Dear Editor:
In response to Thursday's applaud of Senator Joe McCarthy, Joseph McCarthy did his country no service as a Senator. During his last term, he destroyed political enemies, ruined the reputations of innocent government employees and, yes, made senatorial proceedings into literal witch trials by exploiting the public's Cold War fear of communism.
He did not help 'uncover a number of secret communists in the government.' He never produced a single bit of evidence to back his accusations. Documentation has not been found to support his list, or even prove the existence, of 205 communists in the State Department. He was eventually censured by his colleagues in the senate for abusing his legislative powers, but only after he had gone so far as to accuse President Eisenhower of harboring communists and to accuse Robert Stevens, the Secretary of the Army, of being one.
It was that accusation that sparked Chief Attorney of the Army Joseph Welch to say, 'Until this moment Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. ... Have you no decency sir, at long last, have you no decency?' He made a name for himself and based his political career on the simple action of pointing his finger and crying, 'Communist.'
Robert Rogers
Provo