Henry Steele Commager's Ideas Analysis

Directly after the end of World War II, the United States faced a time like no other—the Cold War. The fear of communism and the totalitarian Soviet Union grew rampant, and the possibility of an impending all-out nuclear war gripped American minds. During this time, the fear of a breach in national security heightened, and a loyalty review program in the government was introduced by President Truman. Soon, this practice crept into society, as everyday citizens undertook the responsibility of “policing” each other—determining each other’s loyalty, with suspicion constantly clouding one’s mind. Amidst this, American historian Henry Steele Commager, a product of the University of Chicago “…where he received his Ph.B. and M.A. in philosophy…and returned for his Ph.D.” ("Commager, Henry Steele”), stepped onto the scene to dispute the anti-communist crusade he noticed
As a well-known partaker in discussing political and social events such as World War II and the New Deal, it wasn’t uncommon for Commager to show “…unmistakable activist traits well before any of [the events] occurred” (Jumonville “The Origin of Henry Steele Commager's Activist Ideas”). This was especially true in reference to the age of McCarthyism, for three years before the coin was even phrased, Commager penned “Who is Loyal to America?”, an eye-opening exposé on the anti-communist crusade and its impact on the definition of loyalty during the Cold War. Armed with his radical ideology, Commager composed “Who is Loyal to America?” as a means of challenging the all-too-common mentality associated with the anti-communist crusade in the United States. In the article, Commager notes that as the tensions between the United States and the Soviet grew following the close of World War II, so did the American obsession with the elimination of “disloyals” (i.e. communist sympathizers)