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epilogue: From antiradicalism to anticommunism the women who embraced the spider Web chart as a blueprint for activism reshaped politics in the united states. as they wrested control of established institutions from traditional reformers in the decade after enfranchisement, they redrew the map of women’s politics, balkanizing an empire that had once been united under the flag of social improvement. as they drew new political boundaries, they divided women who had once worked together in the same world of female voluntary associations, where unspoken assumptions about class and racial superiority had bound together ideologically diverse clubwomen . By the new deal, the antiradical campaign had established a separate political domain for conservative women, who found common cause in their determination to halt the global advance of radicalism. anchored by powerful institutions—the WPcnd, national defense committee of the dar, and american legion auxiliary—this sphere would nurture a new generation of female activists who would call themselves anticommunists. the modern crusade against communism that began in the aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution crescendoed through the cold War. Growing tensions with the soviet union provided the backdrop for a flood of government reports and popular books warning americans of the invisible army of communist spies and agents in their midst. this new anticommunism had a populist tone that mobilized scores of ordinary citizens to guard against foreign agents. its champions saw evidence of subversion in the nation’s most important institutions and worked to expunge radical influences from schools, libraries, and government bureaucracies. they sustained the belief that female reform organizations were particularly susceptible to subversion , even recycling the rhetoric of the 1920s about the sinister goals of the “women’s bloc.” in 1948, the diminished WJcc drew the fire of conservative publicist lucille cardin crane, who resuscitated the allegation that this 210 epilogue female political coalition had duped women into supporting “socialist” measures . she wrote “Packaged thinking for Women,” a pamphlet published by the national industrial conference Board, that outlined a cold War version of the antiradical spider Web chart. in this later attack on middle-class female reformers, the state department replaced the children’s Bureau as the villainous government authority that was manipulating ten million gullible women into lobbying on behalf of policies that would ultimately bring their demise.1 the groups that had built female antiradicalism into a social movement stood ready at the end of World War ii to provide grassroots organizers for anticommunist campaigns. the dar, the american legion auxiliary, and the WPcnd used their national networks to mobilize women who fought the global rise of communism in their local communities. While female antiradicals had been preoccupied with influencing the legislation of national public policy in Washington, d.c., anticommunist women focused on rooting out subversive influences closer to home. influenced by the nation ’s vigorous embrace of domesticity after World War ii, grassroots anticommunists used new family values to frame their civic work, justifying their political engagement as an extension of their homemaking and mothering roles. these mostly suburban women took advantage of their flexible schedules to canvass voters and mimeograph political pamphlets between diaper changes, car pools, and cooking.2 across the political spectrum during these years, women were the “doers” in their communities, the social glue that sustained the kinship and friendship networks. like their counterparts in the civil rights movement of the time, anticommunists put these networks at the service of their political work, drawing friends and relatives into this mission of national salvation. in a pattern familiar to their progressive counterparts, these women ceded visible leadership positions to men.3 as in the african american freedom struggle, it was women who did the footwork of organizing their communities, making anticommunism into an effective grassroots movement that shaped all aspects of american life in the 1950s and 1960s. For some women in this period, it was difficult to reconcile their desire to play an active role in civic life with what they perceived to be their proper roles as wives and mothers. this conflict reshaped the tactics of the american legion auxiliary, which became increasingly ambivalent about the symbolic and practical importance of maintaining a single-sex antiradical bloc. twenty-five years after auxiliary leaders convened the first meet- From antiradicalism to anticommunism 211 ing of the WPcnd, the group decided to abandon this strategy in favor of emphasizing collaboration with likeminded men. in 1950, female hereditary and veterans’ groups teamed up with the american legion in its all-american conference...

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