" JOSEPH MCCARTHY " BIOGRAPHY OF SENATOR JOSEPH MCCARTHY / MCCARTHY ERA / MCCARTHYISM BF10305 — Transcript

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1. 0:00[Music]
2. 0:09we are going through an
3. 0:11unusual procedure on the sonate floor
4. 0:15right
5. 0:17now it's the result it's the result of
6. 0:20the
7. 0:21fifth I repeat the fifth
8. 0:25investigation of
9. 0:27mccy there will be a second
10. 0:30there will be a seventh and an
11. 0:33eighth as long as I continue to try to
12. 0:37expose people are traitors this
13. 0:40country if I would quit now I we'd end
14. 0:43with the fifth investigation but take my
15. 0:46word for my good friend
16. 0:50regardless and I make you this solemn
17. 0:53promise regardless of what this Senate
18. 0:56May do about a
19. 0:58censure this fight to expose those who
20. 1:02have Destroy This Nation will go on and
21. 1:05[Applause]
22. 1:11on his name is Senator Joseph McCarthy
23. 1:15and this is his biography
24. 1:49biography brought to you tonight by
25. 2:01I'm Mike Wallace this is biography our
26. 2:03story Senator Joseph
27. 2:05McCarthy even now years after his death
28. 2:09the smoke of political battle swirls
29. 2:11around the name of Senator Joe McCarthy
30. 2:14he is loved and hated praised and Damned
31. 2:18the debate still goes on over his
32. 2:19significance on the American scene was
33. 2:22he a dangerous demagogue or a courageous
34. 2:25Patriot these are the events that made
35. 2:28Senator McCarthy the most controversial
36. 2:31politician of our
37. 2:32time and I may say that I am getting
38. 2:35very very weary of sitting here and
39. 2:37acting as though we're playing some
40. 2:39little game from this committee this
41. 2:42committee activities May well determine
42. 2:45for this nation will live or die we've
43. 2:47got to clean out the those who are
44. 2:50responsible Mr chairman in conclusion
45. 2:53those who
46. 2:54responsible either knowingly or because
47. 2:57they were simple dues covering up
48. 3:00Communists and traitors not dead ones
49. 3:03but live
50. 3:05ones he held the national Spotlight for
51. 3:08only four years but those four years
52. 3:12made his career one of the most
53. 3:14significant stories in the history of
54. 3:16American
55. 3:17[Music]
56. 3:24politics born in 198 in Grand Cho
57. 3:27Wisconsin Joseph McCarthy grow up among
58. 3:30hardworking Farm
59. 3:33people impatient and ambitious he quits
60. 3:37school and by the time he's 19 McCarthy
61. 3:40is the hard driving manager of a grocery
62. 3:42store and he makes business
63. 3:46boom but at the age of 20 realizing that
64. 3:49he is virtually uneducated he enrolls as
65. 3:52a freshman in high school he graduates
66. 3:55in a single
67. 3:58year then McCarthy attends Marquette
68. 4:01University he is a good student and he
69. 4:04also becomes coach and star of the
70. 4:06boxing
71. 4:09team he studies law is elected president
72. 4:12of his class and with this taste of
73. 4:15Campus politics he begins to think about
74. 4:17a career in real
75. 4:19[Music]
76. 4:21Politics as a young lawyer he gets his
77. 4:24chance in 1939 at the age of 30 he is
78. 4:28elected a circuit court J judge in
79. 4:32Wisconsin World War II interrupts
80. 4:35McCarthy's fast rising political
81. 4:39career he enlists in the Marine Corps
82. 4:41and serves as an intelligence officer
83. 4:43with a bombing Squadron in the South
84. 4:47Pacific he also volunteers to go on
85. 4:50combat missions as a tail
86. 4:54Gunner after the war McCarthy becomes a
87. 4:57dark horse candidate in Wisconsin for
88. 4:59the United States
89. 5:01Senate he is elected and when he goes to
90. 5:04Washington he works hard becomes
91. 5:06involved in a few minor controversies
92. 5:09and demonstrates a flare for attracting
93. 5:12publicity but during his first few years
94. 5:15in Washington McCarthy like most
95. 5:17freshman Senators stays in the
96. 5:23background one day in 1950 however he
97. 5:27makes a speech and the speech makes
98. 5:30history McCarthy publicly charges that
99. 5:32the United States state department is
100. 5:35infested with
101. 5:36Communists these dangerous Communists he
102. 5:39warns are helping to shape our foreign
103. 5:41policy in the Cold War and he says that
104. 5:44he has a list of their
