My dad was Fred Fisher, the attorney accused by Sen. McCarthy on national television (as documented in the film clip) of being a communist. The impact of this smear on dad's early career, as happened to so many people during the 'red scare', was devastating. We received death threats in the mail, and my siblings and I were taunted at school. We lost all of our friends except for those, by the way, who were Jewish, though we were a Protestant family. Dad persevered, however, and had a brilliant career as an attorney with the Hale & Dorr law firm in Boston until his death in 1989. He was a lifelong Republican and raised a lot of money for the Massachusetts Republican party. And when he died, President Bush sent us a personal letter of sympathy. Dad was a kind and caring person, and I miss him everyday. By the way, it's interesting to note that the junior lawyer who helped defend the Army against McCarthy's accusations, and who sat beside lead attorney Joseph Welch during the hearings, was James St. Claire. This is the same St. Claire who later served as defense attorney to Nixon during the Watergate scandal. Amazing, huh?
Hamilton Fisher Dear Hamilton, what a terrible story. It is hard to imagine how big the repression was those days. I served as a Dutch commando during a period of the cold war. However we never experienced a witch hunt like you did. Thank you for sharing this impressive story. Kind regards, Frank Klaassen
Thank you so much for your note, Frank. I'm honored to hear from a veteran of the Dutch commandos. You were on the frontlines during the cold war. God bless you for your service. Best regards, Hamilton
There's no doubt that Joe McCarthy was an alcoholic and there is no doubt that his alcoholism played a significant part in his death, at 48, in 1957. But it's unfair to assume that he was prone to drunken ramblings. It's potentially a mitigating factor in his appalling behaviour during this time.
beasleybrother1 I remember a Twilight Zone episode called He's Alive, where Dennis Hopper portrays a Neo Nazi who encounters Hitler's Ghost and his taught by this spector how to speak and promote The Nazi Cause. and that is how I look at Ted Cruz,I'm beginning to think that Cruz and Michele Bachmann had that same encounter with McCarthy's Ghost, This was Rod Serling's Closing narration and tell me if it does not sound familiar, Where will he go next, this phantom from another time, this resurrected ghost of a previous nightmare - Chicago? Los Angeles? Miami, Florida? Vincennes, Indiana? Syracuse, New York , Or Washington D.C.? Anyplace, everyplace, where there's hate, where there's prejudice, where there's bigotry. He's alive. He's alive so long as these evils exist. Remember that when he comes to your town. Remember it when you hear his voice speaking out through others. Remember it when you hear a name called, a minority attacked, any blind, unreasoning assault on a people or any human being. He's alive because through these things we keep him alive. So when you hear people like Cruz or Bachmann or The Tea Party spew their political Bile remember McCarthy is still alive because THEY keep him alive.
My thoughts exactly. Cruz has an uncanny resemblance in both physical appearance and personality to Joseph McCarthy. I once heard someone describing Ted Cruz as an "unscrupulous moral crusader." It is an apt description that also applies to McCarthy. Both of them are nasty bullies, and neither Cruz nor McCarthy has any sense of decency left in them.
Guess who McCarthy's chief counsel, Roy Cohn, mentored for more than a decade beginning in the 70s - none other than our president, the inimitable Donald J. Trump. Wonders never cease.
@omnius5757 He was a witch hunter, and he ruined countless lives. I am sure his motives were sincere and he probably believed he was really hunting communists down, but that doesn't excuse the damage he did. I stand with Murrow, now and always. "We will not walk in fear, one of another."
@cfwpiano He was a bully and a coward,he only picked on lone people and people too weak to oppose him,they said the same things welch said,but they were too small to make a difference,Mccarthy was way overconfident and thought he could take on the big dogs,he was entirely wrong,resulting in his utter destruction.
It is important for governments to have a faceless boogey man. This is strongly applicable, mostly in dictatorships and many third world nations. However, as you can see, Western democracies are not immune. "Commies" were the favorite whipping boy for many years. Before that, Anti-Semitism was a popular ideal. Recently we have Muslims, Persians and Arabs thrown into the batch.
This is a time when middle America finally stood up against cultural fascism. I think its happening again with a little fine tuning. We'll soon need middle America again.
Why is it so difficult to voice an opinion without being ridiculed and called a moron? This is America. I am not making inflammatory statements or insulting anybody. I would greatly appreciate it if you keep to the subject at hand and leave the personal abuse aside.
