For Truth and Liberty: Presbyterians and McCarthyism The anticommunist campaign of Senator Joseph McCarthy prompted a national debate on the protection of civil liberties. The Presbyterian Church defended the freedom of dissent. by Rick Nutt THE COLD WAR WITH THE SOVIET UNION tions, charges levelled without regard to context dominated life in the United States after and shifts in historical circumstances…and, above all, suspicion. McCarthyism describes, more- World War II. The will to stop the spread of over, a basically negative approach to the prob- communism was clear in both global and lems of communism under the pretense of patrio- domestic policies, and Presbyterians mani- tism but without concern for free government in fested that conviction along with their fel- an open society.…2 low citizens—indeed, at times Presbyterians One of the most vigorous statements of were in the midst of the conflict over com- opposition to McCarthyism was issued by munism. It was at Westminster College in the General Council of the Presbyterian Fulton, Missouri, in 1946 that Winston Church, U.S.A. (PCUSA) in 1953. This essay Churchill added the phrase “Iron Curtain” to will survey the Presbyterian response to our vocabulary. Perhaps the two most fa- McCarthy, with special attention to the mous Presbyterians of the 1950s were Dwight PCUSA’s “Letter to Presbyterians” and the Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles, presi- reaction it evoked. dent and secretary of state respectively, re- sponsible for opposing communism abroad I and at home (Dulles became famous for his resistance of communism by a policy of World War II was a watershed in the “brinksmanship”). Perhaps the most contro- United States’ role in global affairs. The versial manifestation of anticommunism was Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, North At- the campaign of Joseph McCarthy, Republi- lantic Treaty Organization, and Southeast can senator from Wisconsin, to stop poten- Asia Treaty Organization marked the first tial Communist subversion within the United time in peacetime that the nation had com- States. His investigative methods, which built mitted its military and economic power on innuendo and failed to protect peoples’ around the world. Those commitments stood civil liberties, drew the label “McCarthy- in singular contrast to the generally isola- ism.”1 James Smylie, writing in 1964, as- tionist foreign policy which had obtained serted that McCarthyism through U.S. history prior to the war. Yet, for all of the nation’s tremendous power and conjures to the mind legislative usurpation of judicial process, dossiers of unreliable and mis- prosperity, there was a deep sense of insecu- leading rumor, denunciations based upon un- rity. The Presbyterian Church, U.S. (PCUS) supported accusations and innocent associa- later observed: Dr. Nutt is Associate Professor of Religion at Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio. Journal of Presbyterian History 78:1 (Spring 2000) 52 Journal of Presbyterian History For more than a century the people of the United Puritans’ conviction that they had a cov- States felt protected from international complexi- enant with God to create a righteous “city on ties by oceans and geographical distances. The a hill” that would serve as an example to the nation could choose its involvements in the affairs of the world according to its own sense of nations and lead them to embody the ideals interest. It also assumed that its cherished values of freedom, democracy, and civil liberties of freedom, opportunity, and political justice which were expressed in the Declaration of 3 were inspirational to the peoples of the world. Independence and the Constitution. This The attack on Pearl Harbor shattered that conviction, often designated “Manifest Des- sense of security, and national anxiety com- tiny,” tended to blur the lines between the pounded after the war as the Soviet Union dominant Protestant Christianity and the extended its sphere of influence and ap- nation and its policies. That is, the nation peared to foster revolution—particularly in was seen as moral and consistently altruistic the developing nations. George F. Kennan, in its motives and actions, and other nations architect of the policy of containment, as- were believed to manifest acquisitiveness serted that at the turn of the century the and selfishness. Given this bifurcated view United States’ sense of security matched that of the world that frequently drove the nation’s of ancient Rome. However, “Today that self-understanding, the U.S. often sought to pattern is almost reversed: our national con- transform the world—witness the great mis- sciousness is dominated by a sense of inse- sionary crusades at the turn of the twentieth curity greater even than that of many of the century and the decision to enter World War peoples of Western Europe who stand closer I “to make the world safe for democracy.” to, and in a position far more vulnerable to, Domestically, the nation built a history of things that are the main source of our xenophobia and, periodically, enacted leg- concern.”4 Consequently, the U.S. built up islation which restricted civil liberty in order its nuclear arsenal, reestablished the mili- to forestall perceived subversion and insur- tary draft, and embarked on an international rection (e.g., the Alien and Sedition Acts of policy of Communist containment. 