If That Be Treason, Let Them Make the Most of It!”

On the evening of March 31, 1948, fighting words rang out from the podium at New York's Hotel Astor. Some 900 guests had assembled to hear various speakers hold forth on what one called the “tyrannous and murderous regime” of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, the victor in the Spanish Civil War (1936–39).1 All present knew that many thousands of Spaniards once allied with the Second Spanish Republic (the left-leaning government Franco had toppled) were still reduced to refugee status. Helping these refugees, who sought only basic material comforts, simply reflected the “true American spirit,” this speaker observed. Further, roiling debate in the United States over Spain and a host of other conflicts proved that civil liberties were fast deteriorating at home. Summing up his resistance to the status quo, the speaker ended by quoting what was then believed to be Patrick Henry's “second-most famous utterance”: “If that be treason, let them make the most of it!”2 The crowd at the Hotel Astor applauded enthusiastically.The individual at the podium was none other than Olin Downes, the senior music critic for the New York Times. This influential figure, often quoted but little studied, began his career as a music critic in 1906, writing for the Boston Post.3 In 1924, he went to the Times, where he remained the rest of his career. Committed to bringing classical music to a broad public, he supervised the concerts at the 1939–40 World's Fair in New York City and oversaw the quiz program on Saturday afternoon Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. Downes was also popular on the lecture circuit and wrote several books. His musical opinions ultimately placed him in the conservative camp, particularly his defense of the traditionally oriented Jean Sibelius.4 Yet Downes's politics were anything but conservative. Among the causes he championed was that of democracy in Spain. The Spanish Civil War and its aftermath in the United States were but one piece of a bigger problem, however. The fate of the refugees—tagged as “Reds” by the political right—was intertwined with the suppression of civil liberties in the United States thanks to the machinations of the powerful HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee), itself abetted by political stagnation and public apathy.Various scholars have analyzed the experiences of Aaron Copland, Marc Blitzstein, Paul Robeson, and Leonard Bernstein in this environment.5 Downes, however, has been largely overlooked.6 This essay draws on previously untapped primary sources to weigh his activism vis-à-vis Spain alongside its subsequent repercussions and historical import. I detail Downes's support for Republican Spain during the Civil War and then explore his work on behalf of Spanish refugees through the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee (JAFRC), the first organization to be subpoenaed by the HUAC.7 I also survey his speech-making by interpreting his rhetorical strategies and the traditions they represent. By analyzing Downes in this light—along with the reactions of his superiors at the New York Times—I hope to enrich our understanding of musical life in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s while highlighting the impact of the Spanish Civil War in classical music circles, a topic few musicologists have explored.8 My analysis thus sheds light on McCarthyism, an era of unrelenting media-generated chicanery, anti-democratic impulses, and howling tribalism that parallels our own day.From mid-July 1936, when Franco's military rebellion began, Downes followed the news from Spain. Franco was attacking the legally elected Second Spanish Republic, established five years earlier.9 Despite claims to the contrary, the Republic was not communist. Nor did it ban religion, even if rhetoric from some of its leaders, coupled with anticlerical violence by vigilantes, clouded its intent merely to separate church and state. All the Western democracies except Mexico declared neutrality while the hastily assembled International Brigades (including the Abraham Lincoln Brigade from the United States) defended Republican Spain, fighting alongside the Soviet Union.10 Italy and Germany aided Franco, a grim dress rehearsal for World War II. Seen as a beacon for human rights and democracy, the Republican cause beckoned artists and intellectuals worldwide.11 Pro-Republican sentiment was particularly fervent in New York's artistic circles, where dancers, musicians, actors, and writers organized fund drives, gave benefit performances, and created works of art inspired by the conflict.12Downes's initial involvement was modest. He had little prior connection to Spain, having once lectured at Madrid's Residencia de Estudiantes and written favorably of the music of Manuel de Falla.13 Nonetheless he became a sponsor of the Musicians Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy, an affiliate of the North American Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy (NACASD), formed in September 1936.14 (Another affiliate was the American Medical Bureau to Aid Spanish Democracy, founded by Dr. Edward Barsky, a communist Jew from Brooklyn and one of Downes's future associates.) The cellist Pablo Casals, vehemently anti-Franco, served as