Jesse Lemisch wrote:
>
> Has anyone on this thread cited Michael Rogin's McCarthy and the
> Intellectuals, a rigorous study by an unfortunately prematurely dead
> Berkeley political scientist. This takes apart Hofstadter et al and shows
> that McCarthyism commenced in elites rather than from the grass roots. And
> James Weinstein and a collaborator had a classic article on how slow
> McCarthy was to pick up anti-Communism, becoming alerted to the issue in
> part by Norman Thomas.
Slow indeed. The Red Hunt was well underway (and already ruining lives) when he appeared on the scene. I remember one article (vaguely) I read at the time which said that he had first tried to build his political career by campaigning against colored margarine, and that his secretary was the one who suggested to him that he try red-hunting. Norman Thomas was quite popular among 'sophisticated' red-hunters. I remember an article in _Time_ saying that the hunters shouldn't zap SP members because they had valuable experience in fighting reds that could be used.
The history Jesse mentions is important in part because it enters into the reactionary role the DP and its intellectuals have played for many decades.
Carrol