The Decline of McCarthyism?

 

The Decline of McCarthyism?

Peter Schultz

 

                  The last chapter in Athan Theoharis’s book The Seeds of Repression is entitled “The Decline of McCarthyism.” With the advent of the Eisenhower administration, the argument is that McCarthyism was undermined because, among other things, “the Eisenhower administration had set out to prove that negotiation – that McCarthyite bête noire – was neither inherently beneficial to the Soviets nor inherently harmful to American interests.” And, as a result, “By 1955, the public was coming to realize that one did not have to call for the annihilation of communism to be an anti-communist.” [190 & 191]

 

                  And Theoharis concludes his book as follows: “Eisenhower’s election and his subsequent foreign policy decisions reduced the effectiveness of McCarthyite charges and, dramatically, though unintentionally, revealed McCarthyism to be an irresponsible force in American politics. McCarthy’s former image of objectivity was thereby destroyed. Yet to the extent that absolute security and containment remained basic objectives of United States policy, post-1955 foreign policy debate remained narrowly circumscribed. In that sense, the tactics of Joseph McCarthy and his supporters of … charging leaders with being ‘soft on communism’ continued to be an essential part of national politics. The immediate and direct impact of McCarthyism might have been reduced, but even today it lingers on as a conservative force in American political life.” [192]

 

                  So, I would put it this way: the vicious circle of American politics was unbroken, even though it seemed a bit less vicious thanks to the Eisenhower administration and the destruction of Joseph McCarthy. It might even be speculated that the Eisenhower administration destroyed McCarthy personally in order to preserve a more respectable kind of “McCarthyism” or anti-communism. Eisenhower, et. al., could make “McCarthyism” respectable by attacking and defeating Joe McCarthy. And in doing so, the circular character of American politics was reinforced, thereby narrowly circumscribing United States foreign policy and any debate that arose around it. The basic objectives, as Theoharis noted, remained the same, absolute security and containment. Or as I would put it, the basic objective, US hegemony, remained the same and had acquired a cloak of respectability that it could not don so long as there was the spectacle presided over by Joe McCarthy. The empire needed some new clothes, as it were. But while the vicious circle of American politics might not have looked vicious, it led eventually to the war in Vietnam and its viciousness. The vicious circle of American politics remained unbroken, with results that should have been predictable.