The end of the cold war and the collapse of the Soviet Union have spurred historian T. Michael Holmes to look back to the years 1947-1953, when the territory of Hawaii was gripped by the specter of communism. Holmes begins by remembering the U.S. response to communism from the time of the Russian Revolution through the careers of America's most famous anticommunists, Richard M. Nixon and Joseph R.

McCarthy; he also provides a brief account of the events that led to Hawaii's "red scare." The focus then shifts to a single critical year, bounded by Governor Ingram M. Stainback's 1947 declaration of war against communism in Hawaii and the 1948 dismissal of school teachers John and Aiko Reinecke. During this year the two primary targets of the anticommunists were revealed: the ILWU and the Democratic party.

Finally Holmes looks at the 1949 longshore strike, the Hawaii hearings of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, and the last major thrust of militant anticommunism in Hawaii, the Smith Act trial of the Hawaii Seven. Based on an extensive record of public testimony, numerous personal interviews and letters, and a thorough examination of the newspapers of the day, The Specter of Communism in Hawaii is the most comprehensive work in print on Hawaii's anticommunist impulse.