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You know, this whole "McCarthy" thing, I don't get it. I should do some research on the topic, and I will, I will... eventually... but the thing is this: Once McCarthy accused someone of being a Communist, and got them to come testify that they were or were not a Communist... then what?

Did they go to jail for being Communists?

This "blacklist", what was it? Was it just a list of Communists?

I ask because this is always framed, by Hollywood, as "Washington DC against Hollywood!!" But the thing is, if being identified as a Communist simply meant that other Hollywood types knew you were a Communist and didn't want to work with you, that's not DC vs Hollywood... that's Hollywood vs. Communists!

I feel like I must.... MUST.... be missing something.

Once McCarthy accused someone of being a Communist, and got them to come testify that they were or were not a Communist... then what?

You should do some research. You will be pleasantly suprised. The Senator was not the nicest person in the world, but he DID find out that a lot of the top of the state department (including Alger Hiss) was/were in the pocket of the Soviets. It was phoo-pahhed until after the fall of the soviets. Then, evidence proved that most of McCarthy's allegations were true. The leftists shat themselves on NPR and pretended it didn't happen.

/john

Actually the McCarthy Hearings were a product of the times. Communism was a fashionable thing to be among the elite at that time, as it would appear socialism and communism are now. It was also the big world threat. The Red Threat. The war in Korea loomed.

To be identified as a communist was to be branded an enemy and traitor. His tenure as demagogue and Senator from Wisconsin was short, 1950 to 1954 when he was sensored by the Senate. He died three years later at age 48.

People, mosty Hollywood types, were called to appear before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, to be questioned and expected to expose friends and associates, which lots of them did to save thier necks. Loss of employment and social condemnation was the price paid, especially for those who cooperated with McCarthy. "Black list" was the term for people who were now or earlier members of the communist party, which actually had traction at that time in this country, or who had business associates or friends active in the Party. His opening salvo delivered in a speech in West VA, was his claim that there were communists working in the State Department and he knew who they were. A Congressional hearing was immediately set up to investigate. There were no punishments given. THe Committee was an investigory body.

Senator Joe McCarthy went bonkers with his power and his attack methods and had his committee on Unamerican Activities accusing everyone at the end. It became so bad that the Senate began to be embarrassed and then horrified at his excesses and the hearings, and McCarthy's career were over. He was disgraced.

However, it was among the Hollywood crowd and the intelligensia that the communists recruited for thier cause, and the hearings may have been justified in that climate, until they became nothing but witchhunts and served no purpose. The stigma created by the committee in thier over zealous persuit of communists and the subsequent hearings lasts until today.

You can learn a great deal more on Google.com by typing in his name.