honorary chair of the Musicians’ Committee.15 Mainly, it undertook fundraising and released various statements to the media, including the declaration that the civil war was “one of the decisive conflicts of world history.”16 Musicians elsewhere in the United States followed the Committee's lead: as late as January 1939, when the Republic's defeat was all but certain, a headline in the New York Times proclaimed “160 Musicians Denounce Aid to Forces of Aggression” and petitioned the Roosevelt administration to end the embargo against Republican Spain. Among the signatories was Downes.17As the war ground to an end, some 500,000 refugees trudged across the Pyrenees to suffer in overcrowded camps.18 On April 1, 1939, when Franco declared victory, the United States, along with Great Britain and France, recognized his regime, in hopes of dissuading Franco from joining up with Germany. Despite the basis for this move, Downes and other supporters of the Republic condemned it, shocked at the idea of conferring legitimacy on a leader who had earlier cozied up to Hitler and Mussolini.19 In the ensuing years, Downes became involved with several organizations. One was the Spanish Refugee Relief Campaign, on whose Executive Board he sat.20 Another was the Musicians’ Committee to Aid Spanish Refugees, which he sponsored along with many of the individuals shown in figure 1 and also included Robeson, Howard Hanson, Charles Wakefield Cadman, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, and the violinist and conductor Albert Stoessel.21 At the invitation of the colorful and outspoken Milton Wolff, a Civil War veteran from New York, Downes also became involved with the Action Committee to Free Spain.22 Its sponsors included Marian Anderson, Claudio Arrau, Alexander Brailowsky, Alexander Kipnis, Fritz Mahler, Nathan Milstein, Grigor Piatigorsky, Artur Schnabel, Copland, and Bernstein.23Although Downes agreed to serve on the organization's Artists and Scientists Committee, he warned Wolff of certain realities. “The most unfortunate thing about my job,” Downes explained, “is that as music reviewer I have constantly to attend evening performances and then write and work while other people sleep.”24 He once complained to another activist for Republican Spain, the author Dorothy Parker, with whom he evidently enjoyed some familiarity. “Why in hell do you always put your important meetings on Thursday evening?” Downes demanded, noting that Thursdays were “the one evening” on which he was never available because the Philharmonic Symphony, “virtually a must,” on that He also his to to the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, by the and the American Committee for Spanish The as on sought to end with the government of Its Downes to a that with the words War began in Spain in his for Downes did however, Downes on established in with status. Barsky, the communist he was at the Roosevelt in April hope in his who Franco with Hitler and and the from sponsored a in at which several the Franco them of On the Downes have been he public of One speaker was the political and chair from the the Franco, the with on religion, a This was all the the HUAC to its of On and Executive were to in all the organization's and by with in Executive Board to the the HUAC to hold all in not Downes up on these often of support to and He also organized a benefit for Spanish refugees that in at New York's a broad public, Downes classical and popular also to of the about political Downes him that the was a communist I not you if be present in the on the on this The of the if you have as to the in which you then you not to This a that for was the a In a of Downes had to that the from be through the Committee in He also of the author and that the only to be Downes that he to the of the of in in his also the a alongside and Downes to as the and the were the with in on the were one by the and and who with included the Marc Blitzstein, the and the violinist Albert Among the were Kipnis, and of and who had Manuel de with Fritz and the by the of and by the Downes in a a of which he Casals, the in of sponsors was including Grigor Piatigorsky, and Downes fundraising as was a did not always to In March he a at the which he with the and 900 people to the on which words from Abraham of have that Among the guests were and the de The conductor Downes and on the of whom were to Downes's proved the in Yet for of he was to his He his to and a on behalf of he that alongside his from the podium was but a Downes the on his that as he had many to to for the Spanish he put it, having to up and be in the of the evening and what I have to of of the that did not what other speakers of the evening I to for the American this was to be Downes's political Despite his status in the world of classical as an activist he sought to the the the to the of In Downes on a only was it to the rhetoric of the in the but the figure of the in political In a in the an that and He forth these in the “The of the from which the of his that the whose to “the American had in a few for the of was who that if an were earlier for world believed in the and for when the for as the of the in In Downes on behalf in where he that “one of the the people to put an end to this in our a to the In Downes to about the as was the in for a because itself