McCarthyism was vindicated by the VERONA files, so why haven't liberals apologized?

Question

The VERONA project was the American interception and decoding of cables sent by the Soviets to their communist operatives in the U.S. Senator McCarthy couldn’t come out and reveal the VERONA project, as the Soviets would realize the breach and cut off the incriminating communications. History has vindicated Senator McCarthy.

Government employees who admitted their communist connections or pled the Fifth when approached by the committee were given a preordained period of time to pack up and either retire to the private sector or leave old jobs, which had often required security clearance. A good number of them left their old jobs to lecture at Harvard.

McCarthy was a trusted confidant to the Kennedy family. Once, at a Harvard dinner, a speaker compared McCarthy with convicted Soviet spy Alger Hiss, prompting JFK to rise above the Crimson crowd and scream, “How dare you couple the name of a great American patriot with that of a traitor!” before storming out of the building.

The only lives "ruined" were those of admitted communist sympatheizers, or those who pled the 5th (in which case, we can assume that they were hiding their communist ties)

Answer 1

Correct- Coulter does a good job explaining this.

Answer 2

People could learn a lot of life lessons by watching Star Trek (in any of its incarnations).

In one especially poignant episode of Star Trek The Next Generation called The Drumhead, a ruthless and paranoid Starfleet admiral is investigating the cause of an explosion onboard the ship. The first suspect is a young ensign who concealed his partial Romulan heritage so he could enter Starfleet.

Captain Jean Luc Piccard comes to his defense. Because Piccard tries to defend the young man, he is viciously attacked by the witch hunt judge. He is accused a litany of bogus infractions and crimes during his tenure as captain. Although Piccard is an exemplary Captain, the best in all the fleet, they try to smear him with innuendo and half truths.

Piccard tries to bring everyone to their senses with a quote from the Admiral's own father: "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."

There is no way I can convey the powerful impact of this episode. If you are really interested in McCarthy, take the time to rent this episode, or set your Tivo to record it. This will be time well spent.

It's one thing to try and cite supposed "evidence" against people, and quite another to see how insidious these types of witch hunts can become. In the end, they often end up doing more harm than good.

I have no doubt there were some foolish Communist sympathizers in government back then. However, have you ever read any accounts by the KGB? They bemoan the fact that they could never recruit ANYONE to leak any truly sensitive information to them. The KGB was supposdly adroit at corrupting thousands of people to infiltrate our government, when in fact they were a complete failure.

McCarthy just went too far. He accused people who had no Communist ties, but by mere innuendo, he could destroy their careers. His ego was his downfall.

C'mon, you're a big supporter of Reagan, right? Do you remember the way Reagan approached his job. As Margaret Thatcher said,

"He sought to mend America's wounded spirit, to restore the strength of the free world and to free the slaves of communism. These were causes hard to accomplish and heavy with risk.
Yet they were pursued with almost a lightness of spirit. For Ronald Reagan also embodied another great cause -- what Arnold Bennett once called 'the great cause of cheering us all up.' His politics had a freshness and optimism that won converts from every class and every nation -- and ultimately from the very heart of the evil empire."

THAT was the way to defeat Communism, with the lightness of spirit Reagan embodied, not the dark, dismal nightmarish world of espionage and smear tactics used by McCarthy.

Answer 3

Because progressives suck. They make an accusation against a republican / conservative on the front page of every left-wing rag in the country but never seem to remember to report the 'Not Guilty' verdict reached later on, see Tom Delay.

Answer 4

its quite simple the majority of people McCarthy persecuted were not communist spies.
McCarthy was anti American as he denied the right of democratic socialist to have political expression. McCarthy was evil, in the same way that the neo cons destroy democracy while pretending to preserve it
Kennedy was human his father supported the Nazis , he made a mistake McCarthy was evil and anti Democratic

Answer 5

McCarthy dissed Hollywood.

Answer 6

Something tells me that you believe in A LOT of whacked out conspiracy theories. McCarthy was either a paranoid freak or someone who was powerhungry and saw witchhunting as a means to gain more power. Did he ever appologize to the people whose lives he ruined?
BTW, it was called the veNona Project. Maybe you were thinking of Romeo and Juliet?

Answer 7

ACTUALLY... the VERONA files verified McCarthy's claims somewhat.

So, he can still be perceived to be a raving lunatic by the mainstream.

Plus, his application, totally awful. His flamboyant and extravagant style of accusing people of being communist makes me wonder if he wasn't one himself.

Answer 8

And I suppose that the Verona files divulge the location of the WMDs as well?

I'll apologize when you apologize for Prescott Bush serving as a banker of choice for the Nazi whermacht.

Answer 9

You and Ann Coulter are McCarthy's biggest fans. How did you do during the witch hunt era. Burn many?

Answer 10

The verona files did no such thing. If you also choose to believe roswell is evidence of UFO's then have fun in cloud koo koo land.