"Machine Gun Joe McCarthy" homosexual, drunk, witch hunter & blowheart.......................
CUNTICA
Milwaukee who rendezvous in the White Horse Inn that Senator Joe
McCarthy has often engaged in homosexual activities."
"As one of his biographers has pointed out, his campaign posters
pictured him in "full fighting gear, with an aviator's cap, and belt
upon belt of machine gun ammunition wrapped around his bulky torso."
He claimed he had completed thirty-two missions when in fact he had a
desk job and only flew in training exercises"
"As the newspapers reported, McCarthy had drunk himself to death".
Joseph McCarthy was born on a farm in Appleton, Wisconsin, on 14th
November, 1908. His parents were devout Roman Catholics and Joseph was
the fifth of nine children. He left school at 14 and worked as a
chicken farmer before managing a grocery store in the nearby town of
Manawa.
McCarthy returned to high school in 1928 and after achieving the
necessary qualifications, won a place at Marquette University. After
graduating McCarthy worked as a lawyer but was fairly unsuccessful and
had to supplement his income by playing poker.
McCarthy was originally a supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the
New Deal. However, after failing to become the Democratic Party
candidate for district attorney, he switched parties and became the
Republican Party candidate in an election to become a circuit court
judge. McCarthy shocked local officials by fighting a dirty campaign.
This included publishing campaign literature that falsely claimed that
his opponent, Edgar Werner, was 73 (he was actually 66). As well as
suggesting that Werner was senile, McCarthy implied that he was guilty
of financial corruption.
When the United States entered the Second Word War McCarthy resigned
as a circuit judge and joined the U.S. Marines. After the war McCarthy
ran against Robert La Follette to become Republican candidate for the
senate. As one of his biographers has pointed out, his campaign
posters pictured him in "full fighting gear, with an aviator's cap,
and belt upon belt of machine gun ammunition wrapped around his bulky
torso." He claimed he had completed thirty-two missions when in fact
he had a desk job and only flew in training exercises.
In his campaign, McCarthy attacked La Follette for not enlisting
during the war. He had been forty-six when Pearl Harbor had been
bombed, and was in fact too old to join the armed services. McCarthy
also claimed that La Follette had made huge profits from his
investments while he had been away fighting for his country. The
suggestion that La Follette had been guilty of war profiteering (his
investments had in fact been in a radio station), was deeply damaging
and McCarthy won by 207,935 to 202,557. La Follette, deeply hurt by
the false claims made against him, retired from politics, and later
committed suicide.
On his first day in the Senate, McCarthy called a press conference
where he proposed a solution to a coal-strike that was taking place at
the time. McCarthy called for John L. Lewis and the striking miners to
be drafted into the Army. If the men still refused to mine the coal,
McCarthy suggested they should be court-martialed for insubordination
and shot.
McCarthy's first years in the Senate were unimpressive. People also
started coming forward claiming that he had lied about his war record.
Another problem for McCarthy was that he was being investigated for
tax offences and for taking bribes from the Pepsi-Cola Company. In
May, 1950, afraid that he would be defeated in the next election,
McCarthy held a meeting with some of his closest advisers and asked
for suggestions on how he could retain his seat. Edmund Walsh, a Roman
Catholics priest, came up with the idea that he should begin a
campaign against communist subversives working in the Democratic
administration.
Joe McCarthy
Blacklisted by History
McCarthy also contacted his friend, the journalist, Jack Anderson. In
his autobiography, Confessions of a Muckraker, Anderson pointed out:
"At my prompting he (McCarthy) would phone fellow senators to ask what
had transpired this morning behind closed doors or what strategy was
planned for the morrow. While I listened in on an extension he would
pump even a Robert Taft or a William Knowland with the handwritten
questions I passed him."
In return, Anderson provided McCarthy with information about
politicians and state officials he suspected of being "communists".
Anderson later recalled that his decision to work with McCarthy "was
almost automatic.. for one thing, I owed him; for another, he might be
able to flesh out some of our inconclusive material, and if so, I
would no doubt get the scoop." As a result Anderson passed on his file
on the presidential aide, David Demarest Lloyd.
