Click on underlined links to access video clips, sound bites, texts, and other primary sources.
Note:
Some of the materials here are included for demonstration purposes only. In the published version of Don't Look Now, all of the sources used will be public documents that I have digitized, previously digitized images in the public domain, or materials for which permission to publish has been obtained. Also, in the final version, all video sources will be edited and compressed to load more quickly, and all will be broadcast quality.
In general, primary sources will be placed in separate web pages from which readers may access secondary sources and also see various images in their original locations on the Internet. Although some of the images included may come from commercial sites, most will be derived from public archives such as those maintained by the Smithsonian, the National Archives and Records Administration, the Library of Congress, and other major sources of public documents.
Since it would be impossible to cover the entire history of privacy even in a massive study, each of the chapters below is organized to highlight a major historical change in prevailing perceptions of the public/private dichotomy. Thus, each chapter uses primary documents to illuminate a specific theme. For an example of this approach, please read the Introduction: Privacy, Publicity, and Power in Twentieth-Century American Politics
If some of the interpretations hinted at below seem to run counter to traditional notions about the public/private dichotomy, I must point out that no one has ever used a broad range of primary documents to shed light on the role of privacy at various points in American history. Not surprisingly, the concept of privacy takes on unexpected qualities when it is placed against a backdrop of previously unavailable visual, audio, and textual evidence.
Chapter
1
A
Man's Home: The Problem of Privacy in the Early Twentieth Century
Theme: The role of gender in the definition of the public/private dichotomy
Sources: Louis Brandeis and Samuel Warren, “The Right to Privacy,” Harvard Law Review (1890); documents from the woman suffrage movement; public debates on Prohibition; Olmstead v. United States (1928); The History of the Telephone; The History of Photography
Chapter 2
They've Got Your Number: Privacy and the Growth of the American Welfare State
Theme: The role of government in the preservation of traditional family life and private enterprise
Sources: New Deal legislation; Congressional testimony and public debate over Social Security numbers; application forms for relief and other types of government assistance
Chapter 3
Rooting
Out Reds: Privacy as a Threat to the American Way of Life
Theme: Privacy and the problem of political paranoia in the nuclear era
Sources: audio and video clips from the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC); cultural and political responses to McCarthyism; Cold War conceptions of industrial progress and big government
Chapter 4
Privacy
and the Personalization of Politics in the Television Age
Theme: Politics and the public display of private life (See The Personal Is Political)
Sources: audio and video clips from presidential appearances, speeches, and debates; Nixon's "Checkers Speech," Marilyn Monroe, "Happy Birthday Mr. President;" Bill Clinton, excerpts from videotaped testimony before the Starr Grand Jury
C
Why Don't We Do It in the Road?: Privacy and the Sexual Revolution