@lexo30 Couldn't agree with you more. As another example, consider one of my favorite authors, Rex Stout, who wrote against fascism during the war, against communism after, and then against McCarthyism once the McCarthy squad came after him for having been on the board of a magazine which later went Communist. Stout had no problem seeing the flaws in fascism, communism, and McCarthyism. Lots of Americans didn't, and don't. The heart of Americanism rejects all those views, IMO.
@ultramegachicken68 Understood. I consider myself left-wing, but am very tired of the ignorant assumption on the part of many right-wingers that anybody left of themselves is a Soviet sympathiser. I don't think that Joe Welch was even left-wing. It was McCarthy who was the extremist: Welch was in the historical mainstream of the American political tradition (until it shifted drastically to the right in the 70s and 80s) and he just got exasperated with McCarthy fouling the nest.
@steveinchelsea In the mid 1950's the membership of the USA Communist Party was around 5,000. About 1,500 were FBI informants. Robert Hanson betrayed his country for money, not ideology. And the most dangerous was Aldric Ames, who worked for the CIA and really was a Communist. Things have happened in my life the past few weeks that have forced me to rethink some of my positions. I will admit, McCarthy went overboard in more than a few cases. But I agree with his intentions.
If anybody was curious about the cultural impact mccarthyism had in the United states you should check out Cold War Cool Medium by Thomas Doherty. It also gives a great recount of the army-McCarthy hearings.
My point is that McCarthyism is used in the way you just used it, as an insult. Anyhow, " Also the McCarthyists run the Cable media these days." Cable media is ran by CEO's of multinational companies, mostly concerned with quarterly profits, beholden to share holders. Having said that, you seem to miss the fact that i am saying McCarthyism is obviously a bad thing.
@lexo30 Disgusting. I guess our work isn't done. God rest you, Mr. Welch, I'll try to do the best I can with what I've got. God knows I don't have your abilities or resources, but what I've got I'll bring to the fight.
75 years ago two million of my countrymen where murdered by the nazis because a great number of people decided to adopt someone else's opinion and sacrificed their freedom.
Yes, and the horror happened while much of the world stood by and watched. It reminds me of Churchill's statement that "There's a special place reserved in Hell for those who in times of great moral crisis remain neutral." Great man, Churchill.
A people which ignores history has no past and no future. The real heroes are are the ones that are standing up in the crowd. Sadly enough there are not many of them.
Hamilton Fisher In a small town close to where I live is a monument for the Jewish citizens that where deported during ww2 the text says; "from this place six of my fellow countrymen where deported to Auschwitz. And I, what did I do? I watched and did nothing." I think it says it all.
Coincidentally, my wife's maiden name was McCarthy, and her dad, an Irish cop in Boston, used to tell the family about Senator McCarthy. I think the McCarthys trace their clan back to Tara in Ireland.... But other than that, no...
Well, if someone whose religion professes tolerance and love, and equality, still manages to harbor hatred towards anyone who doesn't believe what he/she does... well, yeah I consider them beneath me
In the 1977 TV movie ‘Tail Gunner Joe’ Burgess Meredith does a brilliant ,note-perfect, reenactment of Welsh. Once I started watching it I was hooked based on his performance alone…
Meredith was red baited by Red Channels Magazine for going to a funeral of a leftist. He remembered that when he picked up an Emmy Award for his performance.
@campusliberty1 His widow has remained silent, considering she died in the 1970's. and his daughter Tierney does a lot of internet posting as a private citizen.
@rollwave16: You appear to refute your own argument by claiming that there were Communists working within the government (not a crime, btw. I assume you mean to say Soviet spies, which would be a crime). As you correctly say, "not one person went to jail because of McCarthy." So after two decades of looking for communists within the government, McCarthy was unable to expose even one soviet agent or Communist (again, not a crime, unless you view Thought Crime as criminal). Yet you also claim that "They [Communists] Were (sic) in our govt. They were working for Stalin." How do you reconcile these two facts? As for those your challenge to "name one person falsely investigated as a government security risk by McCarthy,just 1 (sic), off the top of my head are: -Dashes Hammett (author) -Owen Latimore (Director of The Page School of International Relations a Johns Hopkins University) -Abraham Feller (Chief Cousel of the United Nations, who tragically committed suicide during the the investigations of the U.N) -The United States Army (seriously) -President Dwight Eisenhower (no, really) These are just off the top of my head. There are many more. And since not one person investigated by McCarthy was found to be a Soviet spy, one could conclude that everybody investigated as a security risk by McCarthy were falsely investigated. Because, you see, nobody was ever indicted on charges of spying; at worst some people were found guilty of perjury.
