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Imagine living in a world where suspicion is currency, where a neighbor's raised eyebrow, a misplaced book, or the wrong question in the wrong coffee shop could cost you your career, your reputation, and even your freedom. This was America during the Red Scare. Twice in the 20th century, first after the Bolshevik Revolution, and again in the shadow of the Cold War. Fear of Communism gripped the nation by the throat. This wasn't just fear of foreign ideology. This was fear turned inward. Fueled by government officials, media magnates, and opportunistic politicians. Americans were told the enemy wasn't just in Moscow. It was in Hollywood, in union halls, on college campuses, and even in the living room next door. The communist professors are poisoning your children. Today we're diving into the machine behind the Red Scare, specifically Senator Joseph R. McCarthy's role in it. For McCarthy's televised witch hunts to FBI surveillance files stuffed with hearsay, we'll explore how propaganda painted dissent as danger and paranoia as patriotism. We'll uncover how fear became policy and how culture, from films to classrooms, was weaponized. To quote key keep America safe. While Nat King Cole and Tony Bennett rose to superstardom, blues and country music's mix brewing in New Orleans and Memphis was creating the breakout that would be Elvis Presley. Classic films like A Streetcar Named Desire and Sunset Boulevard were released. America wrestled with the winner take all manipulation of power hungry politicians that didn't care who they hurt as long as they got their way. Books like Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury captured the cultural fear of censorship, while Arthur Miller's the Crucible pointed a very powerful critique at McCart itself. Culture was shifting, but we were also forced to ask deeper questions. What happens when fear becomes law? When loyalty is demanded at the barrel of suspicion? And how does a country built on freedom get seduced into silencing its own people? Today, we are pulling back the iron curtain of the Red scare, Joseph R. McCarthy and his guard dog Roy Cohn, and the direct path to the propaganda machine we have seen in the last two decades. Joseph R. McCarthy's career rode the wave of communist fear mongering, interviewing over 500 people, from politicians to movie stars, and not a single one was found guilty of anything. And if, like me, you challenge conservative rhetoric in the Trump administration or you'd simply like to see affordable social programming, you too have probably been called a Communist. All this and more today right here on Flipping Tables. Hello from Omaha, Nebraska. I am still here until this coming Tuesday. As of this recording, which will be the 29th. I've had a great time being here with fans and seeing my niece and just being here and supporting. I'm also very ready to get back home. Thank you for everyone who has reached out to me about Lucy, my great niece who's in the hospital. She's doing much better. Her surgery, her heart surgery has been scheduled so we're really hoping that she can now be really treated in the way that she needs and we don't have to delay the surgery any longer. So keep her in your if you're praying person, keep her in your prayers. If you like candles or send good vibes, please do that. And thank you for all the kind and supportive messages on Patreon and Instagram and everywhere else as I have been been here and been dealing with that. I really appreciate it and thank you for your patience as I've been a little bit slower keeping up with everything because of, you know, being in the hospital several hours a day. That being said, once again I'm recording in my mobile studio setup instead of the regular studio so I ask for a bit of forgiveness on the sound and video quality won't be quite as good as normal, but Seeger will be mixing it so it will be improved from when I record it and starting the following Wednesday so into August we will be back in our normal studio setup and I really really appreciate it. It's been again a great time to be with family and be supportive and it's been really hard to see a six month old go through so much. But I'm very thankful for all of the support and I just want to make a quick announcement that the second Bible study that I am leading will be the evening of the 30th. We will be starting at 6 Central 7pm Eastern and the Patreon, excuse me, the Patreon RSVP is going to go live on Monday. They have first access and then we will give that access the next 24 hours to the general public. That will be on Instagram via Patreon and an email will be sent out to the people who attended the last study. And again, these are educational studies focused on critical scholarship, ancient history. They're not meant to be conversion studies, but really dive into truths, deconstruct dogma and ideology and combat Christian nationalism. My goal is to present information and allow you to make decisions on your own. If you'd like more info on these, you can go to my Instagram on my link tree and join my email list for those who've been on the email list. I have been behind on those, but starting Next week we will be back on a weekly newsletter just keeping you up to date on important news and helping kind of guide the path as things continue to get so crazy. The reason that the Bible study recordings will be on my Patreon is because of AI manipulation. There's been a large uptick of people stealing creators long form content off places like YouTube, using AI to manipulate what that person says. And I want to prevent that as much as possible. I've seen it happen a lot with people that have any kind of biblical commentary, political commentary, and much of their work is being manipulated to say very racist things, very misogynist, fascist things. So it's my attempt to try to keep myself a little bit safer from that. Thankfully, AI is still at a point where you can usually tell that it's been manipulated, but I just don't want to even have to deal with that if I can. And also on Patreon, just a reminder, there are new tiers that are launched, including quarterly gift boxes, books, personal stuff from me, me, some access to my art. I have expanded the $50 and $80 tiers. I had some requests for that, but they will close at the end of July because the gift boxes come out every three months and you have to be a member for three months. So after July, the next opening for those tiers will be in October. And again, thank you so much for my accomplices, my advocates, my activists and my allies. And that is@patreon.com Monty Mater thank you that you make this possible. So thank you for the support. Let's dive in. When World War II ended in 1945, the world let out this collective sigh of relief. The Nazis had been defeated, the Axis power crushed, and peace had, at least on paper, returned to the world with a lot of rebuilding that had to be done. But beneath the surface of this hard won victory, a much colder conflict was taking shape. One fought not with tanks or bombs, but with threats, spies and fears. This was a war of ideologies. Capitalism versus Communism, the West versus the East. The new kind of war didn't begin with a bang, but with a whisper. It was the Cold War and it would define the second half of the 20th century. To understand how the Cold War began, we have to rewind not just to the aftermath of World War II, but all the way back to the Russian Revolution of 1917, when Lenin and the Bolsheviks took control and established the first Communist state. The west immediately viewed it as a threat to liberal democracy and capitalism. The United States, Britain and others even sent troops to support the anti Bolshevik forces in Russia's civil war. A move that left deep scars and seeded long standing distrust between the Soviet Union and the Western powers. Not just because it was an attack on their ideology, but they felt that the United States was interfering in a way that it shouldn't. During World War II, the U.S. britain and the USSR found themselves on the same side. But it was an uneasy alliance held together only by the shared goal of defeating Hitler. Stalin believed that the west delayed opening a second front in Europe, allowing the Soviet Union to bear the brunt of Nazi aggression. Which they did. And America's delay further brewed resentment within the USSR who felt that they had to carry the weight of trying to fight the Nazis. Meanwhile, the west was deeply wary of Stalin's authoritarian rule and the