Ah yes, some things never change.
Yanks rock!
Posted on 11/05/2009 12:55:41 PM PST by wendell dertah
On the day I born, June 9th, 1954, Senator Joseph McCarthy was asked the famous question; “Have you no sense of decency sir?”.
Some members of the media who saw an opening, pounced on the opportunity, and never looked back. This would become the beginning of the end of the anti-communist mood in America. It would be the birth of terms like McCarthyism, Redbaiting, and Blacklisting.
The heirs of this movement are much more numerous today than in 1954, and the true journalists have been replaced by mere actors, playing the part of journalists.
We have gone from a nation where politicians investigated actors for being communists, to a nation where actors investigate politicians - for not being communists enough.
The sicken reality, is that what began as the strongest, freest county in the world, has become one that is choked with taxes and regulations. Businesses are crumbling, and the only solution offered is that they be nationalised.
In the America I was born to, the Constitution was honored, rather than seen as an obstacle. It was the foundation of government, and not derided as a list of talking points for fanatics.
We have gone from revering men like Lincoln and Washington, to having a White House filled by people that revere Mao, Che, and Marx.
In 1954 the words “Under God” were added to the Pledge of Allegiance, and children recited it daily in schools. Today’s children are only guaranteed the right to speak the name of God, when they are taking it in vain.
In the year I was born, movies were being made about American and American Ideals. In this year of “tolerance”, movies are made about the evil of America.
In 1954, the leading men looked each other in the eye and shook hands. In our year of “Hope and Change", leading men hold hands, and look into each others eyes. I can only imagine what Lucy and Ethyl would be up to.
In 1954, I was born to a family in which both parents shared a marriage. Their marriage did not have to be defined by moral relativity. Today it would be called an “opposite-sex marriage”.
For as much as Joe McCarthy is demonized, he was right. If the Americans of 1954 knew what their country has become, the hearings he chaired would have been replaced by lynch mobs.
Well if you want continuity, Elizabeth is still Queen, and The Cleveland Indians still can’t win when it counts.
And, actually, the Venona Papers revealed that McCarthy really was right. If I remember right, no one actually lost their job over his hearings, though some were reassigned.
And McCarthy had nothing to do with Hollywood blacklisting, that was Hollywood people blacklisting each other. And that came out of the earlier HUAC hearings, which pre-dated McCarthy.
Well said.
I’ve always belived that McCarthy was a hero. Robert Kennedy worked on this committee also. Back then lots of Democrats were real Americans still. Now most are Communist.
Ann Coulter was, of course, correct again.
So...who’s going to apologize to Joe McCarthy? Poor guy.
She really laid it out, with footnotes.
I’ve shut up many a liberal with her documented work.
That’s a nice piece, wendell... I’m 7 years older than you and I remember the first time we said “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance in school. To add to your litany, I remember TV programs that celebrated American history and heroes: GE Theater (hosted by Ronald Reagan) and DuPont’s Cavalcade of America. I had only vague recollections of the proceedings of the “House Un-American Activities” committee, but having read Whitaker Chambers’ fantastic autobiography “Witness”, it’s clear that McCarthy and Nixon and the other anti-communists in Congress in the early 1950’s were right about the infiltration of our government — going back 20+ years and throughout World War II.
Speaking of Reagan, isn’t it also interesting that he was host of the GE Show on Sunday evenings... and would later take on the two biggest threats to American society in the middle of the 20th century: unions in American industry (his role as spokesperson for GE and his role as President of the Screen Actors Guild) and the Communist menace around the globe — and he would beat them both within our lifetimes! Now THERE’S a MAN!
Anyone who honestly thinks that McCarthy was a nut job, should read “Blacklisted by History” by M. Stanton Evans—2007.
Tailgunner Joe is an American hero that was demonized by the CFR media and Democrats.
well said...
I believe the door was really opened in 1961 when we had a chance to flick the castro brothers into the Ocean like fleas. St Kennedy choked.
there was something spiritually significant important about communism being 90 miles away from us.
save
HUAC was originally referred to as The Dies Committee . It was started by Martin Dies and Samuel Dickstein, two Democrats. In 1938 America still had two American Parties.
We have not had a Senator from Wisconsin as good as Joe McCarthy since he left office.
On June 9, 1954 Kitty Kallen’s “Little Things Mean A Lot” was perched atop the pop charts, while Eddy Arnold’s “I Really Don’t Want To Know” topped the hillbilly charts (I prefer Mary Ford’s version).
