Clay Risen’s thorough recounting of the Red Scare, which began well before Joseph McCarthy’s rise to infamy, makes clear that right wing opposition to progressive politics has always been part of American politics. White, male, heterosexual, Christian capitalists have long held that the United States should be free from wealth sharing or government restrictions. The spoils of business, as well as the story of the country’s history, should be theirs alone.
The late 19th century closed with capitalists triumphant, amassing unseemly quantities of wealth among Rockefellers, Fricks, Carnegies, and Vanderbilts. When, in the early 20th century, communist ideology suggested that workers deserved reasonable hours and greater income–essentially more equality–interest in communism came from obvious quarters: African Americans, Jews, women, LGBTQ+, east coast liberals. The New Deal of FDR went a long way toward improving the lot of the underclasses, but it also enraged Republicans who gnashed their teeth at having to share.
When FDR died, and Stalin’s insane use of communist ideology, set off a post WWII Cold War, right wing politicians used aggressive tactics to hunt down anyone who ever had any affiliation with communism. Hollywood moguls, writers, and actors were targeted and blacklisted. Professors lost their jobs. Workers who had supported communism in principle during the thirties were tossed from their jobs 20 years later. Government employees and military personnel whose ideologies were not pro-white, pro-business, and pro-Red Scare were let go.
The techniques should sound familiar. Accuse first, find evidence later. Invent accusations, even false ones. Launch conspiracy theories and float them in the (social) media. Use government agencies to attack and intimidate opponents. Bring anyone whose free speech fails to toe the government line to a congressional shakedown or to court. Bully.
After a decade of blacklists and Cold War scare mongering, McCarthyism (like American communism) slowly ran out of steam. What Risen makes clear is that even after the Red Scare abated, more than a third of Americans still believed untrue conspiracies. The far right has always been part of America (the far left, too, no doubt) and always will be.