brutal purges that had defined his rise to power. This wasn't a partnership built on mutual trust. It was a marriage of necessity. And both sides knew it would unravel the moment the common enemy was gone. That unraveling began very quickly. In early 1945, the Yalta Conference brought Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin together to discuss what the post war world would look like. They agreed on some points, like dividing Germany into occupied zones and forming the United Nations. But the future of Eastern Europe was left pretty vague. Stalin promised to allow free elections in countries like Poland, but within months, communist regimes were being installed throughout the region with Soviet backing. By 1946, Winston Churchill declared that an iron curtain had descended across the continent, dividing Europe into East and West. The United States responded with firm foreign policy. In 1947, President Truman introduced what was called the Truman doctrine, Pledging to support any country resisting communism. That same year, the US launched the Marshall Plan, offering billions of dollars in economic aid to help rebuild Western Europe. The Soviets saw both efforts not as generous aid, but as power plays attempts to buy influence and shut them out of European recovery. Stalin forbade the eastern bloc nations from accepting the aid. Tensions hit a boiling point in 1948 with the Berlin blockade when Stalin tried to force western allies out of Berlin by cutting off all land access to the. In response, the US and Britain launched the Berlin airlift, flying in supplies for nearly a year until Stalin finally backed down. The crisis crystallized the division of Germany into East and west and marked a turning point. The moment that the Cold war became undeniable. By 1949, the divide was formalized. The United States and its allies formed NATO, a military alliance to counter Soviet aggression. In response, the Soviet Union established the Warsaw Pact in 1955. The same year, the USSR successfully tested its first atomic BO, ending the US monopoly on nuclear weapons and launching a terrifying arms race. The Cold War was no longer a vague attention. It was a global standoff, with both sides stockpiling weapons capable of ending civilization. From there, the Cold War spilled across the globe. It ignited proxy wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and across Africa and Latin America. In each of these conflicts, the US and the USSR backed opposing sides, each trying to expand or contain ideological influence. These wars devastated regions that had little stake in the superpower's ideological feud, turning local conflicts into global backgrounds. The arms race also escalated dramatically. The doctrine of mutually assured destruction, or mad, ensured that if one side launched a nuclear strike, the other would retaliate, resulting in a total annihilation. This terrifying balance of power paradoxically helped prevent direct war. Everyone was afraid of the fallout of a nuclear war, but it created an atmosphere of constant fear. Civil defense drills, fallout shelters, and the ever present anxiety of nuclear war became part of everyday life. In fact, growing up on a cattle ranch in Gillette, Wyoming, my grandfather bought that ranch in the 50s and built bunkers under some of the houses that were hidden behind bookcases. Because of the Red Scare and my grandfather's fear of a nuclear strike from Russia, espionage and paranoia flourished. The CIA and the KGB became powerful tools of influence and control, operating in secret across the globe. In the United States, the fear of internal enemies led to our topic to get today, McCarthy is where suspected communists were blacklisted, interrogated and fired. In the Soviet Union, dissent was met with surveillance, imprisonment or death. Both societies sacrifice civil liberties in the name of ideological purity and national security. Where have we heard those excuses before? Culturally, the Cold War seeped into film, literature, art, sports, and even the space race, which was kicked off by the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957, became a symbolic and technological competition for global dominance. The Olympics were no longer just sporting events. They were ideological showdowns. Every victory was a propaganda win. Think of how this played out. For those of you that have seen Rocky 4, that's really playing on this Cold War propaganda, this competition, that these sporting events, these fights weren't just about the sport. They were about dominance in the country. Because the Cold War, yes, it was about an arms race, but it was also about proving we were better in all of these different categories economically. The Cold War divided the world into spheres of influence. Western powers promoted capitalist development, while Soviets exported their model of centralized planning. Developing nations were often caught in the middle, courted, and sometimes coerced into aligning with one side or the other coups, revolutions, and authoritarian regimes were backed by one superpower or the other, depending on the way the ideological winds were blowing. The United States actually directly interfered, with several governments, toppling down their leaders and establishing authoritarian regimes that would align with US Interests as well. And the Russians did that as well. Their control of Afghanistan until the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain in the late 80s and early 90s controlled Afghanistan and actually allowed for a power vacuum that would establish the Taliban in the 1990s. By the time the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Cold War had lasted nearly five decades. It never became a direct military conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, but its impact was enormous. It shaped global politics, fueled technological advancement, redrew borders, and left a legacy of distrust and division that still echoes today. When it comes to political and economic systems, few terms are more misunderstood or more hotly debated than capitalism, socialism, communism, and democratic socialism. Particularly the confusion between socialism and communism. These words are often used interchangeably, but they are very different ideologies and goals. So we're going to break each of them down and describe what they are so that when we move forward, we really make sure. I know that I've visited these before, but I think it's important to revisit them so that we can have honest conversations about it. Let's talk about capitalism first. Now, capitalism is not a governmental system. It's an economic system where private individuals or corporations own and control the means of production, distribution, and the exchange of goods and services. It is driven by the principles of free markets. Competition and profit. Motive is the baseline driver of capitalism with minimal government interference. Prices and production are determined by supply and demand. And for many of us, we have been told that this is the best economic form. This is the only way you can be free. This is what freedom looks like. The problem is, is that that's not necessarily true. Yes, free markets and being able to have competition are very important for economic freedom. But capitalism without guardrails, without regulation, has a lot of problems, the first being wealth inequality. Capitalism often leads to a concentration of wealth among a small elite, leaving large disparities between the rich and the poor. And this is often where this conversation of capitalism is the best thing ever. We don' any regulation that regulation helps reduce this wealth inequality. So it's important to have both. Unbridled capitalism is just as dangerous as communism. Exploitation of labor is a second downfall of capitalism. Businesses may prioritize profits over fair wages, safe working conditions or employee well being. We've seen this here recently where we now know that many CEOs are making 300% more than their employees. We know we also have seen in the big ugly bill that many OSHA requirements for safe working environments were rolled back. Many EPA protections, including the Clean Air and Clean Water act were also rolled back. We also see that insurance guarantees are often not guaranteed within the workforce, especially if they're able to keep your hours low. Capitalism is known for the exploitation of labor. Number three, there's a boom and bust cycle. Capitalist economies are prone to economic crisis such as recessions and depression