Are you now or have you ever been? Opening the records of the McCarthy investigations

Abstract

Sealed for 50 years, the transcripts of the executive session hearings conducted by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, as chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in 1953 and 1954, were recently opened for research. The Senate Historical Office edited the transcripts for publication by the Government Printing Office and on the Internet. The hearings provide new insights into the senator's methods of operations. While they started out reasonably, the hearings quickly descended into paranoia, conspiracy theory, and merciless badgering of witnesses by the senator and his chief counsel, Roy Cohn. The closed hearings served as dress rehearsals for televised public hearings, and also gave Senator McCarthy an opportunity to release selected information to manipulate his media coverage. They conclude with the Army-McCarthy hearings that ultimately led to the senator's censure.