Happy to take questions as I go. Just tweet me a reply or send a DM and I'll work it into the thread. 2/n #AMS1950Loyalty
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Prikaži ovu nit
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First, some context. The AMS Notices are exactly the place where this kind of controversy would get an airing in later years, but they weren't created until 1954. 3/n
#AMS1950LoyaltyPrikaži ovu nit -
The AMS has recently digitized all the back-issues. The Notices was originally for "material of temporary interest, which would in general be discarded quickly" and most libraries didn't keep them. http://ams.org/cgi-bin/notices/amsnotices.pl?thispage=collectionnav&article_id=fullissue&article_type=gallery&gallery_type=fullissue&gallery_volume=1954# … 4/n
#AMS1950LoyaltyPrikaži ovu nit -
Back before they were mostly online, I had to look pretty hard to find the Vietnam-war-era Notices, including letters relating to the Smale Affair. So from fairly early the Notices was no stranger to political controversy! 5/n
#AMS1950LoyaltyPrikaži ovu nit -
But in 1950, and even through the early Notices, most of the political debate happened at regional AMS meetings, council meetings, and in letter campaigns. When an issue looked like it had legs, the letters got filed away for future reference. 6/n
#AMS1950LoyaltyPrikaži ovu nit -
A lot of these letters, as well as council-related discussions that went through the AMS Secretary, ended up in the AMS archives, which for historical reasons are deposited with the Brown University Archives. They're organized roughly chronologically. 7/n
#AMS1950LoyaltyPrikaži ovu nit -
When an issue reached a point where the AMS Secretary had to refer to it a lot, it got its own folder for each year when it was a big deal. Sometimes multiple folders in a row. We're going to look mainly at the "California" and "Political" folders. 8/n
#AMS1950LoyaltyPrikaži ovu nit -
But first, a little more context. The U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee was not originally created to antagonize communists, but that was a big factor in its deployment post-1945. 9/n
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It took Americans a few years to work out how insidious they were going to consider Soviet communism, and the key terms for scientists were dramatically altered by the Condon Affair of 1948. See Jessica Wang, https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.1445546 … 10/n
#AMS1950LoyaltyPrikaži ovu nit -
Pre-Notices, you have to dig a bit in the Bulletin of the AMS to get reactions to current events. These are thankfully also digitized. https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/all_issues.html … The official AMS Condon Affair response is p. 629 here https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1948-54-07/S0002-9904-1948-09030-9/S0002-9904-1948-09030-9.pdf … 11/n
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The AMS worries HUAC's claims are not supported by evidence, expressed "grave concern" that HUAC's attacks on Condon will deter scientists from public service, and urges Congress to exercise procedural restraint. Solid, tame, classic mid-century AMS. 12/n
#AMS1950LoyaltyPrikaži ovu nit -
Now, to the archives, starting with folder "1949 - U"... that's U as in "United Forces for God Against Communism," whose president advised the AMS on 24 Oct that they were elected a Component Member, offering moral support for UFGAC's fundraising 13/n
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Alexis de Tocqueville observed that Americans were distinguished by their huge proliferation of civic organisations. After WW2, you definitely wanted to make or join an anti-communist club, and you definitely wanted it to seem important 14/n
#AMS1950LoyaltyPrikaži ovu nit -
After someone from the Retail Merchants Association alerted the AMS Secretary, John Robert Kline, that UFGAC was naming the AMS in fundraising materials, Kline replied to the UFGAC letter (previously just ignored) with the AMS line... 15/n
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Make a note of this, we'll see it again: "The American Mathematical Society is founded for the advancement of mathematical research and does not enter into the field of political activity." Kline sent it by registered mail to make sure UFGAC got the message. 16/n
#AMS1950LoyaltyPrikaži ovu nit -
Bureaucratic archives are often arranged in reverse chronological order, like an inbox, so that it's easy to get to the most recent letters. Beneath the UFGAC materials in "1949 - U" there's an exchange filed under U as in "Un-American Activities" 17/n
#AMS1950LoyaltyPrikaži ovu nit -
By the end of 1948, it was clear scientists' problems would not stop with the Condon Affair, and both state and federal governments threatened tenure and academic freedom. 18/n
#AMS1950LoyaltyPrikaži ovu nit -
This is America, so we get a new civic org for the job: the Bureau on Academic Freedom, chaired by astronomer and activist Harlow Shapley. A Dec 1948 letter pointed to a wave of threats to academic freedom and urged AMS to prepare to defend it forcefully. 19/n
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Kline's January 1949 reply sent the Bureau on Academic Freedom a copy of the AMS resolution on the Condon Affair and reported the AMS had discussed the matter and decided to sit on its hands for the time being. 20/n
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End of the alphabet, new year, next folder: "California 1950" This folder has 2 documents, the "Majority Report of a Committee Appointed to Advise the Council in Relation to the Situation at the University of California" and a dissenting minority report. 21/n
#AMS1950LoyaltyPrikaži ovu nit -
The report is actually from 1951. Don't believe everything you read on a folder label. There's older material in other folders. 22/n
#AMS1950LoyaltyPrikaži ovu nit -
The majority report is signed by Marshall Stone (chair) and Donald Spencer. Recall that Stone at this time is in the middle of founding the International Mathematical Union and has STRONG OPINIONS about politics and math organizations. 23/n
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Report starts with a Sept 1950 AMS Council resolution that "deplores the harm" from UC's "arbitrary and humiliating" affront to academic freedom. In Dec 1950 the AMS resolved not to meet at UC campuses. Committee was to advise "reconsideration" of these. 24/n
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In particular, Stone and Spencer (we'll get to the minority report next) were to examine the implications of the California situation on AMS policy: what role should the AMS have in a world defined by Cold War politics? 25/n
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Stone, at this point, is heavily invested in the interests of mathematics in government and the military, and also believes in the AMS's unique position as a world-leading society for the profession. See https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/201704/rnoti-p363.pdf … 26/n
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Section 2 of Stone's report reflects this: the AMS "should explicitly accept an obligation to work for the maintenance of those conditions of professional activity which are essential to sound scholarship" 27/n
#AMS1950LoyaltyPrikaži ovu nit -
Stone report: "the social transformations of our times tend to integrate" professional activities with political decisions. Report then gives long list of precedents for AMS taking political stands, including WW2 mobilization and Condon. 28/n
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Turning to California: is the danger great enough to warrant action and is effective action possible? Yes and yes. Political tensions will continue, perhaps for decades, and now researchers are super dependent on public (i.e. political) funding. 29/n
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It was appropriate and necessary, per the majority report, for the AMS to take an interest in academic employment practices, call out bad actors, support those forced out, and warn prospective researchers and donors against associating with bad institutions. 30/n
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There follows an extended recap of the California Board of Regents actions and UC faculty resistance, and the fallout in the Berkeley math department: who lost jobs, who left, who refused to come, who had to compromise principles. 31/n
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