due to market market speculation and instability. This is again reflection of not having any regulation. It allows for you to have recessions and depress monopolies and reduce competition. Large corporations can dominate markets, reducing innovation and consumer choice. They also cause environmental harm. The pursuit of profit can drive overproduction, resource depletion and pollution, often ignoring sustainability. And we've seen that particularly in the U.S. in Boxtown, just outside of Memphis where Elon has built his AI facility where he promised only 15 turbines would be working at a time. They have 33 that have been working now in Boxtown. It is the number one place for ambulance calls related to asthma. And it's only been open for about a year. And we've seen again, we've seen these EPA rollbacks. We're now seeing public lands being logged or being sold off to be developed. It has this very. I describe capitalism as something that is never satisfied. It's continually pulling from resources without thinking about are there going to be any left for the next generation. And lastly, there's a focus on profit over social good. Essential services like healthcare or education may be underfunded and inaccess because they are not profitable. And again, we see this right now. We are seeing this extreme capitalism take place in America where our education is being defunded by these voucher programs in the name of school choice, which is not what it is, school choice. If these private schools are allowed to take public funds, they should have to take the public. But what this is allowing is public funds into private schools. And then the private schools get to choose what students attend. That's a problem. If you're taking public funds, you not only should be forced to have of them all audits and we should know where that money is going, but you should be forced to take the public. And obviously in America we've seen the chaos that is our healthcare system where people not only can't afford insurance, but can't afford healthcare if they do have an emergency. And medical bankruptcy is outrageously high in the US because insurance is for profit. There is no reason that insurance companies need to be making multiple billions of dollars every year at the risk of people's lives. But this is what capitalism does when you have profit over social good and profit without regulation. Now let's move on to socialism. Socialism at its core is also an economic system. It is not a political system. This is where the means of production, things like factories, resources and infrastructure are owned or regulated by the community as a whole, usually through the state. The main idea here is that wealth and resources should be distributed more equally and that basic needs like health care, education and housing should be publicly provided. Socialism doesn't necessarily eliminate private property or markets altogether, but it does call for significant government intervention to reduce inequality and provide every single citizen with the same safety net. Safety net. There are many types of socialism, ranging from more moderate forms like social democracy, to more radical models that call for full state ownership. As of right now, there is not a country that I'm aware of that has full state ownership. Socialism. Communism, on the other hand, was originally theorized by Karl Marx, is more extreme. And we obviously do have examples of communist countries. This is both a political and an economic system that aims to create a classless, stateless society where all property is collectively owned. There is no private property, no free markets, and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs, at least in theory. In theory, under communism, the government would eventually wither away after leading the revolution and transitioning society. But in practice, historical communist regimes like the Soviet Union or Mao's China were authoritarian, with the state maintaining tight control over the economy, political expression and civil liberties. Private property was abolished and dissent was often brutally suppressed. So while socialism allows for mix of public and private ownership and aims to reduce wealth inequality within a democratic framework, communism is a total transformation of society that eliminates capitalism and often democracy with it. Something that's important to note is that China is now no longer strictly a communist society because they have changed their economic platform to reflect some capitalist ideals as well as some free market trade. Democratic socialism is where the confusion comes in, especially in American discourse. Because if you say socialism socialism, you're going to be accused of communism, even though they're not the same thing. And democratic socialism, people don't understand the distinction. Democratic socialism blends the socialist commitment of economic equality with a strong belief in democracy, civil liberties and political freedom. Unlike traditional socialism, it doesn't. Again, it doesn't necessarily Aim to abolish capitalism outright. Instead, it seeks to infuse capitalism with regulation that prevents steep inequality and provides a safety net for people. This leads to a highly regulated economy where key industries again like health care, energy, transportation, education, key needs might be publicly owned, but most businesses will remain privately run. The goal of this is to ensure that the wealth and the power are not concentrated in the hands of the elite and that all citizens have access to the essentials of a dignified life. Universal health care, tuition free education and affordable housing, as well as very strong labor protections. This is also tends to be much safer for the economy. More focused on sustainability. Again, you're thinking about the good of the whole. Think countries like Norway, Sweden, Finland, which are capitalist, but are but have expansive social safety nets and democratic institutions. And again, if you have not been following the path and trajectory of Zoran Mamdani, who has been running for mayor in New York, I would highly recommend going to his website, reading some of his policies. It's a really good example of democratic socialism. He wants to do things like cap some of the most impoverished rents, keep those low. He wants to make a free bus systems and also use unused space that the city owns to have citywide grocery stores that the city chooses not to not to charge rent so that the people can charge less for groceries. They stay affordable. They will also have agreements with local farmers and ranchers within New York to be able to to sell fresh local produce and meats that people may not otherwise be able to afford. And the way that he's proposed to raise money for this is that he will increase taxes by 2% on people who make a million dollars or more a year and increase corporate taxes by 2.5% on companies above a certain profit threshold. Small businesses will not see that increase in tax as well as anybody who makes less than $1 million a year. So let's summarize those real quick. So capitalism, we have this free market economy, profit driven, very little regulation. But we run the risk of dramatic in wealth inequality, harm to people, less safe working conditions, less sustainability. And the wealth is often concentrated in a few elite hands. Socialism seeks economic equality through public ownership or regulation, allows for private enterprise enterprise and democratic socialism advocates for social ownership of major sectors. This does not mean that everyone will receive the same outcome, but it does mean that everyone has the same safety net and the same opportunity. There's robust public services within a capitalistic framework. Communism again seeks total communal ownership, classless society, the end of capitalism. Capitalism, and often it's very authoritarian in practice. You can think of communism as the furthest, the furthest left you can go, which ultimately leads to an authoritarian state. Fascism is the furthest right you can go, which is obviously very clearly an authoritarian state. So let's talk about Joseph R. McCarthy. The making of a demagogue before Senator Joseph McCarthy became one of the most infamous figures in American political history, synonymous with Cold War hysteria and reckless accusations. He was just a small town boy from Wisconsin who was ambassador, ambitious, restless and eagle to rise. Joseph Raymond McCarthy was born on November 14, 1908, on a modest farm