I'm not clear on their motives for the release of this information, other than the historian offered that it has been 50 years since the hearings were conducted.
Your comments about Senator McCarthy's behaviors are well-taken. But, regrettably, if not for him , no one else would have done a thing about what was an infiltration by communist influences into the government. To belittle that fact, in the end, gives those who support Big Red, the last laugh this time but not the final victory.
Also, by that time, Richard Nixon had moved on to the Vice Presidency after the successful prosecution of Alger Hiss.
I was also struck by the sh*t-eating grins on Senators Collins and Levin. To me , it looks like they did the grandstanding that senators are so prone to do in this new age of media.
The end game, again imho.. To legitimize and patronize and promote communism and the cause and show how "innocent" people were castigated in a supposed free nation respective of the rights of all to believe as they will. Sad, but not surprising, so thorough has the infiltration been into all of our institutions and the media. Coincidental, timing-wise, I think not, in light of C-SPAN and other media outlets fascination with groups like A.N.S.W.E.R. and the UN.