McCarthy

Following Lenin's instructions,
every effort was being made to smear and discredit his life,
his character, his work, and particularly his method.

COMMUNISTS COINED "MCCARTHYISM"

"Senator Joseph McCarthy". When the average person hears that name, the first thing they think is "WITCH HUNT." All that we have heard about the Senator is what we have heard from the press, the radio, T.V. and newspapers. The press, unfortunately, has the ability to slant the character of a person in the way they wish it to go.

We are very fortunate to have a book by a lady who was the secretary to the late Senator McCarthy. Therefore, with the knowledge she has gained from the relationship, I believe, she can enlighten us as to the late senator's true character and achievements. ~ Robert Rhoad

THE TRUE HISTORY OF A GREAT PATRIOT
The Late Senator Joseph R McCarthy
narrated by Mrs Larry Lawrence Lent, his secretary
published by The Government Educational Foundation, 1998

I am delighted to talk about Senator McCarthy. This is being recorded in April 1990, and that's about forty years since I was with Senator McCarthy.

It is true; when people learn that I have been secretary to Senator McCarthy, they invariably want to know, "What was he really like?" To me Senator McCarthy was a courageous American hero. His religious convictions and his deep love for his country were topmost in his mind. He believed in our Constitution and the American people. He believed that he could help preserve liberty and justice by ridding the nation of its enemies.

As for the man McCarthy, I liked and admired him tremendously. He was friendly and unassuming, the kind of a man that most people like the first time they meet him. He was generous, he was thoughtful, he had a brilliant mind and a fabulous memory. He was absolutely honest, he was kind and gentle and he loved children. He had a good sense of humor and a positive outlook. He was morally clean, and despite all the malicious attacks on him personally, he was not at all bitter.

This was really extraordinary and I can add one more thought: he was a grand person to work for. Now that is quite a list of attributes which you may doubt, but I assure you I can prove every one of them. Before I go on, let me add that the Senator loved this Nation with such devotion that he actually inspired those around him. It became a real joy working for him and with him for America; it seemed as though we were all part of his crusade.

Now Senator McCarthy had been Judge McCarthy of a circuit court in Wisconsin when the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor. He had joined the Marines and had fought in the Pacific during WW2. When he returned, he ran for the U.S. Senate and won a surprising victory over LaFollette. So now he was coming to Washington, a decorated Marine, a handsome, fearless patriotic Irish-American. He was the heroic son of God-fearing Christian parents, ready to serve in his government; he had fought and helped win a war, which he thought would assure peace and freedom for the world. You can imagine how he must have felt when he finally realized that his government had negotiated away our victory and we had truly lost the peace.

He soon began to realize that subtle treason had flowered in Washington, and the people did not have a patriotic watchman to warn them what was going on. So, it came as a terrible blow to learn that the Soviets would not only control half of Germany and half of Berlin, but Stalin had convinced our government to sacrifice Poland to the Communists as well as all the nations adjoining Russia, such as Romania, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, and so forth. These had all been free and independent countries, and there was really no good reason to let the Communists take them over. But our President and some of our high officials liked Stalin, and it seemed that they were convinced that by giving in to Soviet demands they would assure peace in our times.

Our surrender of China seemed just as pointless. Today we are seeing the results we saw at Beijing. Once when the Senator was reminiscing about some interesting experiences in the Pacific, he commented, "I came to know the Pacific and the coast of Asia as well as I did my dad's farm when I was a boy, and for the first time I began to fully appreciate the great wisdom of America's long term policy on Asia, the policy of maintaining a free, independent friendly China in order to keep the Pacific, actually the Pacific in fact as well as in name. And now I learn that our wise and long term policy was being 'scuttled." So when Senator McCarthy came to Washington, he realized the situation in the Far East.

When Senator McCarthy, the Senator-elect, arrived in Washington December 1946, about two weeks before being sworn in, three days later he and his administrative assistant were invited to have lunch with James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy. The Senator often wondered why the busy Secretary of the Navy discovered that a freshman Senator had arrived in town and why he took so much time to discuss our nation's problems with him. I think we can see God's hand in this, and the Senator often told us he thanked God many times for Forrestal's time and advice.

Forrestal was fully knowledgeable about Communist penetration and influence in our government. He was able to bring Senator up to date on communist influence in our schools, in all our educational systems, in our news media, and definitely in our government. In the State Department, for instance, Communists had recommended Communists for jobs and then recommended each other for raises until some of them were in policy making positions where our foreign policy was definitely slanted towards Soviet objectives.

Before talking to Jim Forrestal, Senator McCarthy admits he thought we were losing to Communism because of incompetence or stupidity on the part of our national planners; he mentioned that to Forrestal. Senator McCarthy claimed he would never forget Forrestal's answer: "McCarthy," he said, "consistency has never been a mark of stupidity. If our State Department boys were merely stupid, they would make a mistake in our favor once in awhile." Forrestal then told the Senator that the FBI had not been asleep; however, all during the thirties and forties they had continued investigations of subversion and had copious files on Communist infiltration into American government, but no way to bring it to the attention of the American people, and no authority to remove the traitors from the government.

At one time the FBI had notified President Truman that a top official in his Treasury Department was favoring Communism. In fact they notified him six or seven times, and Truman gave that suspected Treasurer a more responsible position. This man was Harry Dexter White, and we find him very active in our government and all their decisions. In fact it was he who helped send our money-plates to the Soviet Union so they could charge money to the American people.

Now Secretary Forrestal explained when the House Committee on un-American Activity had held hearings and exposed Alger Hiss as a Communist agent working in our State Department and reported this to President Truman, Truman had ridiculed this report, calling it a "red herring." Secretary of State Dean Acheson proudly declared that he would never turn his back on Alger Hiss, a convicted traitor.

Secretary Forrestal deserves our sincere appreciation: he did his task well. He informed Senator McCarthy of the dangers our Nation faced. He furnished names and places and inspired the young Senator to begin his crusade. It wasn't long before Forestal fell or was pushed to his death from the Bethesda Naval Hospital. The Secretary of the Navy had challenged him, and Senator McCarthy was a fighter.

