| This dissertation on Edward Oliver Lamb is a thorough biography, shedding light on an important Midwestern labor attorney and professional businessman from Toledo, Ohio. It traces how important national events such as the Great Depression, World War II, the Red Scare, and the Cold War impacted the life of one individual who during the course of a lifetime maintained a commitment to the ethos of the Progressive Era. A maverick political dissenter, Lamb blended his concept of social justice with the promises of American capitalism. Thus, after a stint of union lawyering, he became an industrialist, newspaper publisher, and a pioneer radio and television broadcaster, while at the same time maintaining an interest in Marxism. Competitors, some resentful of his ruthless business practices, tried to discredit Lamb by calling public attention to his travels to the Soviet Union and his past affiliation with radical unions and Communist-controlled organizations. The FBI, and presumably also the CIA, monitored his activities. During the Red Scare of the 1950s, the Federal Communications Commission conducted a lengthy and highly publicized hearing to determine if his broadcast licenses should be revoked. After mounting a vigorous defense and giving evasive testimony downplaying his progressive politics, Lamb won acquittal. Subsequently, he promoted many liberal causes, from opposition to the Vietnam War and the nuclear arms race to advocacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Cuban revolution under Fidel Castro, and the United Nations. This study analyzes the life of an individual who presented a Cold War counter-narrative and weathered the ordeals of a social drama, which included a public breach, a social crisis, and finally a degree of community acceptance. |
