THE PRESIDENCY: McCarthyism v. Trumanism

With a vehemence which he usually reserves for the political bear pits, Harry Truman last week turned the full weight of the presidency against “McCarthyism.” He did not use the word, or mention the name of Wisconsin’s Senator Joseph McCarthy; but in a full-dress speech dedicating the new Washington headquarters of the American Legion, Truman left no doubt that he thought “the smear technique” could be worked both ways.

“Americanism” is under attack, he declared, by people “who are loudly proclaiming that they are its chief defenders . . . They are trying to create fear and suspicion among us by the use of slander, unproved accusations and just plain lies . . . They are trying to get us to believe that our Government is riddled with Communism and corruption . . . These slandermongers are trying to get us so hysterical that no one will stand up to them for fear of being called a Communist. Now this is an old Communist trick in reverse . . . That is not fair play. That is not Americanism.”

Truman’s statement (which was an old McCarthy trick in reverse) is certain to inflate “McCarthyism” as a national issue. What is it?

The Red Herring. In February 1950, Senator McCarthy made a speech at Wheeling, W.Va., in which he charged—without proof then or thereafter—that Dean Acheson knew of 205 Communists working in the State Department. It was not much of a speech, and McCarthy at that time was not a well known senator. Yet subsequent, and inconsistent, reiterations of that speech led to headlines throughout the nation. More significantly, McCarthy began to draw the intense interest of millions of Americans. Joe had stumbled onto something big. He is no man to let go of a political asset.

The essence of “McCarthyism” is not McCarthy’s callous disregard for the truth. It is the thing he stumbled upon: a deep-seated public belief that Communists did infiltrate the U.S. Government, influencing its policies to the detriment of the U.S. national security. This belief is founded on many facts known to the public before Joe McCarthy opened his big mouth at Wheeling.

The date of McCarthy’s emergence is important to an understanding of “McCarthyism.” Alger Hiss had been convicted two weeks before, and four days after the trial’s end, Dean Acheson made his statement: “I do not intend to turn my back on Alger Hiss.”

Throughout the investigation of Communists in Government, Truman, Acheson & Co. gave the impression that they thought the whole thing was nonsense. Truman called the Hiss case “a red herring.” To this day, neither Truman nor Acheson has ever expressed a sense of outrage over Reds in Washington comparable to the indignation that Truman last week poured on Joe McCarthy.

The Red Afterglow. When the public read the evidence in the Hiss case and other revelations made around that time, it did not think that all the accusations about Communism were nonsense. It expected some housecleaning—or at least an official admission that the house had been a bit dirty. Truman stubbornly continued to resist such suggestions. When Acheson made his smug statement on Hiss, he set up the pins for McCarthy.

The policy of pretending that Communist influence on the Government didn’t exist can be called “Trumanism.” It is the real father of “McCarthyism.”

“McCarthyism” is not going to be stopped by Truman speeches or by the witch-hunting of witch-hunters, or by proving that McCarthy is a slippery character and no gentleman. “McCarthyism” is going to be around until Harry Truman, the President of the U.S., eliminates from U.S. foreign policy the tendency to appease Communism. This tendency is the red afterglow of Communists in & around the Government. It keeps “McCarthyism” bright & shining.