Posted on 11/17/2014 7:26:26 PM PST by Borges
Senator Joseph R. McCarthys anti-Communist crusade had reached a fever pitch in 1954 when Irving Peress, a New York dentist who had been drafted into the Army, became the beneficiary of a seemingly routine promotion from captain to major.
What followed was anything but routine. Dr. Peress was branded a Communist, and his promotion unsought by him, a reluctant warrior from the start became a Cold War battle cry, spurred a nationally televised congressional investigation and all but ended McCarthys anti-Communist campaign and political career.
The chant Who promoted Peress? rumbled across America and ultimately claimed the jobs of several top Army officials, cost Dr. Peress much of his private dental practice in Queens and even drove his wife, Elaine, to resign under pressure as editor of the Parent-Teachers Association bulletin at Public School 49 in Middle Village, Queens.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“Move On” is something for Republicans to do.
If McCarthy was after him, he was more than likely a commie.
He was communist as hell. God Bless Mc Carty — the great American. ( Not as great as Oneal the bin laden killing seal but>> )
The irony is he was a Communist.
But they got McCarthy’s scalp anyway.
It only took us half a century to learn the truth.
He repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment. Why, if he was not a Commie?
The left likes to pretend the Venona transcripts didn’t happen.
What are you talking about “Oneal...”?
And eventually Nixon's scalp too.
They were the canaries in the coal mine.
Why? Because that was his right as an American...commie or not.
Really bothers me to hear "well he must be guilty...he invoked his constitutional rights."
I've repeatedly told my kids to always invoke the 5th...and ask for a lawyer. PERIOD...even when you know you're innocent. It's a RIGHT given to us by the Founding Fathers....and it's use should never be disparaged....especially not be people who claim their love for the constitution.
Isn’t invoking the fifth an admission of a crime?
Peress was a commie. The Venona Intercepts proved that beyond doubt.
I thought Comrade Irving had left us years ago.
Apparently tht is not even mentioned here.
The NYT has always pretended they don’t exist.
No. Invoking the 5th is using your constitutional right....which is no different than your freedom of speech or religion. It's a right.
Do people use that right to keep from having to admit to a crime? Yes. But people who are innocent also use it (and admittedly not as much) because prosecutors and police have been known to railroad people and to twist words around...and to try and trap people.
Which was the reason the founders gave it to us. Besides...if you are accused of a crime...our system says you are innocent until proven guilty...and it is the prosecution who has that responsibility.
And this is the reason I've taught my kids that even if they are innocently walking down the street coming from the store...if stopped and questioned...tell them what you are doing..."I'm headed home from the store."...and if it goes further than that: "Am I being detained or am I free to go?" If they say you are being detained....LAWYER and then shut up....
I thought there was some significance to the IRS chief invoking the Fifth Amendment (as though it was an admission that a crime had been committed).
The U.S. Supreme Court said in 1956:
"This command of the Fifth Amendment ("nor shall any person . . . be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself. . . .") registers an important advance in the development of our liberty -- "one of the great landmarks in man's struggle to make himself civilized." Time has not shown that protection from the evils against which this safeguard was directed is needless or unwarranted. This constitutional protection must not be interpreted in a hostile or niggardly spirit. Too many, even those who should be better advised, view this privilege as a shelter for wrongdoers. They too readily assume that those who invoke it are either guilty of crime or commit perjury in claiming the privilege. Such a view does scant honor to the patriots who sponsored the Bill of Rights as a condition to acceptance of the Constitution by the ratifying States."
That’s one reason I don’t read that filthy rag! ;)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.