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.

[Free ThinkerNY]

To be free of all the lies and spinning we have to fight the Leftist lamestream media and Marxist thought police who seem to control the universities and much of the public education system. Much progress has been made in recent years with Fox News Channel and on talk radio, but more needs to be done. Free Republic is playing a great role in getting information out that the Leftist media wants to hide.

[wideminded]

The film "Citizen Cohn" with James Woods, portrayed McCarthy's downfall as being in great measure due to Roy Cohn. It implied the the Army-McCarthy hearings, which did not go so well for McCarthy, were instigated by Cohn after the Army refused to give special treatment to David Schine, with whom Cohn had a homosexual infatuation. Anyone care to comment on the probability that this is historically accurate?

Whatever success McCarthy may have had in weeding out communists, I believe that it is generally accepted that he claimed falsely to have been a tailgunner in World War II and that he may not actually have had a list of 205 communists when he made his Wheeling speech. Perhaps someone can also comment on whether these items are true and how they should be seen in an overall interpretation of McCarthy.

[weegee]

Of course when a certain witch did her own hunting against a vast right wing conspiracy, the media supported her assertions.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

They will be liberally leftest redacted to protect the guilty and impugn the innocent.

Oh goodie. Does this mean they will soon be releasing the secrete files on ML King.

[Lancey Howard]

I believe that it is generally accepted that he claimed falsely to have been a tailgunner in World War II

Apparently Admiral Nimitz thought that McCarthy was a tailgunner.

Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet, issued the following citation regarding the service of Captain McCarthy:

For meritorious and efficient performance of duty as an observer and rear gunner of a dive bomber attached to a Marine scout bombing squadron operating in the Solomon Islands area from September 1 to December 31, 1943. He participated in a large number of combat missions, and in addition to his regular duties, acted as aerial photographer. He obtained excellent photographs of enemy gun positions, despite intense anti-aircraft fire, thereby gaining valuable information which contributed materially to the success of subsequent strikes in the area. Although suffering from a severe leg injury, he refused to be hospitalized and continued to carry out his duties as Intelligence Officer in a highly efficient manner. His courageous devotion to duty was in keeping with the highest traditions of the naval service.

I dunno.... you think Admiral Nimitz was delirious or something?

[RadioAstronomer]

My entire life I have heard nothing but bad things about McCarthy

I was exposed to exactly the opposite :-)

My grandmother and Joe McCarthy were very good friends.

[ARepublicanForAllReasons]

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

Uh huh.

Many had some degree of leftist politics or sympathies in their past, but none were traitors or spies.

Uh huh.
Tell it like it ain't!

[backhoe]

Tailgunner Joe--Patriot Whistleblower or Right-Wing Witch-hunter?

[DPB101]

The claim McCarthy was not a tailgunner is typical of socialist slander. There is a slim, technical element of truth in it. McCarthy was an intelligence officer. But he volunteered to be and was a tailgunner on many combat missions.

[AnimalLover]

Does anyone remember when the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
trails went on for espionage? Was it about the time of
the McCarthy hearings? I was just a kid at that time
and remember hearing about McCarthy - my folks always
said there were many subversives in the country planing
the overthrow of the United States.
You mention A.N.S.W.E.R - definitely a communist/socialist
group. In my opinion, they have been pretty busy little
people. After all:

1. No more loyalty oaths
2. God is out of the classroom and just about everywhere
else
3. Abortion is the law of the land - so murder is
condoned - "a womans right to choose" - if she were
about to jump off a bridge in a suicide attempt, would
she be allowed to choose?
4. Textbooks are being rewritten avoiding much of our
American History - now the term Founding Fathers is
going to be dropped.
5. Teachers and College Professors are extremely left
wing and kill any conservative comments in the
classroom.
6. Anti-war protests that are extreme - that help the
enemy.
7. Children are taken away from their parents on a whim.
In California the Teachers Union wants all kids that
are home schooled or in private schools to be considered
truant and can, therefore, be taken away from parents
because of child abuse. Also, kids can ruin the lives
of their parents, teachers or anyone else because they
are upset with them. I know of one case where, because
the kid didn't get what he wanted, called the police
on his father. The trouble that poor man had was
unbelievable. Reminds of the Brownshirts - the kids
in Germany while the Nazis were in power. I know that
mention of this has probably been dropped from books.

I could go on and on but, thought someone else might like
to comment on how we are sliding toward a socialistic/
communist state. Bring back McCarthy!

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

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.

The worst part about this is he was right all along he just didnt have the power to do anything about it NOW most democrats in office are communists by deed and signature and arent afraid to admit it and still republicans and conservatives are doomed to repeat history and from the looks of things its only gonna get worse .

Congressional Record--Appendix, pp. A34-A35

January 10, 1963

Current Communist Goals

EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. A. S. HERLONG, JR. OF FLORIDA

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Thursday, January 10, 1963

[wideminded]

Apparently Admiral Nimitz thought that McCarthy was a tailgunner.