105. 5:48names McCarthy suddenly becomes a
106. 5:50national figure his accusations Rock the
107. 5:53capital this unknown Senator has dared
108. 5:56accuse the state department has charged
109. 5:59The Truman Administration itself is
110. 6:02infiltrated by
111. 6:04Communists the senate committee launches
112. 6:06a public investigation of McCarthy's
113. 6:09charges the most Sensational case is
114. 6:12that of Owen Latimore a prominent
115. 6:14professor of History who is active in
116. 6:16political circles Latimore says McCarthy
117. 6:20is the top Russian spy the key man in a
118. 6:23Russian Espionage ring I am willing says
119. 6:26the senator to stand or fall on the
120. 6:29Latimore
121. 6:30case Lattimore replies to McCarthy's
122. 6:33charges I am not and never have been a
123. 6:37member of the Communist party I have
124. 6:41never been affiliated with or associated
125. 6:45with the Communist party I have never
126. 6:48believed in the principles of Communism
127. 6:51nor subscribed to nor Advan advocating
128. 6:55the communist or Soviet form of
129. 6:58government either with in the United
130. 7:00States in China in the Far East or
131. 7:03anywhere in the world I trust that the
132. 7:06Senator's promise that he will retire
133. 7:09from the arena if his charges against me
134. 7:11fail is not as
135. 7:14insincere as his twice repeated promise
136. 7:18to resign if he should fail to repeat
137. 7:21his lious accusations in a forum which
138. 7:24would expose him to suit I hope the
139. 7:27senator will in fact lay his machine gun
140. 7:30down he is too Reckless careless and
141. 7:34irresponsible to have a license to use
142. 7:37it it is established that as an
143. 7:40historian Latimore favored a
144. 7:42conciliatory policy toward the Chinese
145. 7:45Communists and his writings have had
146. 7:47some influence on American foreign
147. 7:49policy but Latimore didn't work for the
148. 7:52state department also the charge that he
149. 7:55is a spy collapses
150. 7:57[Music]
151. 8:00McCarthy also fails to prove that there
152. 8:03are any Communist party members in the
153. 8:05state department but now he accuses many
154. 8:08of being security risks and 18 of those
155. 8:11he names are for various reasons
156. 8:14eventually separated from the state
157. 8:19[Music]
158. 8:22department the hearings make him one of
159. 8:25the most controversial men in America
160. 8:28his opponents accus him of wholesale
161. 8:30character assassination McCarthy
162. 8:33supporters say that he has exposed the
163. 8:35danger of Communists and radicals on the
164. 8:37national
165. 8:40scene McCarthy now takes repeated aim at
166. 8:43the highest echelons in the Truman
167. 8:46Administration Secretary of State Dean
168. 8:48aeson says McCarthy is guilty of Aid to
169. 8:51International communism over the past 20
170. 8:55years Secretary of Defense George
171. 8:57Marshall is part of a conspiracy says
172. 9:00McCarthy so immense and an infamy so
173. 9:04black as to dwarf any previous Venture
174. 9:07in the history of
175. 9:08man President Truman lashes back at
176. 9:11McCarthy and
177. 9:13McCarthyism the growing practice of
178. 9:15character assassination is already
179. 9:17curbing free speech and it is
180. 9:20threatening all our other freedoms for I
181. 9:23know you have no way of telling when
182. 9:26some unfounded accusation may be H at
183. 9:29you perhaps straight from the halls of
184. 9:32Congress it's the job of all of us of
185. 9:35every American who loves this country
186. 9:38and his freedom to rise up and put a
187. 9:40stop to this terrible business this is
188. 9:43one of the greatest challenges we face
189. 9:45today we've got to make a fight for our
190. 9:48real 100%
191. 9:56americanism one communist on the faculty
192. 9:59of one University is one communist too
193. 10:02[Applause]
194. 10:10many one communist among the am American
195. 10:14advisers at Yalta was one communist to
196. 10:22man and even even if there were only one
197. 10:26communist in the state department even
198. 10:28if there only one communist in the state
199. 10:30department that could still be one
200. 10:32communist too
201. 10:36many by 1952 Senator McCarthy has
202. 10:40seriously rattled the Democratic party
203. 10:43in his own Republican party however
