In Charles Dickens’s 1848 story, A Christmas Carol, the ghost of Jacob Marley roams the earth weighted down by chains symbolizing the wrongs he committed in life.
As in a traditional proverb and blues refrain, "The same rope that holds you up, sure can hang you!"
I remember Joe McCarthy and recall watching his hearings on tele- vision (against the U.S.Army).
But if one is to overlook the values of Manifest Destiny, one must certainly be specific in an in-depth examination of the Wilson Administration with its "Creel" Commission and FBI and Palmer Raids. A "Democratic" Administration to be sure.
One must look with the greatest care at the same attitudes during the Truman Administration.
Secretary of State Dean Achesan, co-writer of NSC 68 ("National Security Council") in 1948 and signed by Truman in April of 1950, Acheson's commonly use of the word "commie"...
We must look at the loyalty oaths during the Truman Administration (My Dad signed one).
One must also look at the "Attorney General's List" during the Democratic Truman Administration and its effects on scholars, dissidents, actors, "for- eigners" etc.
(For a resource see: Richard M. Freeland, THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE AND THE ORIGINS OF McCARTHYISM:FOREIGN POLICY, DOMESTIC POLITICS AND INTERNAL SECURITY 1946-1948 (New York University Press,1985)
The relationship of the Kennedy Administration to Joe McCarthy (including the work of Bobby Kennedy) should be duly noted.
For all of us it is much too easy to attack only Republicans as our progressive models consistently advise us.
1 comment:
THE SAME ROPE
As in a traditional proverb and
blues refrain, "The same rope that
holds you up, sure can hang you!"
I remember Joe McCarthy and recall
watching his hearings on tele-
vision (against the U.S.Army).
But if one is to overlook the
values of Manifest Destiny, one
must certainly be specific in
an in-depth examination of the
Wilson Administration with its
"Creel" Commission and FBI and Palmer Raids. A "Democratic"
Administration to be sure.
One must look with the greatest care at the same attitudes during
the Truman Administration.
Secretary of State Dean Achesan,
co-writer of NSC 68 ("National Security Council") in 1948 and
signed by Truman in April of 1950,
Acheson's commonly use of the
word "commie"...
We must look at the loyalty oaths during the Truman Administration (My Dad signed one).
One must also look at
the "Attorney General's List" during the Democratic Truman
Administration and its effects on
scholars, dissidents, actors, "for-
eigners" etc.
(For a resource see: Richard M.
Freeland, THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE AND
THE ORIGINS OF McCARTHYISM:FOREIGN
POLICY, DOMESTIC POLITICS AND
INTERNAL SECURITY 1946-1948
(New York University Press,1985)
The relationship of the Kennedy
Administration to Joe McCarthy
(including the work of Bobby
Kennedy) should be duly noted.
For all of us it is much too easy to attack only Republicans as our
progressive models consistently advise us.
Life is far too complex for that.
email:peterloeb@yahoo.com
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