Timesuck with Dan Cummins - 427 - McCarthyism: When Red Scare Paranoia Destroyed Innocent Lives

Episode Date: November 4, 2024

Back in the 1950s, America was very afraid of Soviet spies and communist sympathizers infiltrating the government and destroying the United States from within. And there were actual spies sharing secrets with the Soviets. But concern soon gave way to paranoia, and a political witch-hunt began, with a self-serving senator from Wisconsin leading a very misguided and ultimately anti-American and embarrassing Red Scare that destroyed the lives of many. If you are able to give extra support this holiday season, please consider supporting the annual Bad Magic Giving Tree by purchasing a digital amazon gift card and sending it to [e-mail] are accepting gift cards starting now through November 21st!Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch-related questions/problems: [e-mail] (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. 

How far would you go to fight communism? In the early 1950s, a number of American political leaders repeatedly told the American public that they should be very fearful of subversive communist influences in their lives. Americans were continually reminded that communists were all around them. They could be lurking anywhere, using their positions as school teachers, college professors, labor organizers, artists, actors, or journalists to aid the nefarious agenda of world communist domination.

They could be your neighbors, your child's nanny. If you weren't constantly vigilant against communism, you could quickly find yourself indoctrinated directly into it. This paranoia about the internal communist threat, consistently labeled as the enemy within, reached a fever pitch between 1950 and 1954, when Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin launched a series of highly publicized probes into alleged communist penetration of the State Department, the White House, the Treasury, even the U.S. Army. McCarthy took it upon himself to expose these communist bastards and their sympathizers throughout all of American cultural and political life. And for a few years almost no one dared to tangle with McCarthy. They were afraid. Afraid that they would show up in his crosshairs

next. That they would be labeled a traitor, a subversive. That their careers would be destroyed, their lives ruined for just being tainted with the accusation of maybe, possibly, being a communist. While no other name is associated with communist paranoia more strongly than Joseph McCarthy, McCarthy did not invent communist paranoia. Far from it, actually. He did take it much further, though, than any individual politician had ever done before him, and in doing so, he became the most polarizing political figure in America.

At the height of his popularity, he had many supporters and peers who absolutely loved him and what he was doing. But he also had many detractors who utterly despised him and felt he was either a paranoid fool, shouting about boogeymen where none existed, or a diabolical scheming opportunist, using good old-fashioned fear-mongering to advance his political career at the direct expense of the careers of so many others who he unfairly maligned and threw under the proverbial bus. To his enemies, McCarthy was evil incarnate, but to his supporters, he was an ardent champion of freedom,

capitalism, and doing everything and anything in the government's power to win the Cold War at all costs and defeat the great communist evil lurking all around. To be fair to McCarthy, there were for sure communist spies in the US government, and had been as early as the 1920s, and questioning the loyalty of elected officials and or civil servants to the country that employs them is certainly nothing new. But McCarthy would take his questioning to never-before-seen heights, while also not being the most moral man himself in his political wheelings and dealings. In fact, McCarthy's inquiries may have been primarily motivated by seeing an opportunity to make himself into the

most important political figure of the day, something he'd always dreamt of being. McCarthy's committee interrogated more than 500 people under his leadership, questioning everyone from politicians to soldiers to Hollywood screenwriters to actors and poets. And not a single one of them were ever found to be working for the Soviet Union. Not one. Thankfully, McCarthy's reign would not be a long one. In 1953, McCarthy finally took it too far when he accused the army of harboring communists. The televised Army-McCarthy hearings that ensued exposed many Americans to McCarthy's bullying tactics, flimsy or nonexistent evidence to back up his accusations, self-righteous

attitude, and it ruined his public reputation. The early 1950s were a strange time in American history. A time of paranoia and suspicion and political infighting and drastic measures to fight communism. Measures that may have been born out of good intentions but definitely and needlessly ended up harming many, many people. And we're sucking it all today as the U.S. presidential election wraps up in a let's look to the past to perhaps learn about the present. Political but hopefully not politically polarizing. We have enough of that going around at the moment.

Historical. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Addition of Time Suck. This is Michael McDonald and you're listening to Time Suck. Happy Monday and welcome to the Cult of the Curious. I'm Dan Cummins. Petty ass witch! And that's all I am this week. And you are listening to Time Suck. Hail Nimrod, Hail Lucifina, praise be to good boy Bojangos, oh he is loving this episode, and glory be to Triple M.

Before I dive back into this week's very interesting historical subject, let's talk about helping each other during these especially divisive, polarized times. It's time to start talking about the annual Bad Magic Giving Tree. In a future episode, I'll share details about when and where to apply for help. This announcement is about how you can support the Giving Tree recipients. Every year we want to help as many families as we can around the holidays, and that is only made possible by your donations. This year we're starting the Amazon gift card collection earlier than in years past so that

we know what kind of funds we're working with. Every little bit helps us achieve our goal of donating $40,000 to our community members in need. If you are able to give extra support this holiday season, please consider doing so by purchasing a digital Amazon gift card and sending it to givingtree2024. That's the words giving tree then the numbers 2024 at bad magic productions comm I will include that email in the episode description We're accepting gift cards starting now through November 21st All this info can be found in today's episode description or you can email us we can point you in the right direction Also, I've been forgetting for months to announce who we've been donating to for our monthly charities

And trying to get into the meat of the episodes faster and that got lost. Whoops! So real quick, last month we donated $12,800 thanks to our Patreon supporters here and over it scared to death to the St. Bernard Project for hurricane relief from Milton and Helene while also setting aside $1,400 for our annual scholarship fund. What a hurricane season it has been. Destruction and devastation all over the place. The St. Bernard project are working with the folks in both Florida and North Carolina through their disaster appeals program which provides one-on-one support for survivors as they

apply for an appeal to FEMA. To learn more or to get help help please visit SBPUSA.org. SBPUSA.org. So sorry to everyone who has been affected. And now communism. Manipulative political agendas and the dangers of nationalism and unfounded accusations and paranoia inducing fear-mongering. The horrors of communism are apparent to anyone who has seriously studied world history. In fact, we've covered many such horrors here from the dictatorial reign. That word, I almost got rid of it. Dictatorial reign of Joseph Stalin to Pol Pot's Cambodian genocide and China's Mao Zedong and his great leap forward that killed millions and millions and left millions and

millions more in abject poverty. So many have suffered and died in the name of communism. In 2011, historians estimated that the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin alone deliberately killed about 6 million people. Had them killed. A figure that increases to 9 million if foreseeable deaths arising directly from his policies are taken into account. Somewhere between 1.5 million and 1.7 million died in just his gulags,

oftentimes in prison for just not adoring him enough, not stroking him off hard enough, or due to false accusations cast by others afraid of being falsely imprisoned themselves. In Mao's China, historians estimate that between 750,000 and 1.5 million people were killed in the violence of the Cultural Revolution between 1966 and 1976 in rural China alone. From 1958 to 1962, his great leap forward policies led to the deaths of upwards of 45 million people.

Hundreds of millions of people lost their lives under Mao altogether. In Pol Pot's Cambodia, the results of a demographic study of the Cambodian genocide concluded that the nationwide death toll from 1975 to 1979 amounted to over 1.6 million, perhaps as high as 1.9 million, or 21 to 24 percent of the total Cambodian population before the tyrannical Khmer Rouge regime took power. And there are other communist governments that we haven't talked about, all with separate death tolls of their own. All in all, in the 20th century,

historians estimate that the political ideology of communism led directly to somewhere around 100 million deaths, more than all other repressive regimes combined during the same time period. By far the biggest toll arose from communist efforts to collectivize agriculture and eliminate independent property-owning peasants. Famines. So many famines. So many needless avoidable famines under the name of communism. And the injustices and atrocities of communism were not limited to mass death. These fortunate, or those fortunate, excuse me, enough to survive were subjected to severe repression, including violations of basic freedoms such as the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion,

the freedom to own property, and there was the criminalization of ordinary economic activity. No other political ideology in modern history has sought such complete, total control over nearly every aspect of their people's lives. Although the communists promised versions of the utopian society that Karl Marx and others envisioned in which the working class would enjoy unprecedented communal prosperity, the vision so far has only ever worked in theory. In practice, communism has engendered massive poverty, misery, and widespread discontent. Wherever communists and non-communist states have existed in close proximity, it has always

been the communists who have used walls and the threat of death to keep their people from fleeing to neighboring societies with greater opportunities. Think about just that. If you're building walls to keep others out, well then your society is comparatively, at least, pretty fucking dope. But if you're building walls to keep your citizens in, then your society is a fucking dumpster fire. It sucks.

If it didn't, you wouldn't need to treat your citizens like prison inmates. They would want to stay. Bojangles could not agree more. He truly cannot understand why literally anyone would still want to try actual hardcore communism. The US government knew that fighting communism was important, noble even, and that it saved lives. But there's a right way and a wrong way to fight an opposing ideology. And I don't know of any historian who thinks that Joseph McCarthy fought communism the right way. His twisted method caused a lot of innocent American citizens to suffer a lot of completely unnecessary harm. However, Joseph McCarthy was not alone when it came to paranoia

around communism. His fight to root out communist spies had support in all three branches of the U.S. government. At the legislative level, the McCarthy-chaired Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and the separate and pre-existing House Un-American Activities Committee held congressional hearings for people suspected of communist allegiance. In the executive branch, President Harry Truman, whose administration had been accused of being soft on communism, established loyalty boards that evaluated and dismissed federal employees on, quote, reasonable grounds for belief in disloyalty. Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court upheld laws that prevented even talking about communism. Saying that these laws were not against the First Amendment because communism was a clear and present danger.

Fuck that shit. Can you imagine not even being able to discuss a belief system today? Not even have to, you're not allowed to have an intellectual discussion about it. And if you think, yeah, but it's communism. No one should be talking about communism. Then I say replace communism with socialism or parliamentary democracy or Satanism or Buddhism or atheism or Christianity. And if I haven't covered something you would like to be able to talk about yet, just add whatever you're thinking to that list and ask yourself if it's okay just to have it be not allowed to be discussed, to be illegal for it to be discussed.

It's fucking insane. The Supreme Court even upheld a law that banned communist teachers from New York public schools. And I get that you might not love your kid being taught about communism by a communist, And I get that you might not love your kid being taught about communism by a communist. But to have it be illegal in the self-proclaimed land of the free? Again, fuck that. Freedom does not exist if you only have the right to agree with the state. The ultimate expression of freedom is dissent. The right to disagree. That's the hallmark of a great and confident nation. Without dissent, without legal opposition, freedom dies.

This all reminds me of people who lose their shit when the Satanic temple wants to put a statue of Baphomet in some public place where some other religion's statue exists. How hypocritical! Do you truly want religious freedom? Or do you want only freedom for your religion, which means you actually don't believe in freedom and are the definition of a hypocrite. In passing the laws the US passed in its fight against the repressive ideals of communism America exhibited its own blatant hypocrisy for all the world to see as it became almost as authoritarian as the authoritarian governments it was fighting. Under the pretense of fighting communism some American politicians and

bureaucrats became exactly who they proclaimed to hate. Congressional committees looking for subversives coordinated with the FBI, which spied on law-abiding American citizens and maintained files on them containing everything from suspects voter registration histories to hearsay, to testimony from friends, family, and employers. The Attorney General also kept a specialist of so-called subversive organizations, which included the National Negro Congress and the School of Jewish Studies.

Everyone but straight white Christian flag-waving nationalists were suspect, and even some of those nationalists became suspect as well because paranoid, fear-mongering witch hunters will inevitably turn upon themselves and start to cannibalize their own if the witch hunt is allowed to go on long enough. That's something witch hunters always seem to forget. That when you grab a pitchfork and you start chasing monsters, eventually someone else

with a pitchfork usually starts chasing you. If you were called before anti-communist committees in the 1950s, you could refuse to answer their questions, but then you'd be convicted of contempt of Congress, sentenced to prison, and blacklisted from your industry. All that in the name of freedom, baby! If you denied involvement in the Communist Party, the prosecution could and often did bring in an FBI or ex-Communist witness who would insist you were Communist so they could claim that you had committed perjury and put you in jail for that. As this paranoia trickled down from the top of the government to the American

public and everyone from nationally known academics to unknown dock workers started facing scrutiny for the more than five million federal workers who faced suspicion through loyalty screenings, being called a communist, had the power to turn them into pariahs, cutting off all pathways to either continued government employment or at least to career advancement. It was truly a scary time for both the people suspected of being communist and for the people who didn't want to live under the totalitarian rule of an actual oppressive communist state. And now let's get started for real and find the devil's in all the details of today's show. Similar to the way we are inundated with media today talking about America being destroyed by either a radical liberal agenda or a totalitarian threat to democracy itself, whether that be right-wing or left-wing media, Americans living in the 1940s and 50s were inundated with constant media about the threat of a

communist takeover. Just not quite as immersively, of course, thanks to the lack of a 24-hour news cycle and not being able to carry the internet around in their pockets and purses and no obsession with the non-existent social media. Still, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, dramatic radio programs constantly told tales of government agents on a quest to find communist infiltrators who, in the words of one, would undermine our America. The serialized espionage drama radio program, David Harding, Counter-Spy, began in May of 1942 as a story of an American operative fighting the Nazis, and the long-running program easily adapted to a Cold War narrative in the late 1940s and early 1950s before it

wrapped up in 1957. In an episode from December of 1950, a message from FBI, long-time FBI director J. Edgar Hoover was read calling on law enforcement officers, patriotic organizations, and individuals to report on anything that might indicate espionage, sabotage, or subversive activities. Another radio program, I Was a Communist for the FBI, based on a film with the same name, ran from April of 1952 until October of 1953. And in one episode, from April of 1953, the main character, Matt Sivetik, based on the real life Matt Sivetik, who was a spy and informant working for the FBI inside the Communist Party of the US during the 1940s, described his undercover assignment. For nine years I was living on the brink of a volcano, a volcano called communism,

a volcano which is centered in Soviet Russia, but which is erupting all over the world. People were inundated with media like this about how the communists were taking over a true enemy from within and it wasn't the first time in American history that that had happened. America's first Red Scare took place in the 1920s in the wake of World War I. The Russian Revolution of 1917 had seen the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, topple the Romanov dynasty, kicking off the rise of the Communist Party, and inspiring international fear of Bolsheviks and anarchists. Then in the United States

labor strikes were on the rise and the press sensationalized them as being caused by newly arrived communist immigrants intent on bringing down the American way of life. The Sedition Act of 1918 was passed in response to target people who criticized the government, monitoring radicals and labor union leaders with the threat of deportation. Under this act, it was now illegal to speak disloyally, profanely, or abusively, fairly subjective all this, about the US government, the constitution, the military, the flag, even fucking military uniforms and more. Illegal to speak poorly about the US government.

Cracks me up when people bitch about the current government being tyrannical and taking away our freedoms as if that is something new. While I do think there are literally always grounds to criticize the government and that we can and should continually refine and improve always grounds to criticize the government and that we can and should continually refine and improve governmental policy for the betterment of society. And while I also think there are lots of very legitimate and important gripes to be made right now in this moment and believe that we deserve a lot more freedoms than we are currently being given, to make an argument about the government currently being out of control and repressive as if that's a new development demonstrates a severe lack of understanding when it comes to history. A lot of people lost their fucking minds over, for example, government mandates regarding COVID, and there was legitimacy, in my opinion, to a lot of their complaints, but a lot of people losing their minds acted like the mandates were some new kind of never-before-seen in America.

