The Fine Line between Genius and Insanity[]
In the 1950s, it seemed as if the utterance of the word “Red” could result in a jail sentence. Any unrelated evidence that slightly linked you to communism could have meant persecution, prosecution, and the end of a promising career, thanks to Joseph McCarthy. He is the man everyone refers to when they think of the term McCarthyism - the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, particularly pro-Communist activity, in many instances, unsupported by proof or based on slight, doubtful, or irrelevant evidence. Having a reputation as the most feared man in the United States, Senator McCarthy was a man that received praise for his clear ambitions and unstoppable drive. Although his policies caused fear and turmoil in the accused and in the American public, McCarthy stood firmly behind his ideals and values. To simply look at his prosecutions of suspected communist sympathizers is to leave unnoticed his cunning psychological and political strategies that persuaded the American public to allow Joseph McCarthy to demonstrate the full magnitude of McCarthyism.
To judge the quality of a man, one must not only look at the high points in his career but evaluate the lows and highs on and off the political scene. This is particularly true if one is to appreciate how astonishing Joseph McCarthy really was. He was born on a small farm in Appleton, Wisconsin on November 14, 1908 to proud parents, Bridget and Tim McCarthy. Tim McCarty, being a religious Roman Catholic, tried to teach his seven children the values and lessons of Christianity by taking them to Sunday mass and nightly prayers. Tim, a small time farmer, did not have much to give to his children to insure proper education, therefore Joseph McCarthy and his siblings knew the meaning of hard work. They would spend their day planting corn, oats, etc. or tending to the farm animals. Tim knew that he could not provide for all his children properly so he tried to encourage them to start their own lives early, teaching his children how to think on their own and go to whatever lengths it takes to survive. This especially affected Joseph, short term, because he decided to quit school at the age of fourteen to start a chicken farm. Because of daily chores to make ends meet, Joseph McCarthy could not fully focus in school. When his chicken farm did fail, he realized that only a proper education could insure the bright future that lay before him. At the age of 21, Mrs. Osterloth, a close friend, persuaded Joseph to go back to school. He enrolled at Little Wolf High School and used his natural persuasive skills to convince the principle of Little Wolf high school to allow him to take twice as many classes as a normal fourteen to fifteen year old high school student. Even before then McCarthy was an incredible student. “Often, when the teacher drilled her older pupils with problem sets, young McCarthy, though several grades behind, would cause a stir by blurting out the right answer… He was allowed to skip a grade” (Oshinsky 6). McCarthy’s astonishing drive and determination motivated him to finish four years of high school in nine months. McCarthy would go on to enroll at Marquette University and graduate with a law degree. This is a monumental achievement, not only in Joseph McCarthy’s day but in the present day as well. Finishing high school is a tough enough task, but to come back from a six year absence and finish in an unheard of time-frame is something that can inspire children and adults of all generations. He proved that the vision for a brighter future is attainable, despite all odds. “Why did he work so hard? For one thing, Tim expected it. He supervised his sons carefully and stood for no nonsense” (Oshinsky 5). This was the stepping stone that built Joseph McCarthy’s personality and helped him develop and shape future decisions and policies.
McCarthy was a very hard working student at Marquette University, because “he was older, better motivated, and far more mature” (Oshinsky 10). While taking a full load of classes, he also worked almost any type of job, such as a dishwasher, valet, and boxing coach, to meet ends meet, even taking up gambling. As a gambler, McCarthy showed his early manipulation skills. He would intimidate his opponents by raising the bets with such a sense of fearlessness that they would fold their better hand. “McCarthy played poker the way he played everything else: no holds barred” (Oshinsky 13). McCarthy would later use these intimidation tactics during his political career. Many people knew McCarthy as someone who was willing to do what it took to get where he wanted to be. He did not care who was in his way. This characteristic took him to places of great power on the political scene.
