Answer to Question #312224 in History for Nero Wang

Question

Do you think President Eisenhower was right not to interfere in

McCarthy's witch-hunt?

Answer 1

n general, the Republican Party at that time was much more conservative and right of center than Ike was. Most Republicans wanted to roll back the New Deal programs but Ike thought many of them made sense and continued them. Remember, when he went to the convention in 1952, Robert Taft already had enough votes to win. But Ike was nominated overwhelmingly. That is how popular the guy was. He was a national hero, not a politician, and that is a big reason why he was elected President.

Ike certainly did not back McCarthy, who was from the far right of the Republican Party whereas Ike was a "middle of the road" kind of guy. No, Ike wasn't afraid of him-- are you kidding? This is a man who had once served under Pershing and McArthur and was the Supreme Commander who had created and run a multi-national alliance that had defeated Hitler.

But, remember, these were the 1950s when people like Klaus Fuchs, David Greenglass, Julius Rosenberg, and numerous others had given over secrets to the Soviets. Now they had the H- bomb and we thought we were close to being at war at any time. The American people were scared, and Joe McCarthy used that fear.

McCarthy saw communists everywhere, including the Eisenhower administration, but Ike knew if he slammed him hard in public he would only give him more publicity and increased influence. Ike was a very intelligent, shrewd guy and had learned through his 40-year military career how and when to use power, and when not to. He was famous for being a good poker player and often kept his own counsel. He knew how and when to bide his time until it was right.

As the journalist, Don Whitehead once said, "He usually worked from behind the scenes to get things done and shaped events with such subtlety that he left others thinking they were the architect of those events". When McCarthy went after the Army, an institution that Ike had given his life to, that was the last straw, and Ike soon engineered events to turn McCarthyism into, as Ike put it, McCarthy-wasm. Joe McCarthy simply played his hand too long.