What the fuck happened to freedom? The socialists are taking over kind of agenda-driven bullshit, and that was maddening for the rest of us who do care about and understand history to hear because it simply wasn't true. We have no laws comparable to this edition act of 1918 in place today. People would really lose their shit if we had anything in the ballpark of this. A lot of shitty laws right now to be sure. A lot of laws I despise and find archaic and anti-humanist, but not that kind of shitty law. shitty laws right now to be sure. A lot of laws I despise and find archaic and anti-humanist, but not that kind of shitty law. The fear over the spread of communism in America turned to violence with the 1919 anarchist bombings, a series of bombs targeting law enforcement and other government officials. The first Red Scare climax at the end of 1919 and in the beginning of 1920 when US Attorney

General Alexander Mitchell Palmer ordered the Palmer Raids, a series of violent law enforcement raids targeting leftist radicals and anarchists. Approximately 6,000 people arrested were arrested across 36 cities despite little to no credible evidence that they were a threat to democracy and 556 foreign citizens were deported including a number of prominent leftist leaders. And thousands and thousands more would have been arrested and deported had U.S. President Woodrow Wilson not essentially told Palmer to sit down and knock it the fuck off. The U.S. Secretary of the Navy Joseph S. Daniels thought the Attorney General had merited the President's admonition because Palmer quote,

was seen red behind every Bush and every demand for an increase in wages. Yeah, accusing some random factory worker of being a communist had become an all too convenient way of dismissing the very valid claims of many workers for better wages, better hours, better working conditions, which put then more money into the hands of a lot of already wealthy and often corrupt factory owners. Capitalism, when not regulated, can become almost as oppressive to everyone but the upper few percent of the population as communism can.

Corporations can be masters, nearly as cold and cruel as the communist state if the government is not willing to stand up to them on behalf of the common people. Paranoia over a Red Scare, aka communist threat, dropped off significantly following the Palmer Raids and it wouldn't flare back up again until the end of World War II. After World War II, with the Cold War kicking off immediately as the Soviet Union gobbled up nations just quote unquote liberated from Hitler's Nazi regime and placed a new yoke of Soviet communism around their necks. The intense rivalry between World War II allies, the US and the Soviet Union raised concerns in the US that communist and leftist sympathizers inside America might actively work as Soviet spies and pose a new threat to US security.

So how real was this threat? To be fair, and Bojangles would bite my nuts off if I didn't say this, it was not totally unfounded. Communist spies infiltrating the US government was arguably a clear and present danger. Since the late 1920s the Soviet Union through its GRU, OGPU, NKVD, and KGB intelligence agencies used Russian foreign-born nationals as well as communists of American origin to perform espionage activities in the US. During the 1920s Soviet intelligence focused on military and industrial espionage in Britain, France, Germany, and the US, specifically in the aircraft and munitions industries in order to industrialize and compete with Western

powers as well as of course strengthening the Soviet armed forces. One big aim of Soviet espionage was the infiltration, placement, and subversion of and compete with Western powers as well as of course strengthening the Soviet armed forces. One big aim of Soviet espionage was the infiltration, placement, and subversion of American political life at all levels of society. This accounted for 85% of all KGB activities. And Russia is essentially doing the same kind of shit now with online misinformation campaigns and online operatives directing legions of bots. Check out the headline of an article that just came back, or just came out back on October 16th, via the Center for European Policy Analysis's website. We're winning, say Russia's fake news manufacturers.

And the article subtitle, or yeah, subtitle reads, the Kremlin is stepping up disinformation campaigns aimed at its enemies in Ukraine, Moldova, and the Western democracies. It's a huge global campaign. Then the article opens with, did you see the German woman complaining on social media that her country's industry is suffering and needs cheaper energy? Or the American woman of the same age arguing that Israel and Ukraine are wasting US taxpayer money? Both were crafted in Russia. According to a huge trove of documents leaked to Western media in September and published by the V Square investigative site, among others.

They were just two of 33.9 million social media comments fabricated by the Social Design Agency, a Kremlin disinformation subcontractor, in the first third of 2024 alone. Fucking strong pony boy Putin. Son of a bitch. Currently has America by the nuts and not enough people are waking up to see that. Anyone who doesn't think that dude is a dangerous megalomaniac and psychopath and dictator posing as an elected leader who truly despises America. Either isn't paying attention or has something seriously wrong with the brain and the social design agency but one of many Russian organizations currently sowing a massive amount of discord in America by continually trolling everyday Americans with polarizing and inflammatory online comments.

An October 24th article on PBS.org is titled to drive Americans apart Apart, Russia Helped Spread Hurricane Disinformation. And that article begins with, Russia has helped amplify and spread false and misleading internet claims about recent hurricanes in the U.S. and the federal government's response, part of a wider effort by the Kremlin to manipulate America's political discourse before the presidential election, new research shows. The content, spread by Russian state media and networks of social media accounts and websites, criticizes the federal response to hurricanes Helene and Milton, exploiting

legitimate concerns about the recovery effort in an attempt to paint American leaders as incompetent and corrupt, according to research from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, the London-based organization that tracks disinformation and online extremism. In some cases, the claims about the storms include fake images created using artificial intelligence, such as a photo depicting scenes of devastating flooding at Disney World that never happened, researchers say. The approach is consistent with the Kremlin's long-standing practice of identifying legitimate debates and contentious issues in the U.S. and then exploiting them. Previous disinformation campaigns have harnessed debates about immigration,

racism, crime, and the economy in an effort to portray the US as corrupt, violent, and unjust. Again, Russia legitimately a very, very dangerous nation. And it was even more dangerous in the years leading up to and following World War II when it was called the Soviet Union. To repeat what I said before my diversion into what shifty ass Russia is up to now, one big aim of Soviet espionage in that era was the infiltration, placement, and subversion of American political life at all levels of society that accounted for, I might be repeating this, 85% of all KGB activities. Yuri Besmenov, a defector from the Soviet KGB,

who left the Soviet Union for the West in 1970, would describe the four stages of the process as destabilize, demoralize, crisis, normalization. And if all of that could be achieved, they hoped America would be toppled in a communist revolution. Just like Putin today hopes to topple Western democracy by doing the same kind of shit. There is an enemy within and it's fucking Russia. Back in the 1930s the chief Soviet espionage

organization operating in the US became the GRU. The GRU built a network of operatives in the administration of President Franklin D Roosevelt and by the end of 1936 at least four mid-level State Department officials were delivering information to Soviet intelligence. Alger Hiss, Assistant to Assistant Secretary of State Francis Sire, Julian Wadley, economist in the trade agreement section, Lawrence Dugan, Latin American division, and Noel Field, West European division. When World War II began, Joseph Stalin directed Soviets to spy on American Division and Noel Field, West European Division. When World War II began, Joseph Stalin directed Soviets to spy on American scientific and technological process, particularly

in the development of an atomic weapon. Senior Soviet intelligence official Pavel Sudoplatov led the efforts to obtain information about the Manhattan Project. Soviet intelligence first learned of British-American plans for an American bomb program in September of 1941, almost a year before the Manhattan Engineer District was created. Soviet intelligence soon recognized the importance of the subject, gave it the appropriate code name of ENORMOZ. Many of the Soviets' early attempts at recruiting spies were detected and foiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Manhattan Project counterintelligence officials, but some weren't. Of the Soviet spies not caught during the war, one of the most valuable was the British physicist Klaus Fuchs.

Fuchs was first offered his services to Soviet intelligence in late 1941. Soon thereafter, he began passing information regarding British atomic research. Fucking Fuchs! Soviet intelligence lost contact with him in early 1944, but eventually found out that Fuchs had been reassigned to the Bomb Research and Development Laboratory at Los Alamos. Fuchs worked in the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos, and from there he passed to his Soviet handlers

detailed information regarding America's atomic weapons design. Returning home to begin work on the British atomic program in 1946, he continued to pass secret information to the Soviet Union intermittently until he was finally caught. And in January of 1950 he confessed everything, was sentenced to 14 years in prison and stripped of his British citizenship. He would serve 9 years and then move to East Germany. The most famous of America's Soviet-serving atomic spies were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, even though they never worked for the Manhattan Project.

Born in Manhattan into a family of Russian Jewish immigrants, Julius Rosenberg was an American engineer who by the end of the war had been heavily involved in industrial espionage for years, both as a source himself and as the ringleader of a network of communist engineers throughout the country. Julius's wife, who was born Ethel Greenglass, was also from Manhattan and was a devoted communist, as was her brother David. David Greenglass was an army machinist who was transferred to Los Alamos, where he worked on implosion as a member of the special engineering detachment. Using his wife Ruth as the conduit, David Greenglass soon began funneling information

regarding the atomic bomb to his brother-in-law Julius Rosenberg. The Rosenbergs then turned over that info to Harry Gold, a Swiss-born courier for the espionage ring, who then passed it to Anatoly A. Yakovlev, the Soviet Union's vice consul in New York City. As Greenglass later explained, I was young, stupid, and immature, but I was a good communist. In March of 1946, Greenglass left the army. Soviet intelligence maintained contact with him, urging him to enroll now at the University of Chicago in order to re-enter the field of atomic research.

In 1950, the confession of Klaus Fuchs led the FBI to his handler, Harry Gold, who in turn led the FBI to David Greenglass. When confronted, Greenglass confessed, implicating his wife Ruth and his brother-in-law, Julius Rosenberg. Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Greenglass, who knew of her husband's activities and at times assisted him, both maintained their innocence and refused to cooperate with authorities in order to lessen their sentences. That choice would cost them. Because of his cooperation, David Greenglass received 15 years imprisonment and his wife

Ruth was never formally charged, but the Rosenbergs were sentenced to death. And they wouldn't hang around on death row very long. On February 11, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower denied the petition for executive clemency filed by the Rosenbergs. In denying this petition, Eisenhower stated, "...these two individuals have been tried and convicted of a most serious crime against the people of the United States. They have been found guilty of conspiring with intent and reason to believe that it

would be the advantage of a foreign power to deliver to the agents of that foreign power certain highly secret atomic information relating to the national defense of the United States. The nature of the crime for which they have been found guilty in sentence far exceeds that of the taking of a life of another citizen. It involves the deliberate betrayal of the entire nation and could very well result in the death of many, many thousands of innocent citizens. By their act, these two individuals have, in fact, betrayed the cause of freedom for which free men are fighting and dying for at this very hour. I agree. Fuck those traitors.

America is and was no saint, but we were a much better option than the Soviet Union. America is and was no saint, but we were a much better option than the Soviet Union. Despite a worldwide campaign for clemency, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed June 19th, 1953. Ethel became the first woman executed by the US government in nearly a century, since Mary Surratt was hanged in 1865 for her alleged role in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. These convictions strengthened the idea that communists were everywhere in America. And before moving forward with our examination into the roots of McCarthyism, time for today's first of two mid-show sponsor breaks.

Thanks for listening to those ads. If you don't want to hear any more, get the entire catalog ad free and more by signing up to be a space lizard on Patreon for $5 a month. Big thank you to our space lizards and now let's talk further about how there really were communist spies working against america from within in the first half of the 20th century even before the rosenbergs were tried and convicted the presence of spies in the manhattan project and elsewhere convinced u.s officials to do something about this problem. On March 21, 1947, President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9835, also known as the Loyalty Order, which mandated that all federal employees be analyzed to determine whether they were sufficiently loyal to the government or not.

Five days later, on March 26, J. Edgar Hoover testified before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. The House Committee on Un-American Activities in the House of Representatives was first formed in 1938, but really came to take on a big role in the 40s and 50s, rooting out the communist threat. The committee's predecessor, the McCormack-Dickstein Committee, or Dickstein, Dickstein Committee, I think, fuck yeah bro, Dickstein, are you kidding me? Name for chair and vice chair, Representatives John W. McCormack, Dickstein community, I think. Fuck yeah, bro. Dickstein, are you kidding me? Name for his chair and vice chair, representatives John W. McCormack,

Democrat from Massachusetts, and Sammy Coxstain. I mean, Samuel Dickstein, Democrat from New York, had been formed in 1934 to investigate Nazi propaganda. And yes, of course, I did do a bit of genealogical research to find out if Sammy Dickstein had any relatives named Richard. Yes, I was disappointed that I couldn't track down Dick Dickstein. Anyway, the House Committee on Un-American Activities Investigations focused on exposing communists working inside the federal government

or subversive elements working in the Hollywood film industry. It became a permanent subcommittee in 1946. This is part of what J. Edgar Hoover would say regarding the need for and importance of this committee. The communist movement in the United States began to manifest itself in 1919. Since then it has changed its name and its party line whenever expedient and tactical. But always it comes back to fundamentals and builds itself as the party of Marxism-Leninism. As such it stands for the destruction of our American former government. It stands for the destruction of American democracy. It stands for the destruction of our American former government. It stands for the destruction of American democracy. It stands for the destruction of free enterprise.

And it stands for the creation of a Soviet of the United States and ultimate world revolution. The mad march of red fascism is a cause for concern in America. But the deceit, the trickery, and the lies of the American communists are catching up with them. Whenever the spotlight of truth is focused upon them, they cry, red baiting. Now that their aims and objectives are being exposed, they are creating a committee for the constitutional rights of communists and are feverishly working to build up what they term a quarter-million-dollar defense fund to place ads in papers, to publish pamphlets, to buy radio time. They know that their backs will soon be to the wall. The American Communists launched a furtive attack on Hollywood in 1935 by the issuance of a

directive calling for a concentration in Hollywood. The orders called for action on two fronts. One, an effort to infiltrate the labor unions. Two, infiltrate the so-called intellectual and creative fields. I feel that this committee could render a great service to the nation through its power of exposure and quickly spotlighting existing front organizations and those which will be created in the future. There are easy tests to establish the real character of such organizations. 1.

Does the group espouse the cause of Americanism or the cause of Soviet Russia? 2. Does the organization feature as speakers at its meetings, known communists, sympathizers, or fellow travelers? 2. Does the organization feature as speakers at its meetings known communists, sympathizers, or fellow travelers? 3. Does the organization shift when the party line shifts? 4. Does the organization sponsor causes, campaigns, literature, petitions, or other activities sponsored by the party or other front organizations? 5. Is the organization used as a sounding board by or is it endorsed by communist controlled labor unions?

Six, does the organization feature female members who do not wear makeup, do wear peasant, babushka style scarves, don't shave their legs or armpits, aren't interested in looking anything like Marilyn Monroe and think they should be treated equally as men? Real number six now. The Soviet Union was actually better than America when it came to equality between men and women initially, but that just meant life sucked equally for communist men and women.

Okay, actual number six. Does its literature follow the communist line or is it printed by the communist press? Seven, does the organization receive consistent favorable mention in the communist publications? Eight, does the organization present itself to be nonpartisan yet engage in political activities and consistently advocate causes favored by the communists? 9. Does the organization denounce American and British foreign policy while always lauding Soviet policy? 10. Does the organization constantly stroke fears of America being destroyed by radical leftists and an insidious liberal

agenda that nearly all celebrities, most educators, doctors, and scientists, and all Jewish people are a part of. Sorry, that would actually probably be part of today's paranoid conspiratorial rhetoric, not something Hoover would have said. Real number 10 does the organization utilize communist double talk by referring to Soviet dominated countries as democracies, complaining that the United States is imperialistic, and constantly denouncing monopoly capital. 11. Have outstanding leaders in public life openly renounced affiliation with the organization.

