition, and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1995.

  Watt, George. The Comet Connection. Lexington, University Press of Kentucky, 1990.

  Weaver, Michael E. Guard Wars. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2010.

  Wright, Nathan. The Making of a Champion: George Crockett’s Life Story. New York, Black Media, Inc., unpublished manuscript.

  Illustration Credits

  Maraniss family album: 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 15, 19, 20

  United Press: 2

  Baldwin family photo: 3

  Washington Post: 4

  Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 5

  Cummins family album: 10, 11, 14

  Linda Maraniss: 12, 22, 23

  Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archive: 13

  Tamiment Library Archive: 16

  Detroit News: 17, 18

  Elliott Maraniss FBI file: 21

  Index

  A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.

  Abraham Lincoln High School, 26, 27–34, 76, 77, 80, 136, 304, 349

  Adamic, Louis, 136–37

  Adams, Thomas, 290

  Alien and Sedition Acts, 229, 290

  Alinsky, Saul, 263

  Allan, Billy, 16, 119, 150, 262, 263, 267, 271, 309

  Allan, Stephanie, 16, 119

  All My Sons (Miller), 293, 333

  Aly Khan, Prince, 269–70

  America First movement, 141

  Ame
rican Federation of Labor (AFL), 60

  American Giant: Walt Whitman and His Times (Winwar), 206

  American Legion, 241, 275, 292, 319

  American Mercury, 317

  Americans for Democratic Action, 263

  American Student Union (ASU), 80, 125, 126, 128, 141, 142, 144–45, 164

  American Youth Congress, 145–46

  American Youth for Democracy (AYD), 262

  Anderson, Robert, 143

  And the Dead Shall Rise (Oney), 47, 50–52

  Ann Arbor, Mich., 74, 82–84, 127, 128, 134, 138, 197, 307, 311, 328, 345, 349, 351, 357, 360

  Hagen’s tavern in, 70–71, 82, 104, 124

  Ann Arbor High School, 97, 127, 164, 231

  Ann Arbor News, 358

  anticommunism and Red Scare, 5, 7, 9, 14, 17, 18, 36, 37, 166, 227, 229–30, 234, 253–56, 272, 316, 318–19, 359

  Crockett’s column on, 233–34

  McCarthy and, see McCarthy, Joseph

  Appell, Donald T., 18–20, 332–34

  apples, 6, 222, 275

  Tavenner’s business in, 86, 218, 221–23, 226, 252, 322–23, 355

  Arens, Richard, 334–35

  Armstrong, Neil, 153

  Army-McCarthy hearings, 316, 318, 319, 348

  Associated Press (AP), 37, 70, 131–32, 219

  Atlanta Constitution, 45, 52

  Atlanta Journal, 49, 56

  atomic weapons, 36, 208, 229, 261, 291

  Attlee, Clement, 99

  Avila, Bobby, 313

  Baldwin, Bereniece “Toby,” 10, 12–17, 267, 309, 355–57

  death of, 355, 356

  HUAC testimonies of, 14, 20, 118–23, 150, 285–86, 320, 355

  informant job of, 12–18, 20, 118–20, 123, 355–56

  Elliott Maraniss named as communist by, 4, 18, 20, 121–22, 149, 266, 278, 285–86, 329, 344, 350

