Shortly after 10:00 a.m. on July 19, 1948, Albert
F. Canwell, state representative from Spokane and chair of the
Joint
Legislative Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities,
called the session to order: "Before we proceed, I wish to
state that we will proceed with proper dignity here; no
demonstrations will be tolerated, no speeches from the
audience; any violation of that...will be summarily dealt
with." So began five days of hearings on
the issue of Communist activities at the University of
Washington. The Canwell hearings would have wide and lasting
consequences. Six tenured faculty members would face
sanctions from the University and three would lose their jobs.
Other legislatures and other universities followed the
Washington example and began to look for radicals in the halls
of academe. The Cold War Red Scare gained momentum.
Fifty years later, in February, 1998,
Seattle once again watched Albert Canwell and his committee hunt
communists at the University of Washington, this time as part of
a remarkable play written by Mark Jenkins. All
Powers Necessary and Convenient took its title from the
enabling legislation that created the Joint Legislative
Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities. Produced by
the UW School of Drama and featuring a cast of nearly 30 actors,
the play used actual testimony to recreate the tense drama of
accusation, intimidation, and courage that had unfolded a half
century earlier. Large audiences filled the
playhouse theater for each performance and attended the lectures
and other public events that accompanied the play. And it was
quickly apparent that something unique was happening. All
Powers had brought history to life at an important moment,
helping several generations come to terms with an important
episode in their collective past.
This special section of the
Communism in Washington State History and Memory Project focuses
jointly on 1948 and 1998, on Albert Canwell and the hearings and
also on Mark Jenkins and the play. The links below include
a videotaped 1994 interview with Albert Canwell; reports,
documents, and photos of the 1948 Canwell hearings; materials
about the the play; and videotaped "survivor stories" by those
who lived through the events of 1948.