Let's let Senator McCarthy tell about the beginning of his crusade in his own words. He said, "When I took on my duties as a Senator, I discovered that certain outstanding Senators and Congressmen, for years, had been intelligently trying to alert the American people. Unfortunately, when they clearly and intelligently presented a picture of incompetence or treason, which should have commanded banner headlines in every newspaper, the story was found, if at all, hidden in the want ads. I've witnessed the frustration of those honest, intelligent, loyal Americans who are attempting to expose our suicidal foreign policy. Day after day I came into contact with convincing evidence of treason. Obviously, unless the public was aroused, the downward course upon which we were embarked would continue, and at an accelerated pace."

What puzzled the Senator was how to alert the American people. He became convinced that the American people could not be awakened by merely a discussion of treacherous policies generally. The men who had made those policies, well meaning as they might be, had to be exposed. Foreign policy, after all, does not just happen, it is carefully planned by men with faces and names. Those faces and names had to be exposed. As J. Edgar Hoover had said, "Victory will be assured once Communists are identified and exposed, because the public will take the first step of quarantining them so they can do no harm."

Senator McCarthy decided it did but little good to argue about changing our suicidal foreign policy so long as the men in charge of forming that policy were in the camp of the enemy. The change that had to be made, if this country was to live, was a change of experts, the experts who had so expertly sold out China and Poland without the American people realizing what was happening. Day after day, Senator McCarthy admitted he came into contact with additional evidences of treason. More and more government employees were coming to him reporting suspicious activities in their department; sometimes they had absolute proof of sabotage or espionage. Senator and his staff were spending a great deal of time following the leads they were receiving, and more and more the Senator felt the need to awaken the American people.

His first opportunity came when he was invited to speak at a Lincoln Day dinner in Wheeling, W. Virginia given by the Republican Women of Wheeling. It was on February 9, 1950, that Senator McCarthy finally got his crusade underway. He began his speech with a statement. He said, "Today we are engaged in a final all out battle between Communism and Christianity." He charged the Communists with treason, threatened them all with exposure if they remained in our government. He declared he had the names of fifty-seven Communists working in our State Department. He also showed a copy of a letter written some time ago by Secretary of State Burns stating that there had been 284 unfit persons employed in the State Department, and only seventy-nine had been removed. Senator McCarthy pointed out this left 205 security risks still in our State Department. The Senator did not know any of those 205, but he did have the names of the fifty-seven which he had mentioned before, and would be happy to give them to a loyalty board or some investigative committee for an executive session. All of this information was then sent to the President suggesting that he ask the present Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, to give him the names of those subversives still in the State Department.

There were three important results of that speech. First the press gave it some publicity, ridiculing the charges of course, but at least admitting they were made. Second, the Senate appointed a committee to investigate Senator McCarthy's charges. Thirdly the Communist Party lost no time in coining the word "McCarthyism" as they commenced their ferocious attack on the Senator and anyone else who would are join him, or course.

Let's look first at the committee which the Senate had appointed to look into McCarthy's charges. Senator Tydings of Maryland was to be its Chairman. We were disappointed at this choice, for we feared he would not be a friendly chairman. Our fears were correct. The first move of the Tydings committee was to challenge the numbers Senator McCarthy had given; in fact, both the committee and the Communists juggled the numbers and confused everyone. In those days speeches were not taped, and Tydings sent one of his employees, Dan Buckley, to check with people who had heard the Senator. When Dan Buckley returned with affidavits from all the people he could locate who had heard McCarthy's speech, everyone agreed with the numbers given by the Senator in his report. This was definitely not the report the committee wanted. Dan was sent down to Wheeling again, this time accompanied by a senior member of the committee. I had coffee with Dan after his first trip to Wheeling, and he told me that Tydings had been absolutely furious at that report. Tydings was evidently determined to destroy the credibility of Senator McCarthy. When the second visit failed to indicate McCarthy had lied, the committee fired Dan Buckley. At first I couldn't understand why some Senators were so antagonistic towards my Senator. I finally came to the conclusion that they were jealous, and beginning to fear maybe the American people were going to wake up and wonder why their Senator had failed to warn them, sort of sinning by omission it was. I guess I was right because the people of Maryland refused to re-elect Tydings the next time he ran. And several other Senators, like Benton of Connecticut, lost their bids to return to the Senate after attacking Senator McCarthy.

Now to the Communist version of the word "McCarthyism," which they had just coined. It was to be a dirty, hateful, disgusting word meaning frightening attacks on innocent people, destroying their lives, character assassination, a vicious witch hunt. The first time I actually saw the word in print was in the Daily Worker newspaper. This was the Communist Party newspaper published in New York City which carried orders to American Communists from the Soviet Union. They would, of course, follow the instructions which Lenin had given them to use language to sow hate, revulsion, scorn, and the like toward anyone who disagreed with them.

Now the Communist attack on Senator McCarthy came into full swing. Following Lenin's instructions, every effort was being made to smear and discredit his life, his character, his work, and particularly his method. Because some people did not understand what the Communists called his methods and the press continued using the Communist's meaning, Senator McCarthy wrote a book explaining all that he was doing. He named it "McCarthyism, The Fight For America." I will tell you later how you can get a copy of that book, which is very, very interesting. Senator McCarthy did warn the American people to take a long look at what had happened to the Russians when the Communist Bolshevik terrorists took over their country. All of a sudden their freedom was completely gone, millions murdered and many millions of their farmers were starved to death. It was a frightening picture, and McCarthy knew the true aim of the Communists was total world domination. When you think about it, the Communists have never denied that ultimate goal. Back in 1946, one of the Soviet leaders, Dametre Namreleske, told his Communist followers to be patient. He told them that war to the hilt, between Communism and Capitalism, is inevitable. "Today," he told them, "They are too weak to strike; their day will come in thirty to forty years." But first he told them "We must lull the Capitalist countries to sleep with the greatest overtures of peace and disarmament known throughout history. And then when their guard is dropped, we shall smash them with our clenched fists."