  Mary Maraniss named as communist by, 122–23, 210

  Subversive Activities Control Board testimony of, 12–14, 36, 320

  White and, 92

  Baldwin, Burton, 355–57

  Baldwin, Harvey, 12, 14–15

  Barnard, Hawley, 74

  Barnet, Boris, 261

  baseball, 6, 274–75, 313, 345

  Bob Cummins and, 74–75, 274, 275, 358

  Elliott Maraniss and, 22, 23, 31, 82, 129, 159, 163, 265, 274–76

  segregation in, 41, 42, 170, 264–66

  Batchelor, E. A., Jr., 120

  Bauer, Henry, 32

  “Beaumont to Detroit: 1943” (Hughes), 172

  Beiswenger, Hugo, 169, 263

  Bell, Thomas M., 54

  Beltaire, Mark, 63–64

  Bennett, Harry, 19

  Bentley, Elizabeth, 229

  Bessie, Alvah, 93, 107, 249

  Bettendorf, Iowa, 336–38, 341, 351

  Big Boxcar, The (Maund), 338

  Big Jim McLain, 298–300, 304

  Billig, Otto, 188

  Bill of Rights, 4, 143, 289, 295, 348

  see also Fifth Amendment; First Amendment

  Bircumshaw, Derek, 190

  Black, Hugo, 290, 307

  Black, Tom, 55–56

  Blake, William, 143

  Bobadilla, Pedro A., 306

  Boyle, Cornelius, 39

  Boy Scouts, 22–23, 29–30, 66, 160

  Bradlee, Ben, 352

  Bramlett, Joe, 56

  Branca, Ralph, 275

  Brandeis, Louis, 137–38, 148

  Brinnin, John Malcolm, 134, 143

  Brooklyn, N.Y., 6, 21–23, 31, 304

  see also Coney Island

  Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 23, 32, 124, 206

  Brooklyn Dodgers, 75, 264–66, 275

  Brooks, Joe, 181, 183

  Brooks, Van Wyck, 206

  Browder, Earl, 15, 236

  Brown, David, 290

  Brown, Prentiss M., 103

  Bryan, Wright, 315

  Buchanan, Thomas, 324

  Bugas, John S., 18–20

  Bukharin, Nikolai, 132

  Buñuel, Luis, 101

  Burger, Bertrand R., 29–30

  Burroughs, Ed, 143–44

  Byrd, Harry Flood, 221, 222, 223, 252

  Byrd, Harry T., 354

  Callendar, James Thomas, 290

  Campanella, Roy, 265

  Camp Lee, 179–85, 192–94, 202–3, 205, 262

  Cape Canso, 203–7, 262

  capitalism, 8, 16–17, 30, 33, 131

  Capital Times, 5, 145, 340, 344–45, 348–50, 351

  Cardozo, Benjamin, 24

  Carney, William P., 101–2

  Carroll, Peter N., 91, 190–91

  Cassidy, Fred, 129

  Chamberlain, Neville, 141

  Chewning, John O., 74

  Chicago Sun-Times, 263

  China, 37, 225, 229, 253

  Chowder and Marching Club, 256, 317

  Chulak, Jean Cummins (aunt), 73, 307, 311, 329, 359

  Chulak, Joe (uncle), 329

  Churchill, Winston, 225

  Ciardi, John, 143–44

  CIO, 261, 266, 285, 289, 295

  Civil Rights Congress, 40, 240, 278, 308, 321

  Civil War, 52, 55, 187

  Cleveland, Ohio, 311, 351

  Cleveland Indians, 313

  Cleveland Plain Dealer, 311, 314, 315, 329, 351

  Cobb, Lee J., 332–33

  Cohen, Danny, 83

  Cohen, Robert, 31, 145

  Cohn, Roy M., 316, 318, 344

  Columbia Pictures, 292

  cold war, 16, 36–37, 42, 58, 60, 225, 229, 240

  Comet Connection, The (Watt), 191

  Comintern, 140

  Committee, The (Goodman), 246

  communism, Communist Party, 8–9, 13–17, 28, 37, 59, 63–64, 79, 92, 140, 141, 145, 151, 152, 304, 329–30

  Aesopian lexicon of, 235–36

  anticommunism, see anticommunism and Red Scare

  decrease in U.S. members of, 254

  Elliott Maraniss’s involvement with, 7–8, 132, 149–50, 154, 163–64, 166–67, 262–63, 294, 304, 315, 329, 339, 345, 350, 352, 359–60

