When I read The Briar Club I was intrigued to learn more about the Red Scare, a period in American history I don't know much about but enough to know there are increasingly eerie parallels going on in the US now. I think we'll see more reflection and analysis on this period of history and how McCarthy wielded the fear of Communists to punish his political enemies, consolidate power, and stir up suspicion in citizens because his tactics are currently being used again.
Here's an interesting interview with Clay Risen, the author of Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America, who talks about the time.
I grew up in a small republican town in the Midwest. My eighth grade year we had two teachers who divided the curriculum up so they were each teaching their strongest subjects. So, each day I had some classes with one teacher and then the other classes with the other teacher. There was a group of business men who drank McCarthy’s koolaide. Their goal was to run one of my 8th grade teachers out of town because they were determined he was a communist. Why? Because he spent a year teaching in Europe and expected us to stand up when we spoke in class. He expected us to stand up when an adult walked into our room as a sign of respect. Hmmmmmmmmm!!!! Doesn’t sound like a commie to me. Never did I hear a derogatory word out of his mouth about America. I actually feared my other 8th grade teacher far worse as he was an x-Marine drill instructor and ran our class like a mini military squad.
That’s a very “night and day” experience between the two teachers! The business men certainly sound like the kind of zealots McCarthy would encourage to silence different points of view. Do you know what ended up happening to your one teacher? I hope he kept teaching. So awful that a few people can tout a fear-based ideology to make other people’s lives so miserable.