Posted on 11/05/2009 12:55:41 PM PST by wendell dertah
On the day I born, June 9th, 1954, Senator Joseph McCarthy was asked the famous question; Have you no sense of decency sir?.
Some members of the media who saw an opening, pounced on the opportunity, and never looked back. This would become the beginning of the end of the anti-communist mood in America. It would be the birth of terms like McCarthyism, Redbaiting, and Blacklisting.
The heirs of this movement are much more numerous today than in 1954, and the true journalists have been replaced by mere actors, playing the part of journalists.
We have gone from a nation where politicians investigated actors for being communists, to a nation where actors investigate politicians - for not being communists enough.
The sicken reality, is that what began as the strongest, freest county in the world, has become one that is choked with taxes and regulations. Businesses are crumbling, and the only solution offered is that they be nationalised.
In the America I was born to, the Constitution was honored, rather than seen as an obstacle. It was the foundation of government, and not derided as a list of talking points for fanatics.
We have gone from revering men like Lincoln and Washington, to having a White House filled by people that revere Mao, Che, and Marx.
In 1954 the words Under God were added to the Pledge of Allegiance, and children recited it daily in schools. Todays children are only guaranteed the right to speak the name of God, when they are taking it in vain.
In the year I was born, movies were being made about American and American Ideals. In this year of tolerance, movies are made about the evil of America.
In 1954, the leading men looked each other in the eye and shook hands. In our year of Hope and Change", leading men hold hands, and look into each others eyes. I can only imagine what Lucy and Ethyl would be up to.
In 1954, I was born to a family in which both parents shared a marriage. Their marriage did not have to be defined by moral relativity. Today it would be called an opposite-sex marriage.
For as much as Joe McCarthy is demonized, he was right. If the Americans of 1954 knew what their country has become, the hearings he chaired would have been replaced by lynch mobs.
Well if you want continuity, Elizabeth is still Queen, and The Cleveland Indians still cant win when it counts.
At the time, Vera Lynn's tribute to Queen Elizabeth, "Queen of Everyone's Heart," on the London label, could be found in some record stores. And, for that matter, the Thrillers, a rhythm and blues group, waxed a rocker on the Herald label entitled "'Lizabeth"--a drinking song which has little to do with the queen--which came out in late June.
...and The Cleveland Indians still cant win when it counts.
Neither can the USC Trojans, who lost to the Bruins as well as the Domers. However, the Trojans managed to secure a Rose Bowl birth because UCLA, which had gone the year before, was ineligible to return under the "no repeat" rule in existence at the time. Meanwhile, 1954 saw UCLA win its only national championship.
Communism is closer than that—its right here among us,alive and as evil as ever.
McCarthy was right about Communist infiltration. He just went about it the wrong way. He couldn’t provide the evidence that I’m assuming the Army was feeding him from the Venona Project. He did appear to be on a witch hunt with little or no proof and that’s the way the press portrayed him to the best of their ability.
It was confirmed by the Venona Papaers.
We need a Joe McCarthy today with all the America-hating totalitarians in our government.
Chaired by a Democat, Rep. Martin Dies.
Chaired by a Democat, Rep. Martin Dies.
Have you stopped beating your Owife yet?
Nice. thanks...
I was driving thru Forney, Tx. the other night and saw a bumper sticker stating “ We Need Another Joe McCarthy “...
Gave me a tingly feeling in my heart....
Good comments and welcome to FR.
Congressman Dickstein was a paid Soviet agent.
Agree with you that tailgunner Joe was DAMN RIGHT, but still believe the 1950s were an era of ascendant liberalism in both parties, with high taxes to boot. I prefer to idealize the 1890s myself.
Reading Blacklisted by History it's very hard to come to the conclusion that McCarthy went about it "wrong." He was stonewalled by the White House in two different administrations; I doubt very much between their withholding information they had, and the enablers, fellow travelers, and outright traitors in the government he could possibly have succeeded alone.
IIRC, Dickstein himself would’ve chaired it (but realized if he did, any close scrutiny of him would reveal his “secret” - he publicly declined using his religion as an excuse). It was formed not to investigate Communists (duh !) but their Nazi cousins. As soon as the spotlight was turned to the former as time progressed, that was when liberals started to rock and roll in righteous indignation.
A little interesting factoid, Dickstein’s fellow NYC Congressman Vito Marcantonio is the only person to have officially been nominated on the Communist party line to win a seat in Congress (he won his first term as a Republican ! When he won a second term and onwards, he ran for the rest of his career on the pro-Communist American Labor Party). One of the ALP’s last nominees for high office was Corliss Lamont, whose grand-nephew Ned was the Stalinist nutter who defeated Sen. Joe Lieberman in the CT Dem primary in ‘06.
1890s, huh ? How so ?
No income tax, gold standard, the last great Democratic president (Grover Cleveland). Thankfully, the immigrants pouring into to the US from southern and eastern Europe couldn’t vote yet either! ;)
Here and I thought the last great Democrat President was James Knox Polk, my former Governor (who didn’t even win this state because we were Whig). ;-)
Lucy, you got some splainin' to do....
Lucille Ball had suspected communist ties. It almost ended the TV show.
Yes, I once saw a scan of a voter registration of hers. She actually registered as a communist.
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.