in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, the fifth of seven children. His parents, Timothy and Bridget McCarthy, were devout Catholics of Irish and German descent. The family was very poor, and McCarthy's early life was marked by hard labor and limited formal education. He left school at 14 to help support the family by working on a farm and later managing a local grocery store store. Showing early signs of his drive and resourcefulness, at the age of 20, McCarthy returned to formal education with an almost obsessive intensity. He completed four years of high school in just one year, earning his diploma in 1928 from Little Wolf High School in Manawa, Wisconsin. From there he enrolled at Marquette University, a Jesuit school in Milwaukee. And at Marquette, McCarthy studied electrical engineering before switching to law. He quickly gained a reputation for being smart, aggressive and politically skilled, savvy. He also joined the debating team, participated in boxing and played poker to supplement his income, all while working multiple jobs. He was a busy and very ambitious young man. McCarthy graduated from Marquette Law School in 1935 and passed the Wisconsin Bar the same year. He began practicing law in Wapaka and Shawna counties, and his legal career was not really distinguished. He often took on personal injury cases and represented utilities and corporations, positions that contradicted his later populist image. Still, it provided him with critical experience in public speaking and persuasion. His first foray into public life came in 1939, when he ran unsuccessfully for the position of district attorney. He bounced back pretty quickly, though. In 1939 McCarthy was appointed as a circuit judge for the 10th Judicial Court of Wisconsin. After the sitting judge retired, and despite having no judicial experience, McCarthy campaigned furiously, capitalizing on his youth and his energy. And at 30, he became the youngest circuit judge in Wisconsin history, and he would later be accused of exaggerating or falsifying his record in that role. According to court documents, he often misrepresented how many cases he tried and distorted the details of his decisions, habits that foreshadowed his later political tactics. In 1942, at the height of World War II, McCarthy enlisted in the US Marine Corps. Stepping down temporarily from his judgeship, he volunteered for combat duty, served as an intelligence officer in the south pole Pacific. While McCarthy often boasted of heroic exploits, later investigations showed that his war record, though honorable, was largely embellished. He claimed to have flown dozens of combat missions and received a Distinguished Flying Cross. But records suggest that many of these claims were exaggerated or fabricated. Still, his time in the military gave him a valuable credential in post war America that celebrated veterans. He returned to Wisconsin in 1944 with a new nickname, Tail Gunner Joe, a Persona he cultivated to appear tough and patriotic. Upon his return, McCarthy resumed his judgeship and began laying the groundwork for a run at higher office. He focused. His focus shifted from law to politics. And in 1946 he would launch a successful campaign to unseat incumbent Senator Robert M. La Follette Jr. Entering the U.S. senate as a Republican. The moment would mark the beginning of a career defined by aggression, opportunism and ultimately independent infamy. But long before McCarthy's name became synonymous with red baiting and paranoia, he was a poor farm boy turned self made man, intelligent, driven and dangerously willing to bend the truth to get ahead. When Joseph R. McCarthy stepped up onto a podium in Willing, West Virginia on February 9th of 1950, he was relatively obscure. Junior senator from Wisconsin just four years into his term. But by the time he finished speaking that night, he had set in motion one of the most infamous chapters in American political history. History. Clutching a piece of paper, he said, I have here in my hand a list of 205, a list of names that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who are nevertheless still working and shaping policy in the State Department. McCarthy declared that the federal government had been infiltrated by enemies of the American people. The number would shift over time, sometimes more than 57, sometimes more than 81 in the direction of up or down in the names. But the impact was immediate and electric. With that speech, McCarthy stepped into the national national spotlight and the nation entered the era of McCarthyism. The early 1950s were fertile ground for paranoia. The Cold War was escalating. The Soviet Union had detonated its first atomic bomb, China had just fallen to communism, and the Korean War was underway. Many Americans were afraid, and McCarthy understood that fear was political currency. He played to it masterfully, branding himself as the one man brave enough to root out subversion in the highest levels of government and get rid of those who were betraying America. America, he promised to expose not just communists, but fellow travelers, spies, sympathizers and traitors supposedly hiding behind every desk in Washington. The fact that his accusations were always unsubstantiated didn't seem to matter. The spectacle was the point. Not just the influence of the Cold War, but a particular case primed Americans to buy into the paranoia. The arrest, trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. They remain the only American civilians ever executed for espionage during peacetime, a decision that has sparked decades of debate over guilt, fairness, and political fear. Julius Rosenberg, an electrical engineer, and his wife Ethel were accused of conspiring to pass atomic secrets to the Soviet Union during World War II. According to the US government, Julius had recruited spies while working as a civilian engineer for the Army Signal Corps. The most damning evidence came from Ethel's brother. Excuse me, Ethel's brother, David Greenglass, a machinist at Los Alamos, who testified that Julius recruited him to share classified information from the Manhattan Project, the top secret US Effort to develop the atomic bomb. Greenglass claimed that Ethel typed up notes containing detailed sketches of implosion type bomb helping funnel information to Soviet agents. This alleged spiring, officials argued, allowed the Soviet Union to develop its own nuclear weapons years earlier than expected, shifting the balance of power in the Cold War. So this woman was ratted out by her own brother. The FBI arrested Julius Rosenberg on July 17th of 1950, and Ethel was arrested five weeks later. Later, their arrest came in the aftermath of the Soviet Union's first successful nuclear test in 1949. I have such a hard time with that word when I'm reading sentences. Nuclear, nuclear, nuclear. There it is. I don't know if you guys listen to my. One of my favorite podcasts is Time Suck by Dan Cummins and he gets mushmouthy like I do, and I sometimes struggle. Here we go. So after this nuclear test, which stunned US Intelligence, authorities were under immense pressure to find out how the Soviets had acquired nuclear capabilities, so called quickly. The Rosenbergs were tried in March of 1951 in federal court in New York, a case presided over by Judge Irving Kaufman and prosecuted by our boy Roy cone, who would later become infamous for his role alongside Senator Joseph McCarthy. The trial featured intense, dramatic testimony, including from Greenglass and his wife Ruth. Remember, that's Ethel's brother. Both of whom had been offered plea deals in exchange for their cooperation. The prosecution portrayed the Rosenbergs not only as spies, but as traitors who had portrayed their country during wartime and hastened the Soviet nuclear nuclear threat. There it is again. The defense meanwhile argued that the case was built on weak evidence and coerced testimony. Ethel's role in particular appeared minor at best. Her alleged typing of notes was never proven and there was no direct physical evidence linking her to any espionage whatsoever. Nevertheless, both Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted and sentenced to death. Judge Kaufman stated during sentences sentencing that their actions had already caused, in my opinion, the Communist aggression in Korea, blaming them for geopolitical consequences beyond the alleged espionage itself. Despite widespread international protests, including appeals from Albert Einstein, the Pope, and even US allies, the Rosenbergs were executed. On June 19, 