San Francisco Murals at Rincon Post Office

Freewheeling San Francisco comes alive in Rincon Post Office murals, from gold-rush bordellos to ruthless railroad barons. Russian-born painter Anton Refregier began these striking murals in 1941, but McCarthyist censors demanded 92 alterations to tone down SF's colorful history. Refregier got the last word, dedicating his final 1948 mural to artistic freedom – pointedly contrasting Nazi book-burning scenes with American postwar promises of "freedom from fear/want/of worship/speech." Refregier's masterpiece is now a National Landmark, while McCarthy's House Un-American Activities Committee ended in a riot in San Francisco City Hall.