Eastern Student Christopher Morris of Waterford Gives Oral Presentation at CREATE Conference

2016 May 5

More than 250 talented students at Eastern Connecticut State University presented research and creative work at the university's second annual CREATE conference this past April. CREATE stands for Celebrating Research Excellence and Artistic Talent at Eastern, and is the university's premier, academic year-end showcase. At the culminating event, students of all majors presented professional posters, live music, dance performances, artwork, photography, documentaries and panel discussions.

Christopher Morris '17 of Waterford, who majors in History and English, gave an oral presentation at the event. His oral presentation was titled "Got a Donkey in the Crosshairs: The Partisan Anticommunism of Senator Joseph McCarthy."

"While he promoted himself as a vanguard of national security in a time of international crisis, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy's leadership of the anticommunist crusade, from his rise to national prominence in 1950 until the Republicans won the presidency in November 1952, was decidedly partisan," said Morris. "Historians such as Ellen Schrecker, Stephen J. Whitfield, and Thomas Doherty have already built up a substantial literature on McCarthyism, and Senator McCarthy's monumental speech in Wheeling, West Virginia has been studied extensively. New conclusions can, however, be drawn from an analysis of his largely underappreciated Palmer House address in October 1952. This speech further illuminates McCarthy's dangerous rhetorical genius as well as the intensely paranoid anticommunist fanaticism which had gripped much of the American public by the time of the presidential elections of 1952. Based around McCarthy's condemnation of Democratic presidential nominee and Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson, this paper argues that McCarthy saw his campaign as pivotal in the war between, not only liberty and communism, but between liberalism and conservatism. As such, McCarthy recreated the international dichotomy between Americanism and Stalinism in the candidates; he built his speech around popular stereotypes of communists as violent revolutionaries, Stevenson's known associations with various alleged Stalinists like Alger Hiss, and an ardent championing of Eisenhower's heroic Americanism. Delivered only days before the general election, this speech represented the culmination of McCarthy's partisan efforts of the previous two years and was a significant blow to the Democratic campaign for the presidency that eventually went to Eisenhower."

Remarking on the variety of presentations, Professor Dickson Cunningham, conference co-chair, said, "CREATE encapsulates the essence of the liberal arts in one afternoon. It is an intellectual smorgasbord."

Speaking to the value of CREATE, Eastern President Elsa Nunez said, "It takes a very strong and dedicated student to produce this quality of work, and it's important for other students to see this output." Praising the faculty, she added, "It takes a committed and skillful mentor to guide students to the work that is on display. Mentorship is such an integral part of undergraduate research."

During the one-day conference, the Student Center crawled with artistic and scholarly activity. Students in professional attire addressed their peers, faculty and family. In the cafe, ensembles performed; in the theatre, student-produced documentaries were shown; in the Betty R. Tipton Room, aisles of posters depicting scientific research were displayed; across the hall, a gallery-worth of paintings lined the walls; and on the ground floor, panel discussions and oral presentations about the humanities took place.