Vermont author and film history teacher Rick Winston is visiting Wendell on Friday, May 3, to talk about his book, “Red Scare in the Green Mountains: Vermont in the McCarthy Era 1946-1960.”
Winston will present about his book and share archival photos at the historic Wendell Town Hall, 6 Center St., at 7 p.m. An open discussion will follow.
A potluck buffet of desserts and snacks will precede the talk at 6:30 p.m., according to an event press release.
David Greenberg of Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution (FCCPR) — the group that is sponsoring the event along with the Wendell Free Library — said the Red Scare is still a relevant topic to discuss, which is why FCCPR and the library organized the event, the release states.
“The current right-wing red baiting of those championing important social programs such as single-payer health care, the Green New Deal and a fair immigration system, as well as the valid struggles of people of color, LBGTQ people and women, is all too reminiscent of the McCarthy era slander of people who were standing up for similar causes more than a half century ago,” Greenberg said.
Winston, who has lived in Adamant, Vt., since 1970, agrees with Greenberg.
“When I started my research on this topic in 1988, no one could have foreseen that we would now have a president whose political mentor was Senator Joseph McCarthy’s chief aide, Roy Cohn,” Winston said. “Fear of the ‘other’ and targeting of dissenters are once again part of the civic atmosphere. A study of how Vermont reacted to the hysteria of that Red Scare era grows more timely by the day.”
Greenberg encourages everyone who is interested to “find out more about how this played out in our neighbor to the north and how FCCPR is addressing these issues in Franklin County.”
Winston’s book just won the 2019 Independent Publisher silver award for best Northeast regional non-fiction book. The book will be available for sale and signing at the May 3 presentation.
For more information about the book, visit redscareinthegreenmountains.com.