Morris Judd, one of the last survivors of the McCarthy Era assault on American philosophy, has died in Colorado. He was 91. His obituary in the Boulder Daily Camera is here. Exerpts are below. They contain important new information about how the McCarthy Era may have distorted the nature of philosophy in America, and I will address these in future postings. Right now it is time to honor the man.
Judd was dismissed from the university in the 1950s after refusing to answer questions about his political beliefs in the CU inquest that produced a secret 126-page report. CU's Board of Regents voted 50 years after Judd's firing to make public that document, which had been locked away in a bank vault.
It confirmed what many people had suspected was the real reason for Judd's dismissal: His name had been added to a list of suspected subversives because he wouldn't give a straight answer to former CU President Robert Stearns' questions, "Are you a member of the Communist Party," and "Have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?"
Stearns originally said Judd was let go because he was a boring teacher -- even though his department had judged him the most valuable of its instructors, upped his pay and recommended his promotion.
When the secret report was released in 2002, Judd was awarded a medal for his service to academic freedom.
CU English professor Paul Levitt…said “I think everyone in this university should be introduced to the dark side of the '50s at CU,” he said. “One would hope they would be disinclined to repeat it. But history does repeat itself.”
After Judd was banished from the university, he worked for his family's business in Greeley. He also worked in the travel industry and property development, according to his family.
Levitt said Judd impressed him because even after his name was cleared, Judd "never railed or screamed."
“He was a man of great poise and dignity,” he said. “He had virtually every injustice visited on him, and you never once heard him complain or whine.”
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