McCarthy’s first encounter with politics was at Marquette University when he ran against his friend, Charles Curran, for class president his final year. McCarthy and Curran agreed to vote for each other on Election Day to keep the race from getting out of control. As fate would have it, the results ended up as a tie. When the students cast their votes again, McCarthy won by only two votes. It turns out that McCarthy voted for himself, violating the pact made between him and Curran. Curran was quite upset about the situation but later realized that McCarthy only wanted to win and meant no ill will against him. They still remained friends. “The point here is not that McCarthy was often a concerned and loving fellow, but that he was capable of being unscrupulous yet loyal, cruel yet understanding, destructive yet generous to the same people, without should a conscious sense of personal confusion. He seemed consumed by two conflicting forces: a frightening drive for recognition and for advancement and a compulsive need to be liked, to be a ‘good fellow’” (Oshinsky 14). This election marked the beginning of McCarthy’s political ambitions. This was also a key example of one of the many political strategies he will use later, in the pivotal points of his career.
In 1935 after graduating from Marquette University with a law degree, McCarthy tried to pick up as many legal case as possible in the small town of Waupaca. He opened his private practice in a small room in the Loan Abstract Building and took cases that many other lawyers in town would not, fearing they would “upset the town or could be resolved out of court” (Oshinsky 16). With the great depression at its peak, life for many, including McCarthy, was very tough. McCarthy went broke during this time until lady luck, gambling, pulled him out of his hole. In 1936, Mike Eberlin, a well known lawyer from Shawano, offered McCarthy a partnership in his firm. McCarthy gained status and respect by helping Eberlin with his heavy work load. Living in Shawano also helped his political career. McCarthy quickly rose to the top of the democratic scene by becoming the treasurer of the county organization, chairman of the Young Democrats of the Seventh Congressional District, and one of the top money raising supporters of Franklin D Roosevelt. In 1936, McCarthy also announced his candidacy for district attorney as a Democrat. He participated in the election, knowing that he would not win, to gain experience and publicity. McCarthy’s ambitions were clear. He wanted to be in the political arena and he was willing to do anything to gain the experience necessary to get to Washington. McCarthy was “quite willing to take risks in the name of self improvement”, even if it meant taking losses (Oshinsky 8)
Outside of politics and law, Joseph “remained close to the church. He went to confession regularly, observed meatless Fridays, gave generously to Catholic charities, and rarely missed Sunday mass” (Oshinsky 11). He would travel hours to attend services. He was very close to his mother until her death in 1941, at the age of seventy. Aside from being a great son, McCarthy was a good man, “who would give you his last dime” (Oshinsky 17). McCarthy also had flaws that everyone could see. He had “the hustle, the masculine bluster, the demand for recognition” (Oshinsky 14). He possessed inner restraint, but was very “sloppy and disorganized. Finding something in his room or his law office, they recall, was a major project, like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack” (Oshinsky 17). McCarthy was a human that had a great personality, an even greater drive, and many flaws. He was not an evil man, out to destroy people’s careers or lives and he was very quick to make amends to anyone that “just happened to be in the way” (Oshinsky 20).
Two years after his first official political attempt, McCarthy announced his candidacy for the circuit judgeship for Langlade, Shawano, and Outagamie counties against incumbent, Edgar Werner. Because he had also expressed his desires for that office, Mike Eberlin, was quite upset when McCarthy announced his candidacy first. Perhaps he didn't like admitting that Joe was a better politician. McCarthy later helped Eberlin win the same circuit judgeship to make up this sleight. During the campaign, many people doubted McCarthy’s ability to win over Werner’s incredible credentials. However, “one of the marks of [McCarthy’s] political genius was a knack for sensing when a supposedly unconquerable figure—a bob Lafollette or a Millard Tidings—had reached the point of vulnerability” (Oshinsky 21). Werner was the first victim of McCarthyism. He ran a dirty race filled with lies. He claimed that the judge was 73 when he really was 66 years old. “In fact, it wasn’t this simple. The judge had the ‘best’ evidence—his birth certificate from 1873—but the challenger, ever diligent, produced some evidence of his own. It consisted of the Martindale-Hubbell Law directory, which listed Werner’s birth year as 1866, and an old biographical sketch of the Shawano Country Journal, which gave 1870, not 1873, as the date of birth. Had Joe been a gentleman, he would have accepted Werner’s figure and let the matter drop”. But he was an underdog scratching for an issue—any issue—that might damage the incumbent’s standing with voters. The age question was perfect, for it allowed him to exploit discrepancies that were part of the public record. Furthermore, the judge could not cry foul without highlighting his age—as well as the suspicion that he had lied about it in the past” (Oshinsky 22). This helped McCarthy win the election. It was quite amazing how McCarthy could take something as simple as a misprint and turn it into a winning ticket into the judicial system. McCarthy used information to manipulate the minds of voters by taking them on a journey full of doubt. This was another key aspect of later political maneuvers and policy making.
