Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy can best be described as the father of extremism in the United States. The term McCarthyism was coined in the 1950s as a means to describe the irresponsible and out of controls tactics use by Senator McCarthy in his reckless quest for a perceived Communist threat hiding in the U.S. Government and throughout the country. More 50 years later, the term now is used loosely to describe wild unsubstantiated accusations and or attacks on the patriotism of a political opponent or those that hold a different ideological view.
The “Red Scare” era was a dark time in American History and Senator McCarthy’s road leading up to mastermind of that moment was paved with similar accusations and misleading statements, long before he had become a member of the Senate. During his run for Senate, McCarthy accused his opponent of dodging his duty and not enlisting after the attack on Pearl Harbor, but McCarthy failed to mention his opponent was close to 50 years old at the time. This was inclining into the mind of a man who would eventually plunge the entire country into turmoil, as citizen turn against citizen, in a poor attempt at riding the country of ghosts and demons, under the banner of patriotism.
During McCarthy’s crusade, and before his censor, there was a substantial opposition to his tactics and his zealot campaign against anyone he perceived at not holding to his ideology. This growing opposition included Republicans and fellow party members. Republican Senators Margaret Smith,Wayne Morse, Charles Tobey and Robert Hendrickson all joined in the condemnation of McCarthy’s smear tactics. On December 2,1954 the Senate voted to censor Senator McCarthy by a vote of 67 to 22
A lot of lives and careers were destroyed, during Senator McCarthy’s search for the Red Menace and yet in the end he was never able to substantiate any of his charges and was never able to find the enemy within. He died a broken man his only legacy being to be regarded as the father of “Extremism in America”.
(Unlike the author,who inspired this article, I invite and accept all comments and debate.)
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Comments: 64
You could just tell that he was our defender and protector against the world's evils.
I also believed in Santa Claus at one time.
McCarthy did not invent the unfounded assertion, he only demonstrated, once again, the fact that people can be destroyed with words, and words alone.
Being part, Apache, Spanish, Mexican and Italian, I can pretty much say with a certainty, my ancestors have been part of the Texas and North American landscape long before Carol's ancestors chose to leave their mother land in search of something better.
You see Carol, I am the true face of America and all your attempts at, pegging me as anything but an American, just adds credence to my assertion that you are nothing but a Xenophobic, hiding behind a Republican facade.
I AM
By
Juan J Martinez
I saw the age of the Empire of the Sun
in the great city of Teotihuacán
before being overcome by the hordes from across the sea
I roamed the plains wild and free
in harmony with Mother Earth and her bounty
before succumbing to the hordes of the long blades
I fought on side of Texas and the Red, White and Blue
generations upon generations
never have I denied when called upon
Musicians, artists, poets, doctors, soldiers
Senators, Governors, laborers are we
still we strive to be much more
Our grandfather's language and culture
we are told to turn our backs on
if we wish we to bare the name of American
must look, sound and think like us
they shout in anger and rage
if you wish to bare the name of American
Along side the ghosts of yesterday, I now stand strong and proud
as I shout, I am and have always been
a real and true citizen of this great Land Of The Free
Of course not, I am the sum of all my ancestors as are we all.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Tailgunner Joe was an opportunist who combined the ambition of a truckload of crabs with the moral sense of a concrete block. His real legacy was making people cynical about the possibility of subversive activity.
It's a practically a horror movie. He turned America into a paranoid horror movie. How evil to do that.
The original play The Crucible was a comment on his witch trials - by making them literally the Salem witch trials. The movie finally made of it changed that a lot and made it more about false accusations from children - a different story.
Josephy McCarthy was a demagogue who used slanderous accusations with no concrete evidence of any kind to ruin reputations and cow people with fear. His true heir is Faux News' O'Reilly, but the entire Republican party has become more like McCarthy than like the Eisenhower Republicans who joined with Democrats to shut down McCarthy's House UnAmerican Activities committee.
A sad chapter in American history, almost as sad as the Bush tear-up-the-constitution-and-use-it-for-toilet-paper road show.
By the way, yelling doesn't make one right, no matter what O'Reilly might have taught you. Using ALL CAPS is considered the internet version of yelling. Mostly people tune you out when you do that because it is not pleasing to the eye to read.
He deserved worse than he got. He should have been put in jail for what he did to people and the lives/families he ruined financially and emotionally. But then, demons get away with a lot in this country still. Sigh.
Peace and love, bro.
I couldn't disagree more Joe. He was engaging in demagoguery for purely personal reasons and Nixon played both sides, for, then later against him. I admit freely that you might have a point and that there is some evidence to justify that belief, I just don't believe it.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
* Göring: Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.
Gilbert: There is one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.
Göring: Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.
o In an interview with Gilbert in Göring's jail cell during the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials (18 April 1946), [2]
Surely, we don't want to fall into the trap where, like the majority of the German people, we become accomplices with our apathy. In my opinion, people who preach hatred and fear never represent the side of good.
That's one of the ways you discern the truth. The side of good doesn't have to hide from the truth - they are always harmonious.
Keep fighting the good fight.
It smacks of desperation and cowardice.
However, I'm not hopeful Carol is. I also let contrasting opinions stay and think about what people say that's different. No one, after all, is gifted with omniscience.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Mike C. sent me an invite to join this group. On the basis of this article and the majority of thoughtful* comments, I believe I'm gonna take him up on the invite.
*I was appalled by the ranting of Carol, and even more appalled when I went to her page and read what else she has to say. But what appalls me most is the non-stop stream of ad hominem attacks on individuals - on all the non-Gather mailing lists I subscribe to, ad hominem attacks are forbidden and those who engage in them are unsubscribed. It's certainly no way to engage in civilized dialog and debate!
If we ignore the crazy ,,,,,,,,,,,,, will it go away .