1953, they were executed at Sing Sing prison in New York. Their deaths shocked the world. And to this day, the fairness of their trial remains a subject of intense historical debate, especially in regards to Ethel. Declassified Soviet files of the Verona Venona Project, a secret US intelligence program. Decoding Soviet cables have confirmed that Julius did in fact pass information to the Soviet, though the value of that information is pretty highly disputed. Ethel's involvement, however, has seen no evidence and appears far less certain. Many historians now believe that her execution was used as leverage to pressure Julius into confessing, which was a confession he never gave. Now let's get back to McCarthy. In the wake of the Rosenberg case and the Wheeling speech where he claimed he had hundreds of names of communists who were working in government, McCarthy quickly became a media darling. His wild charges, his dramatic flair were irresistible to journalists and television producers. He badgered witnesses, smeared reputations and rarely provided any hard evidence. Yet many Americans rallied behind him. To question McCarthy was to risk being labeled a Communist sympathizer. Fall in line or I will get you to. And a few in Washington dared to challenge him over openly. The Republican Party, newly empowered after years of being in the minority due to their party's policies causing the Great Depression. They had been in the minority since the election of FDR. They largely embraced McCarthy's crusade as a useful political weapon and reveled in the power and the control. McCarthy soon had his own investigative platform, the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. That platform grew more powerful in 1953 when Republicans took control of the Senate and McCarthy was named the chairman of the Subconscious Subcommittee. He selected as his chief of counsel a young, aggressive lawyer named Roy Cohn, already known for his role in prosecuting Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Cone was sharp, ruthless and shared McCarthy's appetite for intimidation. Together they began what amounted to a political inquisition dragging federal employees, professors, artists, writers and entertainers before the subcommittee accusing them of communist ties, often based on the flimsiest of evidence but let's take a brief sidestep to Roy Cohn real quick because his story in this is important. Born on February 20, 1927 in the Bronx, Roy Cohn was the son of a prominent judge and grandson of the Lionel Toy Trains founder. Fast tracked through Columbia University and law school, Cohen became the Assistant U.S. attorney at just 21 years old. His meteoric rise was fueled by aggressive anti communist persecution including high profile work against William Remington and the Communist party. Laying groundwork for his close alliance with Senator Joseph McCarthy as Chief Counsel during the McCarthy hearings in 1953, cone brought G. David Shine, a wealthy aide on a European tour to inspect U. S libraries for quote subversive books. They were also into book banning at this time. Any political ideology that they perceived to be at opposition with theirs was considered coded communist. Essentially it was a political junket to root out alleged communist influence. Rumors swirled that their relationship was more than colleague based. Though Shine chauffeur later claimed to have seen homosexual acts in the back of the limousine, allegations that were never proven. The two quickly became inseparable. Their relationship, though never officially confirmed as romantic, was so unusually close that rumors of a personal, possibly sexual attachment circulated in Washington and the press in the highly homophobic 1950s. Such rumors were politically dangerous and personally damning. Especially since Cohen was actively helping purge the suspected gay government employees as part of the quote lavender scare. In 1953 when Conan Shine traveled to Europe on the McCarthy backed mission to investigate communist propaganda, the trip itself was already controversial. It was more likely a public stunt than a legitimate investigation foundation. With Conan Shand demanding books by leftist authors like Howard Fast, Langston Hughes and even Dashiell Hammett be removed from library library shelves abroad. If you were a leftist writer, if you were progressive, then you were immediately assumed to be writing communist propaganda. But the trip took a strange turn in Paris when Conan Shine checked in to their hotel. Cone reportedly became furious upon learning that Shine's room was not adjacent to his own. According to embassy officials. Later recollections, Coned through a fit, pressuring hotel management, making frantic phone calls to the US Embassy and even threatening to invoke official authority if they didn't rearrange the rooms to his liking. He demanded that other guests be displaced so that David Shine could move closer to him. Hotel staff refused and cone did not take that will. Witnesses described it as meltdown level behavior, emotional, entitled and obsessive. There were whispered calls, tantrums and even throw threats. Eventually the incident was so disruptive that the embassy personnel were Drawn into the situation, trying to smooth things over while documenting it all in official cables back to Washington. While the incident might seem petty and kind of symbolic, it was a glimpse into the personal entitlements and power plays at the heart of McCarthy's crusades. Con's obsession with Shine's comfort and proximity became more than a punchline. It was evidence of how McCarthy's team was using anti Communist hysteria not for national security, but for their own personal gain. Gain, privilege, and possibly to conceal a taboo relationship. In Con's case, when Shine was drafted into the army in 1953, Con leveraged his political clout to secure special treatment. When these demands were denied, Conan McCarthy threatened to wreck the army by launching a public investigation into supposed Communist infiltration within its ranks. This retaliation, based largely on the Army's refusal to give into Con's demands, was trigger for the Army McCarthy hearings in 1950. Despite being a closeted gay man, Con became zealous enforcer of anti gay purges, instigating what became known again as the lavender scare, aiding McCarthy in accusing gay government employees of espionage not because they were doing anything, not because there was any evidence, but because they were gay. Publicly, Con denounced homosexuality as a security threat. Privately, he engaged in same sex relationships, including reportedly with his assistant Russell, Russell Eldridge and his later partner Peter Frazier, revealing a complex and deeply hyp hypocritical personal life. After leaving McCarthy's circle, Cohn built a reputation as a courtroom bully and a Mafia consigliere. He defended notorious mob bosses such as Anthony Fat Tony Salerno and Paul Castellano. And he aided in Trump's early real estate ambitions. Salerno allegedly helping supply cement for Trump Tower at favorable rates. Cone even intervened when mob figures threatened Sammy Davis Jr. Over his relationship with a white actress named Kim na Novak, pressing figures like John Roselli for retribution. Over the next decades, Cohn was embroiled in multiple indictments, ranging from extortion to bribery to witness tampering. Though acquitted each time, his unscrupulous tactics caught up with him. Eventually, in 1986, the New York Appellate Division disbarred Cohn for forging a diant client's will and misappropriating funds, marking the collapse of his legal empire. But from the 1970s onward, Cohen became Donald Trump's personal lawyer and mentor. He taught Trump the art of aggression and intimid intimidation, famously saying, don't let others define you, define yourself. Cohen introduced Trump to political operators like Roger Stone and Paul Manafort and defended him in high profile housing discrimination suit in 1973, when the Trumps would not allow their buildings to be rented to African Americans. He also smoothed Trump's access to powerful media figures like Rupert Murdoch. Cone's secret surveillance system included eavesdropping phone setups at Mar A Lago, gathering intelligence on Trump himself, himself, among many others. In 1984, Cohen was diagnosed with AIDS, which he concealed vehemently, insisting that it was liver cancer. He died of complications on August 2, 1986, just weeks after being disbarred. His final indignity? The IRS seized virtually all of his assets. His funeral was attended