12. Does the organization, if espousing liberal progressive causes, attract well-known, honest, patriotic liberals? Or does it denounce well-known liberals? 13. Does the organization have a consistent record of supporting the American viewpoint over the years? 14, does the organization consider matters

now directly related to its avowed purposes and objectives? Number 13 definitely bothers me. And that's all of them, by the way. Done with those, his points there. Number 13, yeah, bothers me a lot. Does the organization have a consistent record of supporting the American viewpoint over the years? I mean, I get where Hoover's coming from for that

statement but it also has a very like you're either with us or against us. Just very nationalistic fascist vibe to it. Again true freedom is about the freedom to disagree not the freedom to just agree. Every citizen is allowed and encouraged to agree with the views of the state in every fucking country in the world in the world's most totalitarian and repressive regimes. King Jong-un, North Korea's ruthless quote, supreme leader dipshit, he fucking loves it when you do nothing but agree with his fucking stupid North Korean viewpoint. As a result of subsequent hearings by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, nearly 300 actors and others employed in the movie industry were blacklisted or prevented from working and that's insane. That kind of shit infuriates me and it's that kind

of thinking that if left unchecked would make America no better than freedom denying regimes we despise like North Korea. One of the 300 actors was the hugely popular British-born silent film star Charlie Chaplin, the guy who satirized Hitler in his first true sound film, The Great Dictator, in 1940, a film nominated for five Academy Awards, and then unfounded and reckless accusations of him being a communist destroyed his career. The FBI referred to Charlie Chaplin as a quote, Parler Bolshevik, believing him to be a communist sympathizer and a possible security risk to the country. Although Chaplin denied being a communist repeatedly and publicly. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was determined to have the

actor deported and worked with US immigration services to prevent him from re-entering the states after he flew to London to promote one of his films. Hoover even had MI5 spy on Chaplin and the foreign agency concluded he was no security risk and instead believes he was just a left-leaning progressive. Still, Chaplin was banned from returning to the U.S. for a while. And instead of fighting to re-enter the country, he decided to make his home in Switzerland and released a statement about his experience. He said, since the end of the last world war, excuse me, I have been the object of lies

and propaganda by powerful, reactionary groups who by their influence and by the aid of America's yellow press have created an unhealthy atmosphere in which liberal-minded individuals can be singled out and persecuted. Under these conditions, I find it virtually impossible to continue my motion picture work, and I have therefore given up my residence in the United States." Hoover, as I have mentioned numerous times in earlier episodes, huge piece of shit. Dude had no problem destroying the career of someone or imprisoning someone or even authorizing the assassination of someone who just didn't fit his very rigid view of what he thought

was the ideal American. Someone willing to blindly and enthusiastically wave the flag and never ever complain about the US government regardless of how that government treats them or otherwise behaves. As the Red Scare intensified, elected officials from both major parties sought to portray themselves as staunch anti-communists, and few people dared to criticize the highly questionable and wildly irresponsible and unethical tactics used to persecute suspected radicals. They were afraid that if they did, they'd be the next person testifying before Congress, and now their career would be taken away. Their life would be destroyed. Membership in leftist groups dropped as it became clear that such associations could lead to very

serious consequences, and dissenting voices from the left side of the political spectrum stopped daring to speak out. Even civil rights organizations like the NAACP and the Urban League moved quickly to rid themselves of communists, real or suspected, lest they be accused of any subversion. Meanwhile in the film industry, under intense pressure from the negative publicity aimed at their studios, movie executives created their own Hollywood blacklist that barred suspected radicals from employment. Similar lists were also established in other industries.

The paranoia imposed by the US government led to employers destroying even more careers than the government destroyed directly. Americans not part of the showbiz also felt the effects of the Red Scare on a personal level and thousands of alleged communist sympathizers saw their lives disrupted. They were hounded by law enforcement, alienated from friends and family, fired from their jobs, and while a small number of the accused were probably aspiring revolutionaries, most were the victims of false allegations or had done nothing more than just exercised their democratic right to join a political party. So to recap, were there

spies? Communist spies? Russian, Soviet spies in the government? Yes, for sure. However, the vast majority of the people that the House Committee on Un-American Activities targeted were simply artists, people who had joined labor unions, and or people who were curious about intellectually, curious about or intellectually interested in communism and specifically Marxism. But shouldn't it be within US citizens rights under the First Amendment to be communist? Not Russian spies, but just to have an interest in communism or to work with the labor union to make movie or art that you know criticizes capitalism? Yeah it should. And there is still a communist party in the US today, a legal

one, and while I personally despise the practice of communism, I would never vote to abolish it and strongly support its existence because I actually understand what the word freedom means and believe it's an ideal worth supporting. I support the right for people to believe in all kinds of shit I don't personally believe in. I've been very clear over the years that I am not a big fan of organized religion, but I know many of you are and you love it. It means a lot to you.

I have a lot of friends and family who love it and I love them and I would not want it taken away from them, right? I'm not a fan of the Catholic Church in particular, but I have a lot of love for a lot of Catholics. Started with my devoutly Catholic mother-in-law, one of the best, most tolerant, loving, hard-working people I've ever met. I've had a lot of great discussions with a lot of wonderful, seeming, obviously very intelligent Catholic priests over the years. Even though I think that the very existence of the Catholic priesthood is completely absurd. But it should be legal, should be allowed. Joseph McCarthy did not share my view of freedom, my take on tolerance,

neither did the House Committee on Un-American Activities, that was ironically wildly un-American. McCarthy's intolerance is what led directly to his rise in power. Fortune does often favor the bold even if they're bold in some of the worst of ways. The previously relatively unknown outside of his, excuse me, the previously relatively unknown outside of his home state of Wisconsin Republican senator became the person most closely associated with America's anti-communist witch hunt. McCarthy was first elected to the Senate in 1946, rose to prominence in 1950 when he claimed

in his speech in Wheeling, West Virginia that exactly 57 communists had already infiltrated the State Department, saying, "...One thing to remember in discussing the communists in our government is that we are not dealing with spies who get 30 pieces of silver to steal the blueprints of a new weapon. We are dealing with a far more sinister type of activity because it permits the enemy to guide and shape our policy." McCarthy used hearsay and intimidation to establish himself as a powerful and feared figure in American politics.

He leveled charges of disloyalty at celebrities, intellectuals, and essentially anyone who disagreed with that weasel's political views, costing many of his victims their reputations and careers. McCarthy's reign of terror continued until his increasingly disgusted and fed up colleagues formally denounced his tactics in 1954, when Army lawyer Joseph Welch famously asked McCarthy in a televised trial, have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency? And now let's examine this dude's reign of terror. Let's meet Joseph McCarthy and follow his rise to power and subsequent fall from grace,

as well as some of the people who fought back for their civil liberties in this week's Time Suck Timeline. Right after today's second of two mid-show sponsor breaks. A bit on the heels of the previous break, I know, but this is the least intrusive spot for it, and then you have so much uninterrupted suck ahead of you. Thank you for listening to those sponsors, and now how about that Timeline music? Shrap on those boots soldier. We're marching down a time suck timeline I guess it's really not music. Sounder. Sounds.

Timeline sounds. Joseph Raymond McCarthy born November 15th 1908 on a farm in the small city of Grand Chute, Wisconsin a suburb of Appleton The fifth of seven children. He was born six weeks early and he delivered himself. He heard from within the womb his mom talking shit about America. So he kicked his way out of her leftist pinko pussy and choked her unconscious with his own umbilical cord. Umbilical cord. She woke up with her newborn son holding a gun to her head, had to recite the pledge of allegiance, and if she would have fucked up just one word, he would have pulled that trigger. Die you commie bitch! No, he was born normally. His mom Bridget was from County Tipperary in

Ireland. His father Timothy McCarthy was born in the U.S., the son of an Irish father and a German mother. McCarthy attended the Underhill School, a one-room schoolhouse where he completed eighth grade. Bored with farm work, McCarthy started his own chicken business, a one-room schoolhouse where he completed eighth grade. Bored with farm work, McCarthy started his own chicken business as a teen, but then the disease wiped out his flock, and his cock farming desires were stomped on. All Joey really, really wanted was to raise a flock of cocks. A cock flock, if you will. And some hens, of course, you know, for the cocks to pleasure and impregnate.

Joey loved his little cocks, and also hens, and he groomed and fed and stroked his cocks every day. But alas, his cocks and hens still shriveled and died following this cock disaster. He worked as a clerk in an Appleton grocery store, quickly becoming the manager. And then to his credit, he entered Little Wolf High School in the little town of Manowil, Wisconsin, almost an hour's drive from Grand Chute when he was 20 years old. And he graduated in just one year after hopefully not dating any freshmen because that would have been super cringy even back then. Let them ladies get rid of their training wheels

before you take their bikes for a spin, Broseph. Broseph attended Marquette University from 1930 to 1935. In college, he coached boxing, was elected president of his law school class all while working a series of part-time jobs. McCarthy worked his way through college, studying first electrical engineering for two years, then law, and receiving a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1935. That same year, he was admitted to the bar.

He was a hustler, and I do respect young McCarthy's grind. While working at a law firm in the small city of Shawano, Wisconsin, McCarthy launched an unsuccessful campaign for district attorney as a Democrat in 1936. During his years as an attorney, McCarthy made money on the side by gambling and then in 1939 McCarthy ran for the nonpartisan elected post of the 10th District Circuit Judge. Impressively, McCarthy became the youngest circuit judge in the state's history by defeating incumbent Edgar V. Werner, who had been a judge for 24 years. Impressive. But how he won? A little shady. In the campaign McCarthy lied about Werner's age repeatedly of 66, claiming

consistently he was instead 73 and allegedly too old and infirm to continue handling the rigorous duties of his office. And this continually repeated lie combined with the fact that Werner wasn't terribly likeable and had a huge backlog of cases, led McCarthy to his first political win. And he would court his first political controversy with this position. His judicial career soon attracted some criticism because of how fast he handled all the backlog cases he had inherited from Werner. When McCarthy heard divorce cases, for example, he expedited them in a manner that led to

many thinking he didn't actually do his job and properly evaluate them. Borrowing some money, McCarthy soon made a down payment on a house at 1508 Lorraine Court in Appleton, not far from his new office at the out of Gamey County courthouse. And while working, living in Appleton, he will be rebuked by the Wisconsin Supreme Court for an abuse of judicial authority due to destroying some court records. Also will be later censured for violating an ethical code that prohibited sitting judges from running for non-judicial posts. Then the seeds of what later would become McCarthyism began sprouting up in the 1940s. In 1941, Millard, Lambeau, Lee Hayes, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger formed the Almanac Singers, a politically active group that was pro-union, anti-war, anti-fascist, and pro-civil rights. So obviously those fuckers were terrible, evil, anti-American people.

How fucking dare they want equality for all races in America? How dare they stand up for the working class and hate dictators? Die hippie scum! In addition to performing traditional songs, the group composed their own songs of protests. Gross. No one should ever be allowed to protest anything in the land of the free. As World War II began, a suspicion of those

who espoused any form of socialism, communism, or even were open to talking about it, or anyone associated with people who did talk about it, grew into widespread paranoia. The Almanac singers became a target of these fears and were branded a seditious group by the FBI. This led to negative press, difficulty in booking performances, and harassment, events that would cause them to disband in 1942. Pete Seeger then served in the Army during World War II like a treasonous fuck.

He served as an airplane mechanic and performed for the troops. Seeger was an incredible songwriter and other bands have often had more success singing his songs than he did. Like when the Bird's rendition of his song, Turn, Turn, Turn, to Everything There Is a Season, became a number one hit in 1965. Oh man, that is such a classic tune. And the song makes me want to get stoned. So good. We'll catch up with Pete and his fellow bandmates later. Now it is back to McCarthy. In 1942, shortly after the US entered World War II, McCarthy joined the Marines despite the fact that his judicial office exempted him from

military service so he didn't have to go. His college education qualified him for a direct commission and he entered the Marines as the first lieutenant. And I gotta give McCarthy some props here. Dude did not have to fight in World War II. He was 34 years old, working as a judge, could have easily stayed home, but he wanted to help stop the Japanese, the Italians, and the Germans from destroying the world and he chose to fight. That is pretty badass. He served as an intelligence briefing officer for a dive bomber squadron in the Solomon Islands and Bougainville.

A little place, part of Papua New Guinea you believe right now about to become its own country, from August 1942 to February 1945. By the time he resigned in April of 1945 McCarthy held the rank of captain. He'd also volunteered to fly 12 combat missions as a gunner observer. These missions were generally safe and after one where he was allowed to shoot as much ammunition as he wanted to, mainly coconut trees, he acquired the nickname of Tail Gunner Joe. After the war was over, McCarthy would falsely claim that he participated in 32 aerial missions in order to qualify for a distinguished flying cross and multiple awards of the air medal and

a war wound, a badly broken leg that McCarthy made the subject of varying stories involving airplane crashes and anti-aircraft fire Had in fact happened aboard a ship during a raucous celebration for sailors crossing the equator for the first time. So that's a bummer He really did volunteer to fight didn't have to do that But then he got over there and lied a bunch about what kind of fighting he actually did in order to try and further his political career Why does so many politicians do that? I guess, I guess probably because it works, right? So many politicians operating today have lied their ass off so fucking much and their constituents, from my observation, just do not seem to care. That is something

I don't think I'll ever totally understand. Like if you know a politician is a serial liar and not in the sense you know like here and there it's like little small inconsequential lies but in a constantly fucking lying telling huge lies at that camp how could you ever trust them to follow through on their campaign promises right like they proof over and over but they're not trustworthy McCarthy campaign for the Republican Senate nomination in Wisconsin while still on active duty in 1944 but was defeated by Alexander Wiley the incumbent after he left the Marines in April of 1945, McCarthy is re-elected unopposed to a circuit court position.

He then began a much more systematic campaign for the 1946 Republican Senate primary nomination. In 1946, McCarthy won his race in an upset against Senator Robert M Lafoyette Jr. And entered the US Congress as the youngest member of the Senate at the age of just 38. And again, that's impressive. His hustle, his grind continues. But his race to win the Senate seat would reveal a lot about McCarthy's character. In his campaign, McCarthy attacked Lafayette for not enlisting during the war, although Lafayette had been 46 years old when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Also claimed Lafayette had made huge profits from his investments while McCarthy had been away fighting for his country.

But actually it was McCarthy himself who invested in the stock market heavily during the war. Netting a profit of $42,000 in 1943, which equates to over 765 grand in today's dollars. It was no dummy. His instincts for gambling clearly carried over into stock market speculation making the equivalent of over 750 grand in just a year. God damn! It's incredible. I fucking suck at the stock market. Where McCarthy got the money to invest in the first place remains a mystery to this day. I'm gonna guess illegal gambling money. Lafayette's investments consisted of partial interest in a radio station which earned him a profit of $47,000 over two years.

Still a lot of money! That equates to $856,000 today. It's wild. But he didn't make as much during the war in a year, in one year, than McCarthy did. So, you know, I don't feel like McCarthy had room to talk about Lafayette that way, but you know, talk he did. And McCarthy's smear campaign worked. The suggestion that Lafayette had been guilty of war profiteering was deeply damaging and McCarthy won the primary nomination just under 208,000 votes to 202,000. It was during this campaign that McCarthy started publicizing his wartime nickname of Tailgunner Joe using the slogan Congress needs a tail gunner even though he actually wasn't a real tail gunner but whatever.

He wouldn't be a real tail gunner in Congress either. As a matter of fact, Senator McCarthy's first three years in DC, totally unremarkable. The guy that had defied all the odds to get there was now sort of average. Average with some anger issues. To the public, McCarthy was a popular speaker at this time,

invited by many different organizations to speak about a wide range of topics. His aides and many in the Washington social circle described him as charming and friendly, and he was a popular guest at cocktail parties, but far less well-liked amongst his fellow senators. Overall, they found him to be quick-tempered, prone to impatience and even rage. Outside of a small circle of colleagues, he was a pretty isolated figure in the Senate. He also didn't work on very sexy political issues. In his first several years, his biggest political cause seemed to be the discontinuation of wartime price controls,

especially on sugar. And some of his critics drew a connection between his support for abolishing the price control on sugar and a $20,000 personal loan MacArthur received from a Pepsi bottling executive. A loan that certainly could be interpreted as a bribe. I give you 20 grand, you make sure I save millions on sugar. This earned the Senator the derisive nickname of the Pepsi-Cola Kid. After his first few years in the Senate, things not looking good for Joseph McCarthy's future political ambitions and his outlook was about to get worse. In an incident for which he would be widely criticized, McCarthy lobbied for the commutation of death sentences given to a group of Waffen SS soldiers convicted of war crimes for carrying out the

1944 Malmedy Massacre of American prisoners of war. The day after the Battle of the Bulge, December 17, 1944, Waffen SS units captured and murdered US soldiers and Belgian prisoners. After being searched and relieved of their personal possessions, the US troops were lined up in eight rows in a field of the crossroads, or at a crossroads. Then for reasons that remained unclear, combat group Piper fired on the GIs. After the initial shooting, German troops then walked amongst the bodies, shot any who appeared to still be alive. Survivors of the atrocity recalled being fired upon several times, even hearing laughter as

the Waffen SS troops killed the Americans. When the Germans left the site, at least 84 US soldiers were dead. Just over 40 Americans did survive by either fleeing into the woods or pretending to be dead. It was this type of thing that had people really fired up, and rightly so, and McCarthy's perspective on the situation would be a big political misstep. But he may have had a point. McCarthy was critical of the convictions because the German soldiers' confessions were allegedly obtained through

torture during interrogations. He argued that the U.S. Army was engaged in a cover-up of judicial misconduct, though he didn't have any evidence of that misconduct. And also he may have not had much of a point. A McCarthy biographer Larry Tai has written that anti-Semitism may have factored very strongly into McCarthy's outspoken views on Malmedy. McCarthy frequently used anti-Jewish slurs, received enthusiastic support from openly anti-Semitic politicians including Ku Klux Klansman, Wesley Swift, and according to friends would display a copy he kept of Hitler's Mein Kampf saying that's the way to do it. My God. I mean, he did have a German grandma.

