McCarthyism/Trumpism III: Endless ‘Anxiety’

Review by Bill Doughty

In this third book review (in a Navy Reads trilogy) about Senator Joe McCarthy and his legacy, author Haynes Johnson provides more unintended parallels and links to Trumpism in “The Age of Anxiety: McCarthyism to Terrorism” (Harcourt, 2005).

Anxiety at the time this book was written came from the smoldering memories of 9/11 and fear of ongoing terrorism as the American military waged war in Afghanistan and in Iraq. Haynes makes a connection from 9/11 to the anxiety of communism in the 50s –– which would lead to the Vietnam War debacle.

Today, there are still fears of socialism and communism, as well as anxiety about fascism in the aftermath of a failed insurrection Jan. 6 at the Capitol by Trump supporters.

Presciently, Haynes writes this more than fifteen years ago: “The age of anxiety has not ended, nor is it likely to end soon.”

Here are some more parallels and links, including page numbers in the first edition version of this insightful book:

Like Trump, McCarthy tried to paint his opponents, including democrats, as unpatriotic, irreligious and unAmerican. Both Trump and McCarthy warned of “godless communism” in their speeches calling for their version of patriotism. (p.314)

After an earlier hearing in the Senate in the wake of the Tydings report (somewhat comparable to Trump’s first impeachment hearing) “McCarthy was rebuked, but not rejected. From then until the November elections, he became the Republican Party’s most tireless, sought-after, and effective campaigner.” (p. 188)

“The Democrats remained clueless. They believed that McCarthy’s falsehoods were so transparent and outrageous that they would emerge victorious from any encounter with him.” “McCarthy had poked the tigers of the Senate and showed them to be toothless.” (p.159)

McCarthy sued opponents, including a $2M libel suit against Sen. William Benton, admittedly for intimidation purposes and to “force him to spend money to defend himself.” (p.221)

Eisenhower makes a point with McCarthy

President Eisenhower, who is considered a moderate –– or even liberal –– Republican, worked behind the scenes to fight McCarthy. He “was becoming so frustrated with the obstructionism of McCarthy and other ultraconservatives, [he] … was considering the formation of a new party bringing together all the sensible people in the great middle of American life.” (p.260)

Haynes writes, “Over the decades, a more rigidly ideological Republican Party has emerged, forged by many of the forces McCarthy unleashed or harnessed.” (p.461) 

Navy readers will find a fascinating parallel between the swift-boating of John Kerry  and the smear of another Vietnam veteran Max Cleland, both former Senators who had been awarded multiple Purple Heart medals. (p.498)

In Kerry’s case, in which wealthy Texas Republicans funded TV ads with false claims that Kerry falsely received his combat medals, including the Silver Star. “Constant repetition over cable outlets had an echo chamber effect the greatly magnified the ads’ false charges.” (p.499)

Here’s some irony: McCarthy lied about his service in the Marine Corps, and he falsified records after the war to get Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal commendations. “The deceit was breathtaking,” Haynes writes. A later investigation revealed McCarthy had apparently drafted his own letter praising his war record and forged the signature of his CO, Maj. Glenn A. Todd. McCarthy then forwarded the letter to be countersigned by Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, as a matter of routine. (p. 53)

The McCarthy “hearings were a landmark in American History. They were consequential, and they stamped indelible images in the public mind.” (p.388) So was the second impeachment of Donald J. Trump, which included indelible images of bloodthirsty Trump supporters attempting to overturn an election and transfer of power. Rioters were summoned to D.C., incited to fight, directed toward the Capitol, and allowed to attack police and the Capitol itself for hours.

Are McCarthyism and Trumpism names for the same phenomenon, describing ultranationalism, patriarchy, racism, and misguided patriotism? Examples in American history abound: slavery, actual witch hunts, Alien and Sedition Acts, loyalty tests, disallowing women the right to vote, civil rights violations, and family child separations, and others.

Haynes reports about the first Great Red Scare just over 100 years ago as World War 1 was about to end and Lenin and Trotsky came to power in the Russian Revolution. Bombings and riots shook the United States. In 1919, in the middle of the Great Influenza Pandemic, soldiers and sailors stormed the office of a Cleveland socialist newspaper. In Chicago, a sailor shot a man for not standing and removing his hat for the Star Spangled Banner. (p.102)

SECDEF Lloyd J. Austin III

A century later: A remarkable number (reports say 12 percent or more) of insurrectionists and rioters who stormed the Capitol last month had served in the military. New Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III ordered a 60-day stand-down to confront extremism.

Endless vigilance against violence is required of those who take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. As Edward R. Murrow said, “We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.”

Haynes gives an excellent presentation of the Army hearings in which the Army's lead defense attorney Joseph Welch confronted and ended McCarthy’s reign of terror with the immortal rebuke: “… You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency at long last ? Have you left no sense of decency?”

Haynes concludes, “McCarthyism remains a story without an ending.” “Extremism –– and the suspicion and hatred it engenders –– may be Joe McCarthy’s most lasting legacy.”

A Presidents Day Postscript:

Haynes writes, “As a way of indicating his own model for statesmanship, McCarthy posted on the wall of his Senate office a copy of Lincoln’s famous remark: ‘If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.’” (p.79)

Conservative anti-communists prevented the performance of “Lincoln Portrait” at Eisenhower’s inauguration, because the composer, Aaron Copland, was loosely associated with “radical causes,” although he did not belong to the Communist Party. “Portrait” includes Lincoln’s memorable and still relevant words, “Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves.” (p.300)

Democratic presidential candidate in 1952, Adlai Stevenson, echoed Lincoln in a speech about the Republican Party divide over McCarthyism: “A political party divided against itself, half McCarthy and half Eisenhower, cannot produce national unity.” (p.375)

Just a reminder: Navy Reads is an unofficial blog of book reviews and personal views on critical thinking, core values, Constitutional issues, and political-military-diplomatic philosophy.

WASHINGTON (April 15, 2015) -- Aviation Maintenance Administrationman Airman Apprentice Zaine Ahringhoff, assigned to the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), admires the Lincoln Monument during a trip to Washington, D.C. to commemorate the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's assassination, April 15.  (MC3 Brenton Poyser)