Toledo Blade Cites McCarthy 'And His House Committee on Un-American Activities'

Appearing today on the Toledo Blade's Web site is the article "Candide: Toledo Opera production offers the liveliest aspects of opera, musical theater, and operetta." Author Sally Vallongo writes:

In the 1950s, as then-Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R., Wis.) and his House Committee on Un-American Activities investigated liberal and progressive artists in search of Communist-oriented dissidents, Hellman and Bernstein collaborated on what would become one of several major works fomented by government activities: the play and film Cradle Will Rock, and Arthur Miller’s play and opera The Crucible are others.

Sometimes, readers must wonder if newspaper correspondents ever passed a class in basic civics. If journalists had, they’d know that Congress consists of two bodies, the House and the Senate. A member of one body doesn’t chair a committee from the other. No Senator – not even Joe McCarthy – could run a House committee. A clue might have been that his title was senator rather than congressman or representative, but perhaps that's expecting too much.

Moreover, McCarthy didn't devote a great deal of time to investigating, as Vallongo asserts, "liberal and progressive artists." Possibly she's confusing his inquiries with those of the House Un-American Activities Committee, which held hearings on Hollywood's comrades years before McCarthy launched his anti-Communist crusade.

The mainstream media are justifiably criticized for their reporting of what's taking place now. They don't do such a hot job of covering the past either.

Well, I reread you post and I don’t think that I got anything wrong.

Were communists trying to infiltrate government and the media in order to bring down our system of government? Yes they were, and the State Department was loaded with them. McCarthy brought this to the publics attention.

Did McCarthy put anyone in prison for their beliefs? No. That communists that were outed were then shunned by society says more to the good sense of society than anything else. I’m not surprised that people who were having their children practice “duck and roll” against communist atomic attack weren’t too keen on hiring the enemy to teach or entertain those same children, nor to negotiate on their behalf in the State Department.

If someone wants to ask me if I am or every have been a conservative constitutionalist, let them.

What would you think if a Senator was greatly concerned about Islamic Jihadists who were setting up cells within the United States and recruiting U.S. citizens?

If he were to report that there were 50 such self-described Islamic Jihadists in the State Department and name names, also releasing the factual evidence, would that be a good thing or a bad thing?

The underlying element is not that these are people with opposing views, but rather people who's stated purpose is to overthrow or attack the United States.

What would you think if a Senator was greatly concerned about Islamic Jihadists who were setting up cells within the United States and recruiting U.S. citizens?

I have no problem with keeping an eye out for terror attacks. However, if the work of that senator led to parading people in front of congress who might have interacted with someone Islamic, no dice.

If he were to report that there were 50 such self-described Islamic Jihadists in the State Department and name names, also releasing the factual evidence, would that be a good thing or a bad thing?

If he's a zealot of any kind, he's as dangerous as the Islamic zealots. Zealotry is the problem, not the solution.

The underlying element is not that these are people with opposing views, but rather people who's stated purpose is to overthrow or attack the United States.

Some people feel that the Tea Party movement is advocating secession or overthrow of the United States government. Do you support Senate subpoenas so that Harry Reid can ask the leaders of the movement some questions? And then get them fired from their jobs because they believe something that the mainstream political party of the day doesn't believe? I sure don't.

Unlike witches there were and still are Communists. Joe McCarthy may have been a poor messenger but his message could not have been truer.

If you are saying there was not widespread Communist infiltration of the U.S. reaching to the highest levels of the federal government, I suggest you stop swallowing the propaganda of the media & academia and check the real history revealed from many sources. Among them the facts revealed at that time but spiked by media & academia, Soviet archive information made available after the Soviet Union collapsed and recently declassified US intelligence.

Find out what the real history is on the Venona project, Alger Hiss, Whittaker Chambers, the Rosenbergs, Elizabeth Bentley & Harry Dexter White.

You best start would be:
Witness (Whittaker Chambers)

Followed by:
Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America (Haynes, Klehr & Vassiliev)
Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America (Haynes & Klehr)
The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America - the Stalin Era (Weinstein & Vassiliev)

I have no problem with keeping an eye out for terror attacks. However, if the work of that senator led to parading people in front of congress who might have interacted with someone Islamic, no dice.

