Frederic Ewen
Encyclopedia
Frederic Ewen was an English professor at Brooklyn College
from 1930 to 1952. During the height of the McCarthy period
Ewen was forced to resign his teaching position after refusing to cooperate with a Senate Internal Security Committee investigation of communism and higher education.
in 1899, immigrated to the United States with his family in 1912. He graduated from the City College of New York
and received his Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University
. His first book, The Prestige of Schiller in England, based on his doctoral dissertation, was published by Columbia University Press.
In 1940 the New York State Legislature’s Joint Committee to Investigate Procedures and Methods of Allocating State Moneys for Public Purposes and Subversive Activities, known as the Rapp-Coudert Committee
, launched an investigation of public schools and city colleges. Along with 19 other professors, Ewen was summoned before the committee and refused to testify. Ewen and his Brooklyn College colleagues were tenured, so they retained their position, while City College professors including Morris Schappes
and Moses Finley lost their jobs when their contracts were not renewed.
However, in 1942 when Ewen was recommended by the English department for promotion to associate professor, college president Harry Gideonse declined to approve. In 1952 Ewen and three of the other Brooklyn College professors who had survived the Rapp- Coudert inquiry were summoned before the Senate Internal Security Committee chaired by Pat McCarran
. They again refused to testify. Ewen was eligible for retirement so he quietly put in for his pension. The other three professors lost their jobs.
After being forced to leave Brooklyn College, Ewen assembled a team of blacklisted
actors, including Ossie Davis
, Ruby Dee
, Sam Waterson, and John Randolph
, to present dramatic readings of great works of literature. The group performed at union halls, theaters, and other venues that would accept them.
When the repression of the McCarthy era began to lift in the early 1960s, Ewen, along with Phoebe Brand
and John Randolph, produced an adaptation of James Joyce
’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which had a two-year run (1962–63) at the Martinique Theatre in New York City. In 1967 Ewen published Bertolt Brecht: His Life, His Art, and His Times. During these years he worked with Brand and Randolph on adaptations of a series of Anton Chekhov
’s plays for CBS’s Camera Three
series.
At the time of his death, Ewen was working on a second volume, published by New York University Press in 2007 under the title A Half-Century of Greatness: The Creative Imagination of Europe 1848–1884. These two volumes explore the relationship between Marxism
and Romanticism
, the politics of protest and revolution, and the European literary tradition.
Shortly before Frederic Ewen’s death in 1988, Brooklyn College formally apologized to him and to the other professors dismissed during the McCarthy era. The college has since established a lecture series in his name.
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
from 1930 to 1952. During the height of the McCarthy period
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
Ewen was forced to resign his teaching position after refusing to cooperate with a Senate Internal Security Committee investigation of communism and higher education.
Early years
Frederic Ewen, who was born in Lemberg, AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
in 1899, immigrated to the United States with his family in 1912. He graduated from the City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
and received his Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. His first book, The Prestige of Schiller in England, based on his doctoral dissertation, was published by Columbia University Press.
Career
Ewen was appointed assistant professor of English at Brooklyn College in 1930, joined the Teachers Union shortly thereafter, and was involved in left politics on campus and within the larger movement in New York City.In 1940 the New York State Legislature’s Joint Committee to Investigate Procedures and Methods of Allocating State Moneys for Public Purposes and Subversive Activities, known as the Rapp-Coudert Committee
Rapp-Coudert Committee
The Rapp-Coudert Committee was the colloquial name of the Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate the Educational System of the State of New York — a committee of the New York State Legislature. The Rapp-Coudert Committee, which conducted its business from 1940 to 1942, sought to identify the...
, launched an investigation of public schools and city colleges. Along with 19 other professors, Ewen was summoned before the committee and refused to testify. Ewen and his Brooklyn College colleagues were tenured, so they retained their position, while City College professors including Morris Schappes
Morris Schappes
Morris U. Schappes was a Jewish-American educator, writer, radical political activist, historian, and magazine editor. Schappes is best remembered for a 1941 perjury conviction obtained in association with testimony before the Rapp-Coudert Committee investigating Communism in education in New York,...
and Moses Finley lost their jobs when their contracts were not renewed.
However, in 1942 when Ewen was recommended by the English department for promotion to associate professor, college president Harry Gideonse declined to approve. In 1952 Ewen and three of the other Brooklyn College professors who had survived the Rapp- Coudert inquiry were summoned before the Senate Internal Security Committee chaired by Pat McCarran
Pat McCarran
Patrick Anthony McCarran was a Democratic United States Senator from Nevada from 1933 until 1954, and was noted for his strong anti-Communist stance.-Early life and career:...
. They again refused to testify. Ewen was eligible for retirement so he quietly put in for his pension. The other three professors lost their jobs.
After being forced to leave Brooklyn College, Ewen assembled a team of blacklisted
Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
actors, including Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...
, Ruby Dee
Ruby Dee
Ruby Dee is an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and activist, perhaps best known for co-starring in the film A Raisin in the Sun and the film American Gangster for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.-Early years:Dee was born Ruby...
, Sam Waterson, and John Randolph
John Randolph (actor)
John Randolph was an American film, television and stage actor.-Early life:Randolph was born Emanuel Hirsch Cohen in New York City, the son of Jewish immigrants Dorothy , an insurance agent, and Louis Cohen, a hat manufacturer...
, to present dramatic readings of great works of literature. The group performed at union halls, theaters, and other venues that would accept them.
When the repression of the McCarthy era began to lift in the early 1960s, Ewen, along with Phoebe Brand
Phoebe Brand
Phoebe Brand was an American actress, who was blacklisted along with her husband, Morris Carnovsky, in the McCarthy era.-Early life:...
and John Randolph, produced an adaptation of James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which had a two-year run (1962–63) at the Martinique Theatre in New York City. In 1967 Ewen published Bertolt Brecht: His Life, His Art, and His Times. During these years he worked with Brand and Randolph on adaptations of a series of Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
’s plays for CBS’s Camera Three
Camera Three
Camera Three was a Sunday morning program devoted to the arts. It ran on CBS from 22 January 1956 to 21 January 1979, and moved to PBS in its final year to make way for the then-new CBS News Sunday Morning...
series.
Later years
Frederic Ewen remained active until well into his 80s. In 1984 he published The Heroic Imagination: The Creative Genius of Europe from Waterloo (1815) to the Revolution of 1848. Here he took forceful issue with the new literary criticism that focused on a close reading of the text without considering social context in the ways that literary critics did when Ewen was coming of age in the academy of the 1930s and 1940s.At the time of his death, Ewen was working on a second volume, published by New York University Press in 2007 under the title A Half-Century of Greatness: The Creative Imagination of Europe 1848–1884. These two volumes explore the relationship between Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
and Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
, the politics of protest and revolution, and the European literary tradition.
Shortly before Frederic Ewen’s death in 1988, Brooklyn College formally apologized to him and to the other professors dismissed during the McCarthy era. The college has since established a lecture series in his name.