I think we need to remember that was in 1946, and nowhere have we seen any indication that they have changed their ultimate aim. Today we can easily recognize their talk of peace and disarmament and what it really means. When the Senator's book "McCarthyism, The Fight For America" was printed, it was sent to libraries and book stores throughout America, but it was hidden and almost never displayed. The news media continued to accept and publicize the communist version of "McCarthyism" again and again. Over the years it is a fact that when a lie is repeated often enough, people tend to believe it. If people would just take time to do a little research, they would discover not McCarthy, the Evil Accuser, but McCarthy, the American Hero. The integrity of his motives, the accuracy of his charges, and the validity of his message are vindicated by the truth. Of course, the truth is now that McCarthy was right.

I do seem to be taking along time before I start describing what it was like working for the Senator, but I believe that unless we understand conditions facing the Nation back in the 1940s and 50s, we will never be able to understand and appreciate the Senator and the importance of his crusade. So, for the moment let's think back to the Tydings Committee which had been instructed to look into Senator McCarthy's charges of Communists working in our State Department and/or influencing the foreign policy of our Nation. One of the first names Senator McCarthy gave the committee was the name of Owen Lattimore. I thought the Senator must have been very sure of his facts as Owen Lattimore was a highly respected Far Eastern authority, to whom our State Department looked for advice on policy decisions. He was known all over the world for the books he had written and the articles in magazines, mostly about China and the Far East. Also he was a professor at Johns Hopkins University. The Tydings Committee seemed delighted; surely this was perfect example of a wild man making irresponsible charges, and they promptly cleared Lattimore of having any Communist bias. It was truly amazing to watch the news media join the attack on the Senator and defend Owen Lattimore. Unless Senator McCarthy could be proven right, this looked bad for him, and you can imagine we all sighed a sigh of relief when the Senate at that very moment established the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, a branch of the Judiciary with authority to research and investigate any and all subversive movements or individuals in our Nation. And we all said a prayer of thanks when the new committee, called the SISS, was given the task of investigating any Communist influence in the Institute of Pacific Relations; Owen Lattimore was one of its leaders. Senator Pat McCarran was chosen to be Chairman of the new Subcommittee. This was an excellent choice as McCarran was well known for his anti-Communist leanings. Chief counsel of the committee was to be Robert Morris, formerly with Naval Intelligence, whom I knew well. Ben Mandell was a research director, and I understand he was, at one time or another, a member of the Communist Party and could be a wonderful help to the committee.

There were several secretaries, and I believe they were looking for another secretary, one cleared for Secret. I had Naval clearance for Secret and was working for the Navy at that time. This was a temptation I simply couldn't resist. I asked for release from my job at the Navy, and when they learned why I wanted to be released, they gave it to me and I secured the position with the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee. This was the same kind of work I had been doing for the Navy, and I was truly thrilled.

When the Second World War started, my children were all in school, so I was free to work. I applied for a job with the Navy. After a most thorough search of my background and my family, even checking on friends I had in school, at last I had a job. It was to work in the Italian, Yugoslav, Croatian section of the Naval counter-intelligence. It was here I had my first introduction into how the Communists move in to take a country and enslave its people. When my husband was transferred to the Navy base in San Diego, I transferred to California until the end of the war, and then went back to Washington and the Navy. This time I was placed in the Pentagon, in the Far East section of Intelligence where I took dictation from six or seven intelligence officers reporting happenings in the Far East to the Admiral. It was here that I heard the names of many of the pro-Communists and the Communists active in the Far East, and much of what they were doing. I had for some time been closely following the charges being made by Senator Joseph McCarthy, particularly because the men he named were ones which I was familiar form Naval Intelligence reports.

Senator McCarthy was not a member of the Internal Security Subcommittee and had no connection with it, with the exception we were going to investigate a man he had charged with being subversive. When the committee learned that some of the back files of the Institute of Pacific Relations had been hidden in a barn in Lee, Masssachusetts, acting on the authority given them, the Subcommittee took possession of those files and moved them to the Senate office building in Washington. All together there were some twenty thousand documents including books, magazine articles, memorandum, letters, minutes and reports, all of which were studied for the next six months. Some two thousand became the preliminary basis for the committee's investigation, and now it was time to hold hearings. These hearings lasted about six months and included many witnesses along with the twenty-eight Institute of Pacific Relations members. It has been conceded that was the most important, careful and productive investigation ever conducted by a committee of Congress. Those hearings became big news followed closely by all the news media.

Indeed those were exciting days. The hearings were held in the Senate Judiciary Room which adjoins our office, so we were in and out of the hearings and often taking dictation from one or more witnesses. There were many pro-American witnesses such as General Albert C. Wedemeyer, Major General Charles A. Willoughby, Igor Bogolepov, former member of the Soviet Foreign Office, Loui Budenz who had been the communist editor of the Daily Worker newspaper and Elizabeth Bentley, who had joined the Communist Party and had later become a Soviet Courier. Now she was working to expose her former party members who still gave their allegiance to the Soviets. A number of the IPR witnesses took the 5th Amendment and refused to answer any questions, and a number of them answered questions but failed to tell the truth.

The committee's final report states that Owen Lattimore testified falsely with reference to at least five separate matters that were relevant to the inquiry and substantial in import. The final report of the year's investigation was published in July, 1952. Among other conclusions we find the following: "The effective leadership of the Institute of Pacific Relations views the IPR prestige to promote the interest of the Soviet Union in the United States." And another section read, "During the period of 1945 to 1949, persons associated with the IPR were instrumental in keeping the United States policy on a course favorable to Communist objectives in China." And when it came to reports on Owen Lattimore, they proved beyond any doubt that McCarthy had been right. The committee report stated, "Owen Lattimore was (sometime beginning in the 1930s) a conscious, articulate instrument of the Communist Conspiracy." There are many more conclusions on a similar vein, many of them proving Senator McCarthy's charges of subversion and Communist affiliation were correct.

