Why did the McCarthy communist hearings go so badly?

Question

Given the fact that most of those he was targeting indeed had comunist sympathies or were outright communists.

Answer 1

Because he went to far when he said that he knew some Communists were part of the military. The government felt that he had gone too far and so, they censored him and kicked him out.

Answer 2

Because McCarthy was a paranoid idiot.

Where is your proof of your statement that "most of those he was targeting indeed had comunist (sp) sympathies or were outright communists"? In retropsect, this has actually been shown to be false.

McCarthy himself was nationally discredited when Edward R Murrow, with the support of his producer, Fred Friendly, turned McCarthy's words around on him. All they had to do was to take clips of McCarthy's raving statements in the hearings, and edit them into a single show. McCarthy's support fell apart when his behaviour was pointed out in this manner.

No, I have not seen the George Clooney movie. I learned this the old-fashioned way - by reading biographies and history.

Murrow and Friendly put their careers and the network itself on the line by doing this. There were true heros.

Answer 3

McCarthy got lots of bad press from those that sympathized with the accused. Many in the press were ex-communists themselves like Drew Pierson or sympathizers. Few know today or care to remember that the House Committee and American activities began during the 1930's as the Dies Committee and was set up to investigate the German-American Bund and the Ku Klux Klan. The committee Chairmen Samuel Dickstein turned out to have been on the payroll of Soviet intelligence.

Answer 4

I think it was because it came across as a witch hunt to some. Some of the very people he went after contributed a great deal to this country and the very fact that he was challenging them, challenged our freedoms in this country, "Freedome of speech and religions". The actions of Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin led Americans to coin the term, "McCarthyism." McCarthy constantly claimed that he had uncovered Communist agents. In February 1950, at a Washington press conference, he waved sheets of paper claiming that he had uncovered 205 communist agents in the State Department. He was soon accusing target after target of communism, and creating an atmosphere of paranoia in Washington.

While many disagreed with McCarthy, few dared to oppose him. In 1953, his attention to the Voice of America and the United States Information Agency forced the removal, and sometimes the burning of books, from U.S.I.A. library shelves. Finally, in 1954, McCarthy took on the US army, claiming that the army was protecting suspected communists.

The McCarthy army-hearings helped to end the senator's career. They were the first of the hearings to be televised, and Americans who watched McCarthy in action from their living rooms were shocked. Furthermore, McCarthy's virulent attacks on the US army finally convinced President Eisenhower to take action against the senator.
The very fact of today is that we still have to be somewhat concerned about communism but moreso towards TERRORISM which I think gets some seeds from communism. The very fact that RELIGION and freedom of thought is the very core of this country, it has caused many wars. And I ask myself, "Can this country put down its weapons ever and just learn to love one another which was Jesus's message to the world?" My answer to myself is that until we CAN look to the people to the left of us and to the right of us and just love them and respect their own beliefs, then the message that Jesus Christ meant to succeed this world might never come to pass. Too many fears, too little trust, too much hatred and not enough love for mankind!

Answer 5

he was a raving homosexual and this is not a slur ;but proven fact!!he engaged in high-risk sexual activities at the drop of his congressional hat!!he was unaware, for that reason, what would motivate "a real man" to do any sort of human endeavor in the realm of family -oriented life;where perhaps hard-fought for wage and price benefits could at one time only be gained be unified and determined violent action in response to the industrial forces and robber-baron mentality that makes everything that is perpetrated upon nature and humanity as justified by the preternatural rights of those most fit to rule over the masses of people by virtue of their innate and god-given excellence,in their pursuit of riches,self-aggrandizement,and raw naked power!!!

Answer 6

actually, it became a witch-hunt. anyone accused was essentially ruined, career-wise - and if didn't name someone else, you looked even worse.

In recent years, the right wing tries to make McCarthyism look better, but that's just a falsification of what really happened.