has the of that a than with the as In 1948, Downes up these at on to than of the in what has been as a Downes also called forth from In Patrick at he was he the that the for in the United States was from prior of Further, as and the had was the American of the United States had a when its leader for in the of the not a communist Downes the of and civil in democracy and the in our public proved for as was On March 31, a an against for to over Parker, Barsky, and the Executive that end up at the and the were Downes if he Downes's was with you not only one but one In the was in the one of the all Board of with most Board to except Barsky, who and was Downes to Barsky, if five years have believed that a of have our American and of He also to during the the however, that end, fundraising Downes be In his of March (the quoted at the of this he the and of the as to from also a Musicians Robeson, Kipnis, Anderson, and were on the as were the and and the and to was at when at at the Downes on his the public of “the of was when some of the strategies Downes as to “the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee been out in the years for by he that the in Spain, as and of were the liberties the HUAC sought most to in the United The called Downes a and and a him that his was to of and of his powerful rhetoric and various Downes to Among them was the of in which he on the Executive him to on and the Downes, however, was to present as a than as a for the In his to he to his on behalf of if and the the for he it in your on the ground of my in the artistic as I the I was not present as a music as a political as a of and but as one to other about our and our in most in our his Downes a in where he the with who the in the a at the Republican and HUAC of On 1948, Downes a public in Great joining up with and the By the had to hear only up Downes, who another in this in he he on “the of about through the of that The a to including a for the Boston of to on The was the and Downes be to He in the as and the I this to your to the a it by it to at at the musical Downes that was still in the Downes on civil he was about his with the Times. that he was in the program as critic of the New York he Executive for the Boston politics my own and separate from my with the on this Downes had to be than the had on his The Times a on a sponsored by the Committee of the and at which Downes was of and at which several speakers (including the in the of In Downes the in a about of the about to serve for of Downes a of He on the in connection with the Committee for the of the formed a on in his also in an for the on and Civil on the news was a for at which “the was by Olin Downes, music critic for the New York to Downes's for his music the Times in By the had been on of communist On the Times an defense by several by the not a critic for the Times. that 1948, the world the United States, and the Soviet with artists to a certain one what that Downes, for Soviet up in his own by which the He the that have for as a if politics and had him Downes was about his own this in human when including our do to democracy while that they do not in democracy at but only in politics and at of in the it to that this art and as the on Downes was for the of the Times, who Downes to his Downes, the one to I have to you to to that piece Downes have had to “If had been for you have to it in this of the be Downes as a him music he Downes's own words at that he have for as a if politics and had him that a and then it to for the of the music and your that had to and the of the Downes to a however, a Olin that with the Downes my Some with ultimately Downes the music critic of the Times and not the of the political I it that you to to music in what you write for the New York Times and I a to that Downes and a Downes to a even while over a fundraising for the Spanish refugees, this at the Astor on March He several to including whom he from the of years however, Downes but a of Downes was also to in a to but had to out at the His were in by the one of the to in March when Downes over the and for World at the He served on the program and the which he with a The Copland, the and the and the Soviet the them Downes On March the first of the the New York on claims that various intellectuals had been to to the all of of the “the of what these and music do by at a and Yet individual quoted and only Downes, who not be for He in writing to the of the of these Downes that not one was in the thus of the quoted Downes also out that the for the to to the however, of Olin wrote that Downes was with the to Downes the not in this to the but as a political for the Soviet that Downes had at the Times, to supporters in to a to Downes, out that of 1948, Downes had up to that he to the of an of be he was by the to it with if you in your as Olin Downes to your of you as music critic of the New York Downes of his to and of his for the to on the of the In the he declared that the the of American was to public of the of the to work for and understanding and Downes also his own but a of music and an American and whose and of and the and who by whom the and Copland, for gave a that has been called “one of the of his in which he to other including that of the Soviet In his own Downes the over and of the and the of our as against the even if he He