Senator Joe McCarthy was 100% right but even the republicans vilified him all the way up to Eisenhower.
Yes. And I was willing to look with a neutral-to-positive eye at Eisenhower as a president until I found out how he treated McCarthy.
And I had a good deal of respect for Truman until I found out about his treatment of McCarthy and what Truman did with Harry Dexter White. He protected him, a known soviet agent (as the FBI under Hoover well knew from the Elizabeth Bentley revelations, and communicated DIRECTLY and UNEQUIVOCALLY to Truman) and vilified McCarthy.
And Truman did it all to proect the Democrat party from scandal at the cost of our national security.
Do you remember how Ike was shocked to learn that Castro was a Community? We armed.trained and financed his overthrow of Batista and then he was shocked.