Young Posted April 4, 2004 Report Share Posted April 4, 2004 I'm just wondering what the consensus among the objectivist community is regarding the Mcarthy period of American history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invictus Posted April 4, 2004 Report Share Posted April 4, 2004 Ayn Rand testified to HUAC in 1947 regarding a pro-communist film entitled the Song of Russia. She seemed to think that because the communist party advocated the use of force it was legitimate to expose its members, though she recognised the right of communists to free speech. I'm unsure as to what she thought about the methods used by the committee and the extent to which it did its job. In an article included in Capitalism: The Unknown ideal, called Extremism, or the Art of Smearing, Rand mentions that she doesn't like Mccarthy but doesn't go in to the reason why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young Posted April 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2004 Thank You very much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y_feldblum Posted April 4, 2004 Report Share Posted April 4, 2004 Senator McCarthy, a senator, was not a member of HUAC, a House committee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invictus Posted April 4, 2004 Report Share Posted April 4, 2004 