204. 10:45McCarthy's power Soares he is hailed at
205. 10:49the 1952 Republican
206. 10:51[Applause]
207. 10:57convention the election campaign in
208. 11:01Wisconsin McCarthy appears with the
209. 11:04Republican presidential candidate Dwight
210. 11:06Eisenhower Eisenhower had planned here
211. 11:09to praise His Old Friend General George
212. 11:12Marshall but he doesn't the night before
213. 11:16he was persuaded not to by senator
214. 11:18Joseph McCarthy and by his own
215. 11:24advisor Senator McCarthy is reelected in
216. 11:271952 he emerges as one of the most
217. 11:30prominent political figures in the
218. 11:34nation at this moment it would seem
219. 11:37almost inconceivable that within only
220. 11:40two more years senator Joseph McCarthy's
221. 11:43career will reach its Zeno and then it
222. 11:47will be suddenly
223. 11:49[Music]
224. 11:57destroyed 19
225. 12:001953 through the Senate seniority system
226. 12:03Senator Joseph McCarthy draws a key job
227. 12:06chairmanship of a senate investigating
228. 12:09committee the committee on government
229. 12:11operations before this time he had been
230. 12:14fighting virtually a one-man battle
231. 12:16against what he called 20 years of
232. 12:19treason now he has a large staff and
233. 12:22Broad powers to
234. 12:23investigate the impact of McCarthyism is
235. 12:26felt across the United States the f
236. 12:29federal government launches New Waves of
237. 12:31security
238. 12:32investigations the requirement of a
239. 12:34loyalty oath becomes increasingly
240. 12:36widespread in the government and
241. 12:38throughout the
242. 12:42nation as McCarthy approaches the peak
243. 12:45of his political career the senator
244. 12:48[Music]
245. 12:53Marys the Senator's bride is Jean care
246. 12:56who works on his research staff
247. 13:00it is a major social event in
248. 13:05Washington this will be one of the last
249. 13:08tranquil interludes in McCarthy's
250. 13:13life McCarthy has now begun an
251. 13:16investigation of reported spying and
252. 13:18sabotage in the United States Army
253. 13:21during a tour of Fort Monmouth New
254. 13:23Jersey is accompanied by Secretary of
255. 13:26the army Robert
256. 13:28Stevens been very much impressed by the
257. 13:31forceful and aggressive action taken by
258. 13:33the Commanding General General Lon and
259. 13:35by the very able Secretary of the army
260. 13:36and cleaning out what appeared to have
261. 13:40been a very very bad situation I think
262. 13:43theyve moved as rapidly as they possibly
263. 13:44could think they're doing a good
264. 13:46thorough job and I'd like to shake your
265. 13:49hand on a b thank you McCarthy continues
266. 13:53his investigation of the army when a
267. 13:56general refuses to answer certain
268. 13:58questions McCarthy tells him that he is
269. 14:01not fit to wear the army
270. 14:03uniform McCarthy and the Army seem on
271. 14:06the verge of
272. 14:08warfare now secretary Stevens attends a
273. 14:11meeting with McCarthy and his
274. 14:13investigating committee a meeting
275. 14:15intended to make peace between McCarthy
276. 14:18and the
277. 14:18[Music]
278. 14:20army Stevens agrees in a memorandum that
279. 14:23McCarthy should continue his
280. 14:27investigations but within days the
281. 14:29conflict flares up again I shall never
282. 14:33exceed to the abuse of army Personnel
283. 14:36under any circumstances including
284. 14:38committee
285. 14:39hearings I shall never exceed to them
286. 14:42being brow be beaten or
287. 14:45humiliated if a stupid arrogant or
288. 14:50witless man in a position of power
289. 14:54appears before our
290. 14:55committee and is found aiding the
291. 14:59Communist Party he will be
292. 15:01exposed the fact that he might be a
293. 15:04general places him in no special class
294. 15:08as far as I am
295. 15:11concerned finally there is a showdown
296. 15:13between McCarthy and the United States
297. 15:16Army a senate subcommittee holds public
298. 15:19hearings into the army McCarthy
299. 15:21controversy each day television brings
300. 15:24the battle to 20 million viewers Across
301. 15:26the Nation it is one of the most
302. 15:28extraordinary spectacles in the history
303. 15:31of American
304. 15:33politics the Army charges persecution at