McCarthy also began receiving information from his friend, J. Edgar
Hoover, the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). William
C. Sullivan, one of Hoover's agents, later admitted that: "We were the
ones who made the McCarthy hearings possible. We fed McCarthy all the
material he was using." McCarthy made a speech in Salt Lake City where
he attacked Dean Acheson, the Secretary of State, as "a pompous
diplomat in striped pants".
On 9th February, 1950, at a meeting of the Republican Women's Club in
Wheeling, West Virginia, McCarthy claimed that he had a list of 205
people in the State Department that were known to be members of the
American Communist Party (late he reduced this figure to 57). McCarthy
went on to argue that some of these people were passing secret
information to the Soviet Union. He added: "The reason why we find
ourselves in a position of impotency is not because the enemy has sent
men to invade our shores, but rather because of the traitorous actions
of those who have had all the benefits that the wealthiest nation on
earth has had to offer - the finest homes, the finest college
educations, and the finest jobs in Government we can give."
The list of names was not a secret and had been in fact published by
the Secretary of State in 1946. These people had been identified
during a preliminary screening of 3,000 federal employees. Some had
been communists but others had been fascists, alcoholics and sexual
deviants. As it happens, if McCarthy had been screened, his own drink
problems and sexual preferences would have resulted in him being put
on the list.
On 20th February, 1950, McCarthy made a six hour speech on the Senate
floor supporting the allegations he had made in Salt Lake City. This
time he did not describe them as "card-carrying communists" because
this had been shown to be untrue. Instead he argued that his list were
all "loyalty risks". He also claimed that one of the president's
speech-writers, was a communist. David Demarest Lloyd immediately
issued a statement where he defended himself against McCarthy's
charges. President Harry S. Truman not only kept him on but promoted
him to the post of Administrative Assistant. Lloyd was indeed innocent
of these claims and McCarthy was forced to withdraw these allegations.
As Anderson admitted: "At my instigation, then, Lloyd had been done an
injustice that was saved from being grevious only by Truman's
steadfastness."
Herb Block, Joseph McCarthy,
Washington Post (4th March, 1954)
McCarthy also claimed that the Democratic administration had been
infiltrated by communist subversives. McCarthy named four of these
people, who had held left-wing views in their youth, but when
Democrats accused McCarthy of smear tactics, he suggested they were
part of this communist conspiracy. This claim was used against his
critics who were up for re-election in 1950. Many of them lost and
this made other Democrats reluctant to criticize McCarthy in case they
became targets of his smear campaigns.
Drew Pearson immediately launched an attack on Joe McCarthy. He
pointed out that only three people on the list were State Department
officials. When this list was first published four years ago, Gustavo
Duran and Mary Jane Keeney had both resigned from the State Department
in 1946. The third person, John S. Service, had been cleared after a
prolonged and careful investigation. Pearson also pointed out that
none of these people had been members of the American Communist Party.
Jack Anderson asked Pearson to stop attacking McCarthy: "He is our
best source on the Hill." Pearson replied, "He may be a good source,
Jack, but he's a bad man."
With the war going badly in Korea and communist advances in Eastern
Europe and in China, the American public were genuinely frightened
about the possibilities of internal subversion. McCarthy, as chairman
of the Government Committee on Operations of the Senate, was in an
ideal position to exploit this situation.
For the next two years McCarthy investigated various government
departments and questioned a large number of people about their
political past. Some people lost their jobs after they admitted they
had been members of the Communist Party. McCarthy made it clear to the
witnesses that the only way of showing that they had abandoned their
left-wing views was by naming other members of the party.
This witch-hunt and anti-communist hysteria became known as
McCarthyism. Some left-wing artists and intellectuals were unwilling
to live in this type of society and people such as Joseph Losey,
Richard Wright, Ollie Harrington, James Baldwin, Herbert Biberman,
Lester Cole and Chester Himes went to live and work in Europe.
McCarthyism was mainly used against Democrats associated with the New
Deal policies introduced by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s. Harry
S. Truman and members of his Democratic administration such as George
Marshall and Dean Acheson, were accused of being soft on communism.