Makes you wonder what she and his half German father had to say about Hitler at home. Whatever the reason for his outspokenness, shortly after this, a poll of the Senate Press Corps voted McCarthy the worst US Senator currently in office. Out of 96 senators, we didn't have 100 yet, because Hawaii and Alaska still weren't states. McCarthy was deemed the 96th most effective. That had to have been just a bit humbling.

He was a strongly disliked senator, working to pass legislation that his constituents didn't give a shit about. Now he was the focus of national criticism for seeming to take the side of the Nazis. In fucking war crimes, war crimes case shortly after World War II ended, or at least the side of the German army. Things not looking good for him. I imagine he was feeling very desperate in regards to his future political career and he decided he needed to make a change if he was going to survive in DC. And it seems that the Wisconsin gambler decided to gamble big on a fight against communism and that fight was already rampant up. In 1946 the House Un-American Activities Committee was made a permanent House committee charged to investigate communist subversion. The House Un-

American Activities Committee is often confused with McCarthy, but because it was a House committee, Senator McCarthy, not involved in its investigations. The House Un-American Activities Committee was created almost a decade prior in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and rebel activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and organizations suspected of having communist ties. Citizens suspected of having ties to the Communist Party would be tried in a court of law. One of the members of the House Un-American Activities Committee in the late 1940s was a first-term US representative from

California named Trick-A-D Dick, AKA Richard Nixon, who we covered in our Watergate episode. And if you heard that episode, you know, I am a huge fan of Tricky Dick. Oh, great guy. One of the best Americans ever. Truly understood how dangerous the devil's lettuce, marijuana, and psychedelics are.

He just, you know what? He got it. He got it. He got it. Richard, Tricky Dick, Dicky Trick, trick cock acrobat wiener wizard he just I just cannot speak highly enough about that legendary patriot and if you still think I'm being serious I want to I want you to pause this episode and I want you to schedule an appointment with a neurologist immediately when you explain to them the part of your brain the part that should allow you to detect sarcasm it's super fucked up as tensions between the US and the Soviet Union intensified during the end of the war the committee took up its

Took up its investigations of communist activities with new vigor The committee conducted a series of high-profile hearings alleging that communists disloyal to the US had infiltrated government schools The entertainment industry many other areas of American life The committee employed several controversial methods to accomplish its goal of ferreting out suspected commies. Typically an individual who raised the suspicions of the House Un-American Activities Committee received a subpoena to appear before said committee. During the hearing, the suspected communist was then grilled on record about his or her

political beliefs and activities, then asked to provide the names of other people who had taken part in allegedly subversive activities. Any additional figures identified in this manner also then received subpoenas, continually, exponentially widening the committee's circle. It's probe. Individuals who refused to answer the committee's questions or who refused to provide names could be indicted for contempt of Congress and sent to prison. Subjects of committee investigations had the option of invoking the right to avoid self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment,

but pleading the Fifth created the impression that they were guilty of a crime and the taint of possibly being a communist could and often did destroy their careers. Those who refused to cooperate were often blacklisted by their employers, lost their jobs, were effectively prevented from working in their chosen industry. Star actress, model, sex symbol, political activist, very smart mate, Saga Lauren McCall, who was witnessing all of this happen, wrote an essay for the Washington Post about how these investigations were not just hurting the careers of her peers in the film industry, but also hurting just the quality of the films themselves. She wrote, The only way I can think of to point up the seriousness of this is to explain to you what will happen to the motion pictures you go to see two or three times a week.

You have no idea of the fear that has overtaken Hollywood. A producer is afraid to produce, a director is afraid to direct, and a writer is afraid to write for fear anything he might say or do will be controversial to the point that he might be accused of the same thing that the witnesses who have been called here have been accused of which means in simple language that good adult entertainment flies out the window and shallow water flows in the door. Hail Lauren Bacall. She did get it. She did get it. November 5th 1946 Americans Cold War jitters lead to the election of numerous candidates who ran on strong anti-commie platforms. Did McCarthy see that and get some ideas?

You bet your ass he did. September of 1947, Jack Warner would testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Jack was the president and driving force behind the Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California. I've heard of it. Which he started with his brothers before buying them out. Warner was a huge git for the House on American Activities Committee who were paying special attention to the motion picture industry which was believed to harbor a large number of communists. And why did they believe that? This reputation originated the previous decade in the

1930s when the economic difficulties of the Great Depression increased the appeal of leftist organizations for many struggling actors and studio workers. But they didn't actually want full-on communism. They wanted labor unions and job protections, so they could make enough money to not be impoverished. A little bit of a difference. Not wishing to get on the wrong side of Congress or the movie-going public, most film industry execs did not speak out against the investigations against these actors and studios, even though they knew that they were based in a bunch of bullshit. They even cooperated with the witch hunt with many of the major studios,

imposing a strict blacklist policy against actors, directors, writers, and other personnel implicated in communist activity. And now back to studio head Jack Warner. Jack had spoken to the committee previously in closed door sessions and afterwards had admitted to another film executive that he had named the names of a few people he thought might be communists. When the other film executive told Warner he did not approve of that, Warner allegedly expressed a lot of remorse for what he had done.

But then when the public hearings were announced, Warner literally the first in line to offer testimony. So he must not have felt that much remorse. He seemed pretty eager to throw a lot of people under the bus to help ensure he didn't have to taste those same damn tires. When Warner volunteered to speak to the House and American Activities Committee, he was being proactive, going on the offensive so he wouldn't be forced to play defense. And I should add, it is possible that he went intending only to clear his studio's name, or that he simply thought it wouldn't be a big deal. At the time, no one in Hollywood had taken the House on American Activities Committee all that seriously. Humphrey Bogart, who had been

questioned and cleared the first time the committee's chair came to Hollywood, had assumed everything would go like it had the previous time. Bogart figured that the politicians would glom on to some celebrities looking to get their own names in the headlines, and then once that was accomplished, they'd head back to DC and move on to something else. But now the House on American Activities committee had Jack Warner, and Jack gave them a lot of names. And now Humphrey Bogart, as well as many other Hollywood stars, felt they had to do something to stand up for their peers.

The first meeting of what would be called the Committee for the First Amendment took place at Ira Gershwin's house. Ira was a lyricist who collaborated with his brother, composer George Gershwin, to write a lot of huge hits for a lot of big movies. And now a bunch of big stars with his house. Rita Hayworth, Groucho Marx, Gene Kelly, Danny Kay. Also in attendance were Lauren Vacall and Humphrey Bogart who were newly married. The group was united behind the principles of free speech and free assembly. Principles claimed to be foundational to the American way of life. They believed that American citizens had the right to

believe whatever they wanted. How fucking crazy! Without having to answer to Congress for it. And they were of course right to believe that. Right? These so called Hollywood elites so often shit on for supposedly having terrible morals by the American public actually had way more integrity than the politicians coming after them and more than so many members of the American public all too happy to watch this witch hunt unfold. Reminds me of today's QAnon crowd. Claim that actors like Tom Hanks are evil. Tom Hanks who has likely done more than every QAnon believer combined to help his fellow

man. A man who has raised over $44 million for LGBTQIA plus causes alone, who launched a coffee line called Hank's Coffee, where literally 100% of the profits go to veterans and their families. Tom Hanks, who has raised money for and personally donated millions to over 30 charities,

such as the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, the Red Cross, the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center, and the Elizabeth Glasser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, a foundation which is dedicated to giving AIDS to kids before finally sacrificing them to his dark lord and master, the devourer of souls, destroyer of children, Satan himself. Hallowed be thy name, the dark kingdom come and bring pain and death to all nonbelievers.

Hail Satan, I invoke thee to destroy all that is good and holy, To the power of your prince, Tom Hanks, Harvester of Hell's Adrenochrome! But for real, I find so many parallels between the era of McCarthyism and today's political climate. And now back to these evil, disgusting actors, daring to fight for free speech like true commie scum. For many who participated in the Committee for the First Amendment, it wasn't a question of supporting communists or attacking anti-communists so much as it was about standing up for the

film industry itself. First the Committee bought their own space in newspapers, used that space to publish statements on their belief, which were mostly constitutional, but also included the insistence that while the group opposed communism, quote, mass hysteria is no way to fight it. Yeah. Then they started work on Hollywood Fights Back, a nationwide radio show produced by a host of writers and stars. They worked on it after hours semi-secretly. The very powerful Hollywood agent Lou Wasserman described as the last of the legendary movie moguls arranged to leave the front door of his agency,

MCA, open after 7 p.m. so the committee could use his offices for their production headquarters. Also, Hollywood's major studio heads knew this show was happening, didn't try and stop it. Well, not all of them would publicly support it, seems almost everyone privately did. None of them complained when the committee for the First Amendment sponsored a rally at the Shrine Auditorium, nor did they try and distance themselves from it. Before that rally Humphrey Bogart said to some news outlets while promoting it, this has nothing to do with communism. It's none of my business who's a

communist and who isn't. The reason I'm flying to Washington is because I'm an outraged and angry citizen who feels that my civil liberties are being taken away from me and that the Bill of Rights is being abused and who feels that nobody in this country has any right to kick around the Constitution of the United States, not even the Un-American Activities Committee. Well, hail Nimrod and hail Humphrey Bogart. He's looking at you, Humphrey. That was corny, I know. A number of participants in Hollywood fights back, including directors John Huston, William Wyler, actors and actresses Humphrey Bogart, Lauren McCall, Gene Kelly, and Marsha Hunt, pre-recorded their segments and then hopped on a chartered plane to Washington,

D.C. The plane made several stops throughout the country to refuel between L.A. and D.C. And everywhere they stopped, the celebrities on board met regular Americans who voiced their support. On the plane, the stars gathered in the cockpit where they could listen to the Hollywood Fights Back broadcast over the radio. Seemed like they were fighting the good fight because they were. Seemed like they had a lot of people on their side. Maybe not.

By the time they left Washington, the tide of public approval was already turning against them. They were already being derided for being the Hollywood elite. So funny to me how people adore celebrities until they speak out on behalf of something that they're against and then they're just quickly dismissed as the Hollywood elite. Like that term just labels them as just fucking morons. The liberal agenda. Add any other simplistic hollow propaganda term there.

Many members of the press started mocking the actors as rich, out of touch, anti-patriotic movie stars who were coming to the defense of the communists. The message that the movie stars thought they were defending the constitution and not communism ended up getting completely lost. Embarrassed, surprised, demoralized, many of these celebrities returned home early. And then things in the fight between the government and Hollywood would get even more intense. On November 24th, 1947, 10 movie screenwriters and directors, nicknamed the Hollywood Ten, are cited for failing to testify to the House Un-American Activities Committee about their communist associations. That's a pretty interesting story.

Hollywood Ten had been called to testify in late October of 1947, along with more than 40 people with connections to the movie industry. Aware that their answers could ruin their reputations and careers, most either sought leniency by privately cooperating with investigators or they cited their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. However, a group of 10 Hollywood screenwriters and directors took a different approach and openly and defiantly challenged the legitimacy of the committee's investigations. The all-male group of screenwriters and directors took a different approach and openly and defiantly challenged the legitimacy of the committee's investigations. The all-male group of screenwriters, producers, and directors was made up of Alva Bessie, Herbert Beberman, Lester Cole, Edward Demetriq,

Ring Lardner Jr., John Howard Larson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, and Dalton Trumbo. They denounced the committee's anti-communist hearings as an outrageous violation of their civil rights, as the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave them the right to belong to any fucking political organization they chose. Some compared the committee's coercive methods and intimidating tactics to the oppressive measures enacted in Nazi Germany. I am not on trial here, declared screenwriter John Howard Lawson. This committee is on trial. I picture him dropping the mic after that shit or taking a big pair of balls out of his pants so big he has to lift each ball out separately and then dropping those balls on the table in front of them and just say please direct any and all future questions to these motherfucking

nuts. That'd be pretty cool. In reality all ten of these guys paid a huge price for speaking out and being actual patriots interested in defending real freedom. All were cited for contempt of Congress and sentenced to fucking prison in addition to being blacklisted from working in Hollywood. Facing trial and that charge in April of 1948 each man was found guilty and sentenced to spend a year in prison and pay a thousand dollar fine. After unsuccessfully appealing the verdicts they began serving their terms in 1950. And then while in prison, one member of the group, Edward Demetriac, who had just received the Oscar for best director in 1947 for the movie Crossfire, couldn't take what was happening

to him anymore and decided to cooperate with the government. In 1951, he would testify at a House Un-American Activities Committee hearing and provide the names of more than 20 industry colleagues he now claimed were probably communists. While Dmitry's career would now survive, he fucking helped kill the careers of many of the 20 men he'd just named, such as screenwriter Arnold Manoff, who had written and sold four movies between 1944 and 1948 and he would now never sell another. He would only write a few episodes of TV here and there and that under a fake name. Many of the Hollywood 10 writers not named Edward Demetriq and the other writers Ed

through under the bus had to write screenplays under assumed names after they were blacklisted. That was still hard you know if they were found out they still were blacklisted obviously. Only a few were able to find success you know years later doing this. Under the pseudonym Robert Rich, Dalton Trumbo penned the script for The Brave One, which earned an Academy Award for Best Screenplay in 1957. But again, most not that fortunate. In the 1940s and early 50s, the House Un-American Activities Committee was winning a lopsided

victory in its very misguided fight against Hollywood. The same year as the Hollywood 10, 1947, three ex-FBI agents began publishing Counterattack, the newsletter of facts on communism, which gathered the names of hundreds of employees in the broadcasting industry who had appeared in publications, at rallies, or on petitions of a leftist nature. The publisher sent Counterattack to television executives and sponsors and called for those listed to be fired immediately and treated as traitors. Yay! Land of the free! Oh yeah, freedom! Oh, what a cool thing to happen in a free country.

By the 1949-1950 season, TV's Ed Sullivan, host of the very popular Toast of the Town, was using Counter-Attack to determine whether or not a guest would be able to appear on his show. How many careers of various musicians, comics, actors, etc. just never got the chance to take off because of that shit? How many careers were essentially destroyed before they were ever born? Meanwhile, the committee was turning its communist seeking and identifying laser beam inward. On August 3rd, 1948, at a House Un-American Activities Committee hearing, Whitaker Chambers, a former member of America's Communist Party, now charges that Alger Hiss was a top Soviet spy. I mentioned his name earlier in the show.

Alger, a lawyer hired by the US government in different capacities, had recently been involved in the establishment of the United Nations, both as a US State Department official and as a UN official. This would be the House Un-American Activities Committee sounding the alarm that communists were not only working in Hollywood but in the federal government as well. It all began when a self-confessed former member of the American Communist Party named Whitaker Chambers appeared before the committee, the guy I just mentioned. During his dramatic testimony, Chambers accused Alger Hiss of serving as a spy for the Soviet Union.

Based on allegations and evidence provided by Chambers, Hiss was found guilty of perjury. The statute of limitations had expired on his treasonous activity back in the 1930s, of which it does seem he was guilty of espionage and was in fact a Soviet spy. And now he served 44 months in prison. He would spend the rest of his life proclaiming his innocence and decrying his wrongful prosecution. Hiss's conviction, this guy did seem again to be truly working for the Soviets. Bolstered claims that the House on American Activities Committee was performing a valuable service by uncovering communist espionage. Joseph McCarthy paying close attention to all of this.

