Demagogues
A Democrat before he ran for Senate, in 1946 Joe McCarthy pulled off a rare feat: He beat a 3-term Republican Senator – in a Republican primary.
The Soviet Union exploded its first A-bomb. Fear shook America. Standing on a stage in West Virginia, waving a sheet of paper, McCarthy said, ‘I have in my hand’ a list of communists working in the State Department.
The world erupted.
Hammering the same drum, McCarthy said, Even if there were only ‘one communist’ in the State Department that would be too many.
There were communists in the government but to McCarthy hurling charges was what mattered – not naming names. Being grilled in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he didn’t name a single member of the Communist Party working in the State Department.
McCarthy claimed the CIA was riddled with spies, attacked General George Marshall the Secretary of Defense, who’d led the army through World War II.
Dwight Eisenhower was elected President. McCarthy said communists had infiltrated the army, landed in the Army-McCarthy hearings – needing a lawyer hired Roy Cohn, one of the Julius & Ethel Rosenberg prosecutors.
The army brought an unknown attorney from Boston – Joseph Welch – to Washington to be its lawyer. During the hearing McCarthy declared he had a list of 130 communists who were working in defense plants.
Welch told McCarthy: Senator, you should give the list to the FBI ‘before the sun goes down.’
Surprised, caught off balance, McCarthy stared at Welch: If you’re really concerned about communists you should check out ‘a young man’ in your law firm – his name is Fred Fisher.
Welch knew the young man, knew he’d joined a left-wing group in college but wasn’t a communist. Shaking his head Welch said: ‘Let us not assassinate this lad Senator…’
McCarthy interrupted.
Leaning forward Welch stared straight at McCarthy: ‘Have you no sense of decency?’
That one line sunk McCarthy. The Senate censored him. Spiraling downhill, health failing, he died in Bethesda Naval Hospital three years later.
Stalin exploded a nuclear bomb. Coming out of nowhere, rising like a shooting star, riding a wave of fear a demagogue changed politics. A lie caught up with him. In the blink of an eye he was gone.
Roy Cohn returned to New York, practicing law became a celebrity, became Donald Trump’s lawyer, mentoring Trump. In a league of his own, unflinching, powerful, Trump has soared far higher than McCarthy ever did – but history shows demagogues don’t last.
Demagogues
A Democrat before he ran for Senate, in 1946 Joe McCarthy pulled off a rare feat: He beat a 3-term Republican Senator – in a Republican primary.
The Soviet Union exploded its first A-bomb. Fear shook America. Standing on a stage in West Virginia, waving a sheet of paper, McCarthy said, ‘I have in my hand’ a list of communists working in the State Department.
The world erupted.
Hammering the same drum, McCarthy said, Even if there were only ‘one communist’ in the State Department that would be too many.
There were communists in the government but to McCarthy hurling charges was what mattered – not naming names. Being grilled in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he didn’t name a single member of the Communist Party working in the State Department.
McCarthy claimed the CIA was riddled with spies, attacked General George Marshall the Secretary of Defense, who’d led the army through World War II.
Dwight Eisenhower was elected President. McCarthy said communists had infiltrated the army, landed in the Army-McCarthy hearings – needing a lawyer hired Roy Cohn, one of the Julius & Ethel Rosenberg prosecutors.
The army brought an unknown attorney from Boston – Joseph Welch – to Washington to be its lawyer. During the hearing McCarthy declared he had a list of 130 communists who were working in defense plants.
Welch told McCarthy: Senator, you should give the list to the FBI ‘before the sun goes down.’
Surprised, caught off balance, McCarthy stared at Welch: If you’re really concerned about communists you should check out ‘a young man’ in your law firm – his name is Fred Fisher.
Welch knew the young man, knew he’d joined a left-wing group in college but wasn’t a communist. Shaking his head Welch said: ‘Let us not assassinate this lad Senator…’
McCarthy interrupted.
Leaning forward Welch stared straight at McCarthy: ‘Have you no sense of decency?’
That one line sunk McCarthy. The Senate censored him. Spiraling downhill, health failing, he died in Bethesda Naval Hospital three years later.
Stalin exploded a nuclear bomb. Coming out of nowhere, rising like a shooting star, riding a wave of fear a demagogue changed politics. A lie caught up with him. In the blink of an eye he was gone.
Roy Cohn returned to New York, practicing law became a celebrity, became Donald Trump’s lawyer, mentoring Trump. In a league of his own, unflinching, powerful, Trump has soared far higher than McCarthy ever did – but history shows demagogues don’t last.