Murrow Vs.McCarthy: How I See It

I believe that Murrow and his staff are correct in their actions. I believe that them taking on McCarthy is the right thing to do. McCarthy and his anti-communistic views. McCarthy ruined many lives in his crusade against communism. Without someone like Ed Murrow, many more would’ve been ruined in the process. We have two cases where people’s lives were ruined.

The first being the air force officer who was dismissed because McCarthy pointed out that his father was communistic or had communist ties. The second case is with a woman, that McCarthy said works in the Pentagon Code Room, who is a communist spy. The allegations from McCarthy caused both of these people to lose their jobs. The air force officer was never directly tied with communism. McCarthy said that his father was tied to communistic beliefs and that was it. The only evidence that was available was in a sealed envelope, which nobody was able to see the contents. The air force officer was still found guilty, even though he never even knew what he was being tried for. The officer lost his job and his entire reputation due to one accusation, about the officer's father, made by McCarthy. In that time, being affiliated with communism would ruin everything you had for you in your own community as well. People were unable to find work after being accused.

The second case comes in with a woman that, according to McCarthy, worked in the Pentagon Code Room and was a communist spy. Being labeled as that alone is enough to ruin someone’s life in that time. McCarthy’s accusations were only in a hearing and never a real trial. She was never found to be a communist spy and still lost her job, just from that hearing alone. She never even worked in the Pentagon Code Room in the first place. An FBI agent somehow found her name on a communist mailing list. The issue that arose is that her name was in the phone book three times. After only a few questions, even McCarthy walked out. Even with no solid evidence and false accusations, she lost her job and probably everything in her community. Many people may say, “He saved the United States by taking care of the true communists”. He may have actually taken care of some of the real communists in the United States, but he also ruined hundreds of others in the process.

The collateral damage was way too high to allow this to happen. Many people lost their jobs, their roles in their communities, and even their closest family. McCarthy ruined many lives while fueling the communistic fearing communities at the same time. It never should have happened and it is a good thing that Ed Murrow was able to step in and start the stop to McCarthyism.