Truman was portrayed as a dangerous liberal and McCarthy's campaign
helped the Republican candidate, Dwight Eisenhower, win the
presidential election in 1952.
After what had happened to McCarthy's opponents in the 1950 election,
most politicians were unwilling to criticize him in the Senate. As The
Boston Post pointed out: "Attacking him is this state is regarded as a
certain method of committing suicide. One notable exception was
William Benton, a senator from Connecticut and the owner of
Encyclopaedia Britannica. McCarthy and his supporters immediately
began smearing Benton. It was claimed that while Benton had been
Assistant Secretary of State he had protected known communists and
that he had been responsible for the purchase and display of "lewd art
works". Benton, who was also accused of being disloyal by McCarthy for
having much of his company's work printed in England, was defeated in
the 1952 elections.
McCarthy informed Jack Anderson that he had evidence that Professor
Owen Lattimore, director of the Walter Hines Page School of
International Relations at Johns Hopkins University, was a Soviet spy.
Drew Pearson, who knew Lattimore, and while accepting he held left-
wing views, he was convinced he was not a spy. In his speeches,
McCarthy referred to Lattimore as "Mr X... the top Russian spy... the
key man in a Russian espionage ring."
On 26th March, 1950, Pearson named Lattimore as McCarthy's Mr. X.
Pearson then went onto defend Lattimore against these charges.
McCarthy responded by making a speech in Congress where he admitted:
"I fear that in the case of Lattimore I may have perhaps placed too
much stress on the question of whether he is a paid espionage agent."
McCarthy then produced Louis Budenz, the former editor of The Daily
Worker. Budenz claimed that Lattimore was a "concealed communist".
However, as Anderson admitted: "Budenz had never met Lattimore; he
spoke not from personal observation of him but from what he remembered
of what others had told him five, six, seven and thirteen years
before."
Drew Pearson now wrote an article where he showed that Budenz was a
serial liar: "Apologists for Budenz minimize this on the ground that
Budenz has now reformed. Nevertheless, untruthful statements made
regarding his past and refusal to answer questions have a bearing on
Budenz's credibility." He went on to point out that "all in all,
Budenz refused to answer 23 questions on the ground of self-
incrimination".
Owen Lattimore was eventually cleared of the charge that he was a
Soviet spy or a secret member of the American Communist Party and like
other victims of McCarthyism, he went to live in Europe and for
several years was professor of Chinese studies at Leeds University.
Despite the efforts of Jack Anderson, by the end of June, 1950, Drew
Pearson had written more than forty daily columns and a significant
percentage of his weekly radio broadcasts, that had been devoted to
discrediting the charges made by Joseph McCarthy.
Joe McCarthy now told Anderson: "Jack, I'm going to have to go after
your boss. I mean, no holds barred. I figure I've already lost his
supporters; by going after him, I can pick up his enemies." McCarthy,
when drunk, told Assistant Attorney General Joe Keenan, that he was
considering "bumping Pearson off".
On 15th December, 1950, McCarthy made a speech in Congress where he
claimed that Pearson was "the voice of international Communism" and "a
Moscow-directed character assassin." McCarthy added that Pearson was
"a prostitute of journalism" and that Pearson "and the Communist Party
murdered James Forrestal in just as cold blood as though they had
machine-gunned him."
McCarthyism in America
McCarthyism
Over the next two months McCarthy made seven Senate speeches on Drew
Pearson. He called for a "patriotic boycott" of his radio show and as
a result, Adam Hats, withdrew as Pearson's radio sponsor. Although he
was able to make a series of short-term arrangements, Pearson was
never again able to find a permanent sponsor. Twelve newspapers
cancelled their contract with Pearson.
McCarthy and his friends also raised money to help Fred Napoleon
Howser, the Attorney General of California, to sue Pearson for
$350,000. This involved an incident in 1948 when Pearson accused
Howser of consorting with mobsters and of taking a bribe from gambling
interests. Help was also given to Father Charles Coughlin, who sued
Pearson for $225,000. However, in 1951 the courts ruled that Pearson
had not libeled either Howser or Coughlin.
