America, they figured was the intelligent arrival of democracy, something Europe had been struggling with for thousands of years. The power in America was derived from the freedom that every man woman and child possessed as a birth rite. I am now convinced that a member of the Communist Party is not a free man. Freedom, I believe is the most essential ingredient of American civilization and democracy. In the American scheme educational institutions are the foundation stones upon which real freedom rests.
Educational institutions can prosper only as they maintain free teaching and research.
A teacher must, therefore, be a free seeker after the truth. If, as Jefferson taught, the real purpose of education is to seek out and teach the truth wherever it may lead, then the first obligation and duty of the teacher is to be a free man. Any restraint on the teacher's freedom is an obstacle to the accomplishment of the most important purposes of education. People in this period felt that freedom was an essential piece of the American identity. Freedom as an American ideal allowed Americans to separate themselves ideologically from the rest of the world.