Mano mentioned McCarthyism in one of his posts (not related to this one), and I thought it would be interesting to share the direct connection I have to this dark chapter of American history (on both sides of the coin).
To begin with, my son is named after a friend of mine, J. Quinn Brisben, one time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party USA. While I have long renounced my socialist leanings, Quinn and his family remain people that I admire, chiefly because Quinn was an excellent history teacher, but a lousy politician, in my opinion.
Quinn was called before the House UnAmerican Activities committee for "teaching Marx in the public schools". The opposition had not done their homework, however, and it was to their chagrin that they discovered tha passage in question came not from Marx, but from Madison (that's right, JAMES Madison...as in "The Federalist Papers").
Now this is where it bears a small amount of relevance to Mano's thread. My other connection with McCarthyism was Harvey Matusow, the government's "star witness", who was coached by Roy Cohn. Matusow was an opportunist, however, and when the tide turned against McCarthyism, he recanted, allegedly out of guilt. He was convicted of perjury, ironically for his recantations, not for his initial testimony, however, it did help stay the convictions of some of the individuals who had been jailed by Matusow's lies.
My connection with Matusow was, he was, for about a year and a half, technically my stepfather. I did not know him well directly, as I was an adult when my mom and he were married, but we had several interesting conversations.
So, anyway, anybody here want to share your brushes with history? I'd love to hear them
signing off,
Gideon MacLeish