On September 23rd, 1949, President Truman announces that the Soviet Union had detonated an atomic bomb, ending the brief American monopoly on nuclear weapons and greatly heightening existing Cold War concerns. And as we talked about earlier, British physicist Klaus Fuchs, who worked on the Manhattan Project, later confesses having passed atomic secrets to the Russians, and he implicates others, including Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Now a lot of people are very afraid and rightfully so. Americans were of course familiar with what atomic bombs had done to the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Japan and worried now that Russian bombs could and would do the same to them and theirs. McCarthy now makes his move. In November of 1949

he attacks Cedric Parker, editor of the Madison Capital Times in Wisconsin, for his left-wing associations, which were not really proven. Following month, China falls to the communists, ramping up Cold War tension in the U.S. even further. Then on January 21, 1950, Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury, as I mentioned, due again to the statute of limitations for spying having expired. Less than three weeks later, on February 9, 1950, McCarthy gives a Lincoln Day speech in Wheeling, West Virginia. A small, unremarkable event in a small city. Not the type of thing that usually gets a lot of press, but during his speech he produced a piece of paper that he claimed contained a list of

known communists working right fucking now in the State Department. It didn't. But he made the confident assertion just the same. And the wheeling speech began like this. Ladies and gentlemen, tonight as we celebrate the 141st birthday of one of the greatest men in American history, I would like to be able to talk about what a glorious day today is in the history of the world. As we celebrate the birth of this man who with his whole heart and soul hated war, I would like to be able to speak

of peace in our time, of war being outlawed, and of worldwide disarmament. These will be truly appropriate things to be able to mention as we celebrate the birthday of Abraham Lincoln. Five years after a world war has been won, men's hearts should anticipate a long peace, and men's minds should be free from the heavy weight that comes with war. But this is not such a period,

where this is not a period of peace, this is a time of Cold War! This is a time when all the world is split into two vast, increasingly hostile armed camps, a time of great armaments race. Six years ago, at the time of the first conference to map out the piece, Dumbarton Oaks, there was within the Soviet orbit 180 million people. Lined up on the anti-Totalitarian side, there were in the world at that time

roughly 1,625,000,000 people. Today, over six years later, there are 800 million people under the absolute domination of Soviet Russia. An increase of over 400%. On our side, the figure has shrunk to around 500 million. In other words, in less than six years, the odds have changed from nine to one in favor of eight to five against us.

This indicates the swiftness of the tempo of communist victories and American defeats in the Cold War. As one of our outstanding historical figures once said, when a great democracy is destroyed, it will not be because of enemies from without, but rather because of enemies from within. The truth of this statement is becoming terrifyingly clear, as we see this country each day losing on every front. At war's end, we were physically the strongest nation on Earth, and at least potentially the most powerful

intellectually and morally. Ours could have been the honor of being a beacon on the desert of destruction, a shining living proof that civilization was not yet ready to destroy itself. Unfortunately, we have failed miserably and tragically to arrive to the opportunity. The reason why we find ourselves in a position of impotency is not because our only powerful potential enemy has sent men to invade our shores, but rather because of the traitorous actions of those who have been treated so

well by this nation. It has not been the less fortunate or members of minority groups who have been selling this nation out, but rather those who have had all the benefits that the wealthiest nation on earth has had to offer. The finest homes, the finest college education, and the finest jobs and government we can give. This is clearly true in the State Department. There the bright young men who are born with silver spoons in their mouths are the ones who have been the worst. And then he would go on to say, I know that you are saying to yourself, well why doesn't the Congress do something about it?

Actually, ladies and gentlemen, one of the important reasons for the grafts, the corruption, the dishonesty, the disloyalty, the treason, and high government positions, one of the most important reasons why this continues is the lack of moral uprising on the part of the 140 million American people. In the light of history, however, this is not hard to explain. It is the result of an emotional hangover and a temporary moral lapse which follows every war. It is the apathy of evil which people who have been subjected to the tremendous evils

of war feel. As the people of the world see mass murder, the destruction of defenseless and innocent people, and all of the crime and lack of morals which go with war, they become numb and apathetic. It has always been thus after war. However, the morals of our people have not been destroyed, they become numb and apathetic. It has always been thus after war. However, the morals of our people have not been destroyed. They still exist. This cloak of numbness and apathy has only needed a spark to rekindle them. Happily, this spark has finally been supplied. Pretty good speech. Nothing helps a griffin politician more than a scared populace. Fear,

fear, fear! Nothing drives the vote more than fear. Fear from the outside, fear from within. Be afraid, be so fucking afraid all the time and vote for me because I'm trying to save you. And sometimes that's a valid battle cry. Oftentimes, most of the time I'd say, it's nothing more than blatant self-serving manipulative rhetoric. And yes, that was Darth Vader's theme from The Empire Strikes Back. Hail John Williams. God dang it, he could fucking craft a tune. McCarthy framed himself in his speech as the spark needed to light the fire in a crusade against communism. And he said he had a list of subversives in the U.S. government at the present. In his fucking pocket, don't even worry about it.

Though there was no such actual list, the number he went on to mention during his speech came from a report by staff of a congressional subcommittee who found 108 Though there was no such actual list, the number he went on to mention during his speech came from a report by staff of a congressional subcommittee who found 108 incidents of inefficiencies – but no communists – and State Department loyalty files. Only 57 were still employed, of whom more than half had already been cleared by the FBI. Multiple reports from the speech, however, reported he actually said he had 205 names, which he continually

later denied. That number sprouted from a 1946 letter from the Secretary of State James F. Burns replying to an old inquiry about 4,000 or so employees who had been transferred to state from other agencies. 285 of them had negative recommendations, 79 of whom had been separated from the service, leaving 206, which mistakenly became 205. In later rants the number bounced around between those, sometimes 81 for variety, eventually 10, maybe only 9 investigated by McCarthy's Senate subcommittee or committee. No matter the number, McCarthy's gross exaggerations, at best outright lies, at worse,

sounded like a huge deal. The press flocked to the story and now a true red scare had begun again. In response to McCarthy's charges, the Senate voted unanimously to investigate and the tidings committee hearings were called. On March 8th 1950, the subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee headed by Democrat Millard Tidings from Maryland, fucking Millard, begins hearings on McCarthy's charge. It's Miller time motherfuckers. That's what he said.

He's like, Hey, you know what time it is? And they're like, uh, I don't know. It's about one 20. It's Miller time motherfuckers. And then you go, and you do that kind of shit. I wish McCarthy would skillfully use the committee to win further public attention. Aim of the subcommittee was to conduct a fully complete study and investigation as to whether persons who are disloyal to the United States are or have been employed

by the Department of State. Many of the Senate Democrats were incensed at McCarthy's attack on the State Department and hoped to use the hearings to discredit him. O'Millard, O'Fuckin'Millard time, was reported to have said, let me have McCarthy for three days in public hearings and he'll never show his face in the Senate again. If only that would have happened. During the hearings, McCarthy made charges against nine specific people. Dorothy Kenyon, Esther Brunauer, Haldor Hanson, Gustavo Duran, Owen Lattimore, Harlow Shapley,

Frederick Schuman, John S. Service, and Philip Jessup. Philip Jessup. He likes a hard P at the end of his name, as if he chose his names. Some of them no longer worked for the State Department or never had. All of them had already previously investigated. On March 21st, McCarthy charged that Owen Latimore, former State Department advisor on the Far East, is a top Russian agent. Latimore was raised in now communist China by two English teachers at a Chinese university and was one of America's top scholars in life in China. Oh and spoiler

alert not a top Russian agent not even a middle agent or even a bottom agent not even a communist but he'll still be harassed for years. On April 20th the testimony of Louis Brudens former editor of the Daily Worker convinced many that McCarthy is correct about Owen Lattimore being a quote top Russian spy. Throughout the hearings McCarthy employed colorful rhetoric but did not produce any substantial evidence to support his claims. In the tidings committee's final report written by the Democratic majority it concluded that the individuals on McCarthy's list not communists not even pro-communists. The tidings report labeled McCarthy's charges a quote fraud and a hoax

and said that the result of McCarthy's actions was to quote Confuse and divide the American people to a degree far beyond the hopes of the communists themselves But who knows if that assessment can be trusted Because demon crats were behind it. You ever heard the term demon crat I just saw it on a bumper sticker here in Coeur d'Alene on a truck while back. Not inflammatory or divisive at all. Whoever's driving that fucking car, good job. Good job helping America.

You're doing a great thing. Republican officials in DC did see the Tidings Report's assessment as an assault, not just on McCarthy's charges, but on his Republicans, and they fought back with William E. Jenner stating that Tidings was guilty of the most brazen whitewash of treasonable conspiracy in our history. He wasn't. The full Senate voted three times on whether to accept the report and each time the voting was precisely divided along party lines. Oh, good old politicians. They so rarely have the nuts to go against party lines and so often just do whatever the fuck they think will get them re-elected.

Weasels! On March 29th, 1950, Washington Post editorial cartoonist Herbert Block now coins the phrase McCarthyism and it will quickly get further out of hand. In the spring of 1950, composer Leonard Bernstein becomes a target of Joseph McCarthy. Massachusetts-born Bernstein was the first American-born conductor to receive international acclaim. Before his career was over, he would win seven Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, 16 Grammys, and be nominated for an Academy Award. One of his most famous works

is the Broadway musical, West Side Story. As a gay Jewish man whose celebrity took off in the middle of the 20th century, he was married, but even his wife acknowledged in letters his true sexuality. Bernstein knew what it meant to be part of a marginalized community. In 1950, Bernstein's music was banned at overseas State Department functions.

And in 1951, Bernstein found himself in the FBI Security Index, unambiguously marked Communist. He had to swear on an affidavit, I am not now or at any time have ever been a member of the Communist Party. Still, the FBI remained convinced he was a dangerous political commie. I mean, he was gay and Jewish. I mean, how could he not be something evil? And the FBI, mostly under J. Edgar Hoover's very ethical, highly objective, non-Jewish, very straight, so fucking straight he only wanted to slap his very hard patriotic cock

on women's wet bicycle seats, watchful eye, if they were capitalists, spied on him for the next three decades, even getting him blacklisted at CBS and denying his request to renew his passport. J Edgar Hoover. What a fucking piece of shit. Outwardly and aggressively homophobic man. Almost certainly gay himself, by the way, as in I would literally bet my life he was gay. That hypocritical tyrant never dated a woman.

Not once. Never had an intimate relationship with a woman. Lived with his fucking mom until he was in his 40s. Spent the final three decades plus of his life going to nightclubs and on vacations and sharing hotel rooms with his very straight assistant Clyde Tolson, a dude who also never dated women. The two had lunch together most days, also drove to and from, worked together most days. Tolson inherited Hoover's estate when Hoover died.

Hoover had tried to destroy the career of anyone who ever insinuated he and Tolson were fucking when he was alive. Not sure what more evidence we could have. That Hoover was a self-hating gay man who sold his fucking soul for political power. I don't know, outside of actual photos of him with Tolson's cock in his mouth.

What a sad fucked up way to live. To thrive by eating your own. To destroy the lives of others no different than you. To put more coins in your mouth. What a sad fucked up way to live. To thrive by eating your own. To destroy the lives of others no different than you. To put more coins in your pocket. To keep the witch hunters you lead from ever turning around and taking their pitchforks and torches to your door. Sorry. I despise, as you know, J. Edgar Hoover. Just the most disingenuous, fucking hateful little man. Refocusing now. Around the time, very punchable face by the way too. Like I would have loved to fucking punch him in the face so hard, somehow magically my fist actually goes completely

through his skull. Around the time McCarthy started to target Leonard Bernstein, Almanac folk singers Pete Seeger, Lee Hayes with Ronnie Gilbert and Red, Red, Fred Hellerman formed the Weavers musical group. This folk group achieved greater degree of fame than any other folk revival performers of their day, mainly singing their own versions of traditional songs. In 1950, their recording of the Lead Belly song, Irene Goodnight, was the first commercial hit of the so-called folk revival.

But then the House Un-American Activities Committee would take notice. Pete Seeger, Lee Hayes, denounced as communist, blacklisted. Back in 1936 at the age of 17, Pete had joined the young communist league. Then at the height of its influence, in 1942 he became a member of the communist party, USA itself, but left on his own in 1949. Weaver's lost the recording contract. The recordings could no longer be played on the radio and they could no longer book concerts. Because of the US government completely dismantled their music career. It's fucking crazy. America just won a war in the name of freedom and then turned around and did this. The Weavers were activists not traitors. They sang songs that for the 1950s made them

I don't know the folk equivalent of rage against the machine and that scared a lot of people. In 1955 Pete Seeger would answer a subpoena to testify before the House and American Activities Committee, but he refused to answer questions he said were improper, asserting a First Amendment right to not speak. And that led to a long court battle. He was indicted for contempt in 1957, convicted in 1961, conviction overturned in 1962. Fellow folk legend Woody Guthrie also blacklisted during this period, just as he was beginning to experience these symptoms of Huntington's disease. Woody Guthrie was Peter Seeger's mentor, by the way,

and he had the words, This machine kills fascists, written on his guitar in the 1940s. Pretty dope. Then Pete had the words, This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender, written on his banjo in the 1950s as a nod to Guthrie's quote. Dangerous men! Oh, dangerous, dangerous subversives. Hail Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. June 25, 1950, Cold War tension escalates further. On that day, Communist North Korea

invades South Korea. President Truman sends in the army and appoints Douglas MacArthur the supreme commander. The Korean War, the war Bon Jovi, fucking John Bon Jovi would later become famous for singing songs about it if you remember, had begun. Don't you remember all those Bon Jovi, Korean war tracks? If you don't, just listen to the time stick episode in the Korean War and you'll learn some history you never heard.

In November of 1950, McCarthy campaigns in 15 states on behalf of anti-communist candidates. Conservative victories in those elections further increases power and influence. Getting a little drunk on power, McCarthy wants to push the envelope further and that'll soon lead to some backlash. More people, his peers, will start to question his tactics and accusations. June 14, 1951 McCarthy criticizes former Secretary of State George C. Marshall in a Senate speech, declaring him an instrument of Soviet conspiracy. Very lofty accusation to make against a very big military name. A hero. Before becoming Secretary of State, George C. Marshall had been a

general of the army and then the U.S. Army chief of staff during World War II under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. He would win the Nobel Peace Prize for his Marshall Plan efforts to post-war European recovery in 1953. He won the Army Distinguished Service Medal for his battlefield leadership and planning. Yeah dude, a war hero who went on to serve in the army for a total of 57 years. Hail George Marshall. This was not the guy McCarthy should have fucked with. McCarthy not in his league in any way shape or form. From 1939 to 1945 Marshall directed the raising of new divisions in World War II, the training of troops, the development

of new weapons and equipment, and the selection of top commanders. When he entered office the US forces consisted of fewer than 200,000 officers and men. Under his direction it expanded in less than four years to a well-trained, well equipped force of 8.3 million. His contribution to the war cannot be overstated. Without him, the U.S. literally might not have won World War II. And still, McCarthy decides to go after this guy. And you know, this will be the beginning of the end. It'll be a slow end for McCarthy from this point. He doesn't know it's the beginning of the end yet, but this starts it off. His attacks on Marshall will enrage Marshall's good friend, fellow Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower,

the man who will soon be the Republican nominee for president, who will win the presidency in the 1952 election. Eisenhower, another badass. A man who warned us all a long time ago about the dangers of the military-industrial complex. And we didn't listen. We should probably suck in one of these days. McCarthy published two books attacking Dwight's friend Marshall's entire career, delivered a 60,000 word senate speech that accused Marshall of being a conspiracy on a scale so immense as to dwarf any previous such venture in the history of man. Oh god. Marshall responded to

these nonsensical unfounded personal attacks with his typical dignity and honor. Luckily McCarthy didn't do any real damage to Marshall's reputation and whatever damage he would do would quickly fade. In the fall of 1951 more people will take notice of McCarthy's harsh and improper methods. September 28th that year Senator William Benton, a Democrat, testifies before the Gillette Subcommittee on privileges and elections calling for McCarthy's expulsion for his many instances of deceit and misconduct. McCarthy fails to cooperate with the committee and this failure to comply doesn't hurt him. Not at the time at least. November 4th, 1952, McCarthy is reelected, having defeated Len Schmidt in the Republican

primary and Thomas Fairchild in the general election, winning 54% of the vote. With this victory, McCarthy claims that the voters of Wisconsin have endorsed his mortal crusade against communist subversion. But there's a bigger race going on. The presidential race and the winner will be a powerful enemy of Joe. November of 1952, as I mentioned, Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes president and actually the first Republican president in 20 years. And after being elected, Eisenhower makes it clear to those close to him that he does not approve of McCarthy and wants to squash that motherfucker under his thumb. I wish he said it. I wish he said it exactly like that.

