Newmann: A mirror image
“Until this moment, Senator, I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness … have you no sense of decency?” — Robert Welch, attorney for the Army during the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954.
Welch’s comments were aimed at Joseph McCarthy, a junior senator from Wisconsin, who rose to prominence during the early 1950s due to his insistence that Communists had infiltrated various branches of government.
McCarthy played on the fears of a nation that had seen, with the end of World War II, the rise of communism. Russia had launched a hostile annexation of a series of countries in Eastern Europe and Europe and had become, in essence, the Soviet Union. The Soviets also had developed an atomic bomb — and were capable of matching firepower with America. Adding to the anxiety, the civil war in China had led to a Communist government takeover and the American-led United Nations forces in the Korean War were being overmatched by Communist-backed forces.
The so-called “Red Scare” was underway.
The resulting panic over the presumed rise of communism in the U.S. became the “Second Red Scare.” And McCarthy proved to be a master at keeping that scare alive and well. It became known as “McCarthyism.”
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He gained his initial recognition by claiming that Communists were running rampant in various branches of government. He could not substantiate most of his own allegations … but still gained traction with a large following of concerned — and scared — citizens. And he began to accumulate more and more power.
He went from being a rather inauspicious junior senator to becoming the patriot-in-chief, the self-appointed guardian of liberty. And a seemingly staunch defender fighting communism. He chaired the Committee on Government Operations, a powerful entity that was set up to investigate Communist infiltration of government agencies.
The only problem was that he trampled on the liberty of virtually all the folks who came before his committee and the various spinoff subcommittees. He and his cohorts grilled scores of innocent folks — and he himself never made a substantial case against anyone. But lots of accusations, lots of threats, lots of lives destroyed.
McCarthy knew how to play to his audience. He pandered to their fear, their anger, their frustration. He craved the adulation and was very adroit at grandstanding. He had a certain charisma, a quality that allowed folks to believe what he said — even though much of what he said was unbelievable. And, as his power grew, so did the fear of others to oppose him. He went virtually unchecked.
Until he took on the Army.
The Army hearings, which centered on the supposed Communist infiltration in the military, were televised. And proved to be McCarthy’s undoing. He was shown to be an inept, blustering grandstander with little or no credibility. And no sense of decency.
McCarthy, the self-styled champion of democracy, was censured by the Senate. Several years later, the junior senator, an alcoholic who ruthlessly rose to power only to see it fade away, died. And, along with him, the term “McCarthyism” faded into obscurity.
Sometimes, when the right moment exists, folks who should never assume any type of power succeed in attaining that power. They make promises that are gossamer, lip service to ideas and ideals that they have no intention of pursuing. Or, in many cases, of even understanding. They are disingenuous, often dangerous.
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They bully, they demean. They prey on fears and insecurities.
They are of a time and of a place.
But they only come to power if we allow them to be in the forefront of that time and that place.
Tom Newmann splits his time between Edwards and Queenstown, New Zealand. He has been going winter-to-winter since 1986. He was also a journalist in Missoula, Montana, at the Missoulian for quite a few years. Email him at tsnnz12@gmail.com.
