Signs of the times

Signs of the times

Coe Library and the Cold War

The funding for the University of Wyoming’s Coe Library was largely the result of the events of the late nineteen-forties and nineteen-fifties. William R. Coe’s political views were the driving force behind his generous donation to build Coe Library and fund not only the creation of the U.W. American Studies program, but forty other American Studies programs across the country.

The Cold War, a long period of conflict and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, started in the late 1940’s and endured until the 1980’s. As the American government’s push to censor academic library materials gathered momentum, the University of Wyoming was caught up in a textbook controversy, described by William Hewitt in his article, “The University of Wyoming Textbook Investigation Controversy, 1947-1948 and Its Aftermath.” In 1947, then U.W. Board Treasurer Dr. P.M. Cunningham moved that U.W. President George Humphrey appoint a committee to read and examine social sciences textbooks in use at the University of Wyoming, to determine if such books were subversive or un-American. The motion to conduct a textbook review carried unanimously and without discussion by the U.W. Board of Trustees. As a result, Milward Simpson, President of the Board of Trustees, urged President Humphrey to hold a textbook investigation, and Humphrey agreed.

During the book controversy, Humphrey developed his relationship with William Coe, a vocal anti-Communist. Humphrey cultivated Coe’s confidence, and the two men stayed in close touch for years. Coe sent Humphrey a pamphlet titled “How Red is the Little Red Schoolhouse?”

The Cold War prompted a wave of other investigations across the United States during the 1950’s, which resulted in a minor hysteria. The University of Wyoming’s Presidential Report of 1953-54 included a strong reassertion of the basic right to a “free exchange of ideas in a university” and a “climate of free ideas.” The climate of free ideas was soon strengthened by attendees at the 72nd annual America Library Association conference, which in June 1953 reaffirmed its “policy of freedom.” This policy included the right to read and study in the face of excited efforts to remove “controversial” books from libraries.

Ultimately, the University of Wyoming faculty and the national press thwarted Simpson’s attempts at the textbook audit and academic freedom prevailed. The committee of fifteen faculty members that was selected by President Humphrey reported to the board that “liberal education emphasizes how to think, not what to think and the fight against totalitarianism can only be held in an atmosphere of academic freedom.”