What's a Patriotic Man to Do?: Patriotic Masculinities of the Post–WWI Red Scare

In: Men and masculinities, Band 6, Heft 3, S. 240-253

Abstract

Patriotism is an ideology, like masculinity, that posits specific behaviors and beliefs as best for a nation and an individual. This article examines three forms of masculine patriotism promoted in the crisis of the post–World War I Red Scare—the antiradical heroism of Ole Hanson, the postwar militarism of the American Legion, and the laborer wistfully proposed by manufacturing organizations. These models drew from the wartime emphasis on male soldiers as national redeemers but re-created the ideals of male citizenship to fit the domestic crisis of the Red Scare. Those who defined themselves as patriots praised forms of masculine patriotism that exalted loyalty to family, loyalty to war veterans, and loyalty to employer as the traits of an ideal male citizen. This gendered form of male citizenship excluded women, but because of its racial, ethnic, class, and ideological content, also excluded large numbers of American men from claims to good citizenship.