Posted on 02/23/2008 6:52:27 AM PST by rlmorel
I just finished reading the book "Blacklisted by History:The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and his Fight Against America's Enemies".
My thoughts on the subject of Senator McCarthy changed dramatically after I read Ann Coulter's book "Treason" back in 2003. To some, it might seem odd that a book that is regarded by some people as a screed would have had an impact on anyone who considers themselves thoughtful on the subject matter at hand.
But I will say, when I read Ann Coulter's book "Treason", I was perplexed, nearly dumbfounded.
I was puzzled why her account of the famous encounter between Joseph Welch and Joseph McCarthy was so completely and diametrically different from the accounts I had grown up with and been taught.
It wasn't just a little different, it was COMPLETELY different. So I did what the Internet allows you to do these days: I researched. I obtained the transcripts of the actual hearings, and read them.
Ann Coulter was spot on in her characterization of that hearing, and the others as well. After I read that, I began to read everything that didn't appear to be completely slanted against McCarthy. I read three separate books on Venona, and then capped it off with the book that was, for me, the most important political book I have read in my life.
That book was "Witness", by Whittaker Chambers.
I was completely astounded by that book, and it explained a lot of things for me. It explained why the Left viewed Richard Nixon and Joseph McCarthy the way they did, and why all three of them, Chambers, Nixon, and McCarthy were villified and slandered by a poisonous and biased media.
I have a web page on my site devoted to this issue at: http://web.mac.com/rlmorel/iWeb/Site/Whittaker%20Chambers.html
What is perhaps most disturbing of all is to see that the Left practices the exact same form of character assassination warfare today that it practiced fifty years ago against Whittaker Chambers. Exactly.
I admit freely that it was a disillusioning time for me. To realize that all my teachers, people I had no reason to distrust, fed me a steady diet of falsehood regarding Joseph McCarthy. There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever.
So, this recent book, "Blacklisted by History" by M. Stanton Evans was one of the more difficult books I have ever tried to absorb, as it is pretty dry in its presentation, and is heavily footnoted. There are so many entities in the book, that I was reminded of a "Peanuts" cartoon I read years ago where one of the characters complained about the difficulty of reading "The Brothers Karamazov" with the multitude of varied characters with all those Russian names. This was the same way.
But the thing that makes this book completely worthwhile is the jaw-dropping illustration of the evasion, obfuscation, unadulterated lying and outright stonewalling of the Roosevelt and Truman administrations and all the agencies involved on their behalf, particularly the State Departments and the Treasury Deaprtments under them. This is well illustrated by Mr. Evans using the technique of comparing various statements under oath and on record to the actual documented evidence (that has been released under Freedom of Information Act and other evidence that has been available all along)
The bottom line is that our government was crawling with communist agents at very high levels, in large numbers. Instead of fixing the problem, it was first ignored by Roosevelt, then stonewalled by Truman.
To read this book by Mr. Evans, you realize just how corrupt the Tydings Committee was. People from the State Department and the Treasury would simply deny the charges or outright lie, and this was accepted as definitive proof by the committee. The Truman administration used the analog of the Executive Privilege argument used by Vice President Cheney today, but instead of invoking it to combat fishing expeditions by liberals looking to simply find a way to discredit the administration, the Truman Administration was not only well aware and complicit in the problem, but understood exactly just how much McCarthy knew about the problem. They stonewalled, hid documents, had in some cases the very people who were in cahoots with those being investigated actually scrubbing the documents to remove incriminating papers.
Instead of using the McCarron Rider (legislation created specifically to deal conclusively with security threats embedded in the government) the Truman Administration created a Rube Goldberg bureaucracy that they used as a hiding place for documents, knowing full well when they would be due for surrender to a subcommittee, then explaining some component of their loyalty boards had it in their possession at that time. They would ping-pong these documents between the components so they could never be found.
The Tydings Committee actually used documents PREPARED by the State Department (The primary entity being accused and investigated by McCarthy) to defend them and let them off the hook. They were accepting on face value statements from the body they were investigating (The State Department) and used them as evidence the charges had no substance!
The book is a real eye opener, and will make you realize one thing:
Joseph McCarthy was an American hero.
He knew full well the seriousness of the problem with communist infiltration in our government, and sacrificed himself and his reputation fighting nearly singlehandedly for years against, powerful, smart, dedicated and tireless foes with vast resources in both the Government and Media. He was slandered and defamed by the same type of people who practice the same types of tactics on their enemies today.
Those were McCarthy's Reds. That brings me to the topic of OUR Reds.
Chinese industrial and technological espionage is rampant today, and there are people at various levels of government that have been bought lock, stock and barrel by the Red Chinese.
Who will be our Senator Joseph McCarthy today?
You should read Kenneth Timmerman’s book, Shadow Warriors. My father has found he can only read a few pages before becoming so angry he must stop and take a day’s break. It details treason in the CIA and State Department over the past seven years.
Heartbreaking.
This time the dirty work is going to have to be done by the American Citizen. There are no politicians willing to risk their career to the extent necessary.
The MSM and DemoRat controlled Senate and House sub comittees would never allow an investigation, not of their own making, to advance. They certainly aren’t going to investigate themselves!
I believe that this is why all we see is nicey, nicey people running for President now. Look at Obama and Hillary. You would never know they were running against each other. McCain wants to get along with everyone. Where’s the Pattons, the McArthurs, the tough people that take no quarter and give no bull? The people that would stand up and protect this country for my grand kids?