What was that, Mr. President? I want to squash that motherfucker. Well, Dwight, what did you say? I said I want to squash that motherfucker. We had video of Dwight Eisenhower. He's like the whitest looking guy in history. Maybe he said he wanted to diminish his influence instead. Still, Eisenhower doesn't directly confront McCarthy or criticizing by name

in any speech, maybe prolonging McCarthy's power by giving the impression that even the president was afraid to criticize him directly. Or maybe Eisenhower knew McCarthy had to think he was invincible in order to bring him down some kind of Game of Thrones shit. Let's choose to believe that possibility. On January 20th, 1953, as a member of the new Republican majority, bring him down some kind of Game of Thrones shit. Let's choose to believe that possibility. On January 20th, 1953, as a member of the new Republican majority, McCarthy becomes chair of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, previously an innocuous

post, but he skillfully uses the committee to further his campaign to expose commies in government and draw attention to himself. Also in early 1953, the author and Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes is called before Senator Joseph McCarthy's subcommittee on investigations to answer questions about communist influences in his writing. You might know Langston Hughes for some of his incredibly famous poems, including Montage of a Dream Deferred and Let America Be America Again. In Let America Be America Again, Langston Hughes would write, I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart.

I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land. I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek and finding only the same old stupid plan of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak. I am the young man full of strength and hope tangled in that ancient endless chain of profit power gain of grab the land of grab the gold of grab the ways of satisfying need of work the men of take the pay of owning everything for one's own greed it's a beautiful message and An incredibly astute observation of not just the American condition, but the human condition in my opinion

an incredibly astute observation of not just the American condition, but the human condition, in my opinion. But to Cami Hunter, Joey M., it was evidence of Soviet leanings. How dare anyone in the land of the free express any criticism? Especially a black man, right? I mean after all America has done for black men. Name one nation in the world that has treated black men better than America. You can't because there isn't one. Okay, seriously now, if you didn't realize that was sarcasm you probably have a brain tumor. Something real real wrong with your brain. Along with his affinity for certain Marxist ideas Hughes left his views were reflected in some of his poetry which communist newspapers in the U.S. did often publish and therefore congress prompts him to testify. During his testimony Hughes said I never read the theoretical books

of socialism or communism or the democratic or Republican parties for that matter. And so my interest in whatever may be considered political has been non-theoretical, non-sectarian, and largely emotional and born out of my own need to find some way of thinking about this whole problem of myself. Fucking guy was brilliant. McCarthy responded by saying, uh, uh, uh, what? Oh, was that English? Someone translated it. I don't speak Negro. I'm not sure what he said. I wish he talked like that much of a fucking idiot because he was in many ways I highly doubt he had the same intellectual capabilities as Hughes probably did get confused by his insight vocabulary

February 24th 1953 Robert Lafayette jr. McCarthy's opponent the 1946 Wisconsin senatorial campaign Found dead at the age of 58 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Lafayette had told friends shortly before his death that he feared he might have to testify before McCarthy about commie's infiltration of a committee he had chaired while he was in Congress. Dude died afraid. Afraid of McCarthy's witch hunt. Very sad. March 26, 1953, McCarthy once again goes after a writer, this time author Dashiell Hammett. Hammett. Hammett famous for writing some of the first hard-boiled detective novels set the tone

of the whole genre to come. By 1953, Hammett was internationally known for novels such as The Maltese Falcon. Probably heard of that one. Never read it. Never watched the movie, but I've heard of it. That's at the template of the cynical hard-drinking detective. The 1941 film adaptation of The Maltese Falcon starred Humphrey Bogart. In 1990, the Crime Writers Association would pick three of this

guy's five novels for their list of the top 100 crime novels of all time. Five years later, The Maltese Falcon placed second on the top 100 mystery novels of all time, as selected by the Mystery Writers of America. Red Harvest, The Glass Key, The Thin Man, also on the list. Super talented writer and for sure a bit of a commie, but not in an illegal sense. And Hammett's personal life in 1930s saw him involved in civil rights, anti-fascist activity because he was a good person, joining the American Labor Party, and in 1937 he joined the Communist Party. His support mostly financial, lending his name to campaigns. Then in 1951 he had been brought before the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, of New York, excuse me, to disclose who exactly he had aided.

Hammett refused to do so, refueling it was his right to donate to her the fuck he wanted to donate to in a free country. U.S. government disagreed. He was sentenced to six months in jail for contempt. The magazine Hollywood Life then called Hammett one of the most dangerous if not the most dangerous communist in America. Then in 1953 after already having served his time for something that you know should not have been a crime he was paraded out in front of

the House Un-American Activities Committee. This time it was to face the new charge that his pro communist books had made their way into overseas libraries run by the State Department, so he must have infiltrated the government. 300 copies of his books had been found on the shelves of 73 of its libraries. Fearing, I guess, that American capitalism would completely collapse due to the fictional private detective Sam Spade's sardonic communist wit, Dashiell Hammett now faced Senator Joe McCarthy. For most of the hearing, Hammett, like so many others who appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee, pleaded the Fifth Amendment, refusing to answer questions in case they might somehow incriminate him. But when McCarthy asked, do you believe that the communist system is better than the system in use in this country,

Hamit answered, saying, well, regardless of what I thought of communism in Russia today, it is doubtful if, you know, any one sort of thing, one is better for one country and one is better for the other country. McCarthy then asked, you know, any one sort of thing, one is better for one country and one is better for the other country. McCarthy then asked, you seem to distinguish between Russian communism and American communism. While I cannot see any distinction, I will assume there is for the purpose of the questioning. Would you think that American communism would be a good system to adopt in this country? Hamman now took the fifth, but then perhaps to McCarthy's surprise, he added that it was a question which could not be answered by a yes or no. McCarthy asked why. You see, Hamman answered, I don't understand. Theoretical communism is no form of government.

You know, there is no government. And I actually don't know. And I couldn't without even in the end I doubt if I could give a definite answer. Sensing a chance to trap him, the senator asked if he favored the adoption of communism in the U.S. Hammond did not take the fifth. He answered, no. That was not the answer McCarthy had expected. Hammond explained, for one thing, it would seem to me impractical if most people don't

want it. The session ended with McCarthy returning to the ostensible reason for his appearance, the stocking of communist literature in state libraries. He asked the author, if, uh, uh, hey, if um, if you're to be put in, hey, hear me for, talk to me for a second, if you had listened up, you were charged of

program, for communism, you purchased works, for communism, what is it? Uh, no. I'm sorry, I'm entertaining myself now at this point, just thinking about him talking that way. No he asked Like a fucking I think you should leave sketch or something He asked the author if you were in charge of that program to fight communism

Would you purchase the works of some 75 communist authors and Hammett quipped if I were fighting communism I don't think I would do it by giving people any books at all Despite his careful replies. He had still done enough to provoke further action against him. Hammett now blacklisted. The FBI harasses him. He ends up spending a lot of time and effort and taxpayer money, or the FBI does, trying to charge him for tax fraud, a charge that will never stick. This unjust investigation and harassment seemed to break Hammett, and the author and veteran of both World Wars never published anything major again, died at the age of 66 in 1961.

He had been in his 40s when he had voluntarily enlisted to fight for America in World War II, like some commie scum. In the summer of 1953 now, McCarthy shifts his anti-communist witch hunt focused from the state department to the army and begins looking for espionage in the Signal Corps radar lab at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey on August 31st. 44-year-old McCarthy, newly married to a 29-year-old researcher on his team, Jen Kerr, cut short his honeymoon to open the investigation. He garnered some headlines with stories of a dangerous spy ring among the Army researchers. But after weeks of hearings, absolutely nothing came of his investigation. It was almost like he totally made up his accusations just to garner himself more press and attention for the American public and to try and further boost his political profile.

McCarthy pokes the bear that was Eisenhower again. I guess this is the first time he directly poked him. November of 1953. In a speech that was carried on national television that month, McCarthy began by praising the Eisenhower administration for removing that month, McCarthy began by praising the Eisenhower administration for removing 1,456 Truman holdovers who were gotten rid of because of communist connections and activities or perversion. And that's not true. No charges were filed against any of those people. 1,456 Americans were wrongfully terminated from their jobs though. Who knows how many ever got another job as good as the one they lost. I think I'm really starting to fucking hate this clown McCarthy.

No, you know, I know I am. I do. I hate him. And all his witch hunting clowns like him. Or and all witch hunting clowns like him. In the same speech, McCarthy criticized Eisenhower for not doing enough to secure the release of missing American pilots shot down over China during the Korean War. And by the end of 1953, McCarthy had altered the 20 years of treason catchphrase he had coined for the preceding Democratic administrations and began referring to 21 years of treason to include Eisenhower's first year in office. That's how he pokes him. November 3rd, 1953, G. David Scheen, 26 year old McCarthy aide, an army draftee, an heir to a bunch of hotel

money, is inducted at Fort Dix. His family owned over 150 high-end hotels around the country such as Atlantic Seas, Ridgecrollton, the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles that had a corresponding golf course that time. They were doing all right. Skeen allegedly got a commission and preferential treatment at Fort Dix because of his association with McCarthy and this would contribute to McCarthy's fall from grace. The previous year, Skeen had published in, or Skyn, I guess, sorry, probably Skyn. I couldn't find a recording of somebody saying his name. Had published a six-page anti-communist pamphlet riddled with untruths called Definition of Communism and had a copy placed in every room of his family's chain of hotels.

The pamphlet introduced Skyn to Roy Kahn through a newspaper columnist, and the two became friends. And Kahn at the time was Senator McCarthy's chief counsel, and he brought Skyn into McCarthy's staff as an unpaid chief consultant. Kahn allegedly tried to use the power of McCarthy's office and his witch hunt to bully the army into giving Skyn very influential treatment. And why would they push so hard to do that? To help Skyn?

Probably because they wanted to get some of his family's fortune to use to further McCarthy's political ambitions. On November 13, 1953, Secretary of the Army Robert Stevens announces that the Army's own investigation has found none of the espionage McCarthy claimed had occurred at Fort Monmouth. McCarthy shrugs off his bullshit investigation being called out for what it was and on November 24, 1953 criticized, criticizes Eisenhower's administration again, this time for not halting trade with Red China. Less than two weeks later, McCarthy opens up an investigation into Army dentist Irving Paris at Camp Kilmer now. Irving Paris was a New York dentist who had been drafted into the army in 1952 and promoted to major in November of 1953. Shortly thereafter it came to the attention of

the military bureaucracy that Perez, who was a member of the left-leaning American Labor Party, had declined to answer some questions about his political affiliations on a loyalty review form. And now that motherfucker needed to be skinned alive after having his entire family raped to death in front of him, obviously. Or at least, you know, publicly defamed and recklessly interrogated. McCarthy subpoenaed Perez to appear before his subcommittee on January 30, 1954, and Perez refused to answer McCarthy's questions, citing his rights under the Fifth Amendment. McCarthy responded by sending a message to Secretary of the Army, Robert T. Stevens, demanding that Perez be court-martialed. And Stevens did not stand up to McCarthy. McCarthy ended up humbling the secretary of the army

in what was universally and fearfully described in the papers as the army surrender to McCarthy. So now McCarthy's clout grows and he's looking more powerful than ever, but he's gaining more powerful enemies. President Eisenhower does not come to Perez's defense in this instance, telling advisors, I'm not going to get down into the gutter with that guy.

On the same day, Perez asked for his pending discharge from the army to be effective immediately. Next day he was giving an honorable separation from the army. At McCarthy's encouragement, who promoted Perez now became a rally cry among many anti-communist and McCarthy supporters. Even though the guy had not been found guilty of being a communist on any level. And as McCarthy knew, Perez had been promoted automatically through the provisions of the Dr. Draft law, a law McCarthy himself voted for. He wasn't made a major because he was a communist and because whoever promoted him was also a communist as McCarthy kept strongly insinuated. He was made a major because he was a doctor.

Refusing to let go of the press issue, McCarthy questions General Ralph Zwicker next, commandant at Kelp Kilmer, to learn who promoted press on Valentine's Day 1954. And he ends up charging that Zwicker is unfit to wear a uniform. This finally gets President Dwight Eisenhower to really comment. At a press conference on March 3rd, 1954, Eisenhower is openly critical of McCarthy's lack of fair play, and he emphatically states that dealing with employees of the executive department is Not McCarthy's responsibility. It's his Well within an hour senator McCarthy responds ratcheting up the personal class between the two men of the same party

McCarthy threatens that he will not hesitate to expose anyone who aids communists Week later another fellow Republican senator Ralph Flanders of Vermont begins a public campaign against McCarthy and yes you heard right Vermont had a Republican senator it was not always the land of Bernie Sanders Vermont was actually very red until the 1970s then it was purple until 2001 and has been blue since and on March 9th of 1954 CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow broadcast the first of two episodes of see It Now, devoted to McCarthy. And he closes the broadcast with a scathing assessment of McCarthy's character that did a lot to start turning the tide of public opinion against that son of a bitch. It's truly a beautiful speech. Let's listen to a little bit of it here.

beautiful speech. Let's listen to a little bit over it repeatedly. His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind as between the internal and the external threats of communism. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men,

not from men who fear to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular. There is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy's methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation, we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves as indeed we are the defenders of freedom,

wherever it continues to exist in the world. But we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. The actions of the junior senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn't create this situation of fear, he merely exploited it, and rather successfully. Cassius was right. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves. Good night, and good luck. Mike fucking drop. If I'm at home in 1954, listen to that. I'm getting up giving this man a standing ovation.

This episode rated very highly and Murrow was very respected amongst the American public at that time, who would listen to his broadcast during World War II when he was recording from places where the war was raging, when you could hear bombs going off behind him. And now the tide of public opinion starts to really turn on McCarthy. More and more people are snapping out of the spell he had him under. They're not drinking the Kool-Aid anymore. They're seeing him not as some brave defender of freedom, but as a lying opportunist, using fear of communism to further his own political ambitions and not caring who gets destroyed

in the process. And yes, that was more music from Star Wars. Just two days later, an army report about McCarthy's attempts to win favors for private Skyn, the heir to the hotel money, is leaked to the press. McCarthy counters with charges that the army is trying to blackmail him in order to halt his important investigations. Why would they do that? Because they're full of comedies. Comedies? They're full of... they're full of comedies! They've been writing so many fucking

sitcoms! Uh, no, because they're full of communists. They're afraid of they're full of comedies. They've been writing so many fucking sitcoms No, because they're full of communists and they're afraid of him The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations usually chaired by McCarthy himself is now given the task of evaluating these charges Against the Wisconsin senator they turn his own committee against him fellow Republican senator Carl Munt from South Dakota is appointed to chair the committee and the Army McCarthy hearings convened on April 22nd 1954 the hearings last for 36 non consecutive days and are broadcast live on appointed to chair the committee and the Army McCarthy hearings convened on April 22nd, 1954. The hearings last for 36 non-consecutive days and are broadcast live on TV by ABC and DeMont with an estimated 20 million average viewers for the episodes each day. Many in the audience saw McCarthy as bullying, reckless, and dishonest and the daily newspaper summaries of the hearings were also frequently unfavorable to him. Late in the hearing Senator Stewart

Stimington or excuse me Simington I thought I saw a T there. Simington made an angry and prophetic remark to McCarthy upon being told by McCarthy that you're not fooling anyone Simington replied Senator the American people have had a look at you now for six weeks you're not fooling anyone either. Noice! Also while this hearing is going on on April 6 1954 McCarthy accepts have had a look at you now for six weeks. You're not fooling anyone either. Noise! Also, while this hearing is going on, on April 6, 1954, McCarthy accepts journalist Edward Murrow's offer to come on his show, See It Now, and defend what Murrow said about him on the first show he devoted to the senator. And it doesn't go well for Joe. McCarthy rejected Murrow's criticism, predictably accused him of being a communist sympathizer. McCarthy also made

an appeal to the public by attacking his detractors stating Ordinarily, I would not take time out from the important work at hand to answer Murrow however in this case I feel justified in doing so because Murrow is a symbol a leader and the cleverest of the jackal pack Which is always found at the throat of anyone who dares to expose individual communists and traitors Again McCarthy comes across as a unlikable bully, a self-serving smug asshole. Because he was. Ultimately McCarthy's rebuttal served only to further decrease his now fading popularity. In the program following McCarthy's

appearance Murrow commented that the senator had made no reference to any statements of fact that we made. How familiar does that sound, right? Politician tells a bunch of lies, gets called out for lying, gets asked to address the lies. Politician now says they will address the lies and then talk on and on and on and don't address shit and then later claim that they don't need to talk about said issue anymore because they already addressed it. This duplicitous slimy ding-dong reminds me of a lot of politicians today, right? It's fucking the same as it's always been. Our current frustrations are nothing new.

