A weblog by Knot O'Reilly

GottaLaff at The Political Carnival posted a comment from her friend last week regarding his experience with McCarthyism. Below are three excerpts, but I recommend reading the entire essay. The picture above is the one mentioned below.

McCarthyism

One thing that is sure to make my blood pressure rise is the mention of Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism. Recently there have been several mentions of McCarthyism in the news.

At the 9/12 Project Rally, in Washington D.C., the media showed a picture of a young man wearing a tee shirt with “The Cure of Obama Communism, Is A New Era Of McCarthyism” printed on it. What could this young man possibly know about McCarthyism and what it stood for?

I felt it important to write about McCarthyism, as many younger people today have no idea what it was like living in America during that time…. which was one the darkest periods in the history of this nation.

…

In the early 1950s, Joseph McCarthy, through his Senate Committee on Government Operations and related sub-committee, began a witch hunt looking for infiltration by Communists or sympathizers into the State Department, other government agencies, and U.S. Army Signal Corp. It was through these witch hunts that the term “McCarthyism” was born.

The witch hunt into the Signal Corp wasn’t very successful, and it eventually led to the Army-McCarthy hearings. It was through the televised public hearings that the true meanness, brutality, and tactics used by Joseph McCarthy was exposed and seen by the American people.

….

I don’t ever want to see the rise of McCarthyism in America again in my lifetime; where just knowing someone or innocently belonging to an organization during your youth could cost you the ability to earn a living in your chosen profession, lead to financial ruin, and possibly the loss of your family and friends.

That isn’t America, that’s a Nation of Fear.

To get a sense of what life was like during that period, rent the movies “The Front”, “Guilty by Suspicion” and “Good Night & Good Luck”.

from friend of The Political Carnival -twitter user @42bkdodgr