15. Joseph McCarthy’s televised hearings helped cripple the HUAC and the blacklist
In 1952, the United States Army drafted a dentist from New York, commissioned as a Captain. In 1953 he received a promotion to Major. The dentist, Irving Peress, refused to answer certain questions regarding his political affiliations on a security form. He did reveal he belonged to the leftist American Labor Party. Senator McCarthy subpoenaed Peress to appear and testify before his committee in January 1954. Peress appeared, but refused to answer questions, citing the 5th Amendment. McCarthy then demanded the Army charge Peress and court-martial him. Instead, the Army granted the dentist an honorable discharge. To McCarthy, the promotion of a man obviously sympathetic to communists and the gentle manner in which the Army dismissed him meant one thing. Obviously, communists had infiltrated the US Army.
The subsequent televised hearings of McCarthy’s investigation of communism in the US Army proved his undoing. After 36 days of hearings, televised live and viewed by up to 20 million Americans, McCarthy’s approval ratings dropped from a high of 50% to about 34%. He appeared as bullying, arrogant, ill-informed, and petty. Senator Stuart Symington, a member of the investigating committee, replied to a jibe from McCarthy with a devastating assessment of his fellow Senator. “Senator”, he said, “the American people have had a look at you now for six weeks. You’re not fooling anyone, either”. The exposure of McCarthy’s demagoguery led to public distrust of such tactics, and similar procedures long used by the HUAC fell into disfavor. McCarthy had nothing to do with the work of the HUAC, but his behavior helped weaken both the HUAC and the Hollywood blacklist.
