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