Back into the Army's investigation of McCarthy now. The most famous incident in that hearing was an exchange between McCarthy and the Army's chief legal representative, Joseph Nye Welch. On June 9th, 1954, the 30th day of the hearings, Welch challenged Roy Kahn, Senator McCarthy's chief counsel, to provide U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr. with McCarthy's list of 130 communists or subversives in defense plants, you know, this thing he's been saying he has, before the sun goes down.

McCarthy steps in and says that if Welch is so concerned about persons aid in the Communist Party, he should check on a man in Welch's Boston law office named Fred Fischer who once belonged to the National Lawyers Guild, a progressive lawyers association. In an impassioned defense of Fischer, Welch responds, Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. When McCarthy returned, he resumed his attack, Welch interrupted him and said, Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough.

Have you no sense of decency, Sir at long last? Have you left no sense of decency? When McCarthy then tried to interrupt him again, Welch cut him off and demanded the chairman, quote, Call the next witness. And at that point, the gallery erupted into thunderous applause. And it was painfully clear to everyone watching that nearly everyone in that room fucking hated Joseph McCarthy and a recess was called and by the time that recess was over

It was clear that McCarthy's reign of terror also over as was his political career That moment when the army's chief legal representative Joseph Nyweld said have you no sense of decency sir at long last Have you left no sense of decency? and I Welch said, have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last. Have you left no sense of decency? Followed by the applause, that was the nail in McCarthy's coffin. His political rise had been swift. His political demise would be almost immediate. After hearing 32 witnesses and two million words of testimony,

the committee concluded that McCarthy himself had not exercised any improper influence on Skynes' behalf, but that Kahn had engaged in unduly persistent or aggressive efforts. But really, the judgment that mattered, you know, was not about Skynes behalf, but that Kahn had engaged in unduly persistent or aggressive efforts. But really, the judgment that mattered, you know, was not about Skynes. The tongue lashing Welch gave McCarthy, the open support of said tongue lashing, was the truly important judgment here, right? He'd been found guilty of being a pathetic self-serving dick by the American public. On August 31st, 1954, the Army McCarthy Committee report does fault McCarthy in interfering with Skye. Only Republican Everett Dirkson from Illinois

says the Army charges against McCarthy were not proved. Meanwhile, an increasing number of Republicans and conservatives are coming to see McCarthy as a liability to the party and to anti-communism. McCarthyism is starting to become synonymous with witch hunts and the denial of civil liberties. On September 27th the Watkins committee recommends censure for Joseph McCarthy on charges of abuse of committee witness, zwicker, and contempt of the Gillette committee. A formal statement of disapproval, a censure does not remove a senator from office, but it does almost always kill their career.

Since 1789 the Senate has only censured nine of its members, and just one of those nine, Benjamin Tillman from South Carolina, ever won re-election. And Tillman only won re-election because his constituents were just as ignorant and hateful and aggressively racist as he was. Dude was openly a white supremacist who on the floor of the U.S. Senate proudly defended lynching black Americans and frequently ridiculed them in his speeches, going as far as even to boast of having helped kill them during his 1890 gubernatorial campaign which he won. That's another story. December 2nd, 1954 the Senate votes to

condemn McCarthy with the word censure removed from the final resolution by a vote of 67 to 22. The Democrats present unanimously favored condemnation and the Republicans are split evenly. The only senator on record or not on record was John F. Kennedy because he was hospitalized for back surgery. He never indicated how he would have voted. I'm guessing he was pretty happy to see Joe get brought down. The two counts of which the Senate ultimately voted were that McCarthy had failed to cooperate with the subcommittee on rules and administration and repeatedly abused the members who were trying to carry out assigned duties,

and that McCarthy had charged three members of the Watkins Select Committee with deliberate deception and fraud that his special Senate session was a lynch party, and had characterized the committee as the unwitting handmaiden, involuntary agent, and attorneys in fact of the Communist Party and had acted contrary to senatorial ethics and tended to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute to obstruct the constitutional processes of the Senate and to impair its dignity. Basically, he was a disgraceful, dishonorable, obnoxious, bullying fucking prick and they were sick of his shit. This vote brings no formal action against McCarthy, but a Democratic majority in November 1954 elections ends his power as a committee chair and just like he had done so many to so many others he has now been publicly humiliated. But unlike what he had done to others his humiliation is

actually justified and deserved. And how did McCarthy feel about all this? McCarthy himself said, hey, hey, hey, come on. Hey, hey, I thought you were gonna get in the commies. It's time we gotta help ourselves. Get it, you know. Oh, no, he said, guys, I thought you were with me. I thought it was us against the commies. Right now, they're gonna do what's right for them because it's their time. Their time up there. Down here, it's our time. It's our time down here. That's all over. The second we let these commies get away with the communists.

Actually, he didn't say that either. Uh, Sean Astin and Goonies said something similar to that. Uh, Joe said, I wouldn't, I wouldn't exactly call it a vote of confidence. Indiana Senator William E. Jenner, one of McCarthy's friends and fellow Republicans, likened McCarthy's conduct to that of quote, the kid who came to the party and peed in the lemonade. I love it. And that's his friend. Eisenhower finally free of McCarthy's political intimidation, quipped to his cabinet that McCarthyism was now McCarthy wasm. Oh, nice Dwight. Still McCarthy continued to rail against communism, though his public speaking engagements dried up.

His speeches in Congress virtually unattended are marked by conspicuous signs of inattention. I picture other senators literally just getting out pencils, papers, doodling during the speeches, drawing fucking caricatures of him, making paper airplanes, tossing them around the room, you know, shooting spitballs at each other, going to the bathroom to smoke some cigarettes,

maybe sneaking a kick me sign onto his back. Despite McCarthy being ousted from power, aspects of the Red Scare do continue, unfortunately. On June 21, 1956, star playwright Arthur Miller, the guy who wrote The Misfits, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, and more, testified before the House Committee on Un-American Activities about his political leanings, but refused to name others

who had joined him in his pro-communist undertakings. The committee had subpoenaed Miller after he sought to renew his passport. Miller planned to go to London with movie star Marilyn Monroe, whom he married four days after appearing before the panel. The newlyweds were then to travel to Brussels, Belgium for the opening of Miller's new play The Crucible, which looked at the Salem witch trials. What a coincidence. The guy who had just wrote about a witch trial is now subjected to one. Also not lost to me that I've talked a lot about witches for two straight weeks now. So many petty ass witches. Back to back sucks. Oh man McCarthy's the pettiest of the

petty ass witches. Representative Francis Walter, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, the committee's chairman, had promised Miller that he would not be asked to name names, but then he broke his word. Unlike most other uncooperative witnesses, Miller did not invoke the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination, but rather cited the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech and by implication the right to remain silent. Here is a portion of his testimony. Richard Wadadick-Arens, counsel for the House Committee on Un-American Activities, and a former aide to Senator McCarthy, asked, Do you know a person by the name of Sue Warren?

Miller says, I couldn't recall at this moment. Do you know or have you known a person by the name of Arnaud Dussault? Dussault, no clue if I'm pronouncing his very French name correctly. A moderately successful playwright and B-movie screenwriter. And then Miller says, I've met him. What has been the nature of your activity and connection with Arnoux de Sceaux? Just what is the point? Have you been in any Communist Party sessions with Arnoux de Sceaux?

I was present at meetings of Communist Party writers in 1947, about five or six meetings. Where were those meetings held? They were held in someone's apartment. I don't know who it was. Were those closed party meetings? Where were those meetings held? They were held in someone's apartment. I don't know who it was. Were those closed party meetings? I wouldn't be able to tell you that. Was anyone there who, to your knowledge, was not a communist? I wouldn't know that. Have you ever made application for membership in the Communist Party? In 1939, I believe it was, or in 1940, I went to attend a Marxist study course in the vacant store open to the street in

My neighborhood in Brooklyn. I signed some form or another there That was an application for membership in the Communist Party. Was it not I would not say that I am here to tell you what I know Tell us what you know And Miller says this is not 16 years ago. This is half a lifetime away I don't recall and I haven't been able to recall. And if I could, I would tell you the exact nature of that application. I understood then that this was to be, as I have said, a study course.

I was there for about three or four times. Perhaps it was of no interest to me and I didn't return. And then Aaron's asked, who invited you to attend? I wouldn't remember. It was a long time ago. Tell us if you please, sir, about these meetings with the Communist Party writers And then Aaron's asked, who invited you to attend? I wouldn't remember, it was a long time ago. Tell us if you please, sir, about these meetings with the Communist Party writers, which you said you attended in New York City.

I was by then a well-known writer. I have written all my sons in a novel focus in a book of reportage about Ernie Pyle and my work with him on attempting to make the picture of the story of G.I. Joe. I did research for that, so that by the time I was quite well known, I attended these meetings in order to locate my ideas in relation to Marxism because I had been assailed for years by all kinds of interpretations

of what communism was, what Marxism was. And I went there to discover where I stood finally and completely and I listened and said very little, I think, the four or five times. And I'll interject now and say that Mr. Miller was, you know, he's a writer. He's writing in the age before you could just look shit up on the internet like I can. And he might've just wanted to understand Marxism, like he said, so he could just write more effectively, more truthfully about it, which is a very common

writerly thing to do. So he attended four or five meetings and now 16 fucking years later is being crucified for that. Just a bunch of bullshit. Uh, Dick then asks, could I just interject this question so that we have it in the proper chronology? What occasioned your presence? Who invited you there?

And Miller again is like, I couldn't tell you. I don't know. Can you tell us who was there when you walked into the room? Mr. Chairman, I understand the philosophy behind this question. And I want you to understand mine. When I say this, I want you to understand that I'm not protecting the communist or the communist party. I'm trying to and I will protect my sense of myself.

I could not use the name of another person and bring trouble on him. These were writers, poets as far as I could see. And the life of a writer, despite what it seems sometimes, is pretty tough. I wouldn't make it any tougher for anybody. I ask you not to ask me that question. Miller then confers with his lawyer and says, I will tell you anything about myself as I have. Mr. Aronson asks, these were Communist Party meetings were they not... this is a fucking broken record. Mr. Miller says,

I will be perfectly frank with you and anything relating to my activities. I take the responsibility for everything that I have ever done but I cannot take responsibility for another human being." And then Dick says, uh, this record shows, does it not Mr. Miller that these were communist party meetings? He just the fucking same thing over and over again. Is that correct? I understood them to be communist writers who are meeting regularly.

The interrogation then keeps going with Miller refusing to name any names and continuing to be unable to remember the exact details of a few meetings he did not fucking care about that he attended over a decade and a half earlier and this dipshit just keeps asking the same questions over and over for hours. Ah! I think it's high time we implement a minimum level of education and work experience required for higher public office and a minimum IQ level as well. Not kidding. You should have to have at least a bachelor's degree educationally so we know that you can complete a decent

level of formal education. You can be given assignments, you know how to follow them well. I'm guessing many of you will disagree with this but would you want a doctor not to have to have any formal education requirements? If you don't I hate to break it to you but you're an idiot and you shouldn't weigh in on literally anything ever again. No offense but you're too stupid to understand how stupid you are You should have to have at least a bachelor's degree graduated in the top 10% of your class as well and have a minimum IQ of 140 the level where genius begins still not kidding and You should have to have been employed for at least 20 years

I don't even fucking care what job it is Other than it can't be self-employment unless you have had to manage at least 10 people and if you weren't self-employed you have to have been in charge of at least 10 people total. And everyone who has ever worked with you needs to be interviewed and asked if you are fit for the position you're running for and at least 80% of them have to say you would in order to demonstrate you can work well with others and be a competent leader. Only then you should be able to run.

Maybe if these were the minimum standards, we wouldn't have dumb fuck committees like this being formed and asking dumb fuck questions. And one more thing, you should be allowed to raise twice as much money for your campaign if you have served in the military compared to people who haven't served because you have a better understanding of the price that has to be paid to keep a nation free. You've probably heard the saying, stop making stupid people famous. I would like to add the alternate, stop making stupid people elected officials. In 1957, Miller was found guilty of contempt of Congress, denied a passport, sentenced to a $500 fine for 30 days in jail for just

intelligently answering the goddamn questions. The US Circuit Court of Appeals will overturn this bullshit. Fortunately Miller's career would survive his unjust targeting. Interestingly, a decade later, 1969, Miller's career would survive his unjust targeting. Interestingly, a decade later, in 1969, Miller's works are banned in the Soviet Union after he campaigned for the freedom of dissident Soviet writers. So clearly, not a big commie. January of 1957, Joseph McCarthy and his wife Jean adopt a baby girl who they name Tierney Elizabeth McCarthy, but Joseph will not enjoy any familial bliss. Instead, he will finish drinking himself to death.

McCarthy will die at Bethesda Naval Hospital May 2, 1957, and will be buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in Appleton. If you want to find his grave and piss on it. Heavy drinker for his entire adult life, McCarthy's drinking increased to a dangerous level after his fellow senators finally turned against him. His drinking destroyed his liver, leading to his hospitalization in April of 1957 and then his death of acute hepatitis a few weeks later. He was only 48. Not everyone, of course, was real sad and upset about his death. The British newspaper News Chronicle published the following the day after he died.

Senator McCarthy died yesterday in Washington. America was cleaner by his fall and is cleaner still by his death. August 27, 1957, Democrat William Proxmire wins a special election to replace McCarthy in the Senate and Proxmire does not pay the customary tribute to his predecessor and states instead that McCarthy was a quote, disgrace to Wisconsin, to the Senate and to America. Agreed. It would take until 1975 for the House Un-American Activities Committee to finally be abolished. It had changed its name in 1969 to the Internal Security Committee and its functions were transferred to the House Judiciary Committee. The end of the committee came

when it began to investigate opposition to the Vietnam War. Its 1967 and 1968 hearings investigated anti-war activists, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, both of whom attended the hearings at various times wearing a Santa Claus or revolutionary war patriot outfit to mock another witch hunt, contributed to the rising unpopularity of this committee. During the House Un-American Activities Committee tenure more than 3,000 individuals testified before it and were defamed. Only a few possible Soviet spies were uncovered. Out of those 3,000 plus people, the overwhelming majority were innocent Americans whose careers and reputations destroyed by public persecution and defamation. In McCarthy's interrogations, even worse,

they never resulted in the capture or arrest of a single Soviet agent. This fucking bulwark against communism never ended up doing shit to help the cause. That self-serving scumbag did nothing to help America. He only helped himself, but he did a lot of hurt to America. And with that, let's get out of this time suck timeline. Good job soldier. You've made it back. Barely. William Bennett, former Ronald Reagan administration's secretary of education, summed up his perspective on McCarthyism very well I think. In his 2007 book, America, the Last Best hope. He wrote the cause of anti-communism, which united millions of Americans and which gained the support of Democrats, Republicans,

and independents was undermined by Senator Joe McCarthy. McCarthy addressed a real problem, disloyal elements within the US government. But his approach to this real problem was to cause untold grief to the country he claimed to love. Worst of all, McCarthy besmirched the honorable cause of anti-communism. He discredited legitimate efforts to counter Soviet subversion of American institutions. Yeah, fear of a communist

takeover was a real legitimate fear during the Cold War. And the government should have looked for Russian spies in our midst and those committing treasonous acts against America on behalf of Russia. But it should have done so privately. And it should have looked only for evidence of true collusion or treason, not just merely curiosity or ideological adoption. Freedom again means nothing if you aren't free to disagree with the majority. Freedom is the ability to dissent, not to agree, not to have consent, right?

