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I have not tracked down the decision-making within the AAA board, but can say that the decision was almost certainly related to (or result of) the impressive campaign launched by Franz Boas, Moses Finkelstein (later, Sir M.I. Finley) and Bernhard Stern founder of Science and 1/ https://twitter.com/nikhil_palsingh/status/1356696638585192456
Society after _Nature_ published a racist essay. Finley recalled:
My involvement was never in straight politics. It was always on the fringe.
In 1938 Nature published, as a deliberate provocation, an article by a virulent Nazi physicist on ‘German and Jewish Physics’, a 2/
My involvement was never in straight politics. It was always on the fringe.
In 1938 Nature published, as a deliberate provocation, an article by a virulent Nazi physicist on ‘German and Jewish Physics’, a 2/
bitter assault on Einstein.
Three of us, sitting in a cafeteria, decided we had to get something done
about this. One of us [Stern, I think] was an anthropologist. He went to Franz Boas, who
said O.K. and drew up a short statement. Then, in a very crazy caper, we got hold of 3/
Three of us, sitting in a cafeteria, decided we had to get something done
about this. One of us [Stern, I think] was an anthropologist. He went to Franz Boas, who
said O.K. and drew up a short statement. Then, in a very crazy caper, we got hold of 3/
the faculty lists of about 1200 universities, sent the statement out over Boas’s signature and produced 1500 names. We were just a gaggle of students, not knowing anything about anything, but we issued a press release with all the names and hit the front page of the New York 4/
Times.
So then Boas said, ‘We can’t leave it at this, can we?’ He got some money and organized the American Committee for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom. . . . One of its youngest members was a man named J. Robert
Oppenheimer. We made noises, as pressure groups do, and 5/
So then Boas said, ‘We can’t leave it at this, can we?’ He got some money and organized the American Committee for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom. . . . One of its youngest members was a man named J. Robert
Oppenheimer. We made noises, as pressure groups do, and 5/
then we took on the Dies Committee [‘Un-American Activities’].
It was at that point that ‘Communist front’ talk started and, given the structure of the committee, I had to be the Communist front. Oh boy! All the others were just being led by the nose. Well, when the United 6/
It was at that point that ‘Communist front’ talk started and, given the structure of the committee, I had to be the Communist front. Oh boy! All the others were just being led by the nose. Well, when the United 6/
States entered the war there was no point to the committee’s continuing and it was wound up. But by that time I had a fair label on me."
This group also took on the Chamber of Commerce eugenicists in summer '39.
Finley had in fact joined the CP in '38. But non-Communists 7/
This group also took on the Chamber of Commerce eugenicists in summer '39.
Finley had in fact joined the CP in '38. But non-Communists 7/
have reason to be grateful for his and others' work on eugenics, immigration, and "race science." He and Boas worked closely together '38-'42, activity that got him fired at Rutgers in '52. Jobless for two years, he landed a position at Cambridge, became professor, and was 8/
knighted: "Sir Moe," his old mates called him.
Boas (aided by Finley) and Dewey (with Sidney Hook doing the heavy lifting) took opposite sides in '38. Hook remained bitter, even trying to undermine Finley's employment in UK 20 years later. A role model to some Americans. 9/
Boas (aided by Finley) and Dewey (with Sidney Hook doing the heavy lifting) took opposite sides in '38. Hook remained bitter, even trying to undermine Finley's employment in UK 20 years later. A role model to some Americans. 9/
