The name of former Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy is synonymous with political witch hunts. Indeed, his surname remains an actual word in English language dictionaries, McCarthyism referring to a style of political persecution that features intimidation through reckless and unsubstantiated accusations.
McCarthy burst on the national scene in February of 1950 after delivering a speech to the Women’s Club of Wheeling, West Virginia. Waving what he claimed was a list of known communists working in the federal government, the press grabbed his cry-wolf story and ran with it. Of course there was no list. Instead, the junior senator was stoking fear of Communism during the height of Cold War tensions, and it made him an overnight sensation.
From his perch in the Senate, McCarthy subpoenaed witnesses and bullied them in hearings designed to root out the supposed communists. During his reign of terror from 1950-54, McCarthy was America’s most infamous, and in some ways most powerful politician. For example, he campaigned extensively for other politicians during the 1950 congressional elections; brandishing his new and very long coattails, every politician he supported won, while every politician he opposed was defeated.
Of course every witch hunt burns itself out eventually, and McCarthy’s was no different. The beginning of the end came during hearings he conducted against the U.S. Army in 1954. By then his power, or perhaps his hubris, was so great that he freely attacked the American military for being a bastion of communist infiltrators.
The seminal moment came when McCarthy got into a scrape with Joseph Welch, an attorney for the Boston firm of Hale and Dorr, which the Army had hired for representation during the hearings. McCarthy went after a young Hale and Dorr attorney named Fred Fisher for having been a member of the National Lawyers Guild. The NLG was a liberal law organization that had defended communists and had any number of communist members. McCarthy tried to impugn Hale and Dorr by claiming Fisher was still a communist and a member Welch’s staff in D.C.
Welch, however, did not back down like so many intimidated witnesses before him. Instead, the veteran lawyer turned the tables and went after McCarthy. He made it clear that Fisher no longer belonged to the NLG, and that Fisher in fact was not on Welch’s D.C. staff for the hearings, precisely because his prior association with NLG would make him a target. Welch then shamed McCarthy for publicly attacking a young man who had done no wrong, and exposed the Senator as a hypocrite: McCarthy had actually known Fisher was no longer with the NLG and not currently on Welch’s D.C. staff. Indeed, Fisher was by then a member of the Massachusetts Republican party. The crucial exchange went, in part, as follows:
Welch: Senator, may we not drop this? We know he belonged to the Lawyers Guild
McCarthy: Let me finish . . .
Welch: . . . Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator.
McCarthy: Lets, let’s–
Welch: You’ve done enough. Have you no decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?
And then an amazing thing happened. A sizable number of people in the Senate gallery applauded, publicly rebuking McCarthy. It was the beginning of his end.
I am reminded of McCarthy’s downfall in light of Rush Limbaugh’s public apology on Saturday to thirty year old Sandra Fluke, whom he spent three days calling a slut and a prostitute on his radio show, even demanding that she provide videos of herself having sex. The similarities between the two episodes, while far from perfect, are nonetheless manifold.
Like Fisher, Fluke was being publicly lambasted for her actions as a young law student. And like Fisher, her vulnerability came once she was connected to the Senate, in her case offering testimony on why employee health insurance plans should provide coverage for women’s prescription contraception. And as with Fisher, the attacks seem completely unreasonable to most everyone and have prompted an enormous public backlash.
There are also similarities worth noting between Limbaugh and McCarthy. Both were dogmatic propagandists. Both were highly divisive figures who had relatively small but very loyal bases, and they were generally looked favorably upon by only a minority of Americans. Both were bomb
astic fear-mongers who thrived on intimidating opponents. Both were incessant liars. Both battled addiction, McCarthy a notorious alcoholic and Limbaugh struggling with prescription pills. And both, hopefully, began their downfall after finally crossing a public line that they no longer seemed to recognize.
Yes, this may be the beginning of the end of Rush Limbaugh. The vast majority of Americans view his recent actions as repugnant. Even fellow Republicans and conservatives are publicly disavowing his actions, something that was previously unheard of. And though Limbaugh’s fall probably won’t be anywhere near as far or as fast as that of McCarthy, who drank himself to death less than three years later, there may yet be no turning back for Limbaugh. As with McCarthy, his credibility may have suffered irreparable harm.
And one final note on these comparisons. Fred Fisher eventually went on to become a partner at Hale and Dorr, and during the 1970s was president of the Massachusetts Bar Association. Best of luck to you going forward, Ms. Fluke, and sincerest wishes that you too overcome your undeserved public battle with a loathsome and reprehensible bully.