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10 - Coming Home

from Part III - Survival

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2026

David Mayers
Affiliation:
Boston University
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Summary

Regardless of whether their actions abroad were wholesome or repugnant, many seekers and partisans upon returning to America faced difficulties. Members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade were pestered by counterespionage agencies concerned that they were virtual Stalinists. Chinese communist apologist Agnes Smedley was similarly persecuted. Radio Rome broadcaster Ezra Pound was committed to a psychiatric hospital. The FBI kept tabs on Nazi sympathizer Philip Johnson. At one time or another, Helen Keller, W. E. B. Du Bois, Josephine Baker, and Varian Fry fell under suspicion of Red taint and were monitored by the FBI. The State Department withheld Du Bois’s passport. Understandably, several seekers and partisans chose self-imposed exile to finish their days. Eulogized by local personages, John Robinson died in Ethiopia, Pound in Italy, Du Bois in Ghana, Baker in France, Strong in China. Fatal illness in Oxford thwarted Smedley from reaching Beijing. Only half of this book’s characters retired permanently to the United States. Their feelings for it extended from affection and respect to stoical resignation.

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  • Coming Home
  • David Mayers, Boston University
  • Book: Seekers and Partisans
  • Online publication: 13 January 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009629843.015
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  • Coming Home
  • David Mayers, Boston University
  • Book: Seekers and Partisans
  • Online publication: 13 January 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009629843.015
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Coming Home
  • David Mayers, Boston University
  • Book: Seekers and Partisans
  • Online publication: 13 January 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009629843.015
Available formats
×