Tag Archives: Senator Joseph McCarthy

From McCarthyism to 2024 Civil Disagreements

In the early 1950’s, Americans became concerned, even fearful, about the advances made by the Soviet Union in Europe. Fear is sometimes an instigator of disagreements and vastly conflicting views.

During this time, U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy made unproven charges that U.S. government agencies, the entertainment industry, and other American groups had been infiltrated with Soviet sympathizers. He was unable to prove his claims and was finally censured by his Senate colleagues for his conduct. The term “McCarthyism” became a name for unproven allegations against a person or group.

Americans continued to strongly disagree over various issues, such as American participation in Vietnam. Disagreements sometimes led to conflicts. Sometimes riots and even deaths resulted when a few groups yielded to the temptation to physically overcome an opposite viewpoint.

Strong beliefs can be a product of a government gaining power from a nation’s people rather than a dictator or a small group of the powerful. Most of us consider political differences a worthwhile price we pay to escape rule by a dictator or a powerful small group.

Nevertheless, we might consider showing more respect for those with whom we disagree. Those on opposite sides of happenings in Israel/Palestine or immigration across our southern border, for example, could set up groups to respectfully discuss differences rather than calling for riots or physical occupation of academic or political spaces. Before taking part in the discussions, individuals would pledge to follow time limits, refrain from insults, and listen respectfully.

The idea is to forge consensus after sincere and thoughtful discussion.

Fulbright Scholarships and Segregation

It’s one of those paradoxes—America’s sometimes heroic leadership in the post World War II era and its torturous dealings with its racist sins at the same time.

A recent article in Foreign Affairs about J. William Fulbright, a senator from Arkansas from 1945 to 1974, mirrors this struggle. (Charles King, “The Fulbright Paradox,” July/August 2021).

Fulbright’s name is attached to the famous scholarship awards program begun in 1946. The program has allowed thousands of American and foreign students to study each other’s learning and culture.

Senator Fulbright also led the successful fight to end Senator Joseph McCarthy’s reign of terror. McCarthy’s false conspiracy theories had destroyed careers and people’s lives.

In addition, Fullbright began hearings on the Vietnam war in 1966. Testimony was taken from numerous people, including John Kerry, then a young anti-war veteran of the war. Kerry’s testimony is remembered to this day for his question: “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?”

Here is Fulbright, then, espousing such liberal causes as opposition to the war.

But Fulbright shows another side to his character: “In 1956, Fulbright signed the Declaration of Constitutional Principles, also known as the Southern Manifesto . . . .The document codified southern resistance to racial integration . . .”

The idea of black Americans in Arkansas having as much power through voting as white Arkansans was simply, for him, a bridge too far.

Though he could advance learning and understanding between nations and could see the folly of Vietnam, he, like many Americans today, could not see our own racial sins.

As King writes: “He was a figure who committed his life to global understanding yet found it impossible to apply the same ideals to his homeland. What seems like a contradiction in Fulbright’s outlook, however, is really a blind spot in Americans’ own. Ths combination of open-mindedness abroad and bigotry at home was not unique to him.”