I have had people try to lessen the value of these claims by saying something like "Even Lucile Ball was accused of being a commie by McCarthy". Well, as it turned out, she was. I loved to watch her on TV, but she registered to the communist party in the '30's. Poor judgment doesn't make you innocent. And McCarthy's drinking didn't make him wrong.
I shudder to think how much influence the communists have had on our society.