14 I CHRONICLESn1950 with a reckless speech in Wheeling, West Virginia.nImmediately members of the militantly anti-Communistnright rushed to his assistance, realizing that his chargesncould not be substantiated. McCarthy quickly became thenleader of the pack because of his daring, his passion fornpublicity, and his rapidly developed zeal for rooting outnwhat he actually believed were subversive elements in allnwalks of American life.nThe Reds-in-government issue, intensified by the KoreannWar, dominated the 1950 Congressional elections. Democratsnlost 28 seats in the House and five in the Senate.nRepublicans gleefully embraced McCarthy and his “ism.”nColumnist Marquis Childs observed, “In every contestnwhere it was a major factor, McCarthyism won.”nThe Republican Party Platform in 1952 contained manynexamples of McCarthyism, setting the tone for GOPncampaigns throughout the country. The preamble chargednthat Administration Democrats had “shielded traitors to thenNation in high places.” McCarthy gave a major addressnbefore the Republican National Convention. CandidatenDwight D. Eisenhower publicly showed respect for thenWisconsin Senator and his tactics, agreeing to delete anfriendly reference to General George Marshall, a McCarthyntarget, in a Milwaukee speech and making several chargesnof his own about Communist infiltration in the nahon’snschools, media, labor unions, “and—most terrifyingly—ninto our government itself.”nThe Eisenhower Administration did little to thwartnMcCarthy during its first year. In early 1954, however, itnhad become clear that the Senator, now assisted by hyperaggressivenRoy Cohn, was out of control. When McCarthynbegan attacking the Army as a source of subversion, thenAdministrahon cautiously and subtly aided actions that lednto the famous Army-McCarthy hearings. On December 2,n1954, the Senate voted 67 to 22 to “condemn” McCarthynfor contempt and abuse of two Senate committees. Then22-man minority was almost solidly from the right wing ofnthe GOP.nThroughout the early 1950’s the intellectual right, by andnlarge, backed McCarthy, his tactics, and his charges. In laten1953, The Freeman editorialized:nThe struggle against McCarthyism is . . . identicalnin sociological content with “the struggle againstnfascism” of the 1930’s. What the Communists aimnat is a 1950’s-style Popular Front, a recreation ofnthe League against War and McCarthyism,npreferably operating under the label “thenDemocratic Party.”nThe Freeman’s Forrest Davis was the principal author ofnMcCarthy’s book America’s Retreat From Victory: The Storynof George Catlett Marshall.nNational Review, which appeared shortly after McCarthy’sncensure, continued to applaud the Senator and then”ism.” (Publisher William F. Buckley Jr. and editor L.nBrent Bozell knew the Senator personally and had assistednhim.) This policy would be permanent.nIn 1956 the magazine ran a lengthy piece on annunsuccessful effort by liberals to infiltrate McCarthy’s officenstaff. Editorials sympathized with the almost-silent Senator.nWhen McCarthy died in 1957, National Review publishednnnpassionate eulogies. William S. Schlamm’s “Across Mc­nCarthy’s Grave” declared:nA McCarthyite is a person who is instructed, eithernby organic innocence or by true sophistication, tonfight for his life and his verities—those “simple”nverities which only organic innocence or truensophistication can fathom.n”We mean it,” Schlamm wrote. “We are McCarthyites.”nL. Brent Bozell lauded the late Senator’s intellect, “vividnmoral sense,” and “incapacity for gloom.” Sam M. Jonesnsaid of meeting the Senator for the first time, “I found anman of intense sincerity, a patriot whose courage was tonprove superb under an ordeal the like of which no one elsenhas suffered in our country in decades.” James Burnhamnblamed liberals for destroying a great anti-Communist.nFrank S. Meyer called McCarthy a prophet.nAs the Eisenhower Era gave way to the Kennedy andnJohnson years, prominent members of the intellectual rightncontinued, often in a wholly irresponsible way, to linknliberalism with Communism—a tactic at the very heart ofnMcCarthyism. Frank S. Meyer, for example, declared thatnMcCarthyism contained several undeniable verities:n1) that contemporary Liberalism is in agreementnwith Communism on the most essential point—thennecessity and desirability of socialism;n2) that it regards all inherited value—theological,nphilosophical, political—as without intrinsic virtuenor authority;n3) that, therefore, no irreconcilable differences existnbetween it and Communism—only differences asnto methods and means; andn4) that, in view of these characteristics of theirnideology, the Liberals are unfit for the leadership ofna free society, and intrinsically incapable of offeringnserious opposition to the Communist offensive.nIn Up From Liberalism William F. Buckley Jr. asked,n”What can one do to kindle in the Liberal bosom a spirit ofnantagonism toward the Communists equal in intensity tonthat which moved the Liberals to fight against SenatornMcCarthy?” In James Burnham’s Suicide of the West,npublished in 1964, we read that the West’s dilemma in thenstruggle against Communism is that “the left is infectednwith it, and the right cannot understand it.”nLiberalism is infected with communism in thenquite precise sense that communism and liberalismnshare most of their basic axioms and principles, andnmany of their values and sentiments. . . . Thenliberal’s arm cannot strike with consistent firmnessnagainst communism, either domestically orninternationally, because the liberal dimly feels thatnin doing so he would be somehow wounding himselfnMany similar examples of McCarthyite rhetoric may benfound from the 1960’s, especially from the Goldwaterncampaign of 1964, in which the right played a prominentnrole. Lyndon Johnson’s overwhelming victory at the pollsndid nothing to cool right-wing passions. When Haroldn