Another new book I am buying today is “Liberal Facism” by Jonah Goldberg. I think it may be directly in line with this discussion.
[ Any thoughts on this? ]
YES... What was Richard Nixon REALLY after at the Watergate Hotel.. and why was he after it?.. A whole party of commies(democrats) was/ still is/ and will continue to be UP TO NO GOOD...
Saul Alinsky... Hillary and Obamas mentor
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a39a1bb090251.htm
Antonio Gramsci... Hillarys mentor
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a4c610569be.htm
Frank Marshall Davis... Obamas mentor
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?D=2008-02-20&ID=228129
...yeah, McGovern was a commie too...thanks for the props!
Many. But “outright stonewalling of the Roosevelt and Truman administrations” doesn’t include Eisenhower, who, McArthur via Goldwater claimed, detested and feared McCarthy. The former general’s ties with the likes of Gen. Stevens and distrust of Gen. Walker practically caused the Army-McCarthy Hearings and prevented any kind of popular presidential influence in the matter of McCarthy’s censure by the Senate.
What’s difficult to realize today because pop-culture has replaced actual history is that McCarthy was powerful not because people feared his investigations but because he was well respected and very popular—so much so that Joe Kennedy, Sr. (the father of one of McCarthy’s young committee staffers, Bobby), begged Joe not to appear in Massachusetts for the GOP candidate (Lodge, I think), during his other son’s Senate campaign. McCarthy acquiesced, believing Jack to be the stronger anti-Communist in the Mass. race. How did Jack repay the favor? By hospitalizing himself on the day of the censure vote. Another profile in courage?
Witness is definitely in the top two or three Conservative must-reads. Magnificent book. Need to get Evans’.
Ann Coulter's Treason is a true eye opener. Like you say, it's dismissed as a screed, but it's actually a very well researched and important book. I don't think the Left hasn't managed to lay a finger on any of its facts or arguments. At this point, the Left has lost the McCarthy debate. They do still have the McCarthy meme though, which remains one of their favorite tools.
If you liked Witness, you should read David Horowitz's Politics of Bad Faith. This book is not well known but in my opinion is his best. Its most impressive chapter has his letters to and from a few of his hard-left friends around the time he was breaking with the Left. It's him explaining his betrayal, laying out the case against his old philosophy. I don't know if it's because he was writing it friends or what, but it's just incredibly powerful stuff. That book is one where I can remember where I was when I read it.
There were seminars and study groups who villified the HUAC, (House Unamerican Activities Committee), and tied McCarthy into this anti anti whatever. Given the fact that he was a Senator the connection, at best, was tenuous.
I was chosen for a Junior Honors Seminar in 19th Century Radical Thought and read and wrote a paper on the Communist Manifesto. Historical revisionism was the propoganda tool which would pave the way for the Socialist Conquest of the World. Marx and Lenin noted that "the victors wrote the history" and since their political philosophy presupposes victory they would rewrite history to serve themselves.
When I entered the Air Force I attended Communications School and learned about telephony and radio communications. When the Soviet Union began to "educate" Third World Students at Moscow Univ, I was astounded to hear that Alexander Bell had stolen the idea of the telephone from the Russian who was the true inventor of the telephone.
Historical revisionism. Bill Xlintoon the best President along with his Wife?????
bttt
Fantastic review rlmorel. Hope you will post it on Amazon.com.
I, too, loved this book. Unlike you, I was raised to see McCarthy as an American hero, even while those around me were disparaging him down through the years.
My thoughts while reading “Blacklisted by History” were something along these lines:
1. Most of these State Department people were never removed from their jobs. They and/or their children are still probably there, causing their havoc.
2. Eisenhower HAD to be a commie.
3. McCarthy was a true American patriot/hero.
4. I can’t believe I’m still reading this book, with all its footnotes and lists of names, I should be bored but I’m not, in fact I’m riveted.
5. I was stunned to find one of my U.S. senators, Alan Cranston, was one of those commies which made me ask, who else rose from the ranks to higher ranks of government?
6. If these commies couldn’t work for the government, they’d all whither and die.
Anyway, your review is excellent and thanks for the reminder to read “Witness” by Whittaker Chambers. I’ve been putting it off for some time.
My thoughts exactly while I was reading Evans' book.
The old rumors were that McGovern had received immense amounts of cash from Sweden (Olaf Palme, remember?), whose ostensible neutrality in the Vietnam War didn’t prevent it from supporting American atrocity claims and welcoming traitors—a natural ally of the American Left. To what end, I certainly don’t know. But the then-brand new Federal Election Campaign Act only added to the gravity of McGovern’s acceptance of such cash funds. Ted Kennedy had made several trips to Sweden, one purportedly to obtain a list of POWs Palme had received from North Vietnam. Was he, some asked, the conduit for the funds as well? But why the DNC, rather than Kennedy’s own office or McGovern’s campaign hqtrs, became the target for surveillance and break-in is still a mystery.
To this day, however, I don’t believe Nixon was aware of the actual tactics. Maybe Gordon Liddy’s estate holds the answers.
BUMP for truth!
Liddy might have some ugh!.. insurance..
Didn’t FDR have a VP who SAW STALIN’S GULAGS FIRSTHAND and said nothing?
I want to buy this book as soon as I finish the written by Clarence Thomas.
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