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 was a noble goal (on the other hand, many of
McCarthy's enemies used unethical means 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 on several points. 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 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"
Some 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
Attacks
on Senator McCarthy
Wikipedia Article on Joseph McCarthy