Now that the hearings were printed, I applied for a position with Senator McCarthy. My interview with him was quite short; he didn't ask me if I were a Republican or a Democrat. In fact, we talked mostly about the sad problems our country was going through and how to solve them. My position was assistant secretary, but shortly his secretary left on a protracted leave and I moved into her position. I'll never forget the first time the Senator called me to come into his office to take dictation. I had heard that he was preparing an answer to letters requesting information, and after a few sentences Senator stopped, turned, and asked, "Larry, am I going too fast?" He wasn't, and I never worried again about taking his dictation. I think I told you that the Senator was thoughtful, and indeed he was. Someone asked me if Senator McCarthy dictated all the letters that went out under his signature; I can assure you he did. He answered every letter which came from Wisconsin and many others. When the Senator's reply would serve for a number of letters, the Senator would dictate a form letter. When it was typed, he would read it carefully and then sign his name across the whole letter which we could then use to answer all letters requesting that same information. Every letter that went out under his name, however was signed by him personally. He even signed every Christmas card he sent. This was unusual, for most Senators had a secretary line their signature.

Now while on the subject of letters, I must mention that no matter how busy he was, the Senator always took time to dictate a letter to each young person writing for information. Sometimes it would take several pages to give the young person a complete answer, but he never failed. Senator McCarthy certainly loved young people, and little children loved him. Every time he was around little children, the first thing you would see would be one of them on his lap, maybe one climbing on his shoulders. They just loved the Senator, and he loved them. I can remember one event that occurred just following his stay in the hospital for a hernia operation. We didn't know he was going back to the office that evening, or we surely would have stopped him from chasing two college boys down the hall. They were trying to pry the brass plate from his Senator's door, and when he heard them he gave chase, and what's more, caught them and brought them back to the office for a friendly chat! Now he told me to order two new name plates with his name on them and send one to each boy with a letter he would write; those boys, I believe, were from Dartmouth College.

While I served as his secretary, all the mail which came into the office came over my desk. It was thrilling to see because such a large percentage of the mail was favorable, I would say 85-90%. Many letters were quite enthusiastic. Quite a few asked if they could help. Here is part of one of the answers which he wrote in reply to that question: "Yes, you can do a tremendous job if you will; you can help alert America to a danger much greater than Communists in the State Department or any other branch of the government, a danger much greater than any threat from Communist Russia. Hitler once said, 'Give me control of the minds of the youth of a country, give me control of the educational system for five years and I shall control that country indefinitely.' The Communists thoroughly recognize the truth of that statement. One of their major efforts, therefore, is to infiltrate the educational system of this country and control school and college publications. Every man and woman in America can appoint himself and herself to undo the damage which is being done by Communist infiltration in our schools and colleges through Communist minded teachers and Communist text books. The educational system of this country cannot be cleansed and swept clean unless the mothers and fathers and the sons and daughters of this nation individually decide to do this job. This can be your greatest contribution to America. This is a job which you can do. This is a job which you must do if America and western Civilization are to live. I warn you, however, that the task will not be a pleasant one. When you detect and start to expose a teacher with a Communist mind, you will be attacked and smeared. You will be accused of endangering academic freedom. Remember, to those Communist minded teachers, academic freedom means their right to force you to hire them to teach your children a philosophy in which you do not believe. We can not win the fight against Communism if Communist minded professors are teaching your children. We cannot lose the fight against Communism if loyal Americans are teaching your children." The Senator sent a similar letter to hundreds of people who wrote and wanted to help.

I believe I mentioned that the Senator was generous; let me give you just a few instances. Priests would write to the Senator from all over the world suggesting that they needed certain books or other supplies. Without hesitation, the Senator would authorize someone to get whatever the priests needed, charge it to his personal account, and send it on to the priests. Because he was so generous, we often tried to handle requests ourselves. Once when a mother from Wisconsin was expecting another baby, her carpenter husband had been hurt and couldn't work and therefore they needed all kinds of supplies. We placed a large box in the corner of our office and were gradually filling it with little gifts. When the Senator saw the box, he wanted to know what it was for, so we had to explain. Right away he suggested we buy her a nice crib and send it to her with a card on it signed by the office secretaries.

There was one thing that had been unusual which I had noticed as soon as I joined the office staff. That was the terrific amount of respect that each one of his staff felt for the Senator. When addressing him, of course, they all said "Senator McCarthy", and when speaking of him they invariably said "the Senator", not because he requested it, but their respect was shown in many ways. His staff knew how dedicated he was and how hard he worked; they also knew that he did not recklessly charge people with being Communist, unless he was sure they were. As a matter of fact, he often warned us not to label anyone a Communist unless we had seen their Communist card. In those days Communists did carry a card.

Now to the Eisenhower-Stevenson elections, most of my friends can't understand how Senator McCarthy could have voted for Eisenhower. The truth was that the news media had kept Eisenhower's dealings with Stalin from the public, and of course the Senator didn't know that Eisenhower would become such a vindictive enemy. We did have information Stevenson stood by the convicted Communist Alger Hiss, declaring how much he admired him and how he was the best informed man in the United Nations. Senator McCarthy was convinced that Stevenson would be a dangerous man if President. The truth is that there really probably wasn't much choice.

Well, to get back to the Senator's speech exposing Stevenson's record. When I went into his office to take dictation for that talk, there were a number of agents giving documents to the Senator and explaining their importance. If Senator McCarthy decided he would use a document, he dictated just what he would say in regard to that particular bit of information and he handed the document to me to be numbered. When the Senator gave his speech in Chicago, he took along all the documents I had numbered and had announced that everything he was to submit was well documented. He invited all members of the press to come back stage as soon as he was finished to get the documentation. Not one reporter came back for his copy, and the next day we all read in the Chicago paper about the vicious, unfounded charges Senator McCarthy had made. It really was a bit frustrating.