So if they are just planning the attack, its over the line to name names of people who are recruiting for attacks? I suspect that you don't agree with that, so please think about how you would approach this if you were a Senator.

If he's a zealot of any kind, he's as dangerous as the Islamic zealots. Zealotry is the problem, not the solution.

Interesting take. So people dedicated to freedom are zealots if they are serious about it? Again, think about that.

Some people feel that the Tea Party movement is advocating secession or overthrow of the United States government. Do you support Senate subpoenas so that Harry Reid can ask the leaders of the movement some questions?

"Feel" isn't proof. There was absolute proof that the USSR was actively putting together fifth columns world wide and in the United States. Many of these people had already committed treason. There was a clear and purposeful threat to overthrow the Constitution. If Sen. Reid were to investigate the Tea Parties it would make him look like an ass and an idiot. Have at it.

And then get them fired from their jobs because they believe something that the mainstream political party of the day doesn't believe?

Senatorial attention didn't get people fired, public outrage did. The last I saw, Conservatives weren't hiding their political leanings. Investigating a movement that publicly discusses its goals is rather pointless.

"The mainstream media are justifiably criticized for their reporting of what's taking place now. They don't do such a hot job of covering the past either. "

Just like a couple of weeks ago when the MSM talked about the "hundreds-of-thousands killed" by the Chernobyl melt-down.

In the same article they talked about the "greatest disaster in American history" as a result of the "reactor melt-down" at Three Mile Island.

Ignorance is bliss...for sure.

So if they are just planning the attack

If they are planning an attack, then they are criminals. If they happen to have talked to someone who shares a religion or political ideology with some planning an attack, that's different.

So people dedicated to freedom are zealots if they are serious about it? Again, think about that.

Strawman.

"Feel" isn't proof. There was absolute proof that the USSR was actively putting together fifth columns world wide and in the United States. Many of these people had already committed treason. There was a clear and purposeful threat to overthrow the Constitution.

We destroyed communism in the USSR with effective foreign policy. But we also destroyed communism in the USSR with blue jeans and rock and roll. The HUAC did nothing to fight communism. And neither did McCarthy's witch hunt.

We fought WARS against communism and it did nothing to slow it down. We embargoed communist countries, and those countries are still communist. Capitalism works. Communism does not. That's how you defeat communism. Not with statism.

If they are planning an attack, then they are criminals. If they happen to have talked to someone who shares a religion or political ideology with some planning an attack, that's different.

So billions of foreign dollars brought in to create Wahibism and to fight a propaganda war against our Republican form of government doesn't concern you. I don't share your view. When the entire underlying philosophy is to crush our system, then the entire philosophy is open to examination and at the very least deserves to be put before the public. People who simply supply the money or make the excuses are still part of the movement.

It is possible for a country to protect itself without being a police state.

We destroyed communism in the USSR with effective foreign policy. But we also destroyed communism in the USSR with blue jeans and rock and roll. The HUAC did nothing to fight communism. And neither did McCarthy's witch hunt.

Not quite, but let's run with it. McCarthy cleansed the State Department of a large number of communists set on subversively defeating our foreign policy. Read up on it.

We fought WARS against communism and it did nothing to slow it down.

Wrong. It stopped its spread. The dominoes in fact were held up and didn't continue to fall. We gave ground, but those wars in Korea, Vietnam, Africa, and Central America all served to hold the line. Based on the same lack of total victory, would you say that the wars against Islam did nothing to protect Europe?

Capitalism works. Communism does not. That's how you defeat communism. Not with statism.

If what worked won out of its own merit, we wouldn't be in the fight we are in now for this country. The idea that we need not concern ourselves with subversive movements that seek to derail our institutions and destroy us from within is a bit naive.

So billions of foreign dollars brought in to create Wahibism and to fight a propaganda war against our Republican form of government doesn't concern you. I don't share your view.

