Death and Communists: The Funeral Industry's Attack on Jessica Mitford's The American Way of Death

Abstract

When Jessica Mitford's The American Way of Death hit bookshelves, the American funeral industry reacted as if it had been nailed into one of its own gilded hardwood coffins. “She's a communist,” they cried, “and a crackpot as well!” The industry launched a campaign reminiscent of the McCarthy era, attacking Mitford's credibility as well as that of her husband, attorney Robert Treuhaft, on grounds of their associations with the Communist Party. But the industry's ill-prepared spokesmen did little to discredit Mitford's devastating reporting, much of which quoted directly publications of the “dismal trade” itself. Piling on were the likes of ultra-conservatives California Congressman James B. Utt and Albert F. Canwell, a one-term Washington legislator who launched his own anti-Mitford campaign. Despite a flurry of efforts to discredit Mitford and her book, traditional news media generally reviewed the book positively and rejected the anti-Mitford charges. In part this was because it was a clumsy effort; more likely it was that news media, in the recent wake of the McCarthy hearings, were more cautious in embracing such claims. The authors express gratitude to the staff of the Special Collections/Rare Books Library of The Ohio State University for their assistance.