McCarthy's Anti-Communist Crusade - what happened??

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-11-13 09:14am

To me, the case of McCarthy's alleged "witch hunt" against socialists in the 1950s seems a bit of a mystery to me.

Those who hold left-winged political views generally tell me that McCarthy's treatment of socialists and communists, was (ironically enough) a Stalin-style purge against anyone with even remotely socialistic beliefs.

On the other hand, some conservatives insist that what McCarthy did was a legitimate and justifiable defense against KGB agents and people who collaborated with aforementioned Soviet spies.

Some people's opinions fall between these two extremes.

So I ask for an unbiased opinion - what actually happened during McCarthy's "crusade against communism"???

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-11-13 09:46am

Senator McCarthy went about making a bunch of accusations for awhile, stirring up hysteria. Of course, he didn't really have any evidence AFAIK, but just fanned the flames. He eventually would name Secretary of State George C. Marshall as a communist(!), which was absurd and nobody believed that one.

HUAC did a bunch of activities like investigations into alleged communists and more or less made a mess of things.

Hollywood blacklisted a bunch of actors in the course of events.

McCarthy was right that the US government was penetrated by the KGB, but his methods more or less wrecked anti-Communism efforts within the US.

Aeolus · Post by **Aeolus** » 2003-11-13 05:02pm

phongn wrote:Senator McCarthy went about making a bunch of accusations for awhile, stirring up hysteria. Of course, he didn't really have any evidence AFAIK, but just fanned the flames. He eventually would name Secretary of State George C. Marshall as a communist(!), which was absurd and nobody believed that one.

HUAC did a bunch of activities like investigations into alleged communists and more or less made a mess of things.

Hollywood blacklisted a bunch of actors in the course of events.

McCarthy was right that the US government was penetrated by the KGB, but his methods more or less wrecked anti-Communism efforts within the US.

McCarthy thought pretty much everyone was a commie, of course quite a few of his victims were, but his "cure" was worse than the disease

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-11-14 10:29am

Aeolus wrote:McCarthy thought pretty much everyone was a commie, of course quite a few of his victims were, but his "cure" was worse than the disease

BTW - I've read that McCarthy's efforts only exposed half of the KGB spies operating in the USA. Is this true?

Aeolus · Post by **Aeolus** » 2003-11-14 11:55am

Simon H.Johansen wrote:
Aeolus wrote:McCarthy thought pretty much everyone was a commie, of course quite a few of his victims were, but his "cure" was worse than the disease
BTW - I've read that McCarthy's efforts only exposed half of the KGB spies operating in the USA. Is this true?

probably, but it's not the charges that are really in question....it'd how he went about making them. There was no presumtion of innocence, no jury of your peers, and if you invoked your rights under the fifth amendment they would use that as an admission of guilt. It was a witch hunt pure and simple. I have no doubt that the communists had plent of agents in our country but the goverment does not have the right to toss the constitution aside

EmperorSolo51 · Post by **EmperorSolo51** » 2003-11-14 07:41pm

phongn wrote:Senator McCarthy went about making a bunch of accusations for awhile, stirring up hysteria. Of course, he didn't really have any evidence AFAIK, but just fanned the flames. He eventually would name Secretary of State George C. Marshall as a communist(!), which was absurd and nobody believed that one.

HUAC did a bunch of activities like investigations into alleged communists and more or less made a mess of things.

Hollywood blacklisted a bunch of actors in the course of events.

McCarthy was right that the US government was penetrated by the KGB, but his methods more or less wrecked anti-Communism efforts within the US.

What I find even more interesting is the fact that Senator Mcarthy was correct by saying that the KGB had infilltrated American Political Parties. The Pro-Soviet relations Progressive Party lead by Henry Wallace was chock-full of KGB spies. Henry Wallace, after the 1948 election, would admit that the Progressive Party was nothing more than the puppets for Moscow. If the USSR could control the left-leaning progressives, It is not unimaginable that the KGB could have planted spies and double agents in to the Democratic Party.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2003-11-14 08:35pm

Aeolus wrote:McCarthy thought pretty much everyone was a commie, of course quite a few of his victims were, but his "cure" was worse than the disease

McCarthy's witch hunts went much further than KGB agents infiltrating political parties. He hunted down people who even had communist leanings, even if they weren't actively involved in any communist efforts. He basically used a machine gun for a job which needed a sniper rifle.

Strate_Egg · Post by **Strate_Egg** » 2003-11-15 12:27am

WEll, eventually he was canned when he tried to accuse war heros of being communists.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2003-11-15 04:16am

I thought things went downhill after he tried going after the Army and the Army owned him in the courtroom.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-11-15 11:38am

Uraniun235 wrote:I thought things went downhill after he tried going after the Army and the Army owned him in the courtroom.

Going after SecState Marshall couldn't have helped, either.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-11-15 12:24pm

Uraniun235 wrote:I thought things went downhill after he tried going after the Army and the Army owned him in the courtroom.

McCarthy agreed beforehand to allow the Army hearings to be televised, the second biggest mistake of his political career. The army hired a lawyer named Welsh to act as its counsel in the hearings.

McCarthy's biggest mistake was accusing another lawyer at Welsh's firm of having Communist sympathies, a roundabout attempt to discredit Welsh. Welsh replied with his famous "have you no decnecy?!" outburst, the chamber burst into applause, the whole world saw it, and McCarthy was destroyed.

Andrew J. · Post by **Andrew J.** » 2003-11-15 04:41pm

EmperorSolo51 wrote: The Pro-Soviet relations Progressive Party lead by Henry Wallace was chock-full of KGB spies.

Yeah, like a government investigation was needed to figure that out.

Phil Skayhan · Post by **Phil Skayhan** » 2003-11-15 08:03pm

Transcripts of the Hearings

Volume 4 contains the Joseph Welsh quote.

As a side note, last May I came across a newspaper from the 50's (Newark Star Ledger) headlining part of the hearings. I wished I had saved it because if the slant of this newspaper was any indication of the media during that period, I'll happily take what we have now.

Phil Skayhan · Post by **Phil Skayhan** » 2003-11-15 09:46pm

I couldn't find the Welsh quote myself in any of the volumes. However, I found the quote as a poor quality video clip. I also came across a relevant video clip (it's a keeper) of it on the BBC website. It starts off with Missouri Senator Stuart Symington squaring off against McCarthy. The portion with Welsh speaking follows directly after the "decency" quote.

darthdavid · Post by **darthdavid** » 2003-11-15 09:48pm

Durandal wrote:
Aeolus wrote:McCarthy thought pretty much everyone was a commie, of course quite a few of his victims were, but his "cure" was worse than the disease
McCarthy's witch hunts went much further than KGB agents infiltrating political parties. He hunted down people who even had communist leanings, even if they weren't actively involved in any communist efforts. He basically used a machine gun for a job which needed a sniper rifle.

More like he used a davie crocket for a job which needed a sniper rifle.