305. 15:37the hands of Senator McCarthy one of
306. 15:39McCarthy's assistants G David shine has
307. 15:42been drafted and McCarthy allegedly has
308. 15:45tried to get him preferential treatment
309. 15:47in the service when we refused says the
310. 15:50Army McCarthy Unleashed a personal
311. 15:53Vendetta against
312. 15:54[Music]
313. 15:55us McCarthy countercharges that the army
314. 15:59is abusing shine holding him hostage in
315. 16:02order to force McCarthy to abandon his
316. 16:06investigation the hearings range far a
317. 16:09field from the issue of alleged
318. 16:10Espionage in the Army McCarthy has a
319. 16:13series of clashes with fellow Senators
320. 16:15on the
321. 16:16subcommittee Democrat Senator John mclen
322. 16:20criticizes McCarthy's sources of
323. 16:23information McCarthy and Democratic
324. 16:26senator Stuart Simington engage in
325. 16:28bitter
326. 16:30disputes I will not give those names to
327. 16:33them when they say that our function in
328. 16:35coming back on the committee is not to
329. 16:38expose and prosecute
330. 16:40Communists Senator would you like to
331. 16:42hear this it's about
332. 16:45you that that they in effect say our
333. 16:47function is not to expose I'm always
334. 16:50listening when I want and you refer to
335. 16:53me I you asked me and I'd say this that
336. 16:55I was listening I'm going to finish this
337. 16:58and you don't have to have everybody
338. 17:00looking at you all the time you're
339. 17:05[Applause]
340. 17:07talking point as
341. 17:10well while our friend sanctimonious
342. 17:15do was ad I resent that refence to my
343. 17:19first name advising you're you better go
344. 17:21to a psychiatrist I no psychological
345. 17:24bribes from you the truth you talk about
346. 17:27Senator so if you want to if you want to
347. 17:30do that you can take the stand I'll set
348. 17:33down right now I will not sign the
349. 17:35letter with false very simple the record
350. 17:39all you have to do is sign
351. 17:41it pull don't pull that pony thing on a
352. 17:45letter at time there it is Senator got
353. 17:47my signature on it you have a document
354. 17:50with false statements in it I will not
355. 17:54sign and agree that's true I don't
356. 17:57you're not fooling anyone you're not
357. 17:59fooling anyone Mr Simington you're not
358. 18:01fooling anyone I have offered to go
359. 18:04before any committee do anything you ask
360. 18:07if I can just get you to come down here
361. 18:09and take the oath so we can get the
362. 18:11answers to some questions you're not
363. 18:13you're not fooling anyone at all I'm
364. 18:14sure of that Senator let me tell you
365. 18:16something the chair believes that the
366. 18:18American people have had a look at you
367. 18:20for 6 weeks you're not fooling anyone
368. 18:22either po have 10
369. 18:25minutes the Army's attorney is Joseph
370. 18:28well
371. 18:29a softspoken Bostonian who is a dramatic
372. 18:32contrast to
373. 18:33McCarthy but he too is a shrewd
374. 18:37showman Welsh tries for most of the
375. 18:39hearing to hide his antagonism for
376. 18:42McCarthy but one day the senator accuses
377. 18:45Welsh of having an assistant who
378. 18:47belonged to an organization reportedly
379. 18:49sympathetic to
380. 18:51Communism this is perhaps the most
381. 18:53dramatic duel in the entire hearing
382. 18:57until this moment Senator I I think I
383. 18:59never really
384. 19:00gauged your cruelty or your
385. 19:05recklessness if it were in my power to
386. 19:09forgive you for your Reckless cruelty I
387. 19:12would do
388. 19:13so I like to think I'm a gentle
389. 19:16man but
390. 19:18[Music]
391. 19:21your
392. 19:23forgiveness will have to
393. 19:26come from someone other than me Mr
394. 19:32chairman Mr
395. 19:35chairman uh may I say that uh Mr Wells
396. 19:38talks about this being cruel and
397. 19:41Reckless he was just baiting he has been
398. 19:44baiting senator may we not drop this let
399. 19:47us not assassinate this lad further
400. 19:50Senator you've done enough have you no
401. 19:54sense of decency sir at long last have
402. 19:58you left no sense of decency this I know
403. 20:02this hurts you Mr Welch I'll say it may
404. 20:06I say Mr chairman as a point of personal
405. 20:08privilege I'd like to finish this