by few, including Trump, who reportedly had been the last person to speak with him on the phone. Let's get back to Communist the witch hunts. The entertainment industry was one of their favorite targets. They really liked persecuting Hollywood. Though McCarthy himself was not officially part of the House UN American Activities Committee or the HUAC, his fear that the fear that he stoked fueled Hollywood blacklists, ruined community, ruined careers, and silenced dissent. Artists like Charlie Chaplin and playwright Lillian Hellman were forced into exile or obscurity. Those who refused to name names were blacklisted and often couldn't find work. And, and again, all of these people had no substantial evidence of any type of espionage or Communist subversion whatsoever. The most chilling part was that many of those accused again had committed no crime. Some had flirted with leftist politics, as was popular in the 40s and 50s. Exploring ideologies and learning or attending a Communist meeting to see what it was about was not that uncommon. But if you had ever done that, you were now at risk of being charged with a crime that you didn't commit. Admit others were just simply inconvenient to the regime, and so they wanted them out of the way and wanted to discredit their reputations. But McCarthy's most outrageous moment in this phase came with the case of Annie Lee Moss. In 1954, Joseph McCarthy accused Annie Lee Moss, a quiet African American widow working as a communications clerk at the Pentagon, of being a Communist infiltrator. An incredibly serious charge during the Cold Cold War, especially for someone who has access to military signals. Her alleged crime. Her name appeared on a list from an informant who claimed she had been a member of the Communist Party. Moss had no access to classified information, and the list McCarthy's team used was not cross verified. Multiple women named Annie Moss lived in Washington, D.C. and even the FBI doubted the accuracy of the identification. Moss appeared before the same Senate Subcommittee on Investigations in a nationally televised hearing, where she gave plain spoken honest and occasionally confused answers. When asked if she knew who Karl Marx was, she replied, who's that? Her response drew laughter in the chamber and shocked television viewers. Not because she was ridiculous, but because the accusations suddenly looked so absurd. She seemed quite plainly not a revolutionary in any way, but a working class woman simply doing her job.
- [42:34]
Co-Host
Job.
- [42:35]
Host
Her mistreatment became a turning point in public perception. The image of McCarthy accusing a bewildered middle aged black woman of espionage on no evidence undermined his credibility. Edward R. Murrow later highlighted Moss's case in his historic See it Now broadcast which criticized McCarthyism and solidified her as a symbol of the Senator's cruelty. Though Moss was initially suspended, she was quietly reinstated after the charges completely crossed crumbled. She returned to her life with dignity while McCarthy's popularity began to collapse. Owen Latimer was one of the leading scholars of Chinese and Central Asian affairs in the mid 20th century and had advised the U.S. state Department on foreign policy during World War II. He was not at all a communist but he advocated for nuanced US Relationships with the Chinese Communists as a strategic alternative to uncritical support of Chiang Kai Shek's nationalist radio regime. Chiang Kai Shek was an open authoritarian and a fascist and Owen Lattimore said that blind support for him simply because he wasn't communist was dangerous. This position was a controversial in the Cold War Washington and made him a target. In March of 1950, Senator McCarthy accused Lattimore of being a top Soviet espionage agent in the United States. The claim was explosive and completely unsubstantiated. The man simply did not want to see fast fascism in China. It was based on nothing more circumstant more than circumstantial claims and guilt by association. No hard evidence of espionage was ever produced and the subsequent investigations by the FBI and the Senate dismissed the charges as completely unsupported. And I want to say here that communism is horrible, but for all of the talk that the US has had about the evils of communism and fighting communism, it is pretty heartbreaking how often the United States has supported fascism. What we're seeing now, sometimes I look at the news or I see videos like in that jubilee debate where this guy's like, yeah, I'm a fascist. And when he was asked about what happened to Jews during the Holocaust, he's like, well you know, some people were kind of persecuted. That is not an uncommon U. S stance. The U. S Had a very strong Nazi support until we were bombed and probably harbor. We have supported fascism kind of through and through for a long time. And what I'm realizing as we study history is that we are seeing just the openness of what the United States has already supported most of its history. And often communism is the scapegoat to support that fascism. But these attacks, even though Owen Latimer was proved innocent, they decimated his career. Though indicted for perjury in 1952 for allegedly lying to Congress, the case was only ultimately dismissed due to a lack of evidence. Nevertheless, Lattimore became a radioactive in the academic and policy circles, lost his job and was unable to maintain his position. He left the United States in 1963 and spent the rest of his career teaching in the uk. The damage to Chinese studies in the US was enormous because he was our top expert. Many scholars either censored themselves or left the field entirely due to similar accusations. And this has harmed our foreign policy with China. Lattimore story is often cited as a prime example of intellectual persecution under McCarthyism where ideological disagreement was reframed as treason. Again we go back to if you write a book I don't agree with, well, you're a communist or you're an enemy, or you're a traitor. It's this type of censorship where intellectualism is demonized as well as if you disagree with me, you are therefore a communist now. Few celebrities were more beloved or more vulnerable. Vulnerable than Charlie Chaplin, the iconic silent film star best known for his character the tramp. By the 1940s, Chaplin was a global superstar and the symbol of American cinema. But he became a target of suspicion, not for espionage, but because of his outspoken political beliefs. Chaplin supported liberal and left leaning causes, labor rights, anti fascism and the Soviet American cooperation during World War II. He criticized capitalism in modern times in 1930, 36 and lampooned Hitler and the Great Dictator in 1940, earning praise, but also a lot of enemies. Again, remember that the United States was very anti Semitic and deeply supported the Nazis until we entered the war due to Japan's involvement. We actually had a like sold out, completely full Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden supporting it. Hitler was very popular in the U.S. and though Charlie Chaplin was not a Communist party member, his refusal to denounce Communism outright made him a magnet for accusations. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover kept a lengthy file on Chaplin and pressured the Immigration and Naturalization Service to revoke his re entry permit. When Chaplin traveled to Europe in 1952 to promote his film Limelight while abroad, the US barred Chaplin from returning, labeling him a subversive. Though never officially tried or charged, he was exiled by policy again, not because he did anything wrong but because he supported labor rights, because he opposed Hitler and because he thought that the US should help the UK and the USSR beat Hitler. Chaplin would later write, I would not go back to America, though I might say I'm homesick for it. He eventually settled in Switzerland, only returning to the US in 1972, 20 years later to receive an honorary Academy Award. Chaplin's exile served as a chilling warning to artists, especially entertainers and actors. Step out of line and you will lose everything and we will remove you from the country. Born here, naturalized or not. In each case, McCarthy offered little to no evidence, relied on public fear and spectacle and left lifelong scars on those he targeted. As journalist Edward R. Murrow warned during his famous 1954 broadcast. Broadcast after the army versus McCarthy hearings, we must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. By early 1954, Senator