Post by radovic on Nov 22, 2007 11:02:19 GMT -5
Ex-Dexter resident who helped end "Red Scare" dies
Posted by By The Ann Arbor News and The Associated Press November 20, 2007 08:09AM
Categories: Breaking News
Milo Radulovich, a former Dexter resident whose refusal to denounce his family members during the height of the "Red Scare" is credited with helping to end Senator Joseph McCarthy's crusade, died Monday.
Radulovich, 81, had retired to California and died of a stroke, family members said.
At the height of the anti-Communist crackdown, Radulovich's plight was featured in The Detroit News and then on CBS-TV newsman Edward R. Murrow's show, "See It Now."
When George Clooney made the 2005 film "Good Night, and Good Luck," based on Murrow's journalistic challenge to McCarthy, Radulovich served as a consultant and watched some of the filming.
Radulovich was born in Detroit, joined the Air Force Reserves, worked as a meteorologist in Greenland, and then enrolled at the University of Michigan on the GI Bill.
In 1953, the Air Force dismissed Radulovich, then a 27-year-old lieutenant living in Dexter, on grounds that he maintained a "close and continuing relationship" with his father and sister.
His father was an immigrant from Serbia whose English was shaky and subscribed to a pro-Communist Serbian newspaper to keep up with the events in his home country. His sister had attended left-leaning meetings and demonstrations. The government deemed Radulovich himself a security threat.
Radulovich refused the military's demand that he denounce his father and sister and instead appealed his dismissal at Selfridge Field.
"He was well aware of his historical importance," said Al Fishman, husband of Radulovich's sister Margaret. "He put his finger in the dike when the flood of McCarthyism inundated the country."
Radulovich lost his commission, but Murrow read about his story and he interviewed Radulovich, his wife, and his Dexter neighbors for "See it Now." CBS refused to advertise the show, and it wasn't aired by the Detroit CBS affiliate. But the show, which ended up airing on Oct. 20, marked the beginning of the end of Wisconsin senator McCarthy's crusade. Five weeks after it was aired, the decision on Radulovich's case was reversed, and he was reinstated.
Radulovich went on to hold a career in the National Weather Service.
Posted by By The Ann Arbor News and The Associated Press November 20, 2007 08:09AM
Categories: Breaking News
Milo Radulovich, a former Dexter resident whose refusal to denounce his family members during the height of the "Red Scare" is credited with helping to end Senator Joseph McCarthy's crusade, died Monday.
Radulovich, 81, had retired to California and died of a stroke, family members said.
At the height of the anti-Communist crackdown, Radulovich's plight was featured in The Detroit News and then on CBS-TV newsman Edward R. Murrow's show, "See It Now."
When George Clooney made the 2005 film "Good Night, and Good Luck," based on Murrow's journalistic challenge to McCarthy, Radulovich served as a consultant and watched some of the filming.
Radulovich was born in Detroit, joined the Air Force Reserves, worked as a meteorologist in Greenland, and then enrolled at the University of Michigan on the GI Bill.
In 1953, the Air Force dismissed Radulovich, then a 27-year-old lieutenant living in Dexter, on grounds that he maintained a "close and continuing relationship" with his father and sister.
His father was an immigrant from Serbia whose English was shaky and subscribed to a pro-Communist Serbian newspaper to keep up with the events in his home country. His sister had attended left-leaning meetings and demonstrations. The government deemed Radulovich himself a security threat.
Radulovich refused the military's demand that he denounce his father and sister and instead appealed his dismissal at Selfridge Field.
"He was well aware of his historical importance," said Al Fishman, husband of Radulovich's sister Margaret. "He put his finger in the dike when the flood of McCarthyism inundated the country."
Radulovich lost his commission, but Murrow read about his story and he interviewed Radulovich, his wife, and his Dexter neighbors for "See it Now." CBS refused to advertise the show, and it wasn't aired by the Detroit CBS affiliate. But the show, which ended up airing on Oct. 20, marked the beginning of the end of Wisconsin senator McCarthy's crusade. Five weeks after it was aired, the decision on Radulovich's case was reversed, and he was reinstated.
Radulovich went on to hold a career in the National Weather Service.