This website: http://www.foxvalleyhistory.org/mccarthy/ has a picture of the letter from Nimitz with this caption:

"McCarthy showed this letter to the press and voters while campaigning for Senate in 1944. He had requested the recognition, likely writing his own letter of recommendation and forging the signature of his commanding officer."

The website details an exhibition on McCarthy that appeared in his hometown historical society museum.

Some other websites suggest that he injured his foot while in the service but was never actually wounded as suggested in the "citation". I am withholding final judgement until I learn more.

[jamaksin]

Excellent post!!!

On Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, in the Spring of 1943 the USA sent, via the Lend-Lease program, tens of tons of nuclear materials - including enriched uranium. The head of Lend-Lease was Harry "the hop" Hopkins - known today as Soviet agent #19 - from the Venona Project.

Hopkins was FDR's alter-ego ... FDR giving us the socialist United States that we have today.

Truth, Justice, and the American Way!

[Criminal Number 18F]

Funny you should mention Harry Hopkins. There was a book published soon after the war by a staff Major that worked in lend-lease, and in it he made the charge that Hopkins was a traitor and a Soviet agent.

The book was called something like "Major Jones's Story," but unfortunately, I forget the key bit of information, the Major's actual name (it wasn't Jones!). I read the book many years later, when I was in high school in the seventies. I found the case against Hopkins persuasive if not conclusive, and the case against the Rosenbergs as well... in the nineties the Venona releases pretty much sealed the case on Hopkins, Hiss, and the Rosenbergs. Of course, the media and academia still report on these traitors as if they were innocent.

You may not be aware but NSA has re-classified the Venona intercepts, and they are no longer available on the website. I believe that they have been unable to suppress the book that was written based on them. I have no idea why they did this, but presume there was something in there that provided a clue to sources and methods that are still useful -- that's usually the intel agencies' biggest security concern.

Finally, for anyone interested in this era, a great movie was made in the early sixties. It's black and white as it tries to evoke the fifties. The Manchurian Candidate. Frank Sinatra (!) turns in a great performance as an Army counterintelligence officer... there's a McCarthy character, and standing behind him is Angela Lansbury playing his wife... a Hillary Clinton character. The "good" senator is implicitly a Republican (as is the McCarthy figure). Not historically accurate, by any means, but a hell of a work of entertainment.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Criminal Number 18F]

Here are the books on Venona. I can only recommend the first personally. It busts the Rosenbergs, Hiss, Hopkins and most of the other "controversial" accused communists. The second one appears at a glance to be written a little more accessibly for people who aren't espionage freaks.

• The Venona Secrets
• Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America

The links are to the books' pages at Amazon.com. There is a 44 page excerpt of The Venona Secrets and a 24 page excerpt of Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage there, including the entire index. There are also some used copies of the older Secrets available there, if money's tight.

Incidentally, there is a tantalizing clue to the genesis of Venona in Leo Marks's Between Silk and Cyanide but that's all I'll say about it (cryptology is a hobby of mine).

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[nonliberal]

With the declassification of Venona, McCarthy has been proven right more often than not. I will be interested to see what is in his files and how much the libs have bawlderized.

[ExpandNATO]

Try McCarthy and His Enemies by William F. Buckley and Brent Bozell. You will have to go to a library to find this one.

[nonliberal]

And Harry Dexter White, and Lawrence Duggan, and the Rosenbergs...

[Lancey Howard]

"McCarthy showed this letter to the press and voters while campaigning for Senate in 1944. He had requested the recognition, likely writing his own letter of recommendation and forging the signature of his commanding officer."

I am withholding final judgement until I learn more.

LOL, if you believe that, then I question your "judgement".

[ckilmer]

the other freaky thing about the communist smear of McCarthy was that they assumed McCarthy senate hearings were a set up in the same way that the Russian show trials were a set up for mass murder.

This was not the case. Nor was it ever in the cards.

What was the case was that at the time Stalin was gearing up for a pogrom in what was later to be known as the "Doctor's Plot". The historical evidence suggests that this would have happened had not Stalin died.

As it is the number of Spies that McCarthy talked about fairly well matched the number of spies that the Venona cables outed and intimated. (I think the confirmed spies were something like 100 and the number of spies that the cables pointed to--but couldn't name--was something like 400.)

The national security agency told the FBI about the information contained on the Venonoa cables but insisted that the FBI had to develop their own information to make the cases against the spies. They couldn't use NSA info to convict them. In most of the cases the FBI was unable to do so. People like the Rosenburgs and the Hiss's were the exception.

Did the FBI tell McCarthy about the Venona intercepts? There is no evidence that this happened. But the coincidences seem strong enough to suggest that time may eventually tell a bit more about that angle.

The really grisly part of this story is that the Russian KGB had a spy in the NSA decoding department who told the Russians that their diplomatic code had been broken in 1948. So the Russians knew. And the Americans learned about the spy soon after. (he fled the country first.)

That means that both Russian and American intelligence knew about the facts behind Venona and McCarthy and they knew that each other knew.

It was the US public that was left in the dark. And this has been the cause of unbelievably bitter divisions in the country since.