Joe McCarthy Secret Hearings to Be Unveiled Monday

Yahoo! News ^ | 5/4/03 | Joanne Kenen - Reuters

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -

Fifty years after Sen. Joe McCarthy conducted some of the most infamous hearings in Senate history, thousands of pages of his secret probes into alleged Communist subversion will finally be made public.

Some 5,000 pages of 1953-1954 closed-door hearings from McCarthy's Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will be released Monday by Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, and Susan Collins, a Maine Republican. Levin and Collins have both chaired McCarthy's former committee during the past two years as the documents were prepared for release.

They plan to issue them in the same Senate hearing room where McCarthy himself once held court.

Historians believe the five volumes of transcripts will shed light on what many regard as one of the most shameful episodes in Senate history -- a time when Cold War anxiety about the Soviet Union, Communist China and a perceived domestic Communist threat led to political witch hunts at home.

"This is the first time historians have had access to raw documentation," said Donald Ritchie, the associate Senate historian. "I think it will really stimulate scholarship. They'll have much more substantive information to go on."

Most of the people who took part in the hearings are now dead.

McCarthy himself, a Wisconsin Republican who catapulted himself to fame with his headline-grabbing but ultimately fabricated allegations of vast Communist conspiracies tainting the State Department, the Government Printing Office and parts of the U.S. military, died in 1957. He was censured by the Senate in 1954.

McCarthy's most notorious hearings, the Army-McCarthy hearings, were held in public and the secret portions of that investigation were released long ago.

The very public nature of the army hearings -- they were among the first televised -- helped bring about McCarthy's downfall as ordinary people saw his reckless and brutal behavior as he impugned the loyalty of the U.S. Army.

But before McCarthy was brought down, he brought down scores of people, historians say. Many had some degree of leftist politics or sympathies in their past, but none were traitors or spies.

The documents being made public now were the hearings he held behind closed doors. Some of those witnesses were later called before public panels, where McCarthy asked his trademark question, "Are you now or have you ever been a Communist?"

But some of the secret witnesses were never called again in public. But they didn't necessarily stay secret either. McCarthy often briefed reporters on the secret proceedings -- at least his version of the proceedings. Many people's careers were destroyed simply because he had summoned them to testify.

[NormsRevenge]

Sun May 4,11:28 PM ET

Senate Historian Donald Ritchie sits in his Capitol Hill office Friday, Feb. 7, 2003. Ritchie assembled the 4,000 pages of closed door transcripts from the McCarthy hearings that are scheduled to be released Monday, May 5, 2002 in Washington. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook)

Sun May 4,11:27 PM ET

Sen. Joe McCarthy, R-Wis., presides at a hearing of the Senate Investigations Subcommittee, in Washington, in this March 10, 1954 file photo. Seated at right is committee counsel Roy Cohn. The Senate is expected to release 4,000 pages of closed-door transcripts Monday, May 5, 2003 in Washington. (AP Photo/File)

[Free ThinkerNY]

It's always nice to hear only one side of a story from an objective journalist.

[sackofcatfood]

If you're still an unbeliever,

<a href="http://www.thenewamerican.com/focus/people/vo03no10_mccarthy.htm>this</a> is an excellent article vindicating one Mr. Joe McCarthy.

[sackofcatfood]

And this is a very convenient embedded URL to the article which was mysteriously absent from my last post. :p

[DPB101]

Lol....that Levin and Collins are releasing this doesn't bode well.

The documents which should be released are from hearings held by the state of California before the Hollywood Ten were called before HUAC. They took the fifth before Congress because they were afraid of being charged with perjury in California.

[NormsRevenge]

Ping

[ladyinred]

This should be interesting. My entire life I have heard nothing but bad things about McCarthy, I would very much like to hear the other side of the story.

[NormsRevenge]

The communists have been in this country for more years then the media elite will ever admit or report.

The link that sackofcatfood posted is a good read. It has 40 Q&As that , in a nutshell, give a good overview of what went down, starting in the 30s.

If you have the time, check out

John Birch - A Patriotic Exemplar

There is a whole side of history the masses have never been exposed to.

[xm177e2]

But before McCarthy was brought down, he brought down scores of people, historians say. Many had some degree of leftist politics or sympathies in their past, but none were traitors or spies.

?

McCarthy had a bad influence on this country, by discrediting anti-Communism, but not everyone he went after was pure as the driven snow! These bastards want to rewrite history.

[Free ThinkerNY]

Historians believe the five volumes of transcripts will shed light on what many regard as one of the most shameful episodes in Senate history -- a time when Cold War anxiety about the Soviet Union, Communist China and a perceived domestic Communist threat led to political witch hunts at home.

According to Leftist media revisionists, Stalin with nuclear weapons was nothing to worry about. Mao murdering millions was nothing to worry about. The Rosenbergs were victims of a "Witch Hunt." A witch hunt implies that something does not exist. Real witches don't exist. Communists who were allies of Stalin and Mao did exist, and still exist in this country. They were dedicated to the overthrow of our system of government. They are still working towards that same goal. The Anti-War demontraitors of today are products of the Marxist brainwashing machine that has been active for decades.

[NormsRevenge]

a perceived domestic Communist threat led to political witch hunts at home

ChiComs and Russkies with bags of money bought our nations secrets and the Clintons and the demRats benefited directly.

Where IS the outrage?

And now we will have, Revisionist History for DUmmies, The Sequel.... slurped up by the blind following the lead of the A.N.S.W.E.R. gang.

To which I say, It's a FRee country still.... If We have anything to say about it.

[denydenydeny]

McCarthy himself, a Wisconsin Republican who catapulted himself to fame with his headline-grabbing but ultimately fabricated allegations of vast Communist conspiracies tainting the State Department, the Government Printing Office and parts of the U.S. military, died in 1957.

I would argue, and I think that history has proven, that with the State Department, at least, there were no fabrications necessary.

[nopardons]

Then you should read some books, lately pblished about McCarthy and those times. Need a book list ? :-)

[nopardons]

Starting with Alger Hiss.

[Free ThinkerNY]

Revisionist History for DUmmies, The Sequel

That book would look good in the window of a Progressive (Marxist) bookstore. Along side "Stupid Commie White Men."

[democratsstealvotes]

Here! Here! Your succinct observations well spoken. The truth is Joe McCarthy was a true American patriot who tried to wake up America to the rampant communism on our shores, especially in unHolywood. He was discredited by the liberals/Democrats/communists. No doubt, he will continue to be denigrated. Oh, that we could truly become free from all the lies and spinning!

[DPB101]

How the State Department gave the world Fidel Castro:

U.S. Senate: Testimony of Arthur Gardner and Earl E.T.Smith

State was listening to the New York Times, not the American ambassador to Cuba.

[NormsRevenge]

Where there are people who care, there is hope.

Let the debunking begin of this bygone era that, even today, has had such wide-reaching ramifications in the world we live in today.

We shall see how the media, if they touch this at all, spin the truth to their cohorts advantage.

[Lael]

McCarthy's most notorious hearings, the Army-McCarthy hearings, were held in public and the secret portions of that investigation were released long ago.

And the central QUESTION which prompted the retalitory Army - McCarthy Hearings WAS and STILL IS...

WHO PROMOTED PEREZ???????

[GunRunner]

"...he brought down scores of people, historians say. Many had some degree of leftist politics or sympathies in their past, but none were traitors or spies."

Bull$#!t!

Communists are traitors by their very nature.