TY - JOUR
T1 - The acid attack on Victor Riesel and fears of labor racketeering in Cold War America
AU - Witwer, David
N1 - Funding Information:
The research for this article was funded in part by research grants from Pennsylvania State University, the Center for the USA and the Cold War at New York University, and the Hagley Museum and Library. The author would like to express his appreciation for this support.
PY - 2014/3
Y1 - 2014/3
N2 - When a hired thug hurled acid in the face of the prominent newspaper columnist, Victor Riesel, in 1956, the attack left him permanently blind. The incident appeared to dramatically vindicate Riesel's repeated warnings about the dangerous power of labor racketeers and it helped spur the creation of the largest ever congressional investigation into union corruption, the McClellan Committee hearings (1957-1959). This article raises important questions about the accepted version of why this attack occurred and what it meant. It uses recently released documents from the FBI as well as records from the McClellan Committee's staff. The article also suggests that several governmental bodies, including the FBI and the US Attorney's Office, played a role in furthering the public's misunderstanding of this episode. In so doing it offers a new understanding about how the issue of union corruption came to assume an important place on the nation's political agenda in this era.
AB - When a hired thug hurled acid in the face of the prominent newspaper columnist, Victor Riesel, in 1956, the attack left him permanently blind. The incident appeared to dramatically vindicate Riesel's repeated warnings about the dangerous power of labor racketeers and it helped spur the creation of the largest ever congressional investigation into union corruption, the McClellan Committee hearings (1957-1959). This article raises important questions about the accepted version of why this attack occurred and what it meant. It uses recently released documents from the FBI as well as records from the McClellan Committee's staff. The article also suggests that several governmental bodies, including the FBI and the US Attorney's Office, played a role in furthering the public's misunderstanding of this episode. In so doing it offers a new understanding about how the issue of union corruption came to assume an important place on the nation's political agenda in this era.
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U2 - 10.1080/0023656X.2014.894218
DO - 10.1080/0023656X.2014.894218
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84898906125
SN - 0023-656X
VL - 55
SP - 228
EP - 247
JO - Labor History
JF - Labor History
IS - 2
ER -