Plenty of folks believed the smears against McCarthy, you can find 10 'bios' that trash him without breaking a sweat.
The problem with them all is that McCarthy was at least mostly right, and wasn't allowed to go far enough - into the media and academia. The embedded communists in both destroyed McCarthy the power of the a new technology - television. One of the world's first broadcast media lynchings, now a standard tool of left.
McCarthy wasn't crazy, he just wasn't as clever as the KGB.
Reckless? Not in my opinon - where are all the defamation suits?
Well, everyone is entitled to their own view. I will read "Treason" and if it changes my opinion, I will come back and let you know. For now, I am tired and going to call it a day.
I will say that there is always a bit of bad in the best of us, and a bit of good in the worst of us. I am rarely swayed by anyone who thinks "they are all....[anything]."
Goodnight, All