Last week I wrote that, in spite of what many think, politics and history are fascinating.
I gave as an illustration the confrontation between Senator Al Franken and Supreme Court nominee (now Justice) Neil Gorsuch.
Another example of the interest and tension which can be generated is the story of Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
In the 1950s, the Cold War was raging and fear stalked the land. Investigations were conducted by the House Un-American Activities Committee, the Senate Internal Securities Committee, the F.B.I., as well as many non-governmental agencies which targeted everyone from teachers to lawyers to the entertainment industry.
This era has been captured on film in such classics as “The Way We Were” and “The Front.”
Persons were accused of being “Communist sympathizers” without a shred of evidence; many were “black-listed” and lost their jobs.
The Republican senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, did everything he could to fuel the fear. He was a reckless demagogue who made unsubstantiated charges about Communists in government.
A joke making the rounds at the time was “there’s a Red under every bed.”
On February 9, 1950, Sen. McCarthy was invited to address the Woman’s Republican Club in Wheeling, W.Va. Toward the end of the speech, he held up a piece of paper which he claimed contained the names of 205 members of the Communist Party working for the State Department.
He further alleged that Secretary of State Dean Acheson, knew about these subversives, but that they were still shaping our foreign policy.
On later occasions, the number was reduced to 57 and, finally, the junior senator from Wisconsin stated that his case would “stand or fall on this one” man who was “the top Russian espionage agent” in the U.S. Owen Lattimore was a professor at Johns Hopkins University whose expertise was the Far East.
For anyone interested in what it meant to be accused of being a Communist and how it changed one’s life, I recommend Lattimore’s Ordeal By Slander.
After 17 months of hearings, a Senate Committee chaired by Sen. Pat McCarren, whose political views were similar to McCarthy’s, indicted Lattimore on six counts of perjury.
Three years later a federal judge, Luther Youngdahl, dismissed the charges on grounds that they were “insubstantial and not judicable.”
One of the lessons to be learned here is that one might find oneself in agreement with the Soviet Union on a particular issue, civil rights for example, without being a Communist.
While the Lattimore incident did not advance McCarthy’s cause, the coup de grace did not come until the Army McCarthy hearings of 1954.
One institution attacked by Senator McCarthy was the United States Army. It hired the Boston law firm of Hale and Dorr to represent it.
Joseph Welch, the Army’s lead counsel, was, like McCarthy, an Irishman, but there the similarity ended.
Welch was an “old school” gentleman. At one point in the hearing, he got under McCarthy’s skin.
The senator retaliated by mentioning the fact that Welch had brought a young lawyer from his firm to Washington to assist him.
When Welch discovered that the attorney had belonged to the National Lawyers Guild which the Attorney General said was “the legal bulwark of the Communist Party,” Welch sent the lawyer home.
But this did not stop McCarthy from mentioning Fred Fisher by name and jeopardizing what looked to be a brilliant career. This attack led Welch to state:
“…I fear he {Fisher} will always bear a scar needlessly inflicted by you. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty I would do so. I like to think that I am a gentle man, but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me.”
When McCarthy resumed his attack on Fisher, Welch plaintively continued: “Senator, may we not drop this?..Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator, you’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”
Anyone watching knew that this was an historic moment. Welch’s words about decency would rank with William Jennings Bryan’s “cross of gold” oration and FDRs “rendezvous with destiny.”
Like a pit bull McCarthy did not let up, which led to another quotable moment for Welch.
“Mr. McCarthy” he said: “I will not discuss this further with you. You have sat within six feet of me and could have asked me about Fred Fisher. You have seen fit to bring it out. And if there is a God in Heaven it will do neither you nor your cause any good. I will not discuss it further.”
A moment later, people in the gallery burst into applause. This marked the beginning of the end for the Wisconsin senator.
On Dec. 2, 1954, the United States Senate censured Joe McCarthy for “conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute.” The vote was 65 to 22.
On May 2, 1957, the senator was dead at the age of 48.
In 10 short years in the U.S. Senate, McCarthy went from being a non-entity to the public face of anti-Communism in America.
The theme of this letter has been that history, properly written and taught, can be an exciting narrative which can captivate an audience.
The McCarthy saga illustrates this thesis.
Dr. Hal Sobel
Great Neck
