A Good American Family: The Red Scare and My Father
William G. McGowan Theater
Washington, DC
Thursday, May 16, 2019 - 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. EDT
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Pulitzer Prize–winning author David Maraniss captures the pervasive fear and paranoia that gripped America during the Red Scare of the 1950s. A Good American Family recounts his family’s ordeal, from blacklisting to vindication. Elliott Maraniss, a World War II veteran who had commanded an all-black company in the Pacific, was named as a communist by an FBI informant, called before the House Un-American Activities Committee, fired from his newspaper job, and blacklisted for five years. Yet he never lost faith in America and emerged with his family and optimism intact. A book signing follows the program.

All events listed in the calendar are free unless noted.