Florida Approves New Cold War & Communism Teaching Standards What to Know About
Florida public school students will soon be taught a version of McCarthyism and the Cold War that mirrors the rhetoric of the 1950s rather than decades of historical reflection, after state officials signed off Thursday on extensive new social studies standards.
The Florida Board of Education adopted the changes as part of a wide-ranging update required under a 2024 law signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. The new content frames communism as an “infiltration” that reached Civil Rights groups, highlights criticism of anti-communists as “slander,” and directs teachers to address how “McCarthyism” is used as an insult.
The new standards soften the historical record around former U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who drove a nationwide political campaign in the early 1950s targeting supposed communist sympathizers across government, the arts, academia and civil rights movements.
For generations, historians have documented the consequences of McCarthy’s crusade: blacklists, public interrogations, loyalty tests, and widespread professional and social destruction.
“McCarthyism was, up until the current moment, the longest lasting and most widespread episode of political repression within the United States,” said Ellen Schrecker, a retired Yeshiva University historian known for her scholarship on the era. She noted that the standards erase the harm done to free speech and American society.
The 29-page “History of Communism” standards triple the length allocated to American History and Civics combined, sweeping from Plato’s Republic and utopian theory to the Russian Revolution and Tiananmen Square.
In this retelling, McCarthy and the House Committee on Un-American Activities are cast as principled defenders against communist influence. Missing, critics say, is the full weight of the damage caused by the Red Scare.
“If I were a teacher, I would feel really scared by this,” said Tawny Paul, a UCLA historian and director of the Public History Initiative. She worries the ideological framing discourages classroom engagement on painful but essential chapters of U.S. history.
Florida’s new standards follow a wave of legislation reshaping classroom instruction on race, gender, and political history. Last year, lawmakers designated Nov. 7 as Victims of Communism Day, requiring instruction on figures such as Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro.
The effort is now overseen by Education Commissioner Anastios Kamoutsas, the grandson of Cuban exiles who fled the Castro regime and a figure deeply tied to Miami’s anti-communist political identity. Miami’s Cuban American community helped shift Miami-Dade County firmly toward the GOP in recent years, strengthening its influence inside the party.
DeSantis-appointed board members praised the new standards as historically rigorous and necessary. Four of the five public speakers on the topic at Thursday’s meeting echoed that support.
But Schrecker said the curriculum presents “a very narrow and repressive view of American history” that erases civic movements and social change. Paul added that the dictates of the curriculum may cause teachers to steer clear of critical discussions for fear of political repercussions.
The update arrives as Florida is still under scrutiny for its 2023 changes to Black history instruction, including a requirement that schools teach that enslaved people “developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
Teachers, parents, civil rights groups, and even some Black conservatives condemned the language. Among them was U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, who said he would push for revisions. Those changes haven’t happened.
Donalds is now running to replace the term-limited DeSantis, carrying an endorsement from former President Donald Trump.
