Product Description

Accused of creating a bogus Red Scare and smearing countless innocent victims in a five-year reign of terror, Senator Joseph McCarthy is universally remembered as a demagogue, a bully, and a liar. History has judged him such a loathsome figure that even today, a half century after his death, his name remains synonymous with witch hunts.

But that conventional image is all wrong, as veteran journalist and author M. Stanton Evans reveals in this groundbreaking book. The long-awaited Blacklisted by History, based on six years of intensive research, dismantles the myths surrounding Joe McCarthy and his campaign to unmask Communists, Soviet agents, and flagrant loyalty risks working within the U.S. government. Evans’s revelations completely overturn our understanding of McCarthy, McCarthyism, and the Cold War.

Drawing on primary sources—including never-before-published government records and FBI files, as well as recent research gleaned from Soviet archives and intercepted transmissions between Moscow spymasters and their agents in the United States—Evans presents irrefutable evidence of a relentless Communist drive to penetrate our government, influence its policies, and steal its secrets. Most shocking of all, he shows that U.S. officials supposedly guarding against this danger not only let it happen but actively covered up the penetration. All of this was precisely as Joe McCarthy contended.

Blacklisted by History shows, for instance, that the FBI knew as early as 1942 that J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the atomic bomb project, had been identified by Communist leaders as a party member; that high-level U.S. officials were warned that Alger Hiss was a Soviet spy almost a decade before the Hiss case became a public scandal; that a cabal of White House, Justice Department, and State Department officials lied about and covered up the Amerasia spy case; and that the State Department had been heavily penetrated by Communists and Soviet agents before McCarthy came on the scene.

Evans also shows that practically everything we’ve been told about McCarthy is false, including conventional treatment of the famous 1950 speech at Wheeling, West Virginia, that launched the McCarthy era (“I have here in my hand . . .”), the Senate hearings that casually dismissed his charges, the matter of leading McCarthy suspect Owen Lattimore, the Annie Lee Moss case, the Army-McCarthy hearings, and much more.

In the end, Senator McCarthy was censured by his colleagues and condemned by the press and historians. But as Evans writes, “The real Joe McCarthy has vanished into the mists of fable and recycled error, so that it takes the equivalent of a dragnet search to find him.” Blacklisted by History provides the first accurate account of what McCarthy did and, more broadly, what happened to America during the Cold War. It is a revealing exposé of the forces that distorted our national policy in that conflict and our understanding of its history since.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5647 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-06
• Released on: 2007-11-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 672 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Evans's lively book seeks, first, to demonstrate that Communists worked, often successfully, to undermine American security during the Cold War. It tries, second, to defend Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the egregious scourge of American Communists and fellow travelers, against those who, in Evans's (The Theme Is Freedom) view, have unjustly ruined his reputation. On the first point, save for some new details, Evans, a contributing editor to Human Events, treads worn ground. Most scholars, having also used Soviet archives, concede his position and argue now only over secondary matters, like the guilt of Alger Hiss. On the second point, Evans has a tougher case, which he seeks to make as a defense attorney would: by conceding nothing to McCarthy's detractors. Evans is also given to conspiracy thinking—an approach that, by its nature, yields claims that can neither be confirmed nor falsified. Defense attorneys and debaters like Evans follow different rules than historians—they try to score points, not to advance knowledge. Evans is good at the former, his propulsive style carrying much of the argument's burden. But the history Evans relates is already largely known, if not fully accepted.. 20 illus. (Nov. 6)
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About the Author
M. Stanton Evans is the author of seven books, including The Theme Is Freedom. A contributing editor at Human Events, he served for many years as director of the National Journalism Center. Evans was previously the editor of the Indianapolis News, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, and a commentator for CBS and Voice of America. He lives near Washington, D.C.

Customer Reviews

Roller Coaster Ride of a Read!
Blacklisted exceeded my expectations. I had been looking forward to reading a thoroughly researched study of the events involving Senator Joe McCarthy. And Blacklisted satisfied by providing exhaustive research. This alone would have sufficed - but the reader is also treated to the author's amazing writing ability. Evans has a talent for presenting his research in fascinating style. He brilliantly pulls together the facts and presents them in spellbinding manner. I didn't want to put the book down.

Blacklisted gives the reader a clear understanding of the players and events involved in Senator McCarthy's "fight against America's enemies". You will learn about the Soviet Communist infiltration of the American government and why it was covered up by the Administration. You will learn about Senator McCarthy's role, and about those determined to destroy him to silence him. Many of the facts are shocking. Disappearing documents, blatant lying, cover-ups, intimidation and destruction of those trying to reveal the truth, just to name a few. You will be stunned by the techniques and activities used to protect the Communist moles and their White House supporters, and to annihilate those who dared to reveal the infiltration.

Blacklisted also provides a good introduction to Communist infiltration methodologies employed in the U.S. Evans explains how the Communist infiltration of the American government not only created a fifth column in the U.S., but also contributed in some part to horrific events in other countries, China being a prime example.

Blacklisted not only provides an understanding of the past - what you learn here, you will be able to apply to the present and to the future. Don't make the mistake of thinking that history is just about the past!

People who seek the truth will be outraged by what they read here. If this book doesn't get your dander up, nothing will!

Stunning
I was stunned by this book, and outraged by many many lies that have become the accepted "truth" about Senator McCarthy. The book is presents a wealth of facts that are extremely persuasive support for the author's thesis - that the senator was smeared by his enemies and that our common understanding is almost 100% wrong about him.

Fair And Balanced
The author is and has been for many years a highly respected conservative intellectual,columnist,editor,writer and author. So, I looked forward with anticipation to this work. I was not disappointed. With painstaking precision the reader is taken back thru McCarthy's speeches, testimony, hearings and writings. It can be tedious at times. But, the proof is there that McCarthy was correct in his mission of exposing communists and their fellow travelers. Anyone on such a mission needed to be besmirched and destroyed by the liberal establishment. He may have been intemperate at times. But, it is well proven that he was essentially correct in charging that it was too easy for persons not loyal to the best interests of this country to hold important government positions. His downfall, unfortunately, was brought about by a republican president and his eastern establishment influenced administration.