Joseph McCarthy was at the height of his power. His crusade against communism had gripped the nation for four years, ruining lives, dominating headlines and chilling political discourse. But it was a personal power play involving McCarthy's legal counsel again, Roy Cohn and his young AG, David Shine, that would unravel everything again, just a reminder that Roy Cohn is McCarthy's brilliant right hand man and David Shine is this wealthy hotel heir and socialite that was Cohen's aide and close companion. In late 1953, G. David Shine again was drafted into the US Army. Roy Cohn immediately began exerting pressure on military officials to grant Shine special treatment. That included attempting to have Shine commissioned as an officer officer, requesting that Shine be stationed in or near Washington, D.C. so they could continue to work together. Excusing Shine from menial or manual labor, including basic training exercises, giving him special travel privileges, private cars, preferred lodging and extended leaves. Obviously, the army refused. Conan McCarthy responded with fury. They were not used to being told no and they enjoyed the power that their position had had given them. They accused the Army Signal Corps of harboring communists. Of course they did, launching aggressive investigations and subpoenas. The message was clear. You give us what we want or we will destroy you. The army, frustrated and alarmed, began documenting Cone's attempts to manipulate Shine's service. In March of 1954, they filed formal accusations against McCarthy and Cone alleging abuse of power, improper influence and threats to military personnel. The Army's complaint was specific. McCarthy and cone had used their Senate authority authority to pressure the military for personal favors, which is exactly what they did. Rather than backing down McCarthy doubled down. He accused the army of retaliating against his investigations by manufacturing the charges. The stage was set for a showdown unlike any in American political history. This was held in the Senate Caucus room, broadcast live on television. And the McCarthy hearings riveted the country. Over 36 days to 10 of tens of millions of Americans tuned in to watch the once feared Senator in action. And for the first time, many saw something troubling. McCarthy was combative and evasive, interrupting witnesses, making wild accusations and dodging questions. Cohen came across as arrogant, emotional and particularly in his efforts to downplay his obsession with Shine's military treatment. The pre the army presented evidence telegrams, phone records and memos detailing how cone had tried to secure special treatment for his friend Shine. Much of the testimony centered around trivial demands. Again, these requests to have Shine have a private car or better sleeping arrangements. These petty requests, when juxtaposed against the seriousness of a communist accusation, made the entire operation look personal, self serving and absurd. The hearings reached their emotional climax in June 9th of 1950. Fred Fisher, who was a young associate of the Boston law firm Hale and Door, working under Joseph Welch, the Army's chief counsel during the Army McCarthy hearings in 1954. During the televised hearing, McCarthy attempted to derail the Army's case by attacking Fisher's character. He revealed that Fisher had once been briefly affiliated with the National Lawyers Guild, an organization that McCarthy claimed was a communist front. The National Lawyers Guild, which still exists today, is a progressive legal organization that was founded in 1939 as an alternative to the American Bar association, which at the time excluded African Americans and was seen as too conservative. The National Lawyers Guild was created by a coalition of lawyers, law students and legal workers who sought to use law as a tool for social justice, labor rights and civil liberties, specifically for the African American population. Its founding purpose was to unite lawyers in support of economic and social justice justice, especially in defending labor unions, civil rights and marginalized communities. Because it was left wing and often aligned with New Deal liberalism. Liberalism from FDR labor organization and it was anti fascist. Therefore it was often accused during McCarthy's time of being a communist organization. This organization defended civil rights activists in the 1950s and 60s, including participants in the freedom of rides and the voter registration drives in the South. They supported labor unions and workers rights during a time when many unions were under legal attack. They actively opposed US involvement in Vietnam, provided legal framework for draft resistors and anti war protesters. Today the organization continues to represent immigrants, protesters, prisoners and marginalized group and is known for legally observing at Demonstrations to ensure police accountability, nobility. It's often the same thing. We see now the progressive organization that fights for social justice. And really any organization, especially for African Americans, is often deemed communist or liberal or insulted in other ways. You know, decades after the 50s, it's still the same. Though Fisher had not been involved in any wrongdoing except being involved in a civil rights group, then Welch had already decided had to not have him participate directly in the hearings because Welch was worried that McCarthy might try this ploy because McCarthy had accused the national lawyers guild of being communist in the past. McCarthy raised the issue anyway, even though Fiser was not directly involved in the case to in an attempt to discredit the army's legal team. With cameras rolling, Welch delivered a line that would echo across history. He said, until this moment, senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last? Have you no sense of decency? Let's listen to a clip of this now.
- [54:22]
Edward R. Murrow
Not exactly, Mr. Turner, but you, Mr. Welch, would request that the information be given. Once we know of anyone who might be performing any work for the communist party. I think we should tell him that he has in his law firm.
- [54:45]
Co-Host
A.
- [54:45]
Edward R. Murrow
Young man named Fisher, whom he recommended, incidentally, to do the work on this committee, who has been for a number of years a member of an organization which was named, oh, years and years ago as the legal bulwark of the communist party. An organization which all always swings the defense of anyone who dares to expose communists. I certainly assume that Mr. Welch did not know of this young man at the time. He recommended him as the assistant counsel for this committee. But he had such hair and such a great desire to know where anyone is located who may be serving the communist cause. Mr. Welch. But I thought we should just call to your attention the fact that you, Mr. Fisher, who is still in your law firm today, whom you ask to have down here looking over the secret classified material, is a member of an organization not named by me. Me, but named by various committees named by the attorney general. As I recall, he belonged to it long after it had been exposed as the legal arm of the communist party. Knowing that, Mr. Welch, I just felt that I had a duty to respond to your urgent request that before sundown, when we know of anyone serving the communist cause, we let the agency know. We are now letting you know that your man did belong to this organization for either three or four years long to it, long after he was out of law school. Now, I. I have hesitated bringing that up. But I have been rather bored with your phony request to Mr. Cohen here that he personally get every communist out of government before sundown. Therefore, we will give you the information about the young man in your own organization. I'm not asking you at this time to explain why you tried to foist him on this committee that you did the committee know whether you knew that he was a member of that communist organization or not? I don't know. I assume you did not, Mr. Welch because I get the impression the. While you are quite an actor, you play for a laugh. I don't think you have any kind of conception of the danger of the Communist Party. I don't think you yourself would ever knowingly aid the communist cause. I think you are unknowingly aiding it when you try to burlap this hearing in which we are attempting to bring out the fact that no recognition. No. No memory of Mr. Welch recommending either Mr. Fisher or anybody else as counsel for this committee.