406. 20:09Senator I think it hurts you too sir I'd
407. 20:11like to finish
408. 20:12this uh M Mr Welsh here has
409. 20:16been filibustering this hearing he's
410. 20:19been talking day after day about the way
411. 20:22he wants to get anyone tainted with
412. 20:23Communism out before Sundown Mr McCarthy
413. 20:28I will not discuss it further I will not
414. 20:31ask Mr Cohen any more witnesses you Mr
415. 20:34chairman May if you will call the next
416. 20:38[Music]
417. 20:40witness are there any questions to come
418. 20:43from the members of the
419. 20:49chair at the end of the hearing McCarthy
420. 20:52is mildly rebuked for his conduct in the
421. 20:55investigation of the
422. 20:57army but the there are more ominous
423. 21:00consequences political forces in both
424. 21:02parties are now marshalling against
425. 21:05McCarthy they feel that he has gone too
426. 21:07far that he must be stopped an
427. 21:11extraordinary measure rarely taken in
428. 21:13the history of the United State Senate
429. 21:16is taken against Senator
430. 21:22McCarthy November
431. 21:251954 the United States Senate holds a
432. 21:27debate on on a motion to censure Joseph
433. 21:31McCarthy the charges against him
434. 21:33contempt of the Senate and its
435. 21:35committees abuse of fellow Senators
436. 21:38abuse of an army
437. 21:42General at the end of the debate the
438. 21:44Senate rules that McCarthy be
439. 21:48censured McCarthy who has injured his
440. 21:50arm in a recent accident is still
441. 21:53defiant
442. 22:00Senator do you think this will ruin your
443. 22:02political career no uh I don't think the
444. 22:06American people are at all fool they
445. 22:07know that I'm being censured because I
446. 22:10dared to
447. 22:12expose communism treason in
448. 22:14government Senator do you feel that you
449. 22:17have not been censored in this action I
450. 22:20wouldn't say that uh today was a vote of
451. 22:26confidence officially denounced by his
452. 22:28fellow Senators much of his Prestige and
453. 22:31power are suddenly
454. 22:34gone he continues to hammer away at the
455. 22:37Communist issue but he no longer
456. 22:39commands
457. 22:40headlines McCarthy loses the spotlight
458. 22:43even faster than he had captured
459. 22:46it President Eisenhower who has been a
460. 22:48behind the scenes Force against McCarthy
461. 22:51now delivers the final blow the senator
462. 22:54and Mrs McCarthy are banned from all
463. 22:56social events held by the president
464. 23:00the Senator's Health begins to fail and
465. 23:03his enemies circulate stories in
466. 23:05Washington that he is ruining himself
467. 23:07with drink his critics claim that he is
468. 23:10just a demagogue who lost his nerve
469. 23:12after his first major
470. 23:15defeat but his friends say that McCarthy
471. 23:18is disillusioned and hurt that he has
472. 23:20lost his will to live that he feels
473. 23:23betrayed by men he thought were his
474. 23:26friends
475. 23:30early in 1957 the McCarthy adopt a baby
476. 23:33girl and name her Tierney
477. 23:37Elizabeth and McCarthy talks about
478. 23:39leaving politics to take up ranching in
479. 23:42Arizona but it is too
480. 23:47[Music]
481. 23:49late Joseph McCarthy dies on May 2nd
482. 23:53[Music]
483. 23:541957 the cause of death is hepatitis
484. 23:58he was 49 years
485. 24:02old a funeral service is held in
486. 24:05Washington the scene of his most bitter
487. 24:09[Music]
488. 24:15controversies then Joe McCarthy is taken
489. 24:18back home to Appleton
490. 24:21Wisconsin only 7 years before as an
491. 24:25unknown freshman Senator McCarthy began
492. 24:28a political battle that shook the entire
493. 24:31nation now Joseph McCarthy's battles are
494. 24:37[Music]
495. 24:38[Applause]
496. 24:39[Music]
497. 24:43over the end came quickly to the power
498. 24:46and Prestige of Senator Joseph McCarthy
499. 24:49and perhaps during his stormy career he
500. 24:51himself felt that this would be his fate
501. 24:54in his office Joe McCarthy had a prayer
502. 24:57framed on the wall it
503. 24:59read God don't let me weaken help me to
504. 25:02continue on and when I go down let me go
505. 25:06down like an oak tree felled by a
506. 25:09woodsman's
507. 25:10axe Mike Wallace for biography
508. 25:14[Music]
509. 25:28a
510. 25:37[Music]
511. 26:01the