A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy

One thing needs to be cleared up right away: Joe McCarthy "never uncovered a Communist." Because McCarthyism was so devastating to rightwing anticommunism, giving a sour taste among decent people for half a century, there has been a deliberate (and often successful) attempt to rewrite history. In this version, McCarthy may have been crude and abrasive but he accomplished good work for the cause of freedom. As David Oshinsky lays out in endless detail in "A Conspiracy So Immense," there was nothing good about McCarthyism and little good about McCarthy except perhaps his charm. This was lost on many but reported powerfully by some who were strong political enemies. Oshinsky asserts, I think correctly, that his is not an ax-grinding history, and he certainly finds fault often enough with McCarthy's enemies, both political, journalistic and academic. He gives McCarthy credit where he can, which is not often. He portrays McCarthy as a man outside society, a natural: "He was so primitive, so cynical, so devoid of commitment to any goal but personal success, that few opponents had the will or stomach to fight him on his own terms." Or perhaps few Americans were as indecent as Joe McCarthy. That quotation comes from the introduction. Later, much later Oshinsky decides that McCarthy's anticommunism was genuine and not just, as so many charged, a cynical manipulation of an issue to get power, attention and money. This judgment must be heavily qualified. It's doubtful McCarthy knew anything about communism, and he definitely knew nothing about Americanism. That he was convinced that communism was evil means little; plenty, maybe almost all, of his opponents got that, too. Catholicism is key to McCarthy. Oshinsky says he was a ritual, not a moralistic Catholic. As long as he attended Mass and made his Easter duty, he had fulfilled the requirements of faith. Even priests who supported him are quoted as saying that McCarthy paid no attention to doctrine. This is an extremely important point and one where Oshinsky, in my opinion, errs. It has long been asserted that McCarthy was led to anticommunism by the Catholic clergy, and a dinner meeting is even said to have been the occasion that he was informed how he could use the issue to shore up his sagging political base after almost four years of undistinguished residence in the Senate. Oshinsky is skeptical about this meeting, for which there is no reliable testimony. However, a host of circumstantial evidence supports the idea that the American Catholic church recruited McCarthy. First, as anybody who attended Mass in the early `50s (as I did) knows, the church was desperate to launch a counterattack in eastern Europe and for that it needed some standard bearer in the U.S. government. McCarthy was it. Second, McCarthy's preferred companions of an evening were floozies and grifters. He did not regularly, or even irregularly, socialize with priests. To imagine that a singular long meeting with two pri

A book of politics, and the craving for power that drives some people to do almost anything to get that power. The broad outlines of the story are well known. Joe McCarthy grandstanding in front of the microphones accusing all kinds of people of being communists. Never presenting any evidence he was able to ruin the lives of many Americans just to gain his own satisfaction. Now reviled, these times really need to be viewed in the light of the times, and again now that we have learned more about those times. His accusations appear to have been unfounded. But this was the time of the Rosenberg executions. This was the time of the House UnAmerican Activities Commission (HUAC). As we have learned since with the release of the Venona documents, the Rosenbergs were guilty (well there's some question about Ethel). The activities of HUAC harmed a lot of people, especially in Hollywood, but did it really make us safer? It also appears that there were a lot of communists in our Government. But there is no indication that McCarthy really knew that. This is an accurate story of McCarthy's rapid rise, and his rapid fall.

Oshinsky lays out the McCarthy record in straight-forward, unbiased terms. Joe McCarthy was a deeply disturbed individual, who, having stumbled into a Senate Seat, went asking his friends for a good campaign "hook" to get reelected. They suggested communism. Over the next five years, McCarthy accused, literally, thousands of Americans of being Soviet agents. Not once did he produce evidence that any of those accused were, in fact, working on behalf of communism. He accused the leadership of the U.S. Army of communism because it insisted on drafting G. David Schine, "friend" of McCarthy's associate Roy Cohn. Anyone who publicly criticized what McCarthy was doing was accused as well. Anyone who so much as supported progressive causes was labled as unpatriotic. In 2005, does that sound familiar? It was inevitable that the Republican noise machine would eventually try to rehabilitate the record of one of the most disgraceful persons in American history. For the real facts on this living nightmare of a man, read this book.

Shocking...bizarre...funny...sad! American politics at it's worst! Could hardly stop reading it until I was finished!

Historian David Oshinsky, Professor of History at Rutgers University, does a masterful job in chronicling the life and times of one the most controversial political figures in our history. Oshinsky, an excellent story teller, allows the narrative to unfold in an unforced way, combining breazy prose with an excellent command of facts, thus allowing the drama of the McCarthy era to unwind naturally. Unlike most chroniclers of the early cold war -- and in particular, McCarthy biographers -- Oshinsky takes the time to examine McCarthy's childhood and rise to prominense with an unbiased eye. He notes that McCarthy was an excellent student, finishing four years in high school in one year; an industrious and indefatigable worker, helping his parents tend to the family farm while also starting his own poultry business; and a caring and warm person, liked by the town folk and respected by community leaders. McCarthy, however, also had competitive streak -- a win at anything cost mentality -- according to the author. In a given environment, such as campus politics, he was often daring, brutal and unforgiving -- completely focused on the task at hand. Oshinsky recites the story where McCarthy, in his final year of college, ran for class president. Prior to election day, McCarthy and his opponent agreed to vote for the other fellow, thus keeping the election friendly. McCarthy, however, after learning the election was a dead heat, changed his vote, telling his opponent that "the best man should win." Oshinsky notes that McCarthy could be both ruthless and caring; one moment, stealing an election, and the next, caring for a needy friend. This trait, writes Oshinsky, would run like an ubroken line throughout McCarthy's career. Oshinsky does an excellent job in chronicling McCarthy's rise to power -- his defeat of Judge Ed Warner for Circuit Court Judge, and then the defeat of "Fighting" Bob Lafolliate, United States Senator, in 1946. At the Age of 39, McCarthy was the youngest member of the United States Sen