McCarthyism then and now [from Pravda of the Prairie]

Capital Times ^ | 11-2-05

[SJackson]

Joe McCarthy hated The Capital Times and The Capital Times hated Joe McCarthy.

The red-baiting Republican senator from Wisconsin used to refer to this newspaper as "the Pravda of the Prairie" - and in the Cold War era when he was running roughshod over civil liberties, McCarthy's attempts to portray this newspaper as a tool of the Soviet Union were dangerous accusations indeed. They were, as well, untrue. The man who ran The Capital Times during the McCarthy era, William T. Evjue, was not "the red editor" that the senator so feverishly denounced.

Rather, Evjue was a journalist in the mold that Thomas Jefferson and James Madison intended when they wrote that "freedom of the press" protection into the Bill of Rights. The wisest of the founders of this country recognized that, for the American democratic experiment to succeed, leaders would need to be held accountable. They did not trust opposition parties to always do the job, so they empowered the press to strike blows against those who were corrupted by power.

Unfortunately, in McCarthy's time - as in the current era - the men who ran the media were, generally, lacking in courage.

Tonight, with a free showing of actor George Clooney's new film, "Good Night, and Good Luck," we will recall the fight against McCarthy and McCarthyism by celebrating the challenge that CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow posed to McCarthy in a 1954 national television broadcast.

In a speech to the CBS staff before that broadcast, Murrow said to his fellow journalists, "No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices." He was right, and there is no question that Murrow's blunt criticism of McCarthy's dishonest attacks on loyal Americans who did not share his right-wing views regarding foreign policy played a critical role in bringing down the man who used his Senate seat to destroy people's careers and silence dissent.

But it is important to remember that Murrow's challenge came not at the beginning of the McCarthy era but in the midst of "the red scare." The veteran journalist was breaking ranks with the national media elites who had for the better part of a decade been accomplices to McCarthy's reign of terror.

Even in Wisconsin, where there was broad popular opposition to McCarthy, most of the media backed the senator. He was a favorite of the Milwaukee Sentinel and the Wisconsin State Journal. And media outlets, including The Capital Times and The Progressive, that challenged his lies - beginning with Capital Times editorials published in 1946 - were condemned for their "disloyalty."

Only over time did it become clear that the critics of McCarthy were the patriots.

There is an important lesson here for the contemporary moment. The Capital Times and a handful of other publications - including The Progressive and The Nation - were called disloyal in 2002 when they revealed that the Bush administration's "case" for war with Iraq was based on lies. Now, as the White House scrambles to manage a scandal that evolved from the attempt of Vice President Dick Cheney's office to defend those lies, many in the media are criticizing the administration.

It is good that they are doing so. But, as Clooney pointed out when he explained why he made "Good Night, and Good Luck," it is essential that the media challenge those in power not just when they have stumbled but also when they are strong. For the most part, American media failed to mount that challenge when the Bush administration was steering this country into the quagmire that is Iraq.

And we are still looking for the Edward R. Murrow of today - the national broadcast journalist who will pierce the bodyguard of lies and tell the people that this administration has attacked not just Iraq but America.

[SoDak]

A few years ago, on my first trip into Wisconsin, I got a taste of Wisconsin leftism on WI Public Radio. Wow, talk about your uber-leftists.

[phantomworker]

Even in Wisconsin, where there was broad popular opposition to McCarthy, most of the media backed the senator.

I grew up in WI, and none of my relatives or friends' relatives ever spoke of that time. He was never mentioned in state history classes or if so, only glossed over. Heck, I can see going after some of those Holliwood commies, but didn't McCarthy even go after I Love Lucy! THAT was over the line! LOL

[Verginius Rufus]

How did Thomas Jefferson get mixed up with the First Amendment? On the day that Congress sent what became the Bill of Rights to the states for ratification, Jefferson was still in Paris.

[M. Espinola]

"Joseph McCarthy exposed the Left for what it was, which is why the Left has never stopped hating him."

Since Joe McCarthy was correct, the radical leftist, media machine continues to smear the man who fully exposed the domestic communist enemy within.

[M. Espinola]

Thanks for posting that great speech.

[tanuki]

I would have loved a subscription to this rag when the Wall fell. Really, I would have. Ah, the wailing and gnashing of teeth.

[nonliberal]

Joe's only fault was that he didn't work hard enough exposing the commies in the media and academia.

He couldn't. His only pervue as PSI chair was communist infiltration of the United States government.

[ZULU]

Joe McCarthy was right, God bless his sainted soul.

The Federal government WAS filled with communists and fellow travlers from the FDR administration forwards. Recently released Secret Soviet files on traitors like Alger Hiss and other monsters substantiate Joe McCarthy's claims.

But today's cryptocommunists and pseudo-liberals are still trying to crucify a saint.

Again, Senator Joe McCarthy - whereveer you are, may God Bless you and thank you for exposing the worms eating out the heart of America. We could use more like you today - BADLY.

[Brian Allen]

This Prairie Pravda piece needs a Barf Alert!

[VOA]

"I think as the Soviet Union has allowed some of it's formerly secret files to
be made public, it is clear that McCarthy was basically right."


It REALLY pains me to recommend anything done by PBS, but they hit a home run
with "Secrets, Lies and Atomic Spies".
To hear a PBS production at least concede that McCarthy was correct in saying there
was a massive infiltration of the USA by Soviet agents just about gave me
a freakin' heart attack.
Of course, the producers contended that most of the "names" that
McCarthy named were falsely accussed of being Communists.
(but the writers of the show convienently failed to identify ONE of these people
that McCarthy suppossedly defamed)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/venona/