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Senator Joe McCarthy--fact vs. fiction

In high school, we learned that the actions of Joseph McCarthy were so heinous that his anti-communist hysteria was a time in our history to be ashamed of. But in recent times, there has been a lot of revisionist history out there trying to justify his actions. This book is probably the most famous one out there. According to the book, many people considered to be unfairly accused were in fact communists and communism had infiltrated many areas of the American government. Can any historians or wannabee historians on here comment on the reality behind Joe McCarthy and/or this book?

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by Anonymousreply 18November 19, 2019 8:39 PM

Joe McCarthy was an opportunist who was a severe alcoholic and he ended up in a mental institution. The author of this book is known as the guiding force of modern conservatism.

by Anonymousreply 1November 18, 2019 4:31 PM

He got Barbra to perform live

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by Anonymousreply 2November 18, 2019 4:31 PM

R1, I do know that Ann Coulter LOVES Joe McCarthy and considers him an American hero and victim of "the left" which is why all the positive reviews left me puzzled.

by Anonymousreply 3November 18, 2019 4:35 PM

He never married...

by Anonymousreply 4November 18, 2019 4:38 PM

McCarthy didn't care how many lives he ruined, or what kind of devastation he left behind him. In fact, according to some observers, he didn't seem to understand that his public grandstanding actually WAS ruining lives.

I read a lot about him back in the day, and according to one observer who was involved with the senate of the day, McCarthy would haul these poor schmucks who just wanted decent lives for working people in front of his senate committee and grill them for hours, with the press printing every word as McCarthy was hot shit in his day. And after the hearing he'd walk up to his victim and act all friendly and try to shake their hand, "... like a dog wagging its tail". He didn't seem to understand that what he was doing wasn't just harmless grandstanding and publicity mongering, he was ruining careers and making people who'd done nothing wrong into pariahs.

by Anonymousreply 5November 18, 2019 4:42 PM

What kind of a fucking idiot defends Joe McCarthy?

by Anonymousreply 6November 18, 2019 4:51 PM

r6, the kind of idiot that defends trump. That kind.

The same reason trump demonizes and weaponizes the fear of immigrants for political power. It's easier to manipulate people and gain power through fear and paranoia than with policy and ideas.

He destroyed many many people's lives and livlihoods.

We haven't seen a sociopathic monster of his kind untl..well..NOW.

by Anonymousreply 7November 18, 2019 4:58 PM

Heinous OP and there is no disagreement among historians. Lives ruined, careers ended, and it went beyond just communism scare. Educate yourself and not on DL or the internet but with real annotated histories of players at the time. Also OP, Confederates are not heroes and the Holocaust happened during the 2nd World War.

by Anonymousreply 8November 18, 2019 5:37 PM

The Communism thing was just a cover-up. The true story was there were pod people taking over America.

by Anonymousreply 9November 18, 2019 5:42 PM

The insidious influence and execrable presence of the late, unlamented Roy Cohn, was very much in evidence back then( much like it is today thanks to The Orange One)

by Anonymousreply 10November 19, 2019 2:45 AM

If you want an intelligent discussion of McCarthy, you won't find it on this board. The responses in this thread are pathetic.

Read the book OP links and do your own research.

by Anonymousreply 11November 19, 2019 3:03 AM

Roy Cohn was evil. I know, since I watched "Angels in America".

by Anonymousreply 12November 19, 2019 3:15 AM

[quote] Heinous OP and there is no disagreement among historians. Educate yourself and not on DL or the internet but with real annotated histories of players at the time.

Sounds like you haven't read OP's book.

by Anonymousreply 13November 19, 2019 3:18 AM

The FBI agents who did actual work uncovering Soviet agents in US government loathed McCathy, because he made up so things that he helped to discredit their work. That’s where the plot of the Manchurian candidate came from: would it be funny if the jackass who makes hunting Communists look stupid actually was a Communist agent?

by Anonymousreply 14November 19, 2019 5:15 AM

McCarthy wAS a piece of lying filth, his family should be ashamed of the filth, just like Barr's family and Pompeo's family should be deeply ashamed of what their lying Trumpettes are doing.

by Anonymousreply 15November 19, 2019 5:21 AM

Most of the people McCarthy accused of being Communists, were Communists during the 1930s, a period of economic desperation which exposed all the inherent weaknesses of capitalism (monopolies, greed, insider trading, and corporate influence over government led directly to the worldwide depression). Communism offered an antidote to the excesses of capitalism and common laborers and union workers flocked to it as an alternative, as well as many artists, writers, musicians, dancers, actors, and film directors. . The inherent weakness of communism as a system were exposed after WWII and many of these same people quickly abandoned it, but no disavowal of Communism satisfied McCarthy if there were records of a person having ever attended a Communist lecture or meeting. Up until 1954, there was no law making it illegal to be a member of the Communist party, but people were attacked and blacklisted and forced out of their livelihoods by McCarthy's crusade. . Many committed suicide. Others were forced to move out of the US. Some of our greatest writers, actors and others were silenced during what should have been their greatest years of productivity. The Communist Control act of 1954 was never truly enforced and ultimately some judges have ruled that it is unconstitutional, although it still exists on the books. But the damage was done.

Of course there were Communist spies in the US, particularly Russian spies and the American assets they turned. But they were well hidden and not at all affected by McCarthy's actions - in fact, his public rants probably made their work easier.

by Anonymousreply 16November 19, 2019 5:40 AM

R16, great points.

by Anonymousreply 17November 19, 2019 12:40 PM

Being a communist was actually fashionable during the 1930s! Things were terrible then, and the communists seemed to have all the answers, so in intellectual and artistic circles, if you weren't a communist then you just weren't committed to making things better.

Being a communist in the 1930s was socially acceptable at the time, and BTW so was being a Nazi. There were German-American Pro-Nazi ultra-conservative organizations all over the U.S. called "Bunds", which vanished without a trace around 1940, but years later nobody ever organized large-scale persecution of people who'd been pro-Nazi in 1930s... just the far-left communists. Funny about that.

by Anonymousreply 18November 19, 2019 8:39 PM
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