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

The New Criterion ^ | September 2000

[maica]

You might think that by now liberals would have given up on this one. After all, with the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the subsequent opening of many Soviet archives, there is indisputable evidence—a mountain of it—for what had long been alleged by cold warriors.

My mother was a "cold warrior" who taught me the truth about McCarthy way back then. I have been a life-long anti-communist conservative because of her!

[ichabod1]

“One cannot,” Mr. Radosh concludes, “write about McCarthyism without first admitting that there were spies; the spies claimed idealism as a defense.”

Some things never change.

McCarthy said the State Department and Hollywood were full of communists. They Were! They Still Are!

[ichabod1]

"One cannot judge the decisions and actions of the past based on the wisdom of the present"

Ain't that the truth. Way too much 'o that going on today.

[cynicom]

The French first blew the whistle on the Hiss brothers in 1939, then some other source warned FDR about them, I forget who it was, FDR had a good laugh.

In fact if you check history, the communists first infiltrated our government during the time of Lincoln. Marx wrote letters to Lincoln and considered him to be a great man. During this time Marx had "friends" in the Union Army that were keeping him apprised of everything.

[PzLdr]

So were his wiretaps. As Attorney General, Bobby Kennedy ran more illegal wiretaps than anybody in history. As a practical politician, I can admire him for his ruthlessness. But I don't think he had a "heart in the right place". I think he was a political opportunist who used the war his brother got us into to challenge his brother's successor (no pick of the litter, either)for the presidency. Like all the Kennedys, he's an impulse to power, coupled with bootlegger noblesse oblige.

[maica]

Maybe the truth lies somewhere in the middle and McCarthy received a bad labeling.

Not maybe. Consider what you might believe about President Bush if you only had access to the Old Media and only could see the BBC and CNN International.

Until William Buckley started the National Review there was very little regularly published voice from the right. Just like the radical left of teday who will support any institution or group that are America's enemies, the MSM of that day was very anti-anti-Communist. They were just as hard on Whittiker Chambers and soft on Alger Hiss as they are on people of the right and people of the leftt today.

[dangus]

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

Keep in mind that McCarthy's chief opponent was... Ronald Reagan. I saw a surprisingly excellent PBS special on Reagan years ago. He said something to the order of, "I felt I had to defend their liberties because they had the right to think as they did... but they were all a bunch of communists."

[dangus]

Ya know, the funny thing is: beyound being able to turn a memorable phrase, I really thought the few of Miller's plays I have seen or read were exceptionally mediocre.

[ichabod1]

I just asked on another thread the other day whether Lincoln and Marx had had any contact. I blame Lincoln for the rise of the Big Government that oppresses us today.

[cynicom]

Marx was an avid admirer of Lincoln, approved of his throwing people in jail and acting as a dictator. Marx and Engels cultivated Lincoln. Actually, Marx and Lincoln both espoused the same socialist line.

[kitkat]

Amazing! I am in awe of Freepers. Thanks for that information.

[UltraKonservativen]

Miller's The Crucible is required reading in almost every high school...
How ironic that the "witch hunt" mentality of the play which was designed to attack right wing conservative mentality is now a true description of the left wing intolerant PC mentality.
How many High School kids can advocate an anti gay marriage position without being branded as a right-wing-christian-homophobic-neanderthal...by the teacher.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Yes but Bobby's a saint on the left. None of that right wing Cuba stuff really happened, and JFK was just about to get us out of Viet Nam when he was murdered. (Snort)

[ichabod1]

I suppose it's OK for them to think the way they do... I just don't want them in positions where they can funnel secrets, and give aid & comfort to our enemies.

[doberville]

"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.)"

It is saddest of all that "bagging" a woman is the most important aspect in some men's lives. . . . Eh?

[ichabod1]

It's amazing how much history has been revised. The truth was Lincoln WAS a dictator, he espoused Marxist principles, and there was only an 18 year span between the end of the Civil War and the Haymarket Riots in Chicago. The commies were there in the 19th century, that's for sure, but they didn't know what to call them so they called them "anarchists."

[yankeedame]

Paul Robeson

[cynicom]

"Any people, anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, a most sacred right, a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world."

Above is portion of speech to congress given by Lincoln in 1848. Amazing how his attitude changed after he was put in charge. Also it is almost word for word the espousing of Marx.

[bassmaner]

Mr. Miller writes that “The heart of the darkness was the belief that a massive, profoundly organised conspiracy was in place and carried forward mainly by a concealed phalanx of intellectuals, including labour activists, teachers, professionals, sworn to undermine the American government.” But what he describes as a paranoid fantasy we now know to be the historical truth.

The Cheka/GPU/OGPU/NKVD/MGB/KGB did its work very well, and even though the Soviet Union is gone and Republicans largely control the U.S. government, its cancerous influence on our society remains. POLITICAL CORRECTNESS is the evidence.

Unless we excise "multiculturalism", "diversity", so-called "tolerence", and other such cancers from America and restore BORDERS, LANGUAGE, and CULTURE, then Kruschev's threat to "bury" America will have been acheived.