Apart from slander and manipulation, McCarthy was a great politician. He knew that he always needed a passionate issue to speak about. He also knew that he needed voters on his side and to do that he simply shook hands with as many people as he could. The effort put forth in order to get to know the voter was the key to winning this, his first, election. He did not “talk about legal issues or job qualifications, but of neighborly things like crop prices, children, and the weather.” However as one farmer remembered, “he learned my name, my wife’s name, our kids’ names, and our dog’s name” (Oshinsky 23). With the combination of an unscrupulous campaign and great people skills, McCarthy won with over 4,000 votes. “Losing to a pushy novice like McCarthy,” Werner was driven to retire from law. With the humiliation of losing to the many cheap shots of an amateur, he died shortly after (Oshinsky 24). This election sets the precedent for all of McCarthy’s campaign strategies thereafter.
Aged 29, and youngest circuit judge in decades, McCarthy was known for his speedy trials, such as 5 minute divorces. He worked around the clock to close as many cases as possible of not only his but other colleagues as well. He changed the standards of court preceedings, and did not tolerate legal delays. Many people may have found this odd and an obstruction to the regular court process but many people, especially lawyers, loved it. McCarthy’s method of handling court depositions “was unanimously applauded in the Tenth Judicial District” (Oshinsky 27). Although McCarthy was quick with his proceeding, he was seen as reasonable, innovative, and normally compassionate, according to many lawyers and their clients. Notably, there was one person, Gilbert Lappley, who did not like his speedy court procedures.
The monumental court case that was the highlight of McCarthy’s judicial career was the Quaker Dairy case in June 1941. The Department of Agriculture issued an injunction to this local diary company for lower the price of milk violating the law, which sets the price of milk. McCarthy dismissed the case, which got him in trouble when Lappley petitioned the State Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus, ordering McCarthy to restore the injunction and call for another hearing. McCarthy was livid, and although he heard the case again, there was no doubt what his verdict would be. The local dairy company won the case against Lappley. “McCarthy managed to save the day by pointing out that he had acted in the best interests of consumers (which was true) and to make sure Quaker Dairy made milk affordable to everyone.” (Herman 27). This story landed in the local newspaper, and depicted McCarthy as a judicial activist, willing to look out for the consumer. This is an example of “how bad law can sometimes be good politics” (Herman 27). Any public exposure was good for the aspiring politician.
By 1941, the judicial arena was beginning to bore McCarthy. He desired to have an official post in Washington D.C. as a politician making laws, not just interpreting them. However, the attack on Pearl Harbor, on Dec 7, 1941, put a quick halt to his plans for Washington. McCarthy joined the marines, even though he did not need to because his job was important enough to exempt him from service. He knew the importance of a military background in the political arena. He did not give up his judicial obligations. He simply agreed to give up his pay until he returned from the tour and to continue handling his case load when he got back. In Aug 4, 1952, a masterful and determined McCarthy left for his tour of the pacific as a first lieutenant in the marines.
McCarthy quickly made a name for himself as a tail-gunner. As new traveled home to Appleton, McCarthy had received an air medal, four stars, and the distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for 25 missions in combat. Stories of McCarthy’s battle wound were soon also circulating the newspapers. These stories and awards helped decorate not only his uniform but his political career as well. He name appearing on newspaper and in people’s ears had the desired effect of jumpstarting his path to Washington. In reality he only went on two missions in which he shot at trees. The Fleming expose, about McCarthy’s war wound which was really from falling of a stairwell causing a leg fracture, further demolished the tail gunner and war-wound fabrications. “Typical of McCarthy, he disputed the story without expressing any ill will towards the author” (Oshinsky 32). Despite the insult to injury, McCarthy came home to a hero’s welcome when he obtained a 30 day leave to campaign in the 1946 senate election against another incumbent Alexander Wiley as a republican. Surprisingly, McCarthy won 80,000 votes, not enough to beat Wiley but enough to get his name out there. Once again, McCarthy did not expect to win but ran for the experience and the publicity. This strategic maneuver was common during his attempts to enter new field of politics.
