As psychology boomed in America during the 1950s Edwin Boring was flourishing. He continued working his usual schedule after reaching normal retirement age at the beginning of the decade and finally achieved some measure of personal satisfaction in his professional accomplishments. He had found an important role for himself as psychology's great communicator.

Within the profession, Boring continued to add his voice to discussions about psychology's past, present, and future. He was called upon to provide counsel and advice to the American Psychological Association on important matters of policy and procedure. For instance, in 1954, at the height of the hysteria over Communist subversion whipped up by Senator Joseph McCarthy, Boring was appointed chair of the APA Committee on Freedom of Enquiry, which was charged with the task of exploring ways to protect academic freedom.

In 1955 the American Psychological Association launched a new journal devoted to book reviews. It was christened Contemporary Psychology and Boring served as editor. He sought a cosmopolitan style modeled after the New Yorker or the Saturday Review. Known as CP (in a sly play on the well-known abbreviation for the Communist Party), the new bimonthly journal provided a platform for its editor to pronounce on all things psychological in a column entitled “CP Speaks.”

The journal was an immediate success. In addition to providing timely and indepth reviews of the burgeoning literature of psychology, it fostered discussion of professional as well as technical issues.