This week’s post comes of This Week Magazine, a very popular Sunday newspaper supplement from the 1930s through the 1960s. [1] The publication contained fiction, cartoons, and news related articles. The copy displayed below contains an article about the dangers of gossip that was printed sometime in the late 1940s.[2] Unless there was an anti-gossip movement in the 1940s I do not think that this item relates specifically to extremism, but it does seem to reflect a heightened awareness to reputation and character assassination as the Cold War was beginning to ramp up in the 1940s. (The House Committee on Un-American Activities became a standing (permanent) committee in 1945 with black list hearings in 1947.)[3]

In addition there seem to be many sermons online that reference Dr. Cantril, (who is referenced in the article as well) highlighting the dangers of slander by using this anecdote:

Several years ago Dr. Albert H. Cantril, a professor at Princeton University, conducted a series of experiments to demonstrate how quickly rumors spread. He called six students to his office and in “strict confidence” informed them that the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were planning to attend the university dance. Within a week, that completely fictitious story had reached nearly every student on campus.[4][5]

The article was written by Howard Whitman.

This Week Magazine Reprint (Late 1940s)

This Week Magazine Reprint Back Image (Late 1940s)

This Week Magazine Reprint Inside Image (Late 1940s)

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Week_%28magazine%29

[2] http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19490918&id=WFgaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ICQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5192,6259457

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Un-American_Activities_Committee

[4] http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/do-not-slander-one-another-freddy-fritz-sermon-on-grace-86326.asp?Page=2

[5] http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/bible/gossip.shtml

Voo Doo is a humor publication written by students at MIT. Voo Doo was started in 1919 and is typically published once a term. [1] The most recent version of Voo Doo was published in the Spring of 2014 although the future of the paper is a bit uncertain. [2] There is a full archive of Voo Doo online as well as full scanned versions of the publications that I have shared below. [3]

The Hall Hoag collection contains a lot of material published by students of universities as universities became hotbeds for activism in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. What is interesting about Voo Doo  (at least in the 70s) is that although it does have humorous sections a lot of the topics covered are similar to what you might see in other student run papers at the time, including divestment in South Africa without taking much of a humorous take on the issues.

Voo Doo (Oct. 12, 1972)

Voo Doo Back Page (Oct. 12, 1972)

[1] http://wiki.mitadmissions.org/Voo_Doo_Magazine

[2] http://web.mit.edu/voodoo/www/news.html

[3] http://web.mit.edu/voodoo/www/news.html

Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers was an anarchist group started in the late 1960s in New York City by Ben Morea and the poet Dan Georgakas prior to groups like the Weather Underground and the Yippies. They were a counter culture group that was “opposed to and resisted on principle any attempt to impose order on the political demonstrations they participated in.” Although primarily in New York, the group spread to other cities like Boston (where the items below are from). By the early 1970s the group was more or less dissolved. [1]

For more information read this interview with Ben Morea: https://libcom.org/history/against-wall-motherfucker-interview-ben-morea

Up Against The Wall (Unknown Date)

Up Against The Wall (Unknown Date)

Up Against The Wall (Unknown Date)

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_Against_the_Wall_Motherfuckers

The Izaak Walton League of America is an environmental and outdoor recreation organization founded in 1922 in Chicago, Illinois. The group is named after Izaak Walton, the “father of fly fishing.”[1] The league was involved in getting the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the  National Forest Management Act of 1976 passed. [2] The image below comes from the Indiana Division of the Izaak Walton League, one of the many regional divisions of the organization. The Indiana Division has about 5,000 members and has worked on a variety of projects including[3]:

1. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
2. Hoosier National Forest
3. Boundary Waters Wildlife Wilderness Campaign
4. Indiana Remains Nuclear-Free
5. Nature Preserves Act
6. Grand Kankakee – Path To Restoration
7. Indiana’s Wabash River
8. Indiana Natural, Scenic and Recreational Rivers Act
9. Jackson Hole, Wyoming, National Elk Refuge
10. Phosphorous Ban
11. Patoka Refuge

The pamphlet below contains some 1966 resolutions from the Indiana Division.

Izaak Walton League (May 1966)

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izaak_Walton_League

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izaak_Walton_League

[3] http://www.in-iwla.org/history/history.htm