Upon returning to the pacific, McCarthy applied for another leave claiming that his judicial duties had been too long overlooked. He was denied the leave of absence and resigned his commission. His military experience helped him meet John Kennedy, which would help him later in his political life and it gave him the publicity he needed to test out his abilities with Alexander Wiley. In February 1945, McCarthy obtained his official discharge from the Marines. Even though McCarthy was not the hero he claimed to be, America can appreciate the fact that McCarthy is willing to put his life in danger to serve his country. The most important aspect was that he did not have to go. Yet, he did - to the benefit of himself and the American people. What did the other politicians do during war times? Reporters and historians "have been so determined to cast him as a shameless liar that they have overlooked what McCarthy did do" (Herman 31). By stepping on to the war ground, McCarthy put his life in danger. This made him a hero to many regardless of his eventual fall.
All of McCarthy’s preparations were for the 1946 Wisconsin primaries, where he would face incumbent, Bob Lafollette. Lafollette had dominated the Wisconsin senate post for years; however, with the destruction of the Progressive Party, Lafollette’s easy reelection became very difficult. McCarthy was once again the long-shot. Besides having no chance of winning, the Milwaukee Journal and the Madison Capital-Times tried to end McCarthy’s chance by “citing both the State Constitution and the American Bar Association’s code of ethics (which forbids judicial officers from engaging in political activities) and demanded that he resign his judgeship” (Oshinsky 42). He refused to relinquish his job and kept himself in the race. McCarthy’s campaign for senate reflected his strategies for other elections. He focused on a passionate issue that everyone cared about and he put himself out there so that anyone and everyone could see him. “His main theme, for example, was that America had the duty either to lead the world or to play no part in it at all” (Oshinsky 44). He also supported veterans’ pensions, which is probably another reason (aside from trying to publicize his military experience) they spent lots of money on brochures that played on his military background. Another common aspect was that “the campaign had a curiously manic air about it, dominated by a figure who would say anything, threaten anyone, go anywhere to achieve his objective” (Oshinsky 44-45). His strategies incredibly seemed to work very well.
Most people did not take McCarthy seriously because of Lafollette’s legacy. What truly helped McCarthy go the extra mile was Howard Murray, a Democrat, out to destroy Lafollette’s candidacy. Communist groups were also out to destroy Lafollette, for his strong stance against communism, while McCarthy was taking an ambiguous stand on communism at the time. He had Stalwart and democratic labor alliance campaigning against him. He had no organized campaign, spent little money, and spent even less time in Wisconsin. Incredibly, McCarthy won the 1946 election. He had reached his goal. People asked: "What now?"
Arriving in Washington, not knowing what to do, he decided that he wanted to speak to the president about John L. Lewis and the coal strike. When the president turned him down he called a press conference. This outrageous and bizarre reaction would set a precedent for his senatorial career. In McCarthy’s early senatorial career, he really did not have a direction or goal. He was assigned to the Committee on Expenditures in the executive department; he became a one-man demolition squad, soon establishing his reputation as an arrogant and wildly unpredictable colleague. He was removed from the Banking and Currency Committee for being a “trouble maker.” Despite not having done anything spectacular, he felt that he was a good party man. He voted mostly conservative in the senate, supported tax cuts for the wealthy, restrictive labor legislations, and smaller federal budgets. On the other hand he voted against federal aid to education, public housing, and public power appropriation. After two years as a senator, McCarthy desperately needed an issue he can call his own, because re-elections were in the near future.