1798 and the Red Scare under Attorney The search for security against threats General Mitchell Palmer following World from beyond our borders had a domestic War I).5 counterpart. President Harry Truman issued Communism was particularly abhorrent Executive Order 9835 in 1947, granting to the U.S. sense of superiority because it government agencies the right to conduct espoused an ideology in direct contradic- loyalty checks on people doing government tion to the nation’s most cherished values. work. An extensive list of organizations was First, communism as an economic system designated subversive, or potentially so. The rejected capitalism, which was seen as cen- House Un-American Activities Committee, tral to the “American Way of Life.” Indeed, originally formed before World War II to capitalism was thought to be integral to root out possible fascist infiltration, and the Christian civilization—it grew from and fos- Internal Security Act of 1951 (which re- tered democracy and self-initiative. Second, quired the Communist Party and Commu- communism was avowedly atheist; almost nist front groups to register with the govern- all in the U.S. took it as axiomatic that the ment, to identify all mailings as such, and nation’s life was founded on a commitment gave the government power to detain all to the benevolent providence of “Nature’s registered Communists in internment camps God.” Finally, communism was equated in time of national emergency, passed over with totalitarianism. This identification Truman’s veto), further expanded the power emerged particularly after the rise of fascism of the national government. in Italy and Germany between the world Anticommunism in the U.S. must be wars, so that the differences between the understood against the background of the two ideologies were deemphasized in favor nation’s self-identity. The U.S. inherited the of the similarities of the totalitarian practices Presbyterians and McCarthyism 53 they shared. The ideology of communism, Relations, asserted that “Instead of merely especially as it was incarnated in the USSR, trying to ‘stop Communism,’ we must de- was seen as a totality of social, economic, velop a strategy in such bold and creative political, and religious falsehood that op- terms that we can deal with the underlying posed everything the U.S. represented. causes of world upheaval and cure the con- Church people often referred to commu- ditions that make Communism possible.”9 nism as a religion, noting the complete view The U.S. called itself democratic, but other of life it offered and the complete allegiance countries could see political corruption, of its adherents. lynchings, poverty, and a variety of injus- Presbyterians concurred in this wide- tices in American society. Nor should the spread rejection of communism. Discus- U.S. allow the Cold War atmosphere to sions of communism by individuals or gov- destroy civil liberty. Fear could lead people erning bodies took as their beginning to “smother our essential democratic free- assumption that communism was antitheti- dom to hold and to proclaim an honest cal to both Christianity and national ideals, opinion. To label as Communists those who and should be resisted. Dulles allowed that espouse constructive change or to smear the communism had the right to its beliefs and character and demean the motives of politi- the attempt to persuade others, but “since cal opponents, are perversions of personal there is a God … no human rulers can rightly freedom.”10 use ruthless and violent methods and piti- lessly crush all within their power who do II not conform to their particular dictation.” Further, communism in the USSR was a The postwar anxiety over the spread of “total denial of tolerance” and could only be communism, with loyalty oaths and the hear- resisted by societies “imbued with strong ings of the House Un-American Activities spiritual convictions.”6 Chad Walsh argued Committee at home, heightened in 1949. In that Christians need not oppose commu- that year the USSR exploded its first atomic nism as an economic system, for economic device, ending America’s short monopoly systems in and of themselves are amoral. As on nuclear power. The civil war in China a materialist philosophy-religion and, in prac- ended with the Communists in power and tice, an imperialistic nationalism, the Chris- the Kuomintang government of Chiang Kai- tian should reject communism.7 The PCUS, shek withdrawn to the island of Formosa. in 1951 and 1954, denounced communism The Alger Hiss trial, which raised the possi- as atheistic and bent on world domination bility of espionage within the State Depart- and urged resistance of it at every turn.8 ment itself, was in the news daily.