Only the St. Louis Star-Times defended Pearson. As its editorial
pointed out: "If Joseph McCarthy can silence a critic named Drew
Pearson, simply by smearing him with the brush of Communist
association, he can silence any other critic." However, Pearson did
get the support of J. William Fulbright, Wayne Morse, Clinton
Anderson, William Benton and Thomas Hennings in the Senate.
In 1952 McCarthy appointed Roy Cohn as the chief counsel to the
Government Committee on Operations of the Senate. Cohn had been
recommended by J. Edgar Hoover, who had been impressed by his
involvement in the prosecution of Julius Rosenberg and Ethel
Rosenberg. Soon after Cohn was appointed, he recruited his best
friend, David Schine, to become his chief consultant.
David Schine, Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn (1953)
McCarthy's next target was what he believed were anti-American books
in libraries. His researchers looked into the Overseas Library Program
and discovered 30,000 books by "communists, pro-communists, former
communists and anti anti-communists." After the publication of this
list, these books were removed from the library shelves.
For some time opponents of McCarthy had been accumulating evidence
concerning his homosexual activities. Several members of his staff,
including Roy Cohn and David Schine, were also suspected of having a
sexual relationship. Although well-known by political journalists, the
first article about it did not appear until Hank Greenspun published
an article in the Las Vegas Sun in 25th October, 1952. Greenspun wrote
that: "It is common talk among homosexuals in Milwaukee who rendezvous
in the White Horse Inn that Senator Joe McCarthy has often engaged in
homosexual activities."
McCarthy considered a libel suit against Greenspun but decided against
it when he was told by his lawyers that if the case went ahead he
would have to take the witness stand and answer questions about his
sexuality. In an attempt to stop the rumours circulating, McCarthy
married his secretary, Jeannie Kerr. Later the couple adopted a five-
week old girl from the New York Foundling Home.
In October, 1953, McCarthy began investigating communist infiltration
into the military. Attempts were made by McCarthy to discredit Robert
Stevens, the Secretary of the Army. The president, Dwight Eisenhower,
was furious and now realised that it was time to bring an end to
McCarthy's activities.
The United States Army now passed information about McCarthy to
journalists who were known to be opposed to him. This included the
news that McCarthy and Roy Cohn had abused congressional privilege by
trying to prevent David Schine from being drafted. When that failed,
it was claimed that Cohn tried to pressurize the Army into granting
Schine special privileges. Drew Pearson, published the story on 15th
December, 1953.
Some figures in the media, such as writers George Seldes and I. F.
Stone, and cartoonists, Herb Block and Daniel Fitzpatrick, had fought
a long campaign against McCarthy. Other figures in the media, who had
for a long time been opposed to McCarthyism, but were frightened to
speak out, now began to get the confidence to join the counter-attack.
Edward Murrow, the experienced broadcaster, used his television
programme, See It Now, on 9th March, 1954, to criticize McCarthy's
methods. Newspaper columnists such as Walter Lippmann also became more
open in their attacks on McCarthy.
The senate investigations into the United States Army were televised
and this helped to expose the tactics of Joseph McCarthy. One
newspaper, the Louisville Courier-Journal, reported that: "In this
long, degrading travesty of the democratic process, McCarthy has shown
himself to be evil and unmatched in malice." Leading politicians in
both parties, had been embarrassed by McCarthy's performance and on
2nd December, 1954, a censure motion condemned his conduct by 67 votes
to 22.
McCarthy also lost the chairmanship of the Government Committee on
Operations of the Senate. He was now without a power base and the
media lost interest in his claims of a communist conspiracy. As one
journalist, Willard A. Edwards, pointed out: "Most reporters just
refused to file McCarthy stories. And most papers would not have
printed them anyway."
McCarthy, who had been drinking heavily for many years, was discovered
to have cirrhosis of the liver. An alcoholic, he was unable to take
the advice of doctors and friends to stop drinking. Joseph McCarthy
died in the Bethesda Naval Hospital on 2nd May, 1957. As the
newspapers reported, McCarthy had drunk himself to death.