It seems that I have reached the age where history and autobiography become the same.
Senator Joe McCarthy’s antics permeated every aspect of the politics of his time. He was none too bright, as Joseph Welch and Ed Murrow showed. His accusations came from whole cloth. He played upon the fears and ignorance of the time for his own aggrandizement and agenda.
Today we have a bunch of little McCarthys running around. We call them deathers or birthers or Sarah Limbaugh and Rush Palin. Actually, we have lots of other names for them, both general and specific. They are playing upon the fears and ignorance for their own personal aggrandizement and agenda. It’s as though I’m experiencing déjà vu.
Though I am on Medicare, I have no concern for the claims of the deathers but it does bring back a very personal threat I experienced during the 1960s.
The philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” I learned from it the first time. Why am I being punished because of all the dullards out there?
These bullies, these public hoodlums are able to scare even the most powerful. Eisenhower put up with attacks on General Zwicker and Ike’s own mentor George Marshall (yes, chief of the armed forces during WWII and also known for the Marshall Plan). It is not possible to overstate that power he exercised or for those who didn’t live through it to fully apprehend and appreciate it.
Even such a progressive stalwart as Hubert Humphrey was somewhat cowed and co-opted. The Communist Control Act of 1954 was introduced by Senator Walter McCarran, the idiot and charlatan for whom the Las Vegas airport is named. Humphrey tried to offer a substitute to ameliorate its harm. His bill was incorporated into McCarran’s bill.
One of the aspects of this act was to require the Attorney General to keep a list of subversives, based largely on the lists of the House Unamerican Activities Committee. It also provided that the internment camps used for Japanese citizens during WWII be used to hold those on the lists in the event of a national emergency. The capacity was in the neighborhood of 100,000 persons.
My name was on that list. Why?
I was studying the Chinese language then at UCLA. The Chinese government was developing a simplified set of characters for their language. I could find nothing in this country that provided help with this new character set.
The Chinese government produced many publications designed for foreigners. One periodical had a monthly section introducing this character set. I subscribed. The post office would hold each issue at a San Francisco facility and notify me that “unsolicited mail” was being held. I was required to affirm each time that I wanted it before they would forward it. Such affirmation put my name on the list.
Yes, it contained propaganda. That propaganda, however, was so primitive and laughable that no one could possibly believe it. It was primarily such stories as how all of the smiling people pictured were rejoicing at the increased productivity of a rural charcoal factory. No. Really.
Whether it was Tailgunner Joe, back in the day, or the mini-mes of today, these people are dangerous to America. They have no interest in our values, our rights, our laws. They are enemies of democracy. They are enemies of freedom, except for themselves. They insist that, despite their minority status, their way must be enforced upon the rest of us. They are tools and fools.
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