In this course we have spent much of the time learning about differences between people, and analyzing how others and ourselves react to these differences, whether it is a difference in race, class, ethnicity, gender, or a combination. We will always have to deal with differences in out lifetimes. During the 1950’s it was no different. There was a huge controversy over the strength that communism had in the United States. Communism, like gender, race, class, and ethnicity, was a difference that people had to deal with. The most famous person who dealt with communism in the United States was Senator Joseph McCarthy. How he acted in dealing with the communism threat can help us understand that there are better ways of dealing with difference.
It was said about Joe McCarthy that there was no bolder seditionist ever to move among us, or any politician with a surer, swifter access to the dark places of the American mind. He was a powerful senator who was highly intimidating. McCarthy held two presidents, Harry S Truman and Dwight D Eisenhower, captive in their conduct of the nation’s affairs. These two presidents could not act without first talking with McCarthy. He had a large impact on the American foreign policy at a time also. In short, McCarthy was a very powerful man, however, the major part of his career was extremely short, lasting from 1950, three years after he took his seat in the senate, to 1954 when the senate passed a resolution of censure against him. Even in that short career McCarthy quite easily created a stir in the United States.
Since McCarthy had such a short career, you might be wondering what could he have possibly done in such a small amount of time to create such stir. It all began on February 9th, 1950. It was then that McCarthy made a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, reporting that the department of state was full of communists and that he and the secretary of state knew their names. The controversy begins with whether or not McCarthy reported 205, 81,57, or “a lot” of communists. However the number of communists was not more important than the issue that these communists were still in office making policy. The most famous part of McCarthy’s speech was, “I have in my hand 57 cases of individuals who would appear to be either card-carrying member certainly loyal to the communist party, but who nevertheless are still helping to shape our foreign policy.”
Was it fair for McCarthy to make all those names public and ruin reputations? The truth is that McCarthy did not make the names public. Four times during McCarthy’s February 20th speech, Senator Scott Lucas demanded that McCarthy make the 81 names public, but McCarthy refused to do so, saying that “if I were to give all the names involved, it might leave a wrong impression. If we should label one man a communist when he is not a communist, I think it would be too bad.” For this reason McCarthy identified the individuals only by case numbers, not names.
Since McCarthy created such a huge controversy over communism in the United States government you would think that he had an even larger impact. Unfortunately this is not true. McCarthy only brought the communist problem to the surface. He did help tighten up security procedures for a while, and the State department and other sensitive federal agencies dismissed nearly 4,000 employees in 1953 and 1954. McCarthy’s fiery tirades did lead him to make mistakes.
Joseph McCarthy falsely accused Annie Lee Moss of being a communist. She was an elderly African American woman who was working in classified messages at the Pentagon. Edward Murrow made the woman a heroine on his television program and the anti-McCarthy press played up this mistake as on of McCarthy’s typical abominations.
The careless attitude against communists that Joe McCarthy denounced is still present today. Now, however, McCarthy is no longer here urging that something be done to correct the situation. The destruction of Joe McCarthy’s life not only crushed him but it also sent the message that anyone else who wishes to fight the problem with communism will be harassed and destroyed.
By: Jim Peterman