also in of a of the music of words have some of Downes's it have that whom one as “the of the a against of and a in to of speakers in Downes's condemned that with of Downes had to his In a on April 1, that merely by to attend the Downes, as a critic for the Times, in a where he be with of work if they to with his an he in another Downes he was to the Times to however. in another New York that Downes had with a He that even if Downes this in his as a Downes's politics with the Times, which itself from “the at the was to at the but at a at which Downes did not attend because he was a also warned that if he to the on this thousands be to elsewhere for however, he his Downes and of he that Downes was a his of the that make this a in “is the that a of in it which do not he had put an end to the however, Downes was on the for his the of the American in a that Downes of the New York at one of its Downes had to to his that he had never of this organization to a on its in with the of The of in and that of In a to the of the Times, one Downes up in and this one to your also wrote Downes was still on he have the the Times defended to Downes on his politics by the which he to a that him in a for a of the of and to his from the Times, Downes to to once one on which I and that the of the he and I have agreed this a and that you to hold one of and I Downes to his for and that had always him to do “the for Downes was still the that by having the its Board was to thanks to the on the as Downes put and served and then to In January Downes, who had to the to Executive that he had that because of the of other of Downes that to “the I a that the status it had enjoyed its was in and the of of communist Downes had a In when the Times a to for him to he that he had The Times him with the of that with of the in a on he his and a Downes the Times that he had the of to a and the The Times however, and Downes the in the the was of his in it and the of and organizations. Downes that he had of from the of the Times a that Downes “is never to a of the Downes did not communist In and Downes some He was with with artistic and for its for the artistic of its in the he had his own in gave Downes a January 1, the of his at the Times. Downes to through years in which I have been a He to be however. In March he a from the of by the American the of and that Downes had to him a did Downes still support and to Downes it to a which he to He that he the and that his were that at the of Downes have the Franco and and his if they had the of and this he had but to on from the Wolff on HUAC that “the sponsors and of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, with a few and and that communist of this was Downes to the to be a communist and in his the to own some and the of for all defended writing Wolff on April put in a a to the that I out of with Downes's of my he the who in because with his I have to his to his but only his Downes to write on the organization to including his on the of was In for the of New York Joint Committee on and and wrote Downes about his on of March it The that Downes's had been on if one an idea of the Downes the in March wrote him the Copland, Robeson, Blitzstein, and many Downes had to On March he was by a of the Joint Committee, an in several of In that Downes to be of from the and that he and to years was Downes's declaration that be treason, let them make the most of He then had to a which the Times he for and was In its Executive Board to the one of support for democracy in Downes was to the Medical where he of a as had declared Downes “the of the music to an in the Times him as of The Times also called him a of noting his support for of the New his in the and the Committee of and of was the end of an often Downes a he the of and and was the of and his fundraising often of and his as an Downes a his career in music with He a in to whom he ultimately to have of and Downes as a who merely to make his Yet it was the of politics in the United States, by but by government and a public, that Downes his be to it a that the Times ultimately his experiences to a for the as by Copland, and many In and the political in the United States in the of in the of a as and but to by political several parallels Downes's era and our in Downes to on the In the that of of the with that individual to separate from own was the of the of who the of the were were the of Another the of what many a and his to Downes was a of news from the and the as the of the American his and for public the did of its the in the of that Downes merely by in the and be that news on Downes in to the that of one in which Times Wolff was the that communist another Downes's and our over refugees, and the and over which individuals “the American of who the of the as Downes sought to by and over the have the United States, they have in the news about and of in The of of and the of refugees from that many of whom to in and have to the to the In the United States, one also that our over refugees and to than to the a that of the by only in Downes's our all these from and to in public and have to if once the you of at had through and the from had In a of War the of and the suppression of civil liberties at do than to as a Downes's to the Spanish Civil War and its

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