Melvin Rader

Melvin Miller Rader (8 November 1903 – 14 June 1981) was an author and professor of philosophy at the University of Washington for 51 years, and an outspoken advocate of civil rights. He taught ethics, aesthetics and political philosophy. In 1948, he was accused of being a communist by the Canwell Committee (the Joint Legislative Fact Finding Committee on Un-American Activities), and was later exonerated in 1951 by Attorney General, Smith Troy. Ed Guthman, a Seattle Times investigative reporter, received a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting of the events. In 2009, an endowment fund was created in Rader's name at the University of Washington to fund philosophy students engaged in social justice work.