Rating: 
Summary: A wise and mature assessment of a self-destructive man
Review: This kind of book shows that the American right has intellectually come of age. Written with discrimination and insight, massively researched, fair to its opponents yet devastating about the means by which Joseph McCarthy was first demonized and then destroyed by deliberate misrepresentation - the man who did the actual destruction, Walsh, is shown to have manipulated his audience with the shrewd hypocrisy of a consummate performer - yet it does not try to make a hero out of its protagonist, showing pretty clearly that he had been promoted way above his ability and was self-destructively in love with the bottle. He was not, either, the champion of the anti-Communist cause he promoted himself as: before he ever appeared in Washington, the frightful level of Soviet infiltration in Washington - which had reached, before 1944, right up to the office of the Vice-President - had been exposed and largely neutralized by such men as Hoover and the young Richard Nixon. Neither was a pleasant creature, true; but they were, at the time, effective enough in stopping a genuine danger. McCarthy had his information at second hand and used it in an imprecise and publicity-seeking manner that recoiled on him.
On the other hand, he is shown to have been a pleasant man in many ways, loved by his friends, colour-blind at a time when that was not a normal feature in American politics, and sympathetic to the working class from which he himself had sprung. Early in his career he was a strong, personable local judge; that was the level of his ability, and, had he stuck to that post instead of getting consumed with ambition into making a bid for Washington notoriety, he would perhaps be remembered with mild affection instead of the largely undeserved hatred that clings to his name as a result of a deliberate smear campaign which his clumsy populism drew on himself.
Rating: 
Summary: McCarthy flawed, but not the man of myth
Review: While many historians and college professors would like to characterize the McCarthy era as one of the darkest times in American History, Herman's biography tends to deliver more historical insight than the typical diatribe against the former U.S. senator. You will be surprised to learn facts about the man and the Cold War period that your high school history books and educators never discussed.Many people fall victim to the idea that McCarthy was responsible for the HUAC. He was a senator, and had nothing to do with this organization which was a committe in the House of Representatives. Herman admits that McCarthy almost certainly supported the HUAC (as did many other senators), but the fact that he is blamed for the actions of this committee are unfair. He had no direct influence in any of their decisions, including going after the infamous Hollywood Ten. Joe McCarthy, far from being a saint, was a flawed man who happended to be right more often than wrong about the problem of communist infiltration in high levels of government during the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. While McCarthy did himself few favors in the tactics he used, the intentions were noble and the facts are largely on his side. In fact, the Venona cables, which are Soviet recordings released in the mid 1990's, document that all the names that McCarthy named in the Senate hearings were in fact communist spies or sympathizers who had positions of influence within the U.S. government. While modern academia will be quick to point out McCarthy's excesses (namely his ego, drinking, and temper), they will never admit he was convincingly successful in confronting this national security issue by dissuading countless officials from hiring known communists to important positions within the U.S government. I would encourage any current college student to ask your history professors to explain the Venona cables. Ask them why McCarthy still has such a tarnished reputation even though these recordings of top KGB officials confirm that many of McCarthy's "victims" were proven to have been on the Soviet pay rolls. It would not surprise me that any professor confronted with this question would respond, "What's Venona?" That is because historians and major media outlets (whom relentlessly attacked McCarthy's alleged witchhunt at the time) now refuse to acknowledge the Venona recordings to prevent further embarrasment. Herman also shows that McCarthy fell victim to both sides of the political establishment. Those on the left attacked the man in order to discredit his claims, because in communism they saw an ideal that they supported, and for this they were willing to forgive the means. However, once McCarthy was at the height of his popularity, Eisenhower and his backers saw McCarthy as a threat to his election campaign. He convinced others on the right to join him in descrediting McCarthy to seal his bid for the convention nomination. With people from both politcal aisles attacking his credibility, it was ineveitable that McCarthy would soon meet his demise. It is very telling however, that Bobby Kennedy (known to be very strong on national defense and security issues during his shortened poltical career) was the only high profile politician to attend McCarthy's funeral. The irony that Herman describes in the life of McCarthy is very interesting. He explains that McCarthy, who was probably the last person who should have taken up the banner of fighting communism, was the only person who had the guts to put himself on the line and do what he thought was best for the country. This book is fair evaluation of Joe McCarthy as a person and the turbulent life he lived. I would make this book required reading for any college class that discusses the early Cold War period.
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