@steveinchelsea He did not intervene to get pardons for the SS. He intervened because of the how the trial was conducted and judicial irregularities. They all went to prison, many received death sentences, but many were commuted, not because of McCarthy. He did lie about his war record, that was very wrong of him. But he also flew 12 combat missions, that is for certain. He joined when he didnt have to, since he was exempt as a sitting court judge is Wisconsin.
Goodness, I remember saying something in elementary school about those ongoing Mc Carthy hearings as they were televised (yours truly, already with a social conscience I was, like 9??) Anyway... one of the kids in school pointed at me, yelling, "You're a filthy Communist! Go back to Russia!! My father knows all about you!!" Hatred is taught , role-modeled and its toxicity, often passed from parent to child. That other kid was my age. And, he already hated me. Hmm....
@KAIROA I admit to little knowledge of McCarthy. So in all truth I mean no harm when I ask you this. What about those he is said to have accused that were truly NOT communists? What about his response to Murrow? I only know what I've been told so far so I would like to hear your opinion of those.
AHHHHHH Nathan Bedford Forrest the Greatest EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Name ALONE stands for greatness He was very pro- black after the war Lincoln never thought blacks could be more than entry level workers Forrest said anyone who stands in you way I will fight with you Mc Carthy another fighter for America
This is one of those times in history where I just beam with pride and joy at the courage and humanity of a man that saw fit to put a stop to a tyrant who attempted to heap turmoil upon the American people for no other reason than to feed his ego. Joseph McCarthy was a little man with no sense of decency....Thank you Mr. Welch for your efforts, your dignity, and your determination in making right the wrongs of a dangerous, narcissistic bore.
The tyranny is called communism and Fred Fischer was a part of that tyrannical machine. Welch being caught red-handed with that mistake, should have been fired too.
@lexo30 Sorry, I went over my head. Is not my intention to abuse people. Sometimes when I read something like that, I think people don't understand what patriotism is.
That was never the intention. For the Soviets, the key things was just having information. They were and are a very paranoid people . . . kind of like us. We were running agents too.
Conner: Thank you for your clarification there. As far as the definition of Liberalism which current political party in the United States of America would you believe to best represent the term Liberal or do none represent Liberalism? Which political party in the United States if any best represents Socialism and why? What do Progressive Liberalism and that definition of Liberalism have in common?
Don't bother trying to argue when it is clear the other side is not interested in at all in evidence. Some people will believe anything so long as it is repeated to them a certain number of times in certain social situations. It is a serious choice they make to ignore evidence in favor of certain people they, for some foolish reason, decide to trust. Look at the arguments here. It is empty. People will only get in large groups and agree. They must wake up to use reason.
@KAIROA For your information, I am no longer young, and I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've smoked dope. If you had an argument you'd have made it, instead of resorting to crude abuse and unfounded suppositions about my personal life. If you have the evidence to support what you say, bring it on. If you don't, go to bed.
welch wishes . do you know who Fredrick fisher is . if he was so squeaky clean WHY did he get sent back to boston . are you actually listing to what is said on this video .
@tomitstube It's not so much that they kicked our asses as much as we killed so many Judeo-Bolsheviks that we began to drown in their blood. It's all very sad, though. ):
@campusliberty1 Crap. The Venona decrypts revealed that there was more Soviet espionage than many 50s liberals suspected, but McCarthy's nakedly opportunistic and self-serving efforts probably turned more people to the Soviet cause than helped America. McCarthy wasn't in it to fight Communism, he was in it for himself, and in that respect he was, as Joseph Welch said, cruel, reckless and indecent. Not to mention a bullshitter. (Many of his accusations weren't true and he knew it.)
@lexo30 You have not read anything that convinces you Lattimore was a Soviet sympathiser because you are a Soviet sympathiser. But try this out... after a tour of Stalin's slave-labor camps in 1944 he compared them the gulags to "a combination Hudson's Bay Company and TVA [Tennese Valley Authority]." After Stalins show trials and executions he dismissed criticisms by saying "A great many abuses have been discovered and rectified." Sympathy for executions without due process and slavery
@MrColeStone As I have already said, this was the 1950's, a very different time, before the Counterculture Era. What priests have done in this day in age is inexcusable. But dont condemn a past generation for the mistakes of this one.
@Buttpower -I makes sense when you are answering multiple comments. If one's opponent during a debate take 15 minutes instead of the allowed 5 minutes are you supposed to respond in 5 minutes or longer? I responed to 2 comments in response to his 3 comments. Dont try to think Buttpower. Youre not any good at it.
