An Age of Unreason—McCarthyism

I was only 6 or 7 years old when the demagogue Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin began his reign of terror upon his fellow Republicans and upon thousands of innocent American citizens who were bullied, belittled and ruined by his character assassinations for which there was hardly  ever a shred of proof or evidence. Jon Meacham, in The Soul of America, reminds us of this man’s sudden rise to power, a power gained by capitalizing on the “fears” of communism.   It was an age of unreason. It was an era of conspiracy theories and the John Birch Society (even President Eisenhower was seen as an ally of communism). It was a period of fear. Senator McCarthy embellished the conspiracies, fed and nourished the fears, and actually encouraged the unreason by his lies and showmanship. His purpose,  he asserted,  was to rid the US government and society of communist infiltrators. Millions of Americans approved his tactics and supported his mean and cruel behavior.  A journalist wrote,  “There is no difference in kind between Hitlerism and McCarthyism, both being the same form of bacteriological warfare against the minds and souls of men.” Republicans, Democrats, presidents, and the American people allowed McCarthyism to happen and became complicit pawns in McCarthy’s sham.

Edward R. Murrow, the legendary broadcaster, after a program dealing with McCarthyism, said:  “We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law.  We will not walk in fear, one of another.  We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men—not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were,  for the moment, unpopular.”  His final words were:  “The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin has caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies aboard and given considerable comfort to our enemies.  And whose fault is that?  Not really his.  He didn’t create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it—and rather successfully. Cassius was right.  ‘The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.’”

How in the world, I wondered,  as I read again about McCarthy’s antics, did the American people put up with this stuff? How in the world, I wondered, did the presidents (Truman and Eisenhower) and the Congress tolerate and permit this con man to play his game and do such damage?  The best I can say is that it just had to have been an age of unreason.  If you do not know about McCarthy and his antics you might want to check him out.  You can find a fairly accurate account of McCarthyism online.