Another strawman. For sake of expedience, I won't be responding to strawmen after this one. However, I will clarify one last time : I have no problem with protecting our nation against outside threats. I do have a problem with ZEALOTRY. Witch hunts are zealotry.

Wrong. It stopped its spread. The dominoes in fact were held up and didn't continue to fall. We gave ground, but those wars in Korea, Vietnam, Africa, and Central America all served to hold the line.

Communism ended up spreading to southeast Asia and to central America. We didn't stop it or even slow it down. The only reason communism has failed in a lot of those places is because communism doesn't work.

Based on the same lack of total victory, would you say that the wars against Islam did nothing to protect Europe?

Which war against Islam are you referring to?

Another strawman. For sake of expedience, I won't be responding to strawmen after this one. However, I will clarify one last time : I have no problem with protecting our nation against outside threats. I do have a problem with ZEALOTRY. Witch hunts are zealotry.

There is a bad tendency on FR for people to mislabel anything that refutes their point as a straw-man. The reference to today's Wahhabi's is a direct analogy to the International Communist movement of the 1950's. Hardly a phony argument created by myself in order that I might then defeat said argument (the actual definition of a straw-man argument).

The anticommunists were not zealots. They were anticommunists, trying to expose the very real and very serious threat posed by a secret, well orchestrated and well funded movement to spread a philosophy which was at its core mutually exclusive to freedom and sought the ultimate demise of our republic (much like Wahhabi's).

You keep voicing the only real defense that the communists had, which was that they were the victims of harsh government overreach, a tactic taught to them by their commissars. Not unlike the Wahabists. Go figure.

Communism ended up spreading to southeast Asia and to central America. We didn't stop it or even slow it down. The only reason communism has failed in a lot of those places is because communism doesn't work.

You have a highly flawed understanding of history and the events which occurred. That is too bad. People who don't know history have no basis for current action. With you totally ignoring historical facts you are in a bit of a fantasy world. Its probably enough to say that the Soviet records that came out after 1989 don't agree with you. But what would they know, right?

Which war against Islam are you referring to?

The one that slowed their advance through Asia minor, pushed them out of Spain, out of Italy, back from Vienna, out of Russia, out of Romania, out of Bulgaria, and fought them to a standstill in the Balkans, to name a few. By your logic none of that was required, as Islamic societies have produced inferior results and would have failed on their own accord.

Given your overall misunderstanding of recent history with regard to the conflicts involving communism, I must assume that your knowledge of McCarthy is totally made up of what you've been told by Hollywood and Leftists. That is too bad.

So billions of foreign dollars brought in to create Wahibism and to fight a propaganda war against our Republican form of government doesn't concern you. I don't share your view.

There is a bad tendency on FR for people to mislabel anything that refutes their point as a straw-man.

You misrepresented my argument to make it easier to attack it. Call it what you like. But however you decide to refer to that strategy, I'm not interested in participating in it.

The anticommunists were not zealots.

Ok. I've presented my argument, and you've presented yours. I suppose we could continue saying the same thing over and over again, but I don't see much hope for common ground.

You misrepresented my argument to make it easier to attack it. Call it what you like. But however you decide to refer to that strategy, I'm not interested in participating in it.

Call it what I like?? Words have meanings. Check out a dictionary if you don't believe me. As for misrepresenting your arguments, I did no such thing. I introduced a relevant and current analogy. I guess it made you uncomfortable with your argument, so you chose to dismiss it.

Facts are stubborn things. I suggest that you actually check out the history instead of the NYT version. You will be astonished to find that what you think you know is actually a myth created by the left to cover their own involvement in Soviet overtures.

Because I am against zealots and government witch hunts, you concluded that I am not concerned with organized, well funded foreign campaigns to overthrow the American government. Actually, you didn't conclude that. You found that an easy position to attack, so you pretended that it was my position. I find that tedious, so I opted out.

Facts are stubborn things. I suggest that you actually check out the history instead of the NYT version.

I suggest you call Shirley Temple in front of a congressional committee and make sure she's not a communist. And then tell me that's not government overreaching.

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