McCarthyism, Henry Steele Commager, and the Question of Legitimacy : An Examination of the McCarthy Era

Abstract: The main purpose of this thesis is to explore McCarthyism and its legitimacy.This paper will particularly look at the legitimacy of the HUAC investigations, of the loyalty-security programs, and of the FBI investigations. Henry Steele Commager s book Freedom and Order is used as a point of departure in my discussion of the period. Commager, who was very critical of many aspects of the Communist hunt, deprecates it strongly in his commentary. Moreover, in order to better understand the period s obsession with Communism, some historical background is given as an introduction, bringing in incidents that clearly served to increase the fear of subversion. Equally important in order to understand the legitimacy of the period s harassment of thousands of Communists, pro-Communists and fellow travelers, some legal aspects of the period are considered, by means of important Supreme Court decisions. It is obvious that the anti-Communist crusade was given some legal legitimacy, although it misused and exceeded its legal mandate more than once. Despite this legal legitimacy, there does not seem to be substantial moral legitimacy for the Communist hunt, first and foremost because Communism in America was no major threat to American society