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University Daily Kansan Wednesday, March 31, 1954
McCarthyism: Its Meaning, Its Method, Its Man Controversial Senator Hits High; Something for Thought- Draws Criticism in Army Case Is This Democracy?
The most-talked about public figure today is not the President or Audrey Hepburn or Casey Stengel. Instead the honor goes to a senator from Wisconsin, Joseph Raymond McCarthy, the most controversial Republican in many years.
Sen. McCarthy's popularity—or notoriety, depending on personal opinion—has reached a new high in the past few weeks, due primarily to the investigation in the Zwicker-Peress case.
Brig. Gen. Ralph Zwicker was asked to explain why the Army had promoted, and then honorably discharged Maj. Irving Peress, a dentist who had refused to sign a loyalty affidavit. Gen. Zwicker, ordered by the Army not to reveal any security details, drew abuse from Sen. McCarthy, who said the General "should be removed from any command" and was "not fit to wear the uniform" of the U.S. Army.
A storm of controversy arose over the Zwicker case and the resulting feud between Secretary of the Army Robert Stevens and Sen. McCarthy. Public opinion began to form against the ex-Marine from Wisconsin, and stalwart Republican leaders condemned his actions, including Leonard Hall, GOP national chairman, who said Sen. McCarthy does "more harm than good."
Such controversies are not new to Sen. McCarthy, however. Although he was elected to the Senate as recently as 1946, he began grabbing headlines as soon as 1950, when he announced a list of 205 in the State department as being suspected Communists.
Although he never was able to prove anything against most of the 205, the public began to think of the Senator as an outspoken enemy of communism. There was concern about communism among American people, and many believed the Red threat had been treated too lightly.
Sen, McCarthy, therefore, became champion of anti-Communists. He was re-elected by a tremendous majority in 1952. Just before the Zwicker case, a Gallup poll showed he had the approval of 50 per cent of the public, while 29 per cent opposed him and 21 per cent had no opinion.
As he went his reckless way, the Senator was successful in removing a few suspected Communists from government payrolls. The most notorious of the few probably was Owen Lattimore, State department official later indicted for perjury after being a McCarthy target.
No one was too powerful or influential to escape the wrath of Sen. McCarthy in his war on Reds in government. To him Dean Acheson, former secretary of state, was one of the "Pied Pipers of the Politburo" and the ex-prime minister of England was "Comrade Attlee," who worked "toward the expansion of communism."
More recently he has blasted such personalities
as Adlai Stevenson, Democratic presidential candidate in 1952, and Edward R. Murrow, CBS-TV newscaster.
But why? What purpose lies behind Sen. McCarthy's war against all suspected Communists?
Some say he hopes to be the Republican candidate for president in 1956, but he is a Catholic and Catholics, ever since Al Smith was defeated in 1928, are not considered good prospects for the presidency.
A great many, however, believe that the Senator's prime objective is to increase his own political power. An editorial in the Nation said flatly Sen. McCarthy was out to undercut the administration, especially in regard to foreign policy.
The Nation said the Senator emphatically opposes President Dwight D. Eisenhower's policy to aid allies who trade with Red Hower, adding that if he can win against the administration it will be Sen. McCarthy and not the President who controls the Republican party.
There were others who denied that the Wisconsin power had any aim in mind other than the welfare of the nation.
Writing in the American Mercury John T. Flynn said the myth of McCarthyism easily was understood. "He is opposed to admitting Americans who are the enemies of our American system—Communists or Socialists—into the U.S. government," he wrote.
Sen. William Fulbright (D.-Ark.) has expressed a general feeling toward the methods, not the purposes, of McCarthyism.
"When public men indulge themselves in abuse, when they deny others a fair trial, when they resort to innuendo and insinuations, to libel, scandal, and suspicion, then our democratic society is outraged and democracy is baffled. It has no apparatus to deal with the boor, the liar, the lout, and the anti-democrat in general." Sen. Fulbright said.
From President Eisenhower to the man on the street the same opposition has been voiced against McCarthy tactics. His own committee has begun to look into his investigating procedure, probably to result in restricting his activities, particularly in the matter of his "one-man" hearings.
March has been a rough month for the Senator from the dairyland state. Public opinion, the administration, and congressional leaders all have turned against him, branding him a demagogue. He does not come up for re-election until 1958, however, and perhaps by that time he will have regained sufficient political strength to be returned to the Senate for another term.
If Sen. McCarthy were running for the Senate in Wisconsin this fall instead of 1958, there's much to indicate that his congressional career might be ended. —Sam Teaford
University of Kansas Student Newspaper News Room KU 251 Ad Room KU 378 Member of the Kansas Press Assn., National Editor Assn., Inland Daily Press Representation by the National Advertising Service, 420 Madison Avenue, N.Y. City, Subscription rates; $3 per month or $4.50 per annum (or in affrontance). Published in Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University of Kansas university holidays and examination periods. Entered second class matter Sept. 17, 1910 at Lawrence, Kan., Post Office under act
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The Beta boys took another first in the Rock Chalk Saturday night. The DU's drill team must have lost the cup for them. Perhaps another cadet had the ear of one of the judges.
McCarthyism is a term used to describe the tactics and aims of Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R.-Wis.) by both his supporters and his enemies. It is a term that will probably retain its meaning even after the illustrious senator has faded from the political limelight. It is a term that describes a means of accomplishing an end; a term that describes a political philosophy or means that has become so strong that the American people are eventually going to be faced with the problem of accepting or rejecting it.
McCarthvism—democracy or demagoguery?
But what is McCarthyism? What are the objectives of the man whose name it carries? And, more important, what does it mean to you?
The term McCarthyism first came into being as a smear word used by his opponents to describe his tactics. However, Sen. McCarthy has come to wear the term with pride, because by the of the term people are recognizing him as the leader in the domestic fight against communism.
But what is the actual meaning of McCarthyism when the term is applied to the actions of Sen McCarthy?
One of McCarthy's favorite devices is to jump into the headlines by making mass accusations. It usually turns out that he can prove his charges against only a small part of those accused, but by that time he is busy accusing someone else.
he is busy accusing someone
Can we say, then, that McCarthyism is false accusation?
Another tactic used by McCarthy is that of publicizing accusations against an individual or individuals without giving them a chance to answer or defend themselves beforehand. In some instances the first time an individual has known he was being investigated or accused by McCarthy was when he saw it in the headlines of the papers.
Can we say, then, that McCarthyism involves public accusations without a chance to answer or defend oneself?
In conducting his investigations and hearings McCarthy has worked, to a large extent, all by himself. He has taken for himself the power to subject prominent or unimportant men to public hearings in which he made the decisions and acted as the "prosecutor."
Can we say, then, that McCarthyism means a one-man judge and jury?
And could we also assume that McCarthyism entails guilt by association, since he has condemned men because of former associations with men and organizations accused of being communistic?
As to McCarthy's objectives, what he hopes to accomplish, only he knows the real answer. From all indications, and because of the devices he employs, we would tend to go along with the idea that he is out for what he can get for McCarthy, as much as for what he can do to fight communism.
But if they think that democracy can survive without its being shoved down their throats they had better withdraw their support of Sen. Joseph McCarthy and what he stands for.
McCarthy has come more and more in recent months to be considered a demagogue by his political associates, and is not in too strong a position at the present time. But you can depend on a man of his dynamic personality and motivation to find another flag to wave in the near future. —Don Tice
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
"Then again, some schools are quite open about subsidizing their athletes."