The Malmedy massacre caught McCarthy’s eye. In 1944, at the Battle of the Bulge, a battalion from the German first S.S. Panzer division captured several hundred American soldiers near the Belgian village of Malmedy. After the Germans surrendered, 43 S.S. troops were convicted by an American war-crimes court. Yet the convicted men claimed that a false confession was beaten out of them. A committee of Senators including Republican Raymond Baldwin, Democrats Lester Hunt and Estes Kefauver was formed. McCarthy was asked to participate in the hearings as well. He took great interest in the case and claimed that he believed the troops because the “kids” were beaten half to death. Why shouldn’t they confess to stop the torturing. McCarthy’s allegations angered Baldwin, who tried to uphold the military’s image even, though he knew what was going on. McCarthy withdrew himself from the hearings after humiliating Baldwin. “One of McCarthy’s more remarkable traits…was an instinct for detecting, and then exploiting, the political weakness of his opponents” (Oshinsky 76). McCarthy knew he had to stay in front of the crowd as well.
In 1950, McCarthy needed an issue that would draw enough attention to get reelected, and for the next few months, McCarthy started showing a great interest in communism and its effects on America. He started claiming that the Capital Times was out to distort their city with the foreign ideology of Communism. “McCarthy was also one of the few senate conservative to support the cornerstones of American’s postwar containment policy—the Truman Doctrine, The Marshal plan, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)” (Oshinsky 82). All this would seem minor compared to the event that happened on February 9, 1950 in Wheeling, West Virginia. This day would be a pivotal moment in his political career and the beginning of four years of chaos and mayhem known as McCarthyism.
Before getting into what McCarthyism is and how it changed America, a closer look at how McCarthyism came to life is critical. McCarthyism stemmed from growing fears of the Soviet Union's (thus Communism's) possible take-over the world. Whether one agrees with the revisionists, who blame the United States for not negotiating with the Soviet Union during and after World War II, or the traditionalists, who blame the Soviet Union for its determination to spread communism and attain world domination, McCarthyism was clearly rooted in the fear of the time. There are many debates about where exactly the tension started. Many believe that the fear started at the beginning of the cold war while others believe that it started after world war I as Vladimir Lenin claimed that “revolutionary communism and democratic liberalism are incompatible because all capitalist regimes continue the institution of oppression and exploitation—private property and the profit system” (Diggins 55). The fear and anxiety was inevitably planted with the creation of communism because capitalism and communism could not exist parallel to one another. Because of capitalism’s nature to want to spread across the world in order to keep the flow of capital at its maximum and communism’s emergence from poverty and oppression, the two were destined to oppose each other. Although the duality of communism and capitalism was impossible to ignore, Russia and the United States decided to place their conflicts aside in order to eliminate a bigger problem, fascism. As America agreed to shake hands with Soviets, Many communist supports in the United States were forced underground as World War II went into full swing.
Tensions started reemerging towards the beginning of World War II when Stalin made a secret agreement with Hitler to not interfere with the invasions of Poland if Hitler would not enter the borders of Russia, which Hitler later violated. This agreement left the Allies leary of the Soviet Union’s loyalty. The undercurrent of hostility was apparent during the February Yalta and July Potsdam conference of 1945, when decisions about the postwar reparation of Germany and the type of government in Poland could not be reached. As World War II ended, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the two major powers of the world. The tension between the two major powers grew greater because both wanted to spread their influence through the world. Stalin wanted to protect its socialistic borders by expanding its “sphere of influence” to insure that American capitalism did not circle Russia. Whereas, the United States wanted to also spread its “sphere of influence” throughout Europe in order to open up its commerce to a wider market. This marked not only the beginning of the cold war but chaos and fear on United States soil.
“On March 11, 1945,security officers from the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) broke into the Manhattan headquarters of Amerasia, a pro-communist publication, and discovered thousands of classified government reports” (Oshinsky 95-96). Although there was no evidence that the publication company transferred this information overseas, this was enough to catch the American public’s attention. In the upcoming months, the Canadian government arrested 22 people and charged them with espionage and delivering information to the Soviet Union. “For one thing, it proved that a successful Soviet spy ring was operating in Canada and the United States” (Oshinsky 96). On December 14, 1948, America knew they had to comb communism out of American hair, when Alger Hiss, a former state department official, was jailed for two counts of perjury in connection with Elizabeth Bentley, a soviet spy, and Whittaker Chambers, member of the communist party. Almost simultaneously, “A British Physicist named Klaus Fuchs was arrested in London for violating the Official Secrets Act, giving A-bomb plans to the Russians And possibly H-bomb” (Oshinsky 106). However, the Russians had the ability build a nuclear bomb without the need to steal western information. Fear really struck Americans close to home. “Most Americans, it seemed were frightened by the weapon and terrified by the thought of not possessing it” (Oshinsky 105).
