26. F*cking Commies- McCarthy and the Red Scare

Sorry this came out late, for some reason it did not publish.

"History doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes"- Mark Twain

It seems to be a common ideology that anyone who identifies as "left" or "liberal" or "progressive" or audible gasp "democratic socialist" is "a f*cking commie"!!!! And that of course is bad.... but why? Why is that rhetoric so ingrained in American vernacular?

In the wake of World War II, the tenuous "alliance" between the USSR and the USA disintegrated. With the entrance of nuclear arms, the ideological enemies and political superpowers fell immediately into the decades long Cold War. Fear of nuclear fallout, another devastating world war, was perfect political fodder for those who wanted to use fear to generate power, privilege and wealth for themselves.
Senator Joseph R McCarthy was a super power in his own right. From his speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, viciously clasping a piece of paper he claimed had over 200 names of employees in the state department who were communist spies. He levied unfounded accusations, ruined careers and lied his way into infamy. He, and his right hand man and future mafia and Trump lawyer Roy Cohn, made it a point to paint all their opposition as communist enemies of state. And it worked.. until it didn't.
We explore not just the life and movements of Joseph McCarthy, Roy Cohn, the Red Scare, the Lavender Scare and the thread of manipulation that leads us all the way to now.

Sources:

1. Richard H. Rovere – Senator Joe McCarthy (Harcourt Brace, 1959)

2. Ellen Schrecker – Many Are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America (Princeton University Press, 1998)

3. David M. Oshinsky – A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy (Oxford University Press, 1983)

4. Richard M. Fried – Nightmare in Red: The McCarthy Era in Perspective (Oxford University Press, 1990)

5. Howard Zinn – A People's History of the United States

6. John Lewis Gaddis – The Cold War: A New History (Penguin Press, 2005)

7. Arthur Herman – Joseph McCarthy: Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America's Most Hated Senator

Government & Legal Documents

1. Army–McCarthy Hearings Transcript (1954)
   Available through the U.S. Senate Historical Office and National Archives.
   Excerpts are commonly found in collections like:
   📁 National Archives – Army-McCarthy Hearings

2. U.S. Senate Resolution 301 (1954) – Censure of Senator McCarthy.

   • Congressional Record

3. FBI Vault – Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Files

• FBI Records: The Vault – Rosenberg Case

1. Venona Project Decrypts (NSA) – Declassified Soviet espionage cables.

• NSA.gov Venona Files

Journalism & Documentary Archives

1. Edward R. Murrow – “See It Now” Broadcast on McCarthy (March 9, 1954)

• CBS News Archives & YouTube

1. New York Times Archive – Coverage of McCarthy, the Rosenbergs, and the Army hearings.

2. Vanity Fair – “The Power and Poison of Roy Cohn” (2019)

• Vanity Fair – Roy Cohn

1. The New Yorker – “Roy Cohn and the Making of a Winner-Take-All America”

• New Yorker – Roy Cohn

1. The Guardian – “Trump's Roy Cohn Obsession” and Cohn’s legacy in GOP tactics.

• The Guardian – Roy Cohn

Video & Archival Footage

1. Army–McCarthy Hearings (C-SPAN Archive)

• C-SPAN: Army–McCarthy Hearings

1. “Have You No Sense of Decency?” – Joseph Welch Confronts McCarthy (June 9, 1954)

• YouTube Clip

1. PBS American Experience: “McCarthy”

• PBS – American Experience

1. “Where’s My Roy Cohn?” (2019 Documentary) – Directed by Matt Tyrnauer

• Available on various streaming platforms (Amazon Prime, Hulu, YouTube).