We Now Know - The Myth of McCarthyism (Exposes Arthur Miller)

The New Criterion ^ | September 2000

[Lando Lincoln]

Lando

[Freepertwo]

I have said for quite some time now for Senator McCarthy's name to be cleared...he was horribly and unjustly demonized for doing the right thing.

[backhoe]

Tailgunner Joe--Patriot Whistleblower or Right-Wing Witch-hunter?

[endthematrix]

One would need to publish VOLUMES if to document the identities of Un-American Commies today!

[Lewite]

communist=liberal=socialist=criminal=murdering bastards!!!

[Dustbunny]

Truly sad the way they demonized Senator McCarthy for doing the right thing.

[kipita]

I think a quote from Kissinger is in order "One cannot judge the decisions and actions of the past based on the wisdom of the present". Moreover, it's difficult to know what was known (and acted on) back then and what was not known (and acted on). Maybe the truth lies somewhere in the middle and McCarthy received a bad labeling.

[Former Dodger]

McCarthy-PING!

[SkyPilot]

Miller's The Crucible is required reading in almost every high school, and it has been for nearly 40 years. He was no doubt a talented writer and an intellectual, but he was a sad Marxist and a lost man.

It is amusing to read that listed in his "accomplishments" by a fawning press was that he bagged Marilyn Monroe (if for a short time.)

[Road Warrior ‘04]

Truly sad the way they demonized Senator McCarthy for doing the right thing.

Ah, but consider who has demonized McCarthy. The Hollywood left (redundant), the left in general, socialists, communists, democrats. You get the picture.

[Freepertwo]

Sigh. Miller was a Mozart fan, so he did have a redeeming quality or two. ;-D Good writer, too bad about the Crucible.

[Freepertwo]

Oh, indeed, yes...I get the picture and the Dems are in the frame.

[mainepatsfan]

The Crucible gives us a good look at how the left viewed communists spies in the 50's. They were just as imaginary as witches.

[StACase]

So Miller wrote "The Crucible" a play that popularized the term "Witch Hunt" A play designed to make us think about "McCarthyism" A play that said nothing about the 110MM people murdered by the communists last century.

Why didn't Miller, and why doesn't Hollywood produce anything that makes us think about those 110MM murders? Could it just possibly be that there were and are now people making sure that doesn't happen?

[sure_fine]

"Oh, indeed, yes...I get the picture and the Dems are in the frame."

thanks for the 'snapshot' ping

[cynicom]

A lot of men "bagged" Monroe, Miller was just a user of widely used goods.

[MEG33]

In 1956, Arthur Miller appeared before the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities.

Notice it isn't HUAC, It's HCUA..and it is the first google reference that I found that got it right. The left twisted around and made it so the Committee was UnAmerican.(it stuck).McCarthy was a Senator...Isn't it strange that he gets the blame by Hollywood? He investigated communists in government mostly.

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6458/
Reagan's testimony

“We Must Keep the Labor Unions Clean”: “Friendly” HUAC Witnesses Ronald Reagan and Walt Disney Blame Hollywood Labor Conflicts on Communist Infiltration

[speedy]

The Left has invested so much in the demonization of McCarthy that successfully rehabilitating his historical record would probably cause it to shrivel up and die. Take away the myth of the evil and insane McCarthy, and it's like taking away oxygen for Leftists. It may be the single issue they can not live without.

[MACVSOG68]

bttt

[Mr. Bird]

Based on what I've read (too young to have seen it myself), McCarthy was (in retrospect) the perfect gift for the Left. They could (correctly) paint him as a bombastic alcoholic in order to avoid the substance of his charges.

What is really funny is the nice compartmentalization so many in the MSM and the Left generally take part in when it comes to the "Red Scare". While Roy Cohn's name often surfaces in discussing the hearings, little is said about McCarthy's other pit bull, Bobby Kennedy. Their stance on communism was one of the few things the Kennedys got right; I believe both JFK and RFK would slap Teddy across the face for his distortions of their legacies for his own political gain (antithetical to their ideologies).