McCarthyism: When zeal is no substitute for strategy

Even anti-communists are subject to Conquest's Law.

William F. Buckley discussing McCarthyism on Firing Line in 1966.

The discussion is quite good- courteous, logical, and free of the pointless pyrotechnics we see on cable TV today.

I am struck by WFB's admission that "Joe McCarthy discovered anti-Communism in 1950".

One can grant the sincerity of McCarthy's commitment to the cause while, at the same time, recognizing that the zeal of a new convert is no substitute for careful research or clear-eyed strategy. In fact, naive enthusiasm can be dangerous as the case of Sir Robert Peel illustrates.

Andre Maurois:

Like all intelligent men who are not in any way creative, Sir Robert Peel was dangerously sympathetic towards the creations of others. Incapable of formulating a system, he threw himself voraciously on those he came across, and applied them more vigorously than would their inventors.

Cherne notes that McCarthy was supported by the communists in his 1946 race against Robert LaFollet. So that seems to confirm what Robert Conquest wrote in Reflections on a Ravaged Century.

Safe to say that the communists miscalculated slightly in backing Joe McCarthy. But that is politics.

McCarthyism: Seeds of Destruction

For three years after the Wheeling speech, Sen. Joseph McCarthy gained power and influence despite the strident opposition of journalists, academics, the White House, and Democrats in the Senate. After the 1952 election he should have been poised for even bigger and better things. The Republicans controlled the Senate and Eisenhower was president. Yet Ike succeeded where Truman and Tydings had failed: he put an end to "McCarthyism".

Thomas Reeves:

In his State of the Union message of February 2 [1953] Eisenhower repeated a controversial statement he made in Green Bay during the campaign: the primary responsibility for rooting subversion the federal government, he said, rested squarely upon the executive branch.

In one sense, Ike was just stating the obvious: in our constitutional system the executive branch is responsible for the security measures in the federal agencies. Congress had neither the power nor the resources to hunt spies and security risks. It also seems clear that the president was sending a message to his party in congress -- a veiled order to stand down on the subversion issue.

Republicans were in charge and the last thing Eisenhower wanted was the distraction of intramural squabbling. After all, he had rose to prominence within George Marshall's army where the man in charge was left alone to get on with the job.

Not a message McCarthy was open to.

Ralph de Toledano:

With the election of General Eisenhower, for which Joe could take some credit, and the Republican control of the Senate, Joe became rash. As chairman of the Senate Government Operations Committee and its powerful Permanent Investigation subcommittee, he was in the catbird seat. He had the authority and the subpoena power to get at the evidence that had been previously withheld. But against the advice of his strongest and most savvy allies, he passed up as counsel Robert Morris—highly knowledgeable, formerly of the Office of Naval Intelligence, thorough, and respected. McCarthy instead chose Roy Cohn—brash, unprincipled, and inexperienced.

Reeves:

With the arrival of Cohn, a new chapter in McCarthy's life began, one that would see him elevated to even greater heights of international notoriety and plunged to the lowest depths of political ruin and personal despair.

Ike posed a far more dangerous threat than Truman. He was not just president, he was also the head of the Republican party. Up to now McCarthy enjoyed solid support from his party in the Senate. He could not count on that if he decided to battle the Eisenhower administration.

Here again Roy Cohn represented a problem for McCarthy. He had no loyalty to the GOP and no experience on Capital Hill. As M. Stanton Evans notes, Cohn was "a liberal Democrat by upbringing and affiliation".

Before joining McCarthy Cohn had come to public's attention as a prosecutor within the Truman justice department .