For his first two years in the Senate, Senator McCarthy was a one man investigator with one or two men working with him. He exposed eighty-one subversives working in the State Department; all were proven guilty and removed from government work. The Senator also had turned over the names of suspected Communists on other branches of our government. He had also investigated waste and inefficiency in several government departments, which resulted in saving millions of dollars to the taxpayers. He was dedicated, and he was a hard worker. Early one New Year's morning, another secretary and I had decided to work to catch up on a number of things that we had not done the week before. I had taken off my shoes and was comfortably sitting on the Senator's desk while she read times, dates and places to be put into the Senator's desk calendar when all of a sudden, the door flew open and there stood the Senator. I think that was the shock of my life! He looked surprised and asked, "Larry, what on earth are you girls doing here now?" When he realized what we were doing, he laughed and we all worked a full day. That didn't sound like a man who had been celebrating much the night before, did it? Senator McCarthy was being accused of drinking too much. Well, if he did, it wasn't during the day because I sat next to him or across the desk from him every day taking dictation, and I never smelled liquor on his breath. He never offered people a drink in his office, as the news media had charged, because there never was a bottle in his office. Now it is possible that the Senator had cocktails in the evening, maybe one or two. I don't know; I imagine he did. But he didn't go out many evenings and a lot of evenings he would work; so really could not have been an alcoholic. But the attacks on Senator McCarthy continued. Some accused him of wanting to be President, as if that were a crime, but they tried to make it seem like it was a crime. But when they did announce it, hundreds of people reacted differently. We were soon absolutely flooded with hundreds of letters of encouragement and offers containing everything from fifty cents to many dollars. We sent it all back with a gracious letter of appreciation from the Senator saying he really didn't want to run for President. He wanted to remain the Senator from Wisconsin and fight on to rid our Nation of treason. Some of us really wished he could be President; what a difference that would have made? We were all mighty proud of our Senator, I can tell you.

I trust I haven't given you the impression that I think all reporters are evil, today one just doesn't know how the news is being slanted and why... One time Senator McCarthy did sue a newspaper for slander. That was the Syracuse Standard Times, of Syracuse, N.Y. It was great to have that newspaper retract all the vicious lies they had printed. Now I had hoped the Senator would sue the Washington Post, he could have easily won, but he refused to take the time. He felt that would please the Communists because it would keep him from exposing more traitors and getting them removed. About that time Louie Budenz, who had been editor of the Communist Daily Worker had turned over the names of four hundred Communist party members all employed in the newspaper and radio field. All these would require research and hearings. It would take the Senator's staff a great deal of time to handle this.

One day the Marine Corps called from the Pentagon and wanted an appointment with the Senator; they suggested one day the following week. I told the Senator and he asked me what they wanted. I really didn't know if I should have asked them, so I hadn't. Senator said never mind. Of course, he would be glad to see them. When they arrived, there were a number of them and a man with a camera. They had come to present the Flying Cross with four or five medals, I forgot which, but it was a very nice ceremony. However, it seemed to spark another attack on the Senator. Some reporters wrote that he had seen McCarthy's Navy record and that McCarthy had never even seen active duty. This was so ridiculous! Senator Cain of the state of Washington was furious. He knew McCarthy's record and because he knew Senator McCarthy would never publicize it, Senator Cain secured a copy and read it into the Congressional Record where it is available to anyone who can read. Senator McCarthy was humble, I said he was and he was.

Here is the Marine record: "The Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet, takes pleasure in commending CAPTAIN JOSEPH R. MCCARTHY, UNITED STATES MARINE CORP RESERVE for service as set forth in the following CITATION: 'For meritorious and efficient performance of duty as an observer and rear gunner of a dive bomber attached to a marine scout bombing squadron operating in the Solomon Islands area from September 1, to December 31, 1943. He participated in a large number of combat missions, and in addition to his regular duties, acted as aerial photographer. He obtained excellent photographs of enemy gun positions, despite intense anti-aircraft fire, thereby gaining valuable information which contributed materially to the success of subsequent strikes in the area. Although suffering from a severe leg injury, he refused to be hospitalized and continued to carry out his duties as Intelligence Officer in a highly efficient manner. His courageous devotion to duty was in keeping with the highest traditions of the naval service.' ~ C.W.NIMITZ, Admiral, U.S. Navy, Commendation Ribbon Authorized".

I read that entire commendation because I believe some of you saw NBC's film entitled "Tail-Gunner Joe", supposedly portraying the life and character of Senator McCarthy. It was undoubtedly one of the most monstrous diabolical distortions that has ever been my misfortune to see. One must wonder why they are still trying to destroy the memory of the great anti-Communist Senator. Do they want to make certain that another pro-Christian anti-Communist fighter doesn't begin another crusade? "Tail- Gunner Joe", not only ridiculed Senator McCarty shooting down coconuts, but they portrayed one untruthful act after another in an obvious attempt to make the Senator look irresponsible. They enacted a complete scene of him as a boy wrecking a truckload of chickens and then abandoning the truck, chickens and all in a ditch. If these producers of the show had been interested in the truth, it was all printed in the Wisconsin State Journal on July 16, 1946. Let's look at a few quotes from the Journal. It said, "Joe's youth wasn't much different from that of other Wisconsin farm youngsters. He worked on his dad's farm and with $65.00, earned by working for an uncle in his spare time, Joe started a chicken farm. He had built his business to two thousand laying hens and ten thousand broilers when influenza put him to bed for several weeks. Neighborhood boys who attended the flock didn't display the same enthusiasm that Joe did. Result: thousands of dead chickens and Joe out of business." Joe moved to a neighboring town and got a job. He later got two jobs and then decided he should go back to school. At nineteen, he entered the local high school and according to the Wisconsin State Journal, he crammed four years of high school into one. He passed the final exams with flying colors and ended on the honor roll. Principal L.D. Hershberger, in passing out the diplomas, described the boy who completed the four year high school course in one year, while working at two jobs as "the irresistible force who over came the immovable object."

I believe I told you before that when the Second World War started, Joe McCarthy was a judge and couldn't let his country fight a war without him; so he turned his judgeship over to another and volunteered in the Marines.

