Senator
Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism: What Are the Facts?
Was
Senator Joseph McCarthy a vicious smear artist who did nothing but make fabricated
charges against innocent people? Was he a fanatical anti-communist demagogue
who never found a single genuine communist in the government? No, he was not.
Senator McCarthy was not the raving fear monger that so many historians have
portrayed him as being. I do not argue that all of McCarthy's claims were
correct. Some of them were wrong. Nor do I argue that all of his methods were
without fault. Sometimes he and his staff used unethical means to achieve what
they believed were noble goals (on the other hand, many of McCarthy's enemies
used unethical methods in their efforts to destroy him). However, the portrayal
of McCarthy as a reckless fanatic who made utterly baseless accusations is
simply false. McCarthy was right about a number of things. Some of his methods
left much to be desired, but history has proven he was correct most of the
time. Many of the charges that are commonly leveled against McCarthy have no
basis in fact, yet they're accepted and repeated over and over again in movies
and documentaries, in history textbooks, and in popular books authored by
historians who should know better. It is a sad commentary on the state of
American historical scholarship that relatively few people are aware of these
facts.
Defenses
of Senator McCarthy
The Vindication of Joe McCarthy
Joe McCarthy: A Victimizer or Victim
Senator Joseph McCarthy's Charges "Now Accepted As Fact"
40 Questions and Answers About Senator McCarthy
Summary of Arthur Herman's Book on Senator McCarthy
McCarthyism: The Rosetta Stone of Liberal Lies
Conservapedia Article on Joseph McCarthy
The Hidden Truth About Joseph McCarthy
Attacks
on Senator McCarthy
Wikipedia Article on Joseph McCarthy
Senator
McCarthy’s Writings and Speeches
America’s Retreat from Victory
The History of George Catlett Marshall
Senator McCarthy’s Response to Edward R. Murrow