McCarthy used the fear and anxiety of the American people for four years . He knew America’s weakness, similarly to the way he knew his political opponent's weakness, and he used it to create a name for himself Americans, crucially, did not want their “American Dream” to be taken away. The American Dream has been a mere fabrication of the mind for almost twenty years. Since the great depression started in 1930 and continuing until the end of World War II, Americans thought that this dream was not reachable. For almost twenty years, Americans were now able to enjoy being “white, middle class, suburban” residents, with their perfect two children family. Every white American, wanted to put on their gray flannel suit, go to their corporate job and come home to a white picket fenced home, now that the American economy is stable and prospering. Every white American also knew that if they did not have this, there was something wrong. Now that it was within their grasp, Americans would do anything to keep their hands on it and McCarthy knew this. “McCarthyism was not a drastic form of political repression. But it was an effective one” (Schrecker 163).
Many historians and reporters many refer to the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, particularly pro-Communist activity, in many instances, unsupported by proof or based on slight, doubtful, or irrelevant evidence to McCarthy, because Herbert Block coined the term McCarthyism in political cartoons about McCarthy. Many people do not realize that this type of accusation was used long before McCarthy. “In late 1930s the House of Representatives created a special committee on Un-American Activities. The Chairman was Texas Democrat Martin Dies. They were not shy about naming names - listing 640 organizations, 438 newspapers, and 280 labor groups as possible Communist fronts. They eventually charged 1,121 government workers as being either Communists or “sympathetic with totalitarian ideology. “Dies is the one that started name calling, guilty by association. He became a national celebrity” (Oshinsky 93). McCarthy used this technique to protect America’s way of life and to boost his publicity - not to destroy someone’s life or career, but rather to have done something important for his country.
McCarthy took the snowball of anxiety and fear accumulated from the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, the fall of China, and the many arrests made for espionage and combined it with his slandering skills to make the American people believe in his cause. He wanted to contain communism and rake it out of American soil. To do this, McCarthy manipulated the American peoples’ need to isolate themselves from all distractions in order to preserve their way of life. McCarthyism’s utilization of fear wreaked havoc from 1950–1954, with constant allegations and trials, until the game finally fizzled out from lack of concrete evidence. McCarthy’s game was quite simple - find the smallest bit of evidence in connection to communism and take them to trial. In order to keep from being convicted, the indicted simply name someone else as a communist. This kept the game circulating.
McCarthy attacked everyone from Walt Disney to General George Marshall. Although McCarthy took his crusade very seriously, he did not have very much concrete evidence to convict anyone. How did such chaos go on for so long without hard evidence? Besides the fact that Americans were scared, the church was a major contributor to McCarthyism’s crusade. Billy Graham’s Evqngelistic Association is one of the best examples of church involvement in McCarthyism. “Graham was denouncing Communism, for he doubted that his country was sufficiently vigilant in combating the Antichrist” (Whitfield 53). They were sacred that a communist could be their strange neighbor next door, scared that if they did anything different they may be convicted, scared that their American dream can be taken away. Another aspect that helped keep the accusations was employers or opponents that wanted to get rid of the left-winged oppositions. “McCarthyism alone did not cause these outrages; but the assault on democracy that began during the 1940s and 1950s with the collaboration of private institutions and public agencies in suppressing the alleged threat of domestic communism was an important early contribution” (Schrecker 173). The result was the end of many promising acting, writing, and political careers of those accused.