It's easy to agree. And there isn't a government in the world, no matter how totalitarian, that will punish its citizenry for rabid agreement. But there are many that will punish for criticism and protest and dissent. So feel free to dissent, Americans. It's your right. A right that McCarthy once tried to take away from us. A right I feel many fellow Americans would love to take away from us now. Like many of you, as we now sit days away from learning the outcome of the next presidential

election, very divisive election, well, it's days away as I record this, I have politics on my mind. And I know many of you would like to know where I stand in this election and I will not tell you. For starters, because it will not change the outcome. Those of you who agree with me will love what I've said. Those of you who disagree will hate what I've said and possibly if not probably hate me as well. And all of you will just go on and vote exactly as you

were going to before I said anything. But I will urge all of you to vote. As someone chronically disillusioned with two parties that I feel both valued corporate profit far more than the quality of life of the average worker, the lower and middle classes, I feel like we lose overall every election. Members of marginalized communities, any community not composed of straight white men, lose more, but we all lose. Real estate prices will continue to grow further and further out of reach for most first-time home buyers. Fear of medical debt in a broken health care system will continue to keep millions from receiving needed treatment. Exorbitant costs of higher education will continue to keep millions of working-class

Americans from receiving educations that would help them think critically and help them create tech and medical innovations that will help us all. And I could go on and on, but you know, about what I don't like, but that doesn't matter right now. Even for me, someone without a real horse in this race, voting is important. I've reluctantly embraced that. There are a lot of important issues that candidates and parties disagree on. It does matter who wins. The nation will be shaped in one of two ways in the next four years and those ways will differ tremendously in all likelihood. One candidate will inevitably share more of your values than the other.

And that's true every election. It's true for me. It's true for you. And for any of us not to vote just because we're not getting everything we want, I've accepted that would be childish a little later in life. So I'm going to vote. I'm going to vote based on which candidate, uh, you know, which platform, what's the political record, you know, how their character and value lines up most closely with my own.

And I hope you do the same. I'm not telling you which way to vote. You know, if we all did that every election, America would become at least closer to what we collectively left or right truly are what we truly want it to be. But if many of us opt out, we're now letting a smaller and smaller slice of the overall constituent pie, generally a more radical slice, decide how that pie should be divided up for all of us. And that sounds like a terrible idea. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want the vocal minority online to decide fucking anything for me. We've

made fun of their comments a lot over the years. So it's a vote. So vote your conscience. Don't let a comic or a podcast like me think for you. Don't let your friends or family think for you. And I think most importantly of all, don't let a political party think for you. Just think for yourself. What do you believe in when it comes to what should be legal and what should be illegal? How do you think the economy should be managed? More taxes? Less taxes? Who should be taxed more? Who should be taxed less? Where should tax money be spent? Defense, infrastructure, education, small business incentives? What would not only help you the most, but help the country

the most? Free childcare? Subsidized childcare? Free healthcare? Subsidized healthcare? Tighter regulation of the pharmaceutical industry? Easier access to cheaper meds? Better access to more affordable healthcare? Does our insurance industry need more regulation? Be dismantled completely and be rebuilt? Should weed be legalized? Should gay marriage be legalized? Should overall drug usage be at least decriminalized? Should abortion be made more or less legal? How much money should be spent on supporting various military conflicts around the world like the war in Ukraine? The same as we've been spending? Less? More? And think also about the character of the candidates. Are they somebody that you would feel proud representing you?

Or would you be embarrassed by them? Do you find them to be mostly truthful? Mostly a liar? If you owned a company, would you truly want them to run it for you? And if you don't like either candidate, just vote for who you despise the least. Even in that scenario, you should still vote.

And that's all I got, dear meat sacks. You beautiful, compassionate bastards. Let's get into today's takeaways. Time shock, top 5 takeaways. Number one, Joseph McCarthy's involvement with the House Un-American Activities Committee and inquiries into communism lasted roughly four years. From the Lincoln Day speech he gave in 1950 to the end of his career when he went after the US Army and got his ass fucking handed to him in 1954. At one point McCarthy may have been the most or one of the most powerful men in the country but he took shit too far. He was misguided tremendously and lost his career eventually. Number two,

Joseph McCarthy did not single-handedly cause the Red Scare as we know it. In fact, most of what people ordinarily mean when they talk about the Red Scare, the House Un-American Activities Committee, anti-communist probes into Hollywood, labor unions at American schools and universities, the Rosenberg trial, blacklisting in the media and school teachers fired for disloyalty, well, they were the results of many people other than Joseph McCarthy working to root out a communist threat. He just went about it in the most sensationalized unethical way. Number three, a lot of people had their lives ruined by accusations of communism.

While there was some reasonable basis to suspect that there were Russian spies working in the government, like with the case of the Rosenbergs, McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee targeted normal people who were involved with organizations like labor unions and campaigns for just civil rights, people with zero ties to the Soviet Union. Number four, a lot of prominent actors and artists were targeted for being communists, usually without much or any evidence. People from Hollywood stars Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall to writers Dashiell Hammett and Langston Hughes, to composers Leonard Bernstein, to folk singers like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie.

And number five new info. Around the same time as McCarthy implemented his charges around communist infiltration, the senator would also turn his sights to the gay and lesbian communities, alleging that LGBT governmental employees could be blackmailed easily by enemy agents over their sexuality and thereby betray national secrets and what became known as the lavender scare. In 1950 a special report drawn up by the Senators Republican allies, the Senate minority at the time, cited gay and lesbian workers as a potential moral threat to the workings of the government. Right? That tired old shit. 1983 President Dwight Eisenhower

would sign executive order 10-450, which sanctioned the administrative policy of tracking down gay, lesbian, governmental employees and having them fired due to the labeling of sexual perversion as an undesirable trait for employment. Scores of employees were fired or resigned out of fear of persecution, with various surveillance measures instituted

to try and track down citizens' habits not creepy at all decades past just what are you doing out there ah just just hiding the bushes just just beating off in the bushes seeing how how many leavened spas I can find decades past before a governmental agency ban on LGBTQ employees would be officially lifted our President Bill Clinton. Time Suck Top 5 Takeaways. McCarthyism when Red Scare Paranoia destroyed innocent lives has been sucked. Another episode full of some petty ass little witches. Thank you to the Bad Magic Productions team for all the help in making Time Suck

starting with not petty ass witch. Queen of Bad, Lindsay Cummins. Thanks also to Logan Keith helping to publish this episode designing merch for the store at Bad Magic Productions.com. Thank you to Commie Scum, Sophie Evans, JK, for her initial research. Thank you to the all-seen eyes moderating the Cult of the Curious private Facebook page, Mod Squad, making sure Discord keeps chugging along. And everyone over on the Time Suck subreddit and Bad Magic subreddits except for Jerry. Not enough there's a Jerry there. And now this week's updates. Updates. Get your Time Sucker updates.

Kicking things off with one of the most important updates in recent memory. Magnificent Sack Kent Hinterman. Send an email to Bojangles at timeslickpodcast.com with the titillating subject line of Dick Dick Double D. He writes, Hey Sir Suckenton, you wished in the latest episode that the middle initial of Richard D. Reynolds stood for Dick. And hoped for a Double D. Well, I'm here to make your dreams come true sort of. I went to Indiana Wesleyan University for a semester. Failed out. Thank you undiagnosed and untreated ADHD. I worked in the school's post office with a few other fellow students. One of them was named Richard Dickmeyer. He also referred to himself as the double D. I've attached a picture of his Facebook page to prove I'm not lying about this. You are welcome, Kent.

Oh shit, Kent. I looked this guy up just to make sure that you were telling the truth. Because I did think you were fucking with me because of how this guy looks. He is... I'm not trying to be mean. I'm saying this in the nicest possible way. He... okay, think about how Screech from Saved by the Bell was dorky. If this guy would have auditioned for the role of Scree, they'd have been like, oh you're fucking way too dorky for this role. You don't even look like a human being. Like he looks as made up as his name sounds, but he is real. And he somehow looks exactly like what expected dude named Dick Dickmeyer to look. To the point that he makes me wonder if we're living in a matrix and just being fucked with by a pretty funny game programmer. Ah, yeah, thank you very much for that, kids. Next up, perverted sack Abby Rood.

Pfft. Someone who thinks it's okay to force anal talk on strangers in public has done fucked herself. And yet is mad at me for some reason. I'll let Abby explain. She sent in a message with the subject line of kindly fuck you. Hello, TimeStuck team and Dan, master sucker and fucking asshole. I've been Cummins-lawed. Is that how you phrase it, LOL?

It is. This actually happened a while ago, but I was so embarrassed that I don't think I let myself process it. Anyway, let me set the scene for you. Few months ago, my husband and I were looking for a new apartment. I had a meeting with the place, I showed up,

had a great conversation with a nice apartment lady, and she sent me to the main lobby to fill out some paperwork. Of course, on my way to the meeting, I was listening to Suck 393, Tonight We Dine in Hell, probably a top five episode for me. I love that one. Flashback to the apartment lobby, and it is just myself and another guy who I assumed was an employee taking his lunch break. He did not have headphones on. In fact, I remember thinking, damn, I hate when people listen to their phones out loud in public spaces. Anyways, I go down, I go to set my phone down. Accidentally press play at the exact moment you are screaming, quote, I've been roughly butt fucked so many

times I've lost most of the feel in my back, sir. I am unfortunately not joking. I turn the volume on my phone down as fast as humanly possible and almost peed myself right there on the couch from laughing so hard. The look on that poor man's face was fucking hilarious. Forever burned into my brain. I think I can forgive you, LOL. Thanks to you and the team for everything you do. You all are awesome.

Abby Root. Abby, I cry-laughed imagining this guy hearing that out of context. I hope you have somebody just very puritanical, very uncomfortable with sexuality in general. some Abbey Root. Abbey, I cry laughed imagining this guy hearing that out of context. I hope he was somebody just very puritanical, very uncomfortable with sexuality in general. And he went to his apartment and just sobbed for a while. Just so upset at how far America has morally fallen. And then he then tried to watch some old episodes

of like father knows best just to cleanse that out of his head just to fall asleep to something nice and pure, but just could not stop thinking about how the character on that show were just constantly butt-fucking each other. Thank you for sharing. And now beautiful joker, god this is so good, beautiful joker Matthew Retherford, well he gets it, he knows how to have fun as proven by a message he's sending with a subject line of omg omg omg you're gonna love this. He writes suck Suckmaster and Time Suck family I'm gonna skip all the ass kissing formalities and get straight to it. I can't imagine this worth being read on

the show but I think you'll love it. Oh how could you not? Listing to the Tulpa short Suck and Dan mentioned scaring his girlfriend after watching the Blair Witch project. I didn't have cable tv at the time so all I knew of the movie was word of mouth but my girlfriend wanted to see it. So opening night my girlfriend, her best friend, and her boyfriend and myself piled into my single cab F-150, nice, and headed to the theater. Initially it was chilling. Especially since it was real. That is right up until the scene where they interviewed the guys fishing. I don't remember what it was but something was so wrong it caught my attention and I remember thinking, okay they claim to

know what they're doing. That's totally not accurate. Therefore, they are lying and probably actors. And if they are fake, well, then the whole thing is fake. At that point, the movie became kind of silly to me, but I kept that to myself. As we left, the other three were absolutely terrified. My girlfriend actually made me lift up the spare tire I had in the truck bed to make certain that nothing was underneath it. It was at that moment I began to form a plan.

This is so good. Once inside the truck, I engaged the emergency brake, moved the key to the accessory position, shift the truck into reverse and try to start it. Of course, not being a park, trucks not going to start. So I climbed out and popped the hood. I pretended to fiddle around with some stuff. I called to my girlfriend to try and start it a few times,

then grasped the top of the hood, slammed it down as quickly as I could, closing the hood. Right, the screams from the truck as the hood was slammed and I disappeared absolutely priceless, but I wasn't done. I then shimmied myself underneath the truck until I was directly below the cab. After a couple of minutes, the truck stopped rocking and fell silent. I heard my girlfriend tell this other guy,

get out and check on him. To which he replied, fuck you, he's your boyfriend, you check on him. While I was trying to decide if that was a mark of cowardice or just good sense, my girlfriend, bless her heart, gained the courage to come out and check on me. When she didn't find me in front of the truck, she totally freaked out, ran back to the cab.

As she opened the door, I reached out from underneath the truck and grabbed her ankle. She nearly broke my arm before I had the chance to let her go. She jumped back in the cab, started trying to start the truck again. I realized it was just a matter of time until she knocked the truck in either park or neutral, and I would be toast. When I popped up beside the door, the whole group screamed for several seconds. It was beautiful. Absolutely worth going to bed alone that night. Anyway, thought you would enjoy that.

If you can close your eyes and visualize it, tulpa making style. Anyway, sorry for the length and not the girth. Keep on sucking. Your faithful spaces are Reverend Billy Bubba Dorkfish. Oh, Reverend Dorkfish, man, standing o for you, my friend. Oh, mm, mwah, chef's kiss. That was beautiful. I would love to prank Lindsay that hard, but I'm legitimately afraid of how angry it would make her.

Maybe one day. Maybe one day. Your story will inspire me to have the balls to pull something epic like that off and risk sleeping alone for possibly weeks. If you had video of that, I would be showing that to people for the rest of my life. I love a good prank involving someone just getting the shit scared out of them. Almost nothing makes me happier. Actually, my buddy John Huck, he opened up for me a lot of stand-up shows the past four of every year, so some of you saw him, is a cast member right now on the new season of the hidden camera show Scare Tactics on USA, which is all about just scaring the shit out of people. John's a fantastic human, very funny, and very good at scaring people to death.

So, you know, check it out. Now a quick one from Thunder from Down Under Sack, Jack Armstrong, who wrote on the subject line of episode 421, organized crime at a farmers market for real. Hey big dogs, in episode 421, Dangerous Dan finds it hilarious to think about crime gangs running farmers markets. Yes. Well, this actually occurred right here in Melbourne, Australia. The local Italian mafia extorted... Well, this actually occurred right here in Melbourne, Australia. The local Italian mafia extorted Extorted fruit and vegetable sellers who were all Italian until the early 1990s You couldn't have a fruit or vegetable stall at the Queen Victoria Market without paying the mob There were even murders over it. Just Google mafia Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne, Australia and have a chuckle

Jack I did Google it and I did have a chuckle Gangsters get getting cut that fruit fruit coin, getting that veggie scratch, getting that plumb denaro or some shit. God we live in such a strange world. Thank you for sharing that. Thanks to everyone who sends in messages to Bojangles at timesuckpodcast.com. Thanks time suckers. I needed that. We all did. Well, thank you for listening to another Bad Magic Productions podcast. I'm scared to death. Time Suck each week. Short Sucks, a nightmare fuel on the Time Suck and Scared to Death podcast feeds some weeks.

Please, do not kick off witch hunt to advance your political career at the expense of others who don't think exactly like you do. How about you just drink yourself to death instead? Or, you know, just don't be a dick. Just keep on sucking. I feel like some of you are probably wondering, what happened to Bob? What happened to Bob from Bob's bountiful Bonsai fruit dot bits? Well, that son of a bitch got arrested. His hideout in K-Roy, Illinois, I got your emails, was discovered. His tiny orchard confiscated.

And yeah, I have pressed charges against him for hacking into my fee last week and threatening the lives of me and my family. I'll keep you updated on how things proceed, you know, with Bob's trial. But for now, I'm glad he's behind bars. And I do hope he's getting fucked in his tiny fruit hole. And I was able to get a hold of some of his confiscated miniature plums and they are delicious. Good product! Terrible salesman. I doubt we'll probably ever hear from him again. So just stop worrying about Bob.

And go vote.