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Home , Demagogue, Red Scare

DEMAGOGUERY Joseph McCarthy and Demagoguery

he world was a very dangerous place in 1950. employees, union members, Hollywood actors, TThe free world had combined forces to defeat military members, educators, and members of the fascist war machines of and the lost their jobs, were black- Imperial Japan during World War II in which tens listed, called to testify in congressional hearings, of millions of soldiers and civilians were killed. and sometimes convicted and jailed. McCarthyism In 1945, a new threat emerged in the form of the generated great fear in the and some- and expanding around times led to the violation of such as the globe. The Soviets established a firm grip over and thought. the countries of and ruthlessly Perhaps calling the “McCarthyism” is installed puppet governments. They also tried unfair because it places the blame on one person’s to influence elections in Western Europe and shoulders. In fact, attempts to rout out subversives elsewhere. In 1948, the Soviets closed off western in government had a long recent history and was access to Berlin in occupied Germany, and a war carried out by both political parties. A red scare almost ensued when Americans instituted an airlift had taken place under the Wilson administration to break the blockage. In 1949, the Soviet Union after because of fear generated by the exploded an atomic bomb that set off a nuclear arms communist Russian . More recently, race, and established a communist Congress organized the House Un-American Ac- in . This created great tivities Committee (HUAC) in 1938 which held tensions between the two superpowers and caused hearings about communist , passed the great fear in the United States of war, communist Hatch Act (1939) that banned Communists from expansion, and nuclear annihilation. working in government jobs, and passed the Smith During the early 1950s, Joseph McCarthy, a Sen- Act (1940) which banned political groups advo- ator from , became well-known cating the violent overthrow of the United for his rousing Americans to fear that States. In 1947, President Harry Tru- Communist subversives were spy- man signed an Executive Order ing for the Soviet Union and creating a loyalty review board damaging the American fight to investigate suspected sub- against Communism around versives in the federal gov- the globe. McCarthy’s name ernment. Truman vetoed has become synonymous the Internal Security Act, with “McCarthyism,” or McCarran Act (1950), which was character- which forced Communist ized as a “witch-hunt” Party members to register or “red scare” against with the government, and Communists in America. large majorities in Con- Thousands of government gress overrode the veto.

HEROES & VILLAINS: THE QUEST FOR CIVIC VIRTUE FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and his agents investi- Committee. Anyone who pleaded the Fifth gated communist subversives in the United States. Amendment (the right to remain silent) and But, if McCarthy did not create the climate of fear, refused to answer questions was accused of being he contributed to it and benefitted politically. guilty of communist beliefs, party membership, When McCarthy and other Americans looked or subversion. The outbreak of the , at the events during the start of the Cold War, they in which communist North Korea invaded South feared that communist subversives threatened Korea in June 1950, added to the tense political American national security from within. Their climate. Finally, the committee report concluded fears were legitimate and justified by several acts that McCarthy’s accusations were “a fraud and a of real subversion. The cases of Klaus Fuchs, hoax,” but he continued his crusade. the Rosenbergs, and demonstrated McCarthy’s attack on communist spies took a that Americans in high positions of government reckless turn when he accused the World War II were spying for the Soviet Union. The national Army Chief of Staff and later Secretary of State government investigated the treasonous activities George C. Marshall of “invariably serving the world according to the rule of law and preserved the policy of the Kremlin.” A cross-section of liberal constitutional principles of due process and trial and conservative Americans was outraged by by jury. Several rings for the Soviets were McCarthy’s charges against Marshall, and many in uncovered, and Manhattan Project scientist Klaus the media began calling the senator a . Fuchs was arrested for selling atomic secrets to the When anyone attacked him, however, McCarthy Soviets. In addition, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg called them a communist. McCarthy was trying to were convicted and executed for participating in a use the popular anti-communist issue for his own Soviet spy ring. Most famously, spy Alger Hiss was political fame and power. It increasingly seemed convicted of perjury based upon evidence hidden as if he were pursuing his own self-interest rather in a pumpkin by accuser, Whitaker Chambers. than protecting the public or even telling the McCarthy was a relatively unknown until he truth. He was also drinking heavily and showed delivered a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, increasing signs of impaired judgment. McCarthy’s on February 9, 1950, warning of communist irresponsible charges undermined the legitimate subversion and treason in the State Department. anti-communist cause in the United States that He said he had a list of alleged Communists advocated strength against the Soviet Union and who worked in the State Department. When uncovering spies in the government. the press gave him tremendous attention for his FBI Director Hoover and President Dwight accusations, McCarthy continued the attack. He Eisenhower both distanced themselves from sincerely believed that Communists and spies were McCarthy and worked against him behind-the- infiltrating the federal government—and he was scenes. “I won’t go down into the gutter with that correct that spies endangered national security— guy,” Eisenhower said. The president also asserted but he was irresponsible with the charges he “it is imperative that we protect the basic rights of leveled. The number of spies on his supposed list loyal American citizens” while honestly combating kept changing, and he began to lie and exaggerate real subversion. CIA Director Allen Dulles refused for the media attention and increased political to let his employees testify at McCarthy’s hearings. power. Still, McCarthy sought the spotlight wherever he The Senate Foreign Relations Committee could find it, making wild accusations in committee created a subcommittee to investigate McCarthy’s hearings, and trying to block the nomination of an allegations. McCarthy browbeat and bullied anti-communist appointee at the State Department. witnesses who appeared before the Tydings McCarthy’s final downfall occurred in 1954

© THE BILL OF RIGHTS INSTITUTE when he investigated lax security in the Army for Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense contributing to communist subversion. He made of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense horrific allegations, at one point accusing an Army of decency.” general who had fought heroically at Normandy A few months later, the Senate voted to censure on D-Day of covering-up communist spies. When Joseph McCarthy by a vote of 67 to 22. Within one of his aides was drafted, McCarthy and his staff a few years, the senator died of complications tried to get special privileges and assignments for resulting from severe alcoholism. While the Cold him. In June, while being questioned in hearings War and fear of communism continued for decades, to determine his role in his staff member’s special McCarthy seemed a symbol of the hysteria during privileges, McCarthy accused the lawyer of the early 1950s and used the issue for this own sheltering a young lawyer in his law firm. McCarthy interest. The demagogue was a tragic figure who called the young man a communist. The lawyer subverted constitutional principles of due process angrily shot back: “Little did I dream you could and created an unhealthy civic culture of fear and be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury to distrust. that lad….Let us not assassinate this lad further,

Defining Civic Virtues: Demagoguery To lead others astray into injustice because you can control or manipulate them through moving words or a vision

HEROES & VILLAINS: THE QUEST FOR CIVIC VIRTUE