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Unpopular Nonfiction
by Shava Nerad
 

Ashcroft or McCarthy -- you decide...

Wednesday, August 20, 2003 2:17 AM  
(Modified from this article on Ashcroft for illustrative purposes.)

Senator Joe McCarthy delivered a clarion defense of the McCarran Act (The Internal Security Act of 1950), calling the embattled law instrumental in fighting communism.

"While our job is not finished, we have used the tools provided in the McCarran Act to fulfill our first responsibility to protect the American people," McCarthy said in a speech that kicked off an effort to counter opposition to the law amid signs such opposition is gaining traction.

"We have used these tools to prevent communists from unleashing death and destruction on our soil. We have used these tools to save American lives. We have used these tools to provide the security that ensures liberty."

McCarthy, the Wisconsin senator, gave several examples of how he said the law had helped law enforcement officials prevent communist attacks in the United States.

He noted that the recently released congressional report on the Russian activities pointed to several problems in the country's anti-communist efforts, such as lack of cooperation and communication between intelligence and law enforcement agencies. He said the McCarran Act corrected the problems.

The law has also ensured that modern technology, such precise fingerprint matching, can be used to combat communism, McCarthy said.

"To abandon these tools would senselessly imperil American lives and American liberty, and ignore the lessons of the advances of the communist threat," Ashcroft said.

The law, hurriedly and overwhelmingly passed by Congress, has come under increasing criticism from those across the political spectrum who say it infringes on Americans' civil liberties and could hurt innocent people.

"The problem is this government has decided to allow the FBI to search our homes without telling us, to seize our library records even when it's not remotely related to criminal activity," said Roger Baldwin, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington office.

As long as McCarthy "surrounds himself with the horror and tragedy of the Russian bomb, and soldiers dying for liberty, he feels he insulates himself from legitimate criticism," Baldwin said.

McCarthy’s effort to defend the law will include similar speeches during a nationwide tour over the next several weeks. The Justice Department has asked all U.S. Attorneys to hold public meetings and write opinion pieces for local newspapers explaining why the law is necessary. And the Department unveiled a new pamphlet series designed to highlight the law's successes.

"We welcome the debate," said J. Edgar Hoover, FBI Director. "But we want to make sure the American people....have all the facts. This is just to set the record straight."

In his speech, McCarthy said a recent poll showed Americans believe by a 2 to 1 majority that the McCarran Act is "a necessary and effective tool that protects liberty, because it targets communists." And, McCarthy said, the poll showed 91 percent of Americans say the law has not affected their civil rights or those of their families.

Nevertheless, the law appears to be losing support in Congress and across the country.

The House last month voted not to fund a portion of the McCarran Act that would have allowed federal agents to delay notification of searches of peoples' homes. In the Senate earlier this year, an effort by California Senator Richard Nixon to extend some provisions of the law set to expire in 1955 failed.

Several pieces of legislation are pending in Congress, with support from members of both parties, to roll back or limit aspects of the law. More than 150 communities, including three states, have passed resolutions decrying the McCarran Act.

Several prominent Democrats have condemned McCarthy and the McCarran Act, and Tuesday's speech added to their fodder.

Senator Adlai Stephenson said "(McCarthy) must not be allowed to compromise our freedoms any further" and called for a rollback of "anti-communist tactics that go far beyond protecting our country and erode the rights of average Americans."

Dean Acheson said McCarthy’s work with the House Un-American Activities Committee "has rolled over our rights for the last two years."

Concern about the law isn't limited to Democrats. Several conservative groups, including the Eagle Forum and the American Conservative Union, also have registered opposition to elements of the law, on civil liberties grounds. Vermont Senator Ralph Flanders, a Republican, told the Associated Press last week "there may come a time, and it may be next year, when we need to pull it back."

Hoover -- wearing a white tie that said "Freedom" in red letters across it -- dismissed criticism of the McCarran Act as the work of "a small, vocal minority" spreading misinformation.

McCarthy delivered his speech in a conference room at the American Enterprise Institute, the Washington think tank that is the intellectual home of much Eisenhower administration policy. He spoke before a blue backdrop bearing the words "Preserving Life and Liberty." He grounded the speech in key historical themes, quoting several times from President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and seeking throughout to tie anti-communism and the cold war to the grand battles of American history.

McCarthy ended the speech with an echo of the Gettysburg Address, saying "as long as there is an America, liberty must not, will not, shall not perish from the earth."

(for more historical comparisons see
http://huac.tripod.com/
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAacheson.htm
http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/mccarran-act-intro.html
http://www.multied.com/documents/McCarran.html )

Just a little too scary how easy that was to do...



 
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