During 1950 to 1954, many people lost their jobs due to participants of McCarthyism. Although “steel workers, teachers, sailors, lawyers, social workers, electricians, journalist, and assembly line workers were all subject to the same kinds of political dismissal and prolonged unemployment,” Universities and Hollywood were attacked the most during the peak of McCarthyism" (Schrecker 168). University professors were prosecuted for infecting young minds with thoughts of conspiring against their government. As the future leaders of the United States, the American public could not afford to let the youth become corrupted, therefore the professors that were teaching the youth must be monitored and eliminated if they were affecting the youth. Furthermore, Hollywood could also affect the young adults. In Hollywood, many actors were not considered for parts in films and writers were simply not called because of accusations of being communists. The film industry was highly scrutinized because of its widespread influence. Young adults watched movies at the theaters every Saturday and other people would watch television with their families at night. Government officials and employers worried so much of the influence of the film industry that they release the Blacklist, a list of actors, writers, producers were suspected of communism. “Some of these employers may well have welcomed and even actually arranged for a HUAC hearing, especially when it enabled them to fire lift-wing union leaders” (Schrecker 164). Because many people were hauled away from their home or job for an accusation of being associated with communism, many people feared that they would be next.
Because McCarthyism was such a widespread phenomena, the government created a subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with Millard Tydings as chairman to investigate McCarthy’s allegations. After months of investigations, Tydings declared McCarthy’s claims to be obscurity based on erroneous evidence. McCarthy, however, maneuvered around this obstacle by influencing Tydings’ reelection with his power and manipulation skills. In 1952, Tydings did not get re-electioned. With that obstacle out of the way, McCarthy carried on his prosecutions until 1954, when he accused General Marshall, a well loved political figure, of being a communist. In the beginning, President Eisenhower did not want to get involved in McCarthy’s nonsense. President Eisenhower, “[preferred] a policy of waiting for the senator to either fade away or spontaneously self destruct” (Moretta 155). The Senate however did not wait. The senate voted 66-22 to censure McCarthy for disrespecting others. The Senate’s prosecution of McCarthy was aired on many television networks, where his odd mannerisms and his alcoholism were exploited. McCarthy’s popularity and support diminished into nothing and he was not reelected. McCarthy died shortly after leaving the Senate.
Even though McCarthy has died, his legacy will live on. McCarthy’s work, “the congressional hearings, loyalty programs, and blacklists affection the lives of the men and women caught up in them” (Schrecker 171). Although McCarthy’s hearings did not result in many convictions, they did help stop the spread of radical communism in the United States. Many feared being ostracized or prosecuted, thus many communist organizations, with internal problems, dwindled. Radicals thought twice before contemplating a demonstration. McCarthy should be praised for his brilliant mind and communication skills that allowed him to cultivate a growing fear and turn it into power for over four years. McCarthy may not have captured many communists but he did capture the American mind and its weakness.
Definitions[]
Short Biographies[]
- McCarthy takes the heat. Notice the list of primary sources at the bottom of the article.
- J. Edgar Hoover was perhaps just as important.
Primary Sources[]
Other[]
- The Hermit History Lesson focuses on the phrase that was the beginning of the end for McCarthy.
The Law[]
The Alien Registration Act (29 June 1940) made it illegal for anyone in the US to advocate, help, or teach the idea of overthrowing the government. The law also required all alien residents in the United States over 14 years of age to file a comprehensive statement of their personal and occupational status and a record of their political beliefs. Within four months a total of 4,741,971 aliens had been registered.
The main objective of the Alien Registration Act was to undermine the American Communist Party and other left-wing political groups in the United States. It was decided that the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), that had been set up by Congress under Martin Dies in 1938 to investigate people suspected of unpatriotic behavior, would be the best vehicle to discover if people were trying to overthrow the government.
In 1947 the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), chaired by J. Parnell Thomas, began investigating the motion picture Industry. The HUAC interviewed 41 people who were working in Hollywood. These people attended voluntarily and became known as "friendly witnesses". During their interviews they named nineteen people who they accused of holding left-wing views.
Blacklisted Celebrities[]
- Dashiell Hammett, well-known mystery/detective writer
- Waldo Salt
- Lillian Hellman, actress
- Lena Horne, famous singer
- Paul Robeson, writer
- Elia Kazan, writer and political activist (Jewish I think)
- Arthur Miller, wrote "The Crucible" and many other well-known plays
- Aaron Copland,
- Leonard Bernstein, extremely popular composer of movie soundtracks
- Charlie Chaplin, most important American actor up through the 40's
- Group Theatre members Clifford Odets, Elia Kazan, and Stella Adler.
In all, three hundred and twenty artists were blacklisted, and for many of them this meant the end of exceptional and promising careers.