Joseph McCarthy remains a very controversial figure
. In the view of a few conservative latter-day authors, such as commentators
William Norman Grigg and
Medford Stanton Evans, McCarthy's place in history should be reevaluated. Many scholars, including some generally regarded as conservative, have opposed these views.
Other authors and historians, including
Arthur Herman, assert that new evidence—in the form of Venona-decrypted
Soviet messages,
Soviet espionage data now opened to the
West, and newly released transcripts of closed hearings before McCarthy's subcommittee—has partially vindicated McCarthy by showing that many of his identifications of Communists were correct and that the scale of Soviet espionage activity in the
United States during the
1940s and
1950s was larger than many scholars suspected.
From the start of his notoriety, McCarthy was a favorite subject for political cartoonists. He was traditionally depicted in a negative light, normally pertaining to McCarthyism and his accusations.
Herblock's cartoon that coined the term McCarthyism appeared less than two months after the senator's now famous
February 1950 speech in
Wheeling, West Virginia. In
1953, the popular daily comic strip
Pogo introduced the character
Simple J. Malarkey, a pugnacious and conniving wildcat with an unmistakable physical resemblance to McCarthy. After a worried
Rhode Island newspaper editor protested to the syndicate that provided the strip, creator
Walt Kelly began depicting the Malarkey character with a bag over his head, concealing his features. The explanation was that Malarkey was hiding from a
Rhode Island Red hen, a clear reference to the controversy over the Malarkey character.[
147]
As his fame grew, McCarthy increasingly became the target of ridicule and parody. He was impersonated by nightclub and radio impressionists and was satirized in
Mad magazine, on
The Red Skelton Show, and elsewhere. Several comedy songs lampooning the senator were released in 1954, including "
Point of Order" by
Stan Freberg and
Daws Butler, "
Senator McCarthy Blues" by
Hal Block, and unionist folk singer
Joe Glazer's "
Joe McCarthy's
Band", sung to the tune of "
McNamara's Band". Also in 1954, the radio comedy team
Bob and Ray parodied McCarthy with the character "
Commissioner Carstairs" in their soap opera spoof "
Mary Backstayge,
Noble Wife". That same year, the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio network broadcast a satire,
The Investigator, whose title character was a clear imitation of McCarthy. A recording of the show became popular in the United States, and was reportedly played by
President Eisenhower at cabinet meetings.[148]
A more serious fictional portrayal of McCarthy played a central role in the
1959 novel The Manchurian Candidate by
Richard Condon.[149] The character of
Senator John Iselin, a demagogic anti-communist, is closely modeled on McCarthy, even to the varying numbers of Communists he asserts are employed by the federal government.[
150] He remains a major character in the
1962 film version.[151]
McCarthy was portrayed by
Peter Boyle in the
1977 Emmy-winning television movie
Tail Gunner Joe, a dramatization of McCarthy's life.[
152]
Archival footage of McCarthy himself was used in the
2005 movie Good Night, and Good Luck about
Edward R. Murrow and the
See It Now episode that challenged McCarthy.[153] McCarthy was also portrayed by
Joe Don Baker in the
1992 HBO film
Citizen Cohn.[
154] In the German-French docu-drama "
The Real American - Joe McCarthy" (
2012), directed by
Lutz Hachmeister, McCarthy is portrayed by the
British actor and comedian
John Sessions.
R.E.M.'s song "
Exhuming McCarthy" from their
1987 album Document largely deals with McCarthy and contains sound clips from the
Army-McCarthy Hearings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy
- published: 29 Sep 2015
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