Now let's go back to the crusade in the Senate. There were times when it was rather tense in our office and we couldn't help but wonder if some radical might toss a bomb in our door instead of spitting on it as they sometimes had. Not only were we hated by the Communist traitors, but there were Americans who supported the Communists because they honestly believed Communism, or what they thought Communism was, would be far better for the working man than Capitalism. They hated us, too. It would help our mood sometimes to have a good laugh, and I told you that Senator McCarthy had a good sense of humor. Once the Senator learned that a con-man was claiming he had access to our office and would report what went on for a price. Several groups started paying him. We learned that the A.D.A., Americans for Democratic Action, some members of the Democratic Party, the Washington Post and probably some other newspaper representatives were paying. I think the con-man was Paul Huse, I'm not sure. Anyway, this man furnished some fabulous tales of events in our office, and never even opened our front door and came in. Some of the stories drifted back to us, and they were hilarious. A taxi driver supplied more laughs. One afternoon the Senator took a taxi home. When he stepped into the cab the driver began telling him stories he had heard about what McCarthy was doing to hurt people. He evidently hadn't recognized the Senator who kept encouraging him to tell another story and then another story. When they finally drove up to the Senator's home and the Senator's car was out in front, the driver couldn't apologize enough and they had a good laugh together.

When Roy Cohn died of A.I.D.S. a year or so ago, a lot of people remembered that he had worked for Senator McCarthy; they asked me how the Senator could have hired such a person. In order to explain that, I must go back to the time Republican Eisenhower won the Presidency and all Republican Senators took over the Chairmanship of the Senate Committees. Senator McCarthy became Chairman of the Government Operations Committee and its Permanent Investigations Subcommittee. This gave him a tremendous boost, and as a matter of fact, I believe he held many more hearings than had ever been held by that committee. He had planned on Bob Morris coming over from SISS to be his Chief Counsel. Bob had asked me to be his secretary, and the Senator had finally agreed to let me go. We were all excited, and that was a sad time for the Senator and me, but Senator Jenner, who was taking over the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, was about to investigate some cases of subversion in the United Nations and he needed Bob Morris. We were then without a Chief Counsel, and anti-Communist lawyers were scarce. A number of people suggested Roy Cohn; Senator realized he was very young. He was also known as a liberal, but recently he had done a fine job prosecuting Communists in New York, so Senator hired him, and I found myself Roy Cohn's secretary.

From the beginning there was a serious friction between Roy and Bobby Kennedy, who was Minority Counsel. They used the same office spaces and the same secretaries. The first order that Roy gave me was to set up his office space, but the next was to never let Bobby have our best secretary, Ruth. So from then on when Bobby asked for Ruth, I had to tell him she was too busy or something and sent him another girl from our pool of secretaries. In a couple of days a friend of Roy, David Schine, arrived to work and we set him up in the office too. As soon as he got his phone, he called the Pentagon trying to get the address of a soldier. I heard him having some trouble and I heard him use Senator McCarthy's name. So I called Don Surene, Senator's top investigator; Don called the Army and apologized and straightened it out with that officer. This was the first brush those two young fellows had with the Army, but it was not the last, I'm sorry to say. Senator never criticized Roy; he always defended his employees, but I believe those two boys were the reason other Senators turned away from our committee, and I feel they did more harm than good in our crusade.

I've also had many questions about the Army-McCarthy hearings. The first thing we need to remember is that this T.V. extravaganza was a trumped up affair to stop McCarthy and his investigations of Communists and traitors in our government; he was stepping on too many toes. Actually the charges against Senator McCarthy were so falsely manufactured that even the Secretary of the Army, Robert Stevens, confessed that they were without "substantial foundations." Those were his exact words.

Millions of Americans who watched the hearings realized that the Senator was being harassed, and reports were that most listeners liked our Senator and what he stood for. It was true that Roy Cohn had requested the Army allow his friend to remain near Washington after he was drafted so he could work with the committee, but I'm not at all sure the Senator even agreed to it.

And then there was the Peress case. Senator had evidence proving Dr. Irving Peress, then Capt. Peress in the Army of the United States, was a Communist and was soliciting for the Communist party. Senator McCarthy so advised the Army. Instead of investigating or turning the case over to a loyalty board, the Army had given Peress a raise to Major and an Honorable Discharge. Now this did infuriate the Senator. However, none of this was worthy of such a waste of taxpayers' money, time, and men who could have spent their days better serving our Nation than in ridiculous hearings.

I think those hearings were a disgrace to our country. I've really only touched the surface of all the treason and stupidity that Senator McCarthy exposed. As a result of these investigations many subversives were removed from our government, and I believe the Communist timetable was set back many years.

On Washington's birthday 1956, arrangements were made for Senator McCarthy and Senator Jenner to speak at Carnegie Hall in New York City. It was reported that they had an overflow audience, but it was much more than that. We had arrived an hour in advance and the hall was practically full already. Shortly, buses filled with cheering people waving American flags and McCarthy banners began to pull up at the entrance, so we had hundreds of patriots from Connecticut, upper New York state, New Jersey, and I even noticed one from Rhode Island and other states. Hurriedly, loud speakers were secured and put in place so that those that were out front could at least hear what was being said. It brought tears to many eyes to hear those cheers of approval not only from those inside, but from all the buses parked along the curbs outside. For a couple of Senators who were taking so much slander and abuse it surely must have been an encouragement. I will never forget that afternoon, and I don't believe any of those that were there will either.

...Senator McCarthy explained fourteen mistakes our government had made in dealing with the Far East problem, mistakes which seriously injured our prestige and leadership. He offered suggestions of how they should have been and now could be handled. I think you will be very interested in all of them, but I will only take time to read two or three. 1) In December 1945, he explained, the American Government instructed the Chinese people that the only way to keep American friendship was to take Communists into their government. George C. Marshall, General Marshall, went to China for our Government and presented this ultimatum to them. 2) In January 1947, our Government made good on the ultimatum. Chiang Kieshek, the leader of the anti-Communist forces, had refused to take Communists into his Government, and Truman had cut off all their supplies; the Communists then took over China. When I saw the tragic slaughter at Beijing, I couldn't help but feel ashamed for my country. As Lattimore had suggested, we should let China fall, but don't let it look like we pushed them. But we did.

