Jan 26, 2004 -- Ellen Schrecker, professor of history at YU, will speak at a social research conference in New York City on Saturday, Feb. 7, as part of a three-day conference entitled, “Fear: Its Political Uses and Abuses.” Vice President Al Gore will open the conference on Feb. 5 with a keynote address. During the conference, Prof. Schrecker will discuss “McCarthyism: Political Repression and the Fear of Communism.” Her talk will focus on the early years of the Cold War and how American policy makers used “scare tactics” to invoke a fear of communism in order to generate support for US foreign policy. Prof. Schrecker will be joined by E. Valentine Daniel, professor of anthropology at Columbia University, and Jessica Stern, lecturer of public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and author of Terror in the Name of God (2003). The session will be moderated by Aristide Zolberg, Eberstadt Professor and University in Exile Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the New School University. The conference will take place at Tishman Auditorium at the New School University, 66 West 12th Street. Full-time students with valid identification are admitted free. For further information and to register, call (212) 229-2488 or visit the conference’s Web site at www.socres.org/fear.