Siberia, USA
The Communist-hunting housewives who spawned a far-right conspiracy theory about an American gulag.
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Episode Notes
When Alaskans wanted their own mental-health facility, a rumor took hold all over America. This week, Evan Chung traces the origins of that far-right conspiracy theory: that the government was building a concentration camp where Americans would get imprisoned for their political beliefs. Get ready for a strange tale that involves a brainwashing manual, Scientology, and a vast network of Communist-hunting housewives.
Josh Levin is One Year’s editorial director. One Year’s senior producer is Evan Chung.
This episode was produced by Kelly Jones and Evan Chung, with additional production by Sophie Summergrad.
It was edited by Josh Levin, Joel Meyer, and Derek John, Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts.
Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director.
Join Slate Plus to get a bonus 1955 story at the end of the season. Slate Plus members also get to listen to all Slate podcasts without any ads. Sign up now to support One Year.
Sources for This Episode
Books
LaChance, Daniel. Mrs. Miller’s Constitution: Civil Liberties and the Radical Right in Cold War America, Forthcoming.
Hendershot, Heather. What’s Fair on the Air: Cold War Right-Wing Broadcasting and the Public Interest, University of Chicago Press, 2011.
Johnson, Jenell. American Lobotomy: A Rhetorical History, University of Michigan Press, 2014.
Lane, Barbara Miller. Houses for a New World: Builders and Buyers in American Suburbs, 1945–1965, Princeton University Press, 2015.
McClay, Ellen. Bats in the Belfry: The Case Against Mental Health, Rosewood Publishing Company, 1964.
McGirr, Lisa. Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right, Princeton University Press, 2001.
Naske, Claus-M. Edward Lewis Bob Bartlett…A Life in Politics, University of Alaska Press, 1979.
Nickerson, Michelle M. Mothers of Conservatism: Women and the Postwar Right, Princeton University Press, 2012.
Seed, David. Brainwashing: The Fictions of Mind Control, The Kent State University Press, 2004.
Winston, Rick. Red Scare in the Green Mountains: The McCarthy Era in Vermont 1946-1960, Rootstock Publishing, 2018.
Articles
“A Lesson for Alaskans,” Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, April 4, 1956.
Benton County Mental Health Association. “Morningside Hospital,” Corvallis Gazette-Times, Dec. 12, 1962.
“Bethel Woman Faces 18 Counts; Her Sanity is to be Examined,” Burlington Free Press, Feb 24, 1955.
Boissoneault, Lorraine. “The True Story of Brainwashing and How It Shaped America,” Smithsonian Magazine, May 22, 2017.
Boyvey, Roger. “Mental Health and the Ultra-Concerned,” Social Service Review, September 1964.
“Federal Men Fail to Enter Bethel Home,” Burlington Daily News, May 3, 1955.
Gruening, Ernest. “Alaska Fights for Statehood,” the Atlantic, January 1957.
Introvigne, Massimo. “Did L. Ron Hubbard Believe in Brainwashing?: The Strange Story of the
‘Brain-Washing Manual’ of 1955,” Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, May 2017.
“Judge Rules Mrs. Miller Insane,” Burlington Free Press, April 19, 1955.
Kent, Stephen A. and Terra A. Manca. “A war over mental health professionalism: Scientology versus psychiatry,” Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 2014.
“Lucille Miller Awaits Sentence, Draft Charge,” Vermont Journal, July 21, 1955.
“Mrs. Miller Guilty on All 18 Counts, Is Freed On Bail Pending Sentence,” Rutland Daily Herald, July 13, 1955.
“Mrs. Miller Released from Hospital, Sent to Washington for Treatment,” Burlington Daily News, May 4, 1955.
Naske, Claus-M. “Bob Bartlett and the Alaska Mental Health Act,” Pacific Northwest Quarterly, January 1980.
“No Decision on Sanity of Mrs. Miller,” Rutland Daily Herald, March 22, 1955.
“Now—Siberia, U.S.A.,” Santa Ana Register, Jan. 24, 1956.
Perdue, Karen. “Patient Stories: Pennies From Heaven,” morningsidehospital.com, Sept. 10, 2009.
Shannon, Don. “Alaska Mental Health Bill Vote Slated Today,” Los Angeles Times, April 23, 1956.
“Tear Gas Downs Mrs. Miller,” Burlington Free Press, May 4, 1955.
“Tear Gas Shells End 12-Hour Siege of Bethel Rifleman Who Defies Law to Take Wife to Hospital,” Rutland Daily Herald, May 4, 1955.
Hartley, Margaret, L. “Whose Mental Health? The Psychology of Suspicion,” Southwest Review, Autumn 1961.
Audiovisual
The Conservative Women of Los Angeles Oral History Project, Courtesy of Lawrence de Graaf Center for Oral and Public History, California State University, Fullerton.
James C. Ingebretsen papers, Special Collections & University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries.
Bartlett Collection, Alaska Film Archives, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