Then on November 3, 1950, Senator McCarthy explained, the American Armies were fighting in Korea when they were attacked by Chinese Communist troops. The American Government ordered the military commanders not to bomb Chinese bases or supply lines, even though American troops were in danger of destruction. The reason given: this might bring China into the war, and believe it or not, our country had turned down the Chinese anti-Communist forces offer of 33,000 troops to help defeat the Chinese and Korean Communists. Also, and I don't suppose you've read this in many history books, American forces were protecting the Communist-Chinese coasts. The American fleet was ordered to protect Red China against the anti-Communist Nationalist raid, and our seventh fleet was ordered to protect shipments of military supplies for the Red Chinese forces killing American boys.

Senator McCarthy continued to explain all fourteen errors he felt our government had made. At the last case, he told them, quoting from his report given as late as May, 1955: "The Senate Subcommittee on Investigations reported on the questioning of top State Department/Defense Department officials that 481 American prisoners of war were still unacounted for and were believed to be in Chinese prisons. Last year, with great fanfare and by making who knows what concessions to the Reds, we obtained the release of fifteen, which leaves 466 American fighting men whom the mightiest Nation of earth is evidently not lifting a finger to protect. I say the world will never respect us, will never acknowledge us as a worthy leader in the anti-Communist cause until it learns that when an American soldier goes overseas, he packs on his shoulders the entire strength of the United States of America. The Nation owes the same duty to the soldier as the soldier owes to the Nation."

"Therefore I repeat what I have urged a hundred times before, that we put Red China in an economic straight jacket, that so long as an American boy remains in Communist control that no American money go to nations that trade with Red China in strategic supplies or otherwise. One of the results of the Geneva Friendship meeting is that we are permitting our alleged allies to ship highly strategic war supplies to the Soviet Union. This policy affects the Far East as well as other parts of the world since Communist China gets what she needs from Communist Russia."

This was a subject the Senator stressed in press releases. I can't remember that there were any more boys released after that.

I won't take tome to go into all the mistakes Senator McCarthy explained, but I should mention the suppression of the Wedemeyer Report. General Wedemeyer was one of our top Intelligence officers who had prepared a special report to Congress on how China could be saved from Communist conquest. This special, important report has been withheld from the Congress. When the Armed Services Committee of the United States Senate learned of this, they asked General Marshall why he had joined in the suppression of that report. "I did not join in the suppression of that report; I personally suppressed it." Congress did not have that report to use in their making of a decision.

Senator McCarthy kept finding more and more references to General Marshall as he continued his research into the reasons China fell to the Communists. When he heard that the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House had been requested to approve the arming of, by America, ten Chinese Communist Divisions he could hardly believe it. And then he learned that Secretary of State Dean Acheson reported that General Marshall had agreed to assign sixty-nine United states officers and 400 tons of American equipment to train ten Communist Chinese armies. This was incredible, and when Senator McCarthy had completed his research, he gave a report of General Marshall's record to the Congress and printed his book "America's Retreat From Victory" a story of George Catlett Marshall. General Marshall had been built up as such a great General and hero by the press that most people had a hard time believing the truth, but his book was completely documented. I'll tell you how to get a copy if you really want to know the truth, and I hope you want to get one.

Before I finish, remember in describing Senator McCarthy that I used the word "gentle". Now that does sound a bit strange for such a masculine man, but he was gentle. The author, Brent Bozell, who was known as a good judge of character, wrote, "I studied Senator McCarthy's work, and I helped write a book about it; and in the course of professional interviews I caught glimpses of the bouncy, the strength of will, the awesome single mindedness, the gentleness of this man." So Brent Bozell saw what I saw.

Another character witness I'd like to quote is William Rusher, publisher of National Review. After the Senator had been censored, Rusher thought perhaps this would be a good time to find out if the Senator were ever bitter. After his interviews, Rusher commented that bitterness was just not in Senator McCarthy's character and then he added, "We might interject here that surprising as it may sound, the dominate quality in Senator McCarthy was a singular sweetness in his character; this was once the key to his success, just as in its purity depended his courage, and it was courage that put him in the forefront of anti-communism. Many of whom were more knowledgeable than he, and the cause of his down fall. For valiant, though he was, in fighting for his country or for principal, he could not be ruthless in fighting for himself."

I almost forgot to tell you about the Senator's marriage to Jean Kerr, and it was a very important and a really beautiful part of his life. Jean had worked for the Senator and had helped write his book "McCarthyism, The Fight For America." Jean was a beautiful, very smart girl; we all loved her dearly. She joined the Catholic Church and they were married in the huge Washington D. C. Catholic Church with both political and social friends in attendance. It was a beautiful wedding. This marriage was a very happy marriage. After awhile they adopted a baby girl whom they both adored. Jean has since died and I don't know where to find her daughter; I'd love to meet her. I'm sure that all the vicious smears against that great Patriot who adopted her must bother her very much, and I wonder if she knew that in 1954, the Gallop Poll listed Senator Joseph R. McCarthy as the fourth most admired man in the whole United States.

Many thousands of people were alerted to the Communist menace and were aware that Senator McCarthy was fighting a good fight. He had challenged us to be very sure our young people knew the truth that International Communism has but one goal, and that is to place the free people of the world under complete and dictatorial control of the Soviet Government. This truth was published by the House Committee on un-American activities in the 1950s. That Committee had endeavored to wake up America and published a pamphlet entitled, "The Shameful Years, 30 Years of Soviet Espionage In The United States". I do wish I had a copy of this pamphlet to give each of you. It explains so well how our Federal Government was gradually brought under foreign control, which had so shocked Senator McCarthy. Then in 1956, the United States Senate published a handbook for Americans entitled, "The Communist Party Of The United States Of America, What It Does And How It Works". The Senate Committee explains that the Communist Party of America is in fact a Russian-inspired, Moscow-dominated, anti-American, quasi-military conspiracy against our Government, our ideals, and our freedoms. Now, most books that contain this truth are out of print or have mysteriously disappeared from the shelves of our libraries.