  Foley Square trial and, see Foley Square trial

  informants and, see informants

  Mary Maraniss’s involvement with, 8, 165, 210, 261–62, 304, 313–15, 352, 357–61

  racial issues and, 41–42, 59, 228, 243–44, 353

  registration requirements and, 13, 151, 277

  Smith Act and, 228–29, 277–78, 309, 312–13, 324, 345, 355

  Coney Island, 21–22, 25, 34, 138, 204, 305, 307

  map of, 26

  Congressional Theatre (Murphy), 299

  Conley, Jim, 45–47

  Constable, Barnes, 151

  Constitution, U.S., 4, 10, 168, 243, 288, 289, 291

  see also Bill of Rights

  Cook, Parks G., 56

  Cota, Norman “Dutch,” 175

  Coughlin, Charles E., 117

  Cowley, Malcolm, 138, 139

  crime, organized, 38

  Crisler, Fritz, 124

  Crockett, Ethelene, 231, 232, 233, 238

  Crockett, George William, Jr., 36, 230–35, 278, 307–9, 330, 353

  in Foley Square trial, 10, 36, 62, 152–53, 227–30, 235–45, 271, 307–8, 324, 353

  in HUAC hearings, 10, 61–62, 64, 227, 266, 267, 280–84

  Medina and, 236–38

  Crockett, Minnie Jenkins, 230

  Crucible, The (Miller), 297, 300, 310, 332

  Cummins, Andrew Adair (A.A.) (grandfather), 72–74, 79, 95, 127, 170, 259, 260, 278, 305, 328, 330, 351, 357, 360

  Bob’s Spanish Civil War service and, 106–9, 112, 113

  Cummins, Barbara, see Edmonds, Barbara Cummins

  Cummins, Grace Dever (grandmother), 73, 74, 127, 193, 259, 278, 305, 328, 330, 351, 360

  Bob’s Spanish Civil War service and, 83–84, 95, 101, 106–8, 110, 127

  Cummins, Jean (aunt), see Chulak, Jean Cummins

  Cummins, Kay (aunt), 329, 341, 344, 358

 
; Cummins, Phillip (uncle), 73, 74, 82, 83, 103, 106, 112, 125, 134, 192, 231, 259–61, 329, 360

  Bob’s correspondence with, 268–69, 272–74

  Mary’s correspondence with, 172, 188–89, 191–92, 261, 268, 270–71, 277, 311, 327, 346

  mental illness and hospitalization of, 170, 172, 188–89, 259–60, 268, 305, 356

  Cummins, Rachel (cousin), 268, 273, 274, 341, 358

  Cummins, Robert “Bob” (uncle), 18, 68–69, 70–85, 104, 124, 169, 231, 260, 262, 268–69, 272–75, 277, 305, 329, 341, 344, 358–61

  at Ann Arbor News, 358

  baseball and, 74–75, 274, 275, 358

  death of, 360

  at DeSoto plant, 268, 272–73

  HUAC testimony of, 9, 68–69, 86–89, 305, 361

  Jim’s letter to, 360–61

  at Labor’s Daily, 341–43

  at Michigan Daily, 75, 77, 79, 82–84, 124, 231, 358

  Phil’s correspondence with, 268–69, 272–74

  in Spanish Civil War, 9, 69, 71–72, 83–85, 87–89, 90–102, 104, 106–10, 112–17, 124, 125, 127, 133, 161, 170, 190, 191, 249, 260, 327, 358, 360, 361

  Cummins, Robert “Bob” (uncle) (Continued)

  subpoenaed by HUAC, 278

  at University of Michigan, 9, 71, 74, 75, 79–80, 83, 87, 89, 125

  World War II service of, 169, 170, 190

  Cummins, Sarah (Sally) (cousin), 260, 268, 273, 341, 358

  Cummins, Susan Goodman (aunt), 169, 170, 189, 190, 260, 268, 273, 342, 356, 358

  Cummins family, 72–74, 231, 305

  photograph of, 258, 259–60, 271, 305

  reunions of, 358–59

  Cuomo, Anthony, 161–62

  Czechoslovakia, 126, 141

  Daily Compass, 303, 305–7, 351

  Daily Mail, 107

  Daily Worker, 16, 91, 119, 150, 234, 262, 266, 283, 329

  Dallet, Joe, 93–94, 96

  Dallet, Kitty, 94

  Dark Is the Night, 261

  Davis, Benjamin J., Jr., 235, 240, 244

  Davis, Clyde, 163

  Davis, Jefferson, 45

  Days of Shame (Potter), 9, 318–19, 354

  Dead Reckoning (Fearing), 142

  Death of a Salesman (Miller), 30, 292, 293, 330, 332–33

  Declaration of Independence, 3, 8, 198, 348

  Delmer, Sefton, 107

  democracy, 6, 32, 34, 59, 63, 83, 103, 104, 128, 138, 139, 172

  Democratic Party, 18, 37–39, 43–44, 151–52, 206, 223, 229, 252, 317, 321