- [58:26]
Co-Host
The new story on that under these circumstances I must myself have something approaching a personal privilege. I did not know. Senator. Senator, sometimes you say. May I have your attention? May I have your attention? Now this time, sir, I want you to listen with both. Senator McCarthy. I think until this moment.
- [59:01]
Edward R. Murrow
You get to the news story. The effects of man who belongs the. To this communist organization.
- [59:08]
Co-Host
I will tell you that he belongs.
- [59:10]
Edward R. Murrow
When you get the. The citations. What are the citations showing? That this was the legal arm of the Communist Party and the length of time that he belonged. The fact that he was recommended to Mr. Well, I think that should be the representative.
- [59:27]
Co-Host
You won't need anything in the record when I finish telling you this. Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Fred Fisher is a young man who.
- [59:44]
Edward R. Murrow
Went to the Harvard Law School and.
- [59:47]
Co-Host
Came into my firm and is starting what looks to be a brilliant career with it. When I decided to work for this committee I asked Jim St. Clair who sits on my right to be my first assistant. I said to Jim, pick somebody in the firm to work under you that you would like. He chose Fred Fisher. And they came down on an afternoon plane. That night when we had taken a little stab at trying to see what the case is about. Fred Fisher and Jim St. Clair and I. I went to dinner together. I then said to these two young.
- [60:31]
Edward R. Murrow
Men.
- [60:33]
Co-Host
Boys, I don't know anything about you except I've always liked you. But if there's anything funny in the life of either one of you that would hurt anybody in this case you speak up quick. And Fred Fisher said, Mr. Welch, when I was in the law school and for a period of months after I belonged to the Lawyers Guild as you have suggested, Senator, he went on to say I am secretary of the Young Republicans League in Newton with the son of Massachusetts governor and I have the respect and admiration of my community and I'm sure I have the respect admiration of the 25 lawyers or so in Hale and Oak. And I said fred, I just don't think I'm going to ask you to work on the case. If I do one of these days that will come out and go over national television and it will just hurt like the dickens. So Senator, I asked him to go back to Boston. Little did I dream you could be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury to that lad. It is true he is still with Heylendor. It is true that he will continue to be with Halendor. It is, I regret to say, equally true that I fear he shall always be bear a scar needlessly inflicted by you. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty, I would do so. But your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me.
- [62:32]
Edward R. Murrow
Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, any more questions? May I say that Mr. Wells talks about this being cruel and reckless. He was just baiting. He has been baiting Mr. Cohen here for hours.
- [62:51]
Co-Host
We know he belonged to the Lawyers Guild. Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator.
- [62:57]
Edward R. Murrow
Let's, let's.
- [62:58]
Co-Host
You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last have you left no sense of decency?
- [63:09]
Host
And if you're listening to this and you're not watching the video, during the video Joseph McCarthy is like rolling his eyes, he's leaning over talking to somebody else, he's reading papers, he's smirking at him, he's making like just being completely disrespectful. But it was after this moment that millions of Americans finally saw someone stand up to the bully. And the bully started to shriek drink under the weight of his own arrogance. This became the symbolic end of McCarthy's unchecked reign. After the hearings, McCarthy's approval ratings plummeted. The press who was once afraid of him turned against him. And again Edward R. Murrows see it now expose a further cemented public disillusionment. On December 2nd of 1954, the U. S. Senate voted 67 to 22 to center McCarthy for conduct contrary to the senatorial traditions. He was stripped of his chairmanship and Isolated by his. His colleagues. I think what's unfortunate about that is that in our current political landscape, I think that McCarthy would be cheered, honored and. And the worse that he behaved and the more reckless he was, the more he would be celebrated. But at this time, at least, there was some decency left in Congress. And though he remained in the Senate until his death in 1957, his power and influence never recovered. As for Roy cone, He resigned from McCarthy's staff shortly after these hearings. While his political career with McCarthy ended, he would go on to become a notorious power broker in New York, representing clients again like various mob figures, Donald Trump. But his reputation never fully escaped the shadow of 1954. The Cone Shine scandal and the Army McCarthy hearings marked the definitive collapse of McCarthyism. For years, McCarthy had terrorized America with vague accusations, guilt by association and smear campaigns. But when he used the same reckless power to settle personal favors and America saw it play out live, the illusion of righteousness was shattered. The hearings weren't just about two men and the draft. They exposed how easily fear could be weaponized and how dangerous unchecked power could become when fueled by ego and paranoia. This moment marked the beginning of the end. And again, though he technically retained his seat, his influence vanished overnight. Stripped of his chairmanship and shunned by his colleagues, McCarthy spiraled into isolation and alcohol, alcoholism. He spent his final years as a political ghost, delivering rants on the Senate floor to near empty chambers. And his name had become kind of a cautionary tale, and he himself became a pariah. On May 2nd of 1957, Joseph McCarthy died of hepatitis at the age of 48. Not the legacy I'm sure he wanted to leave. His story endures, however, not just for its drama, but because it reveals the fragile line between patriotism and paranoia, between national security and political persecution. McCarthyism became a byword for reckless accusations, character assassination, and the exploitation of fear for personal gain. Although the man is long gone, his methods, the bullying, the spectacle, the lies masked as truth, the false accusations, the smear campaigns, the tabloid attacks of character remain eerily familiar in the modern political arena. And that's it for today. I hope that you learned as much as I did studying this topic, that maybe there's a little bit of comfort in that. The tactics haven't changed the that much and there is hope for a pivot. Thank you again to all my Patreon supporters. With the new tiers that are now being influenced, I'm going to start announcing, I'm going to start doing at the end of each show. Shout outs for my Patreon supporters. Those are going to start next week so that I can get those lists together. But again, I just wanted to say thank you. Please continue to have hope. Please continue to read and to learn. Always. I will be back home on Tuesday, start starting the following Wednesday. We will be back in our regular setting and as always, stay curious and maybe flip some tables. I'll see you next week.