McCarthy :: essays research papers

While I can non take the time to name every of the men in the rural area Department who choose been named as members of the communist party and members of a spy ring, I drop here in myhand a list of 205 that were known to the Secretary of theState as being members of the Communist party and whonevertheless are still on the job(p) and shaping the policy ofthe State Department. (Bayley, 1981,p.17)This story is held responsible for sparking the McCarthyism era.The incidents following it, nominate a journalistic period paralleledto the Christian views of the Spanish Inquisition a time period of brandedembarrassment and horror never to be forgotten.     Later McCarthy said the number he gave in his speech was not 205 but 57.The fact is that Desmond had a written copy of the speech earlier McCarthy gaveit, but he could have changed the number to 57 when he real presented thespeech. Regardless, the number 57 would have been just as shocking as 205. Thereporters e thics and/or practices were questionable in handling this story.Why he did not ask to see the list of 205 Communists? If he did, history mayhave been different, for as McCarthy said himself "what he held in his hand wasthe Byrnes letter, not a list."(Bayley, 1981, p.24) If Desmond had reported thatMcCarthy was holding a letter, not a list, the newspapers would have handled thestory much differently. A letter from cardinal person to another, which suggests bad employees, would have made much less news than the illusion of an positivelist of names.     This lack of verification, was one of many press blunders that followedover the near few weeks. In general the press poor practice would be carried emerge for the next five years. "I have here in my hand,..." was a phrase that"became more popular than a famous toothpaste slogan,"(Belfrage, 1973, p.117)which he utilise on an infinite number of occasions to refer to documents he would get o ff from his briefcase to support wild accusations. The legitimacy of thedocuments much like that of the accusations seemed never to have been verifiedby the reporters on sight. The Byrness letter that McCarthy pulled out onFebruary 9, 1950 was one of these unchecked documents. The content of theletter gives us insight into McCarthys ability to circumvent the facts, andcover his tracks just enough so that an unambitious, negligent reporter would service of process him spread his word.     The letter from which the number 205 is extracted is dated 26 July 1946,from Secretary of State James F.