Before I finish, perhaps I should answer a number of questions from my friends. For instance, I have been asked, "What did Senator McCarthy think of the United Nations?" For one thing, he was well aware that the U.N. Charter had been drawn up by the Communists, pro-Communists, Socialists and the like. He knew the Charter did not guarantee protection of private property, nor religious freedom, and in fact under the United Nations there is no God. Senator McCarthy suggested that we give Red China our seat in the United Nations, and that would get us out from under the jurisdiction of that dangerous organization.

I wonder how many people today realize that our school history books are filled with vicious attacks on Senator McCarthy. What a pity that we are not able to stop this false reporting to the youth of our Nation; they need to know the truth.

...Another point I would like to bring out at this time is the question often asked: "How many peoples' lives have been ruined by the Senator's false accusations?" Actually, there was never one, not even one. But because some people confused McCarthy's investigations with the Hollywood investigation of Myron Fagan, you need to know that Senator McCarthy never investigated the Hollywood film industry at all.

This brings us to Senator McCarthy's death. He was in his 40s when he died on May 2, 1957. He died at Bethesda Naval Hospital, the same hospital from which that other great Patriot, Secretary of the Navy, Forrestal, fell or was thrown to his death. Senator McCarthy's death certificate reads "Hepatitis Unknown." There were so many conflicting reports concerning his death that it is very confusing. Medford Evans, the man who wrote "The Assassination of Joseph R. McCarthy" was convinced that the Senator had been murdered, and I'm inclined to agree with him. But I hope his life will encourage others to learn the truth, and I pray that the truth will lead America back to a Christian government. Joseph McCarthy was buried at Appleton, W.I., where every Spring there is a Memorial Service. These Memorial Services are held under the auspices of the McCarthy Educational Foundation, which has been doing an excellent job of keeping his memory alive... The Foundation would like to continue the placement of the Senator's two books in high schools and colleges... Both Senator McCarthy's "McCarthyism, The Fight For America" and "America's Retreat From Victory," the story of George Catlett Marshall, are available from the Joseph R. McCarthy Educational Foundation, Inc, 2219 South 65th Street, Milwaukee, WI, 53219... Thank you so much for listening, and thank you for helping to bring some truth back to America. May God bless the memory of a great Christian Patriot, Joseph R. McCarthy.

SOVIET DEFECTOR IGOR GOUZENKO (told of communist agents in high levels of gov't). Globe & Mail, May 31, 2003. Go to 35.The Brotherhood

LaFollette feared McCarthy exposure (so ex-Senator killed himself). MilwaukeeSentinel, May 17, 2003
LaFollette Jr was the son of Robert M "Fighting Bob" LaFollette - the famous Wisconsin governor, US senator and Progressive Party candidate for president - and brother of Philip F LaFollette, who also served as governor of Wisconsin...Recently declassified Soviet documents show LaFollette's aides DID indeed have Communist ties...

What McCarthy messed up. Jewish World Review, May 13, 2003
...Yes, we all remember when Soviet agents drove a passenger plane into the Empire State Building. When the United States invaded East Germany to get the perps and put 2,000 Stasi agents at Gitmo. When a gaunt apparition of Trotsky himself sent blurry kinescopes to his followers, urging death to the bourgeoisie... Stalinists and members of the CPUSA were not dissenters; they were hard-core Reds who wanted to replace the Constitution and the U.S. government with a Moscow-run puppet state...Roy Cohn bugged your liquor cabinet and passes everything on to The Party. Khrushchev knows everything...

Most-hated senator was right (Joseph McCarthy's charges 'now accepted as fact' by scholars). WorldNetDaily, Feb 8, 2000

Cold War's (Unlearned Lessons Doom Us to Repeat History. Accuracy in Academia, Summer 2001
In fact, the Cold War started in 1919. But most people in the West had no idea that it had started. It started with the establishment of the Communist International, an organization based in Moscow, organizing the Communist parties of the world and an international apparatus to take over the world. I mean that might sound a little peculiar at this late stage of the game... The Soviet leaders, Lenin, Stalin, and those who came after them, thought that they were going to be able to conquer the world. And if necessary they would use force, and where possible they would use other methods. .... Now, not every American Communist was qualified to be a spy. Only a handful were. They were all totally loyal to the Soviet Union. But those who were qualified to be spies-say an Alger Hiss in the State Department, or Harry Dexter White in the Treasury Department or Lauchlin Currie or Harry Hopkins (and I'll get back to these people a little later) in the White House - they were Soviet spies because they were Communists. And the American Communist Party provided them to do American intelligence service.)

...During the public phase of my fight to expose pro-Communists and Communist treason in government, a vast number of deeply disturbed Americans have asked [many] questions. They want the answers-documented and proved-so they may determine for themselves the true situation.

This book is my answer to those questions. This is my answer to every American who seeks to know the truth about my fight against pro-Communists and Communist treason in government...

Here [is one of] the important questions that [has] been asked by friends and enemies of my anti-Communist fight together with my [answer]...

The fact that these people have not been convicted of treason or of violating some of our [spy] laws is no more a valid argument they are fit to represent this country in its fight against Communism than the argument that a person who has a reputation of [associating] with criminals, hoodlums, gamblers, and kidnappers is fit to act as your babysitter, because he has never been convicted of a crime...

A government job is a privilege, not a right. There is no reason why men who chum with Communists, who refuse to turn their backs upon traitors and who are consistently found at the time and place where disaster strikes America and success comes to...Communism, should be given positions of power in government...

We are concerned with the question of whether the individual who associates with those who are trying to destroy this nation, should be admitted to the high councils of those planning the policies of this nation; whether they should be given access to top secret material to which even Senators and Congressmen are not given access.

The best [comparison] perhaps is the case of the applicant for a job as a bank cashier who travels with safe-crackers, robbers, and gamblers. Naturally, such a man would not be hired as cashier and allowed access to depositors' money. The fact that the bank president does not give him a job as cashier does not mean the job applicant has been found guilty of any crime. It merely means that the bank president, using good horse-sense, decides that his depositors are entitled to have this man kept away from their money while he has associates who are bank robbers and safe-crackers. Certainly in dealing with the lives of countless sons of American mothers and the liberty of the American people, we should be using the same good common horse-sense that the bank president uses.