The Midnighters ruled the rhythm and blues charts with “Work With Me, Annie,” a song that would inspire at least a dozen answers, including their own follow-up, “Annie Had a Baby,” “Annie Pulled a Humbug” by the Midnights, “Annie’s Answer” by the Platters, “The Wallflower” by Etta James & the Peaches, and “Roll On” by the Lamplighters. A week later, Joe Turner would dethrone the Midnighters with “Shake, Rattle & Roll.”
The Yankees aren’t so bad, but their fans just plain suck.
Robert Kennedy not only worked on his (sub)Committee, but had Papa Joe had his way, would’ve been the Chief Counsel. McCarthy was popular with the Kennedy family, dated two of the girls and often visited the Kennedy compound. IIRC, JFK was the only Democrat who did not vote to censure Tailgunner Joe.
Hollywood engages in a political blacklist today and thinks nothing of it. Conservatives in Hollywood are numerous behind the scenes but are afraid to publicly speak out for fear of losing work.
And there WERE Reds in Hollywood. More than just Hanoi Jane engaging in treason in Vietnam siding with the enemy and Marlon Brando carrying around Mao’s Little Red Book.
At the time, Vera Lynn's tribute to Queen Elizabeth, "Queen of Everyone's Heart," on the London label, could be found in some record stores. And, for that matter, the Thrillers, a rhythm and blues group, waxed a rocker on the Herald label entitled "'Lizabeth"--a drinking song which has little to do with the queen--which came out in late June.
...and The Cleveland Indians still can’t win when it counts.
Neither can the USC Trojans, who lost to the Bruins as well as the Domers. However, the Trojans managed to secure a Rose Bowl birth because UCLA, which had gone the year before, was ineligible to return under the "no repeat" rule in existence at the time. Meanwhile, 1954 saw UCLA win its only national championship.
Communism is closer than that—its right here among us,alive and as evil as ever.
McCarthy was right about Communist infiltration. He just went about it the wrong way. He couldn’t provide the evidence that I’m assuming the Army was feeding him from the Venona Project. He did appear to be on a witch hunt with little or no proof and that’s the way the press portrayed him to the best of their ability.
It was confirmed by the Venona Papaers.
We need a Joe McCarthy today with all the America-hating totalitarians in our government.
Chaired by a Democat, Rep. Martin Dies.
Chaired by a Democat, Rep. Martin Dies.
Have you stopped beating your Owife yet?
Nice. thanks...
I was driving thru Forney, Tx. the other night and saw a bumper sticker stating “ We Need Another Joe McCarthy “...
Gave me a tingly feeling in my heart....
Good comments and welcome to FR.
Congressman Dickstein was a paid Soviet agent.
Agree with you that tailgunner Joe was DAMN RIGHT, but still believe the 1950s were an era of ascendant liberalism in both parties, with high taxes to boot. I prefer to idealize the 1890s myself.
Reading Blacklisted by History it's very hard to come to the conclusion that McCarthy went about it "wrong." He was stonewalled by the White House in two different administrations; I doubt very much between their withholding information they had, and the enablers, fellow travelers, and outright traitors in the government he could possibly have succeeded alone.
IIRC, Dickstein himself would’ve chaired it (but realized if he did, any close scrutiny of him would reveal his “secret” - he publicly declined using his religion as an excuse). It was formed not to investigate Communists (duh !) but their Nazi cousins. As soon as the spotlight was turned to the former as time progressed, that was when liberals started to rock and roll in righteous indignation.
A little interesting factoid, Dickstein’s fellow NYC Congressman Vito Marcantonio is the only person to have officially been nominated on the Communist party line to win a seat in Congress (he won his first term as a Republican ! When he won a second term and onwards, he ran for the rest of his career on the pro-Communist American Labor Party). One of the ALP’s last nominees for high office was Corliss Lamont, whose grand-nephew Ned was the Stalinist nutter who defeated Sen. Joe Lieberman in the CT Dem primary in ‘06.
1890s, huh ? How so ?
No income tax, gold standard, the last great Democratic president (Grover Cleveland). Thankfully, the immigrants pouring into to the US from southern and eastern Europe couldn’t vote yet either! ;)
Here and I thought the last great Democrat President was James Knox Polk, my former Governor (who didn’t even win this state because we were Whig). ;-)
Lucy, you got some splainin' to do....
Lucille Ball had suspected communist ties. It almost ended the TV show.
Yes, I once saw a scan of a voter registration of hers. She actually registered as a communist.
As a young woman yeah. Her grandfather was a communist and had everyone in the family register that way.
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