Conservative Author Tries to Rehabilitate Reputation of Joe McCarthy

History News Network ^ | November 23, 2007 | History News Network Staff

[america4vr]

Nevertheless, the country was indeed crawling with Communists.

Here was President Truman at Potsdam sharing what he thought were the first hints of a new weapon of unusual destructive force with "Uncle Joe" [sic] circumstances of which Stalin had already been privy to by virtue of his spy network.

And what about Henry Wallace, communist mole, Vice President under FDR? Only by the grace of the greatest fortune was he replaced at the last minute by Harry Truman, the consequences of which otherwise would have been unthinkably catastrophic for our republic.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Ann Colter did a good job justifying McCarthy in one of her recent books.

[patriciaruth]

How did it become known that Henry Wallace was a communist mole?

[rlmorel]

Joseph McCarthy was an American hero who deserves to have his reputation restored.

[nathanbedford]

Here is a post in response to the author's appearance on C-SPAN:

BookTV (C-Span2): "Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy"

Once upon a Time in America the great divide in our society was expressed by where you stood on Joe McCarthy. Of course, that was all wrapped up with Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss and which one of those two you believed. Did you think the Rosenbergs were guilty? The answer to that question told everyone whether you were a Democrat or a Republican. Other American dramas I can invoke to describe the hold the Army -McCarthy hearings had on the nation are the OJ Simpson trial and the Clarence Thomas hearings. I can remember as a boy coming home from school and finding my mother transfixed before a black-and-white television over the Army McCarthy hearings. In our house we believed McCarthy, and Chambers, and we thought that the Rosenbergs were certainly guilty. But this was not the universal opinion of suburbia and certainly not the politically correct version to which I was exposed to in school which significantly was connected to a university. The impact of McCarthy was not limited to the era which bears his name. In subsequent years in college I learned that my parents must have been real Neanderthals to believe the way they did. Most of this was imparted to me by my professors through innuendo; we quickly absorbed the culture of the University and knew what sort of opinions were acceptable and which were not acceptable to express in learned company.

Today the term "McCarthyism" has assumed a meaning which contains its own DNA and expresses a whole left-wing point of view. We see the same thing now happening with the phrase, "Swift Boating." These phrases have been turned on their head by a consensus in academia and in the media which simply ignores any other interpretation of events except the one favoring the left.

McCarthy was connected to Chambers who was connected to Nixon. If the left was irrational in its support of Alger Hiss, it was almost psychotic in its hatred of Richard Nixon. There was a chain of events that led to the impeachment of Richard Nixon for actions that had mostly been done already by previous Democrat presidents. What I find so fascinating so many years later is the question, why was the left so irrational, so emotional in its judgments about the Communists and the anti-Communists? Why was the left so purblind to Communists in high places where they could mortally wound the nation and so viscerally obsessed about the men like McCarthy, Chambers, and Nixon who exposed them?

Why, for example, was President Truman so indifferent to the evidence of Communists in the State Department? Perhaps Truman's inertia can be explained by his parochial Midwestern background, his naïveté, his partisanship, his ignorance of the lay of the land on the day he assumed office. But Roosevelt's involvement was more than indifference. It strikes me that Roosevelt was almost the model of the patrician who sees himself as larger than his own country. John Kerry, of Swift Boat fame, seems to be cast in the same mold, although without Roosevelt's political acumen.

Do men of great wealth like George Soros or Franklin Roosevelt regard the concept of national sovereignty to be merely the outmoded belief systems of the masses, akin to the belief in God which provide some comfort and meaning to their lives, but which is outmoded and not particularly useful in the grand games played for world stakes? Just a thought, but one prompted by knowledge that the financial backer of THE FRANKFURT SCHOOL was also a man of great wealth who founded the school which has done so much damage to our culture. The school was founded for the express purpose of breaking down those institutions which frustrated the victory of communism.

Roosevelt must have known that there were Communists in his government. His vice president was virtually an avowed communist. I believe he just didn't care. Either he was so arrogant that he believed he could control events even as he was being undermined by a fifth column, or, more likely, he didn't care because he didn't think it mattered much when viewed from the exalted perspective of his world.

George Soros does not care what passport he holds except as it advances his interests. Patricians (or oligarchs) in general do not see the world as contained and defined by national boundaries but by markets, routes, and centers of supply and demand.

McCarthyism, like Swiftboating, has been distorted and twisted into a widely accepted definition by political correctness. Political correctness is the explicitly contrived belief system created by THE FRANKFURT SCHOOL. The Frankfurt school was founded by a wealthy character who could change skins with George Soros and each could live comfortably in the other's century. They view the rest of us as impediments or useful idiots.

They could be right. The useful idiots enforce the rules of political correctness and obligingly define, against the weight of history, the meaning of phrases like, " McCarthyism" or, "Swiftboating." I for one choose to count myself among the impediment class.

[Republic_of_Secession.]

It is quite clear that McCarthy’s reputation was trashed because he got too close to the truth.

[trumandogz]

If not for his alcoholism, McCarthy would likely been able to fight off the attacks of the left and would have lived long enough to be elected President.

[sure_fine]

“whose only sin was liberalism”, that alone ought to be worth life in prison

“Nevertheless, the country was indeed crawling with Communists. “

was?????????

http://www.uhuh.com/nwo/communism/comgoals.htm

[jamaksin]

And whatr about Harry “The Hop” Hopkins ... FDR’s alter ego and Soviet agent “No. 19” known now from the VENONA project.

[Past Your Eyes]

Without even reading anything about it, I always figured old Joe was probably right, just by looking at who and how they reacted to what he was doing. Methinks they protested way too much so it was probably pretty much true.

[RichardMoore]

Mitroikin’s book KGB/The Sword And The Shield exposes the extent to which the KGB had infiltrated our Government, media and Hollywood.

[america4vr]

I mis-spoke when referring to Wallace as a communist mole and apologize for my comment.

Nevertheless, this might shed light on Wallace's political leanings.
Henry Wallace
http://www.christers.net/veeps/henry-wallace.html

[7thson]

A good post with one exception -

There was a chain of events that led to the impeachment of Richard Nixon for actions that had mostly been done already by previous Democrat presidents.

Nixon was never impeached.

[southland]

It is quite amazing that our country did so well in the earlyyears of the cold war with so many communists in our government. I served in the Air Force when we had so many communists undermining our efforts, I believed McCarthy back then.

[kindred]

[...the country was indeed crawling with Communists.]

The country of America is indeed crawling with communists because the rino right then, as now, allows the communist democrats to destroy good men with all the lies of the liberal left and is guilty of complicity. It is no accident that the rino GOP is also becoming marxist leftist.

[Stark_GOP]

If not for his alcoholism, McCarthy would likely been able to fight off the attacks of the left and would have lived long enough to be elected President.

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I heard that McCarthy would usually nurse one drink for an entire evening.

[SouthCarolinaKit]

I wish someone would adopt McCarthy’s cloak today and get rid of the neo-Commies in today’s fed. Reading this book in conjuction with the new Jonah Goldberg book will show that nothing much has changed. The direct connection to Putin might be a bit difficult, but there’s no doubt that the his ethos is quite similar to today’s far-left (majority of Democrat do-gooders) in today’s USA.

[camle]

“Treason” I just finished it. one of her better works.

[Enchante]

If X thinks Hiss and the Rosenbergs were innocent then X is an imbecile (or psychotic).

Democrats think Hiss and the Rosenbergs were innocent.

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Democrats are imbeciles (or psychotics).