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Senator Joe McCarthy Paperback – Apr 12 1996


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Product Details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: University of California Press; Reprint edition (April 12 1996)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0520204727
  • ISBN-13: 978-0520204720
  • Product Dimensions: 13.7 x 1.6 x 20.3 cm
  • Shipping Weight: 227 g
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,290,260 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description

From Amazon

Richard Rovere, a longtime New Yorker staff writer who died in 1979, combined three all-too-rare journalistic traits--legwork, style, and bravery--to create this 1959 J'accuse, which Walter Lippman called "the definitive job." Rovere had a handle on the particulars, as illustrated by his surgical disassembly of Joe McCarthy's fantastic autobiography, and the abstract principles, as illustrated by his comment that McCarthy's victories were mostly in "matters of an almost cosmic insignificance." His causes celebres were causes ridicules. The University of California Press is to be congratulated for this paperback reissue. After all, even if anticommunism is on sabbatical, demagoguery is not, and it pays to stay up on the tricks of the trade.

From Library Journal

In this "hard-hitting account," Rovere shows how "McCarthy terrorized and silenced routine jobholders, great political and military figures, artists and scientists, and yet vanished abruptly as a political force three years before he died" (LJ 6/15/59).
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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The late Joseph R. McCarthy, a United States Senator from Wisconsin, was in many ways the most gifted demagogue ever bred on these shores. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

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By James Gallen TOP 100 REVIEWER on Aug. 4 2007
Format: Paperback
"Senator Joe McCarthy" is an account of the four years, 1950-1954, during which Sen. McCarthy held the attention of the nation and the world. Author Richard H. Rovere was serving as a correspondent covering McCarthy during the period of his national prominence.

This book contains some material on McCarthy's earlier life and political career and a little about his personal life. It, for the most part, focuses on McCarthy's time as the Communist hunter in chief. Little is said about McCarthy's attractive personality and his close friendships in the Senate, particularly with Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy.

This book makes the case of McCarthy as a demagogue, seeking nothing more than personal glory. He makes the case that McCarthy was misguided and that, if the Communists in government issue had not been available, McCarthy would have pursued some other issue with equal vigor. He makes the case that McCarthy was misguided in that the Communist threat was in the form of external aggression rather than internal subversion. He claims that, for all of his ranting and raving, McCarthy got no Communists out of government. He makes the claim that McCarthy's preparation was sloppy and that his evidence did not support his charges. He criticizes McCarthy's treatment of witnesses as merely being an attempt to make McCarthy look good rather than a legitimate attempt to discern the truth.

Rovere does give McCarthy credit for the immense power which he wielded and the influence which he had, for better or worse. He credits McCarthy for ending the career of Gen. George C. Marshall and other, less distinguished, officials. He explains how McCarthy took the issue of recognition of Red China out of the realm of public debate.
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Format: Paperback
Just before the American Civil War, a Southern congressman explained why Abraham Lincoln's election was a sufficient cause for secession. He said that it was not merely the election of dangerous man, which he realized was part of the political process. Abraham Lincoln, he argued, was elected because he was dangerous.
Senator McCarthy was not elected because he was dangerous. That McCarthy came to dominate American politics for the last years of the Truman administration and the first few couple of years of the Eisenhower administration was unforeseen by anyone, least of all himself. His rise from anonymity to become among the strongest people in the Unites States, and therefore in the world, was sudden. His decline was even faster, and if McCarthy started 1954 as a major player, by January 1955 Vice President Nixon could report that he was no longer any danger to the administration.
Richard H Rovere, a journalist and an observer of the politics, wrote in 1959 what was seen at the time as the definite account of the Senator from Wisconsin. Rovere, a master of prose, is best when making a psychological portrait of McCarthy, seeing him as an empty cynic, a vain man who believed in nothing, who hunted not for power, but for money and glory. He was a dangerous man, who turned America away from important foreign policy issues and focused on looking for spies, traitors and "bad security risks" - and, although he terrorized the government, forced conformity, and shrank American freedoms, never found any.
Yet there is also a certain mischievous appreciation in Rovere's description. He says that McCarthy was not in the Republican San Francisco convention of 1956, and that it was duller for his absence (p. 242).
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Format: Paperback
No one will be offended by Rovere's much-racking depiction of Joseph McCarthy. Seriously, how many people are there left in America, or anywhere around the world, still willing to stand up and smugly look you in the eye and say Joseph McCarthy was a necessary man fighting for American freedom in a time when Communists were hiding in every shadow? But the book, written in 1959, just isn't all that up-to-date. Of course much of the information we now know was suppressed at that time and J. Edgar Hoover--viciously complict in the development of all the Red Scare and blacklisting craziness--was still in power at the time of publication. Nobody would want to make an enemy of Hoover, so anything dealing with McCarthy and Hoover's contact is treaded over very lightly. This, unfortunately, makes the book somewhat inaccurate, which is a shame because so many dark secrets and shameful public deeds are recorded with a passion and an obvious intense desire to destroy the image of the drunken old demogogue. In 1959, just three years after McCarthy's death, and five years after his disgrace, this was an important book because so many people were still unsure of their opinions towards Tailgunner Joe. I imagine that this book made quite a difference as even Hoover himself took the opportunity to smear the late Senator, drawing comparisons to Krushchev's posthumous denunciation of Stalin. The book is certainly worthwhile for anyone interested in a recreation of the terror of the 1950s, written from the perspective of the 1950s, but there are several more contemporary biographies of Joseph McCarthy and, regardless of the fact that this one is likely written with more beautific prose, in a case study like this, information beats out pretty words every time.--Lance Polin
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)

Amazon.com: 9 reviews
10 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Place McCarthy In A New Perspective Aug. 4 2007
By James Gallen - Published on Amazon.com
Format: Paperback
"Senator Joe McCarthy" is an account of the four years, 1950-1954, during which Sen. McCarthy held the attention of the nation and the world. Author Richard H. Rovere was serving as a correspondent covering McCarthy during the period of his national prominence.

This book contains some material on McCarthy's earlier life and political career and a little about his personal life. It, for the most part, focuses on McCarthy's time as the Communist hunter in chief. Little is said about McCarthy's attractive personality and his close friendships in the Senate, particularly with Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy.

This book makes the case of McCarthy as a demagogue, seeking nothing more than personal glory. He makes the case that McCarthy was misguided and that, if the Communists in government issue had not been available, McCarthy would have pursued some other issue with equal vigor. He makes the case that McCarthy was misguided in that the Communist threat was in the form of external aggression rather than internal subversion. He claims that, for all of his ranting and raving, McCarthy got no Communists out of government. He makes the claim that McCarthy's preparation was sloppy and that his evidence did not support his charges. He criticizes McCarthy's treatment of witnesses as merely being an attempt to make McCarthy look good rather than a legitimate attempt to discern the truth.

Rovere does give McCarthy credit for the immense power which he wielded and the influence which he had, for better or worse. He credits McCarthy for ending the career of Gen. George C. Marshall and other, less distinguished, officials. He explains how McCarthy took the issue of recognition of Red China out of the realm of public debate. He identifies Senators who, after incurring McCarthy's wrath, were defeated for reelection and issues on which the Truman and Eisenhower administrations were terrorized into positions which they, in the absence of McCarthy, might not have taken.

I began this book with the expectation of disliking it. I expected a hatchet job of Sen. McCarthy, but really did not find it. Rovere makes cases for his opinions. He does not dig into the slime of gossip to support his criticisms of McCarthy. He raises the claim that McCarthy was a homosexual, and then concludes that there is no evidence to support it. He comes down very hard on staffers Roy Cohn and David Schine, but limits McCarthy's culpability to the decisions to hire them and subsequent failure to properly supervise. First published in 1959, it lacks some of the historical perspective that more modern works may have. It makes a reference to America falling behind in the arms race with the USSR, an issue which was important in the 1960 election, but which was later shown to have been unjustified. The subsequent opening of KGB archives may place the issue of Communist infiltration of government in a different perspective. The later success of his Senate cronies, Kennedy and Nixon, may shed a different light on the McCarthy's Senate career as evaluated by his colleagues. Rovere repeatedly refers to surveys which found McCarthy to be the worst senator. The quality of his friends may give added stature to McCarthy's career.

This book changed my impression of Joseph McCarthy. He portrayed McCarthy as an opportunist who fought the wrong battle at the wrong time and fought it poorly. While I am grateful for those who carried on the battle against Communism, I am forced to consider McCarthy a flawed knight who lent his words, but not his heart, to the battle. Any book that can change my impression of history has value to it.
wow Sept. 25 2013
By Joe Julian - Published on Amazon.com
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I really find out what a controlling nut that Joseph McCarthy was during his time. What a clown. I wish it went into great detail, but it was enough to rate this book as okay and worth buying
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Solid Political Biography May 2 2010
By K.A.Goldberg - Published on Amazon.com
Format: Paperback
Richard Rovere (1915-79) wrote this very readable book about Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin in 1959, two years after Tailgunner Joe passed away. Rovere provides brief background on the Senator, but concentrates heavily on McCarthy's Senate time as a anti-Communist witch hunter from 1950-1954. As the author shows, McCarthy had the look of a one-termer in 1950 and needed an issue to raise his profile when he made that infamous speech at Wheeling, West Virginia that set the ball in motion. Rovere shows that McCarthy was a man in need of an issue, and had communism not existed he would have searched for something else. Readers see how the issue and McCarthy's profile ballooned way beyond expectations, making McCarthy one of the most-feared public figures, not to mention most-admired and most-loathed. The problem, of course, was that McCarthy was couldn't back up his charges about 57 or 205 communists working in the State Department. Harry Truman and Edward R. Murrow stood up to him, Eisenhower saw thru him (but didn't oppose him), and some like Robert Taft saw McCarthy as a usefull tool for attacking the Democrats - but disliked how McCarthy kept going once the GOP took control. As the author shows, McCarthy declined rapidly after his 1954 censure by the Senate, passing away in 1957 from either hepatitis or alcohol-related liver problems. I'd have liked better documentation and more information on McCarthy's assistants (or henchmen) David Schine and Roy Cohn. Still, this is a readable, informative look.

My father saw McCarthy speak at the University of Wisconsin in the early 1950's and recalled that every time the skeptical students called for McCarthy to show his evidence, the Senator kept answering that he had the proof right there - but never revealed it. Same old story. Did soviet communist spies exist? Yes. Did McCarthy find any? No.
8 of 15 people found the following review helpful
American Madness: The Rise and Fall of Senator Joe McCarthy Oct. 18 2003
By Omer Belsky - Published on Amazon.com
Format: Paperback
Just before the American Civil War, a Southern congressman explained why Abraham Lincoln's election was a sufficient cause for secession. He said that it was not merely the election of dangerous man, which he realized was part of the political process. Abraham Lincoln, he argued, was elected because he was dangerous.
Senator McCarthy was not elected because he was dangerous. That McCarthy came to dominate American politics for the last years of the Truman administration and the first few couple of years of the Eisenhower administration was unforeseen by anyone, least of all himself. His rise from anonymity to become among the strongest people in the Unites States, and therefore in the world, was sudden. His decline was even faster, and if McCarthy started 1954 as a major player, by January 1955 Vice President Nixon could report that he was no longer any danger to the administration.
Richard H Rovere, a journalist and an observer of the politics, wrote in 1959 what was seen at the time as the definite account of the Senator from Wisconsin. Rovere, a master of prose, is best when making a psychological portrait of McCarthy, seeing him as an empty cynic, a vain man who believed in nothing, who hunted not for power, but for money and glory. He was a dangerous man, who turned America away from important foreign policy issues and focused on looking for spies, traitors and "bad security risks" - and, although he terrorized the government, forced conformity, and shrank American freedoms, never found any.
Yet there is also a certain mischievous appreciation in Rovere's description. He says that McCarthy was not in the Republican San Francisco convention of 1956, and that it was duller for his absence (p. 242). His descriptions of McCarthy's manipulation of the press, the way he knew how to create a story, appreciates the ingenuity of the Senator. And if McCarthy was a cynic, who ruined people who have not sinned, he also did it without spite or malice. As Rovere has it, McCarthy never took himself seriously, even as the world did (p. 58)
Perhaps the best insight Rovere has into McCarthy is his description of McCarthy's great innovation "The Multiple Untruth". Not a single lie or even a few, McCarthy's lies were so huge and inconsistent, that they were almost impossible to disprove. Any part of it that you knocked down would also make the rest seem the more solid. McCarthy blew so much smoke that people assumed there must have been a fire somewhere.

Rovere's greatest weakness is in explaining the chronology of McCarthy, and the background. Much of it is because he wrote for people of 1959, who knew the general outline. But for people with only a very general knowledge of the 1950s, Rovere's book never quite explains things all the way through. This is especially bad in his description of the Army-McCarthy hearings. As someone who is not very familiar with the events, I emerged from that vital part only slightly more enlighted then before.
Another failure is the journalistic defense of sources, which keeps several of the people involved disguised. It is a little annoying to have pages devoted to either an "unnamed reporter" or to an "X".
Both failures could have been addressed by the introduction, written in 1996 by historian Arthur M Schlesinger Jr. Unfortunately, except for a few none too revealing comments on Rovere himself, Schlesinger chose to waste his introduction on a summery of the book's argument.
If the lack of background and specifics make the book a less then perfect history of McCarthy and his time, Rovere's fantastic prose make it a most pleasurable read nonetheless.
His discussion of the effectiveness of McCarthy's networks of informants: "If any communists [existed in the government agency], they were so well hidden that the sort of people who were in the underground [i.e. McCarthy's informants], would never find them - unless, of course, some of those in the underground were communists, which was not altogether out of the question". (pp. 197-98)
Elsewhere, Rovere comments that "Hollywood has always been a hotbed of conformity, and advertising it always ready to ride with any hounds. By their very nature, these institutions yield before external pressure; it is, in fact their substitute for inspiration".
Though dated, Rovere's is still a fascinating and very well written study.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Two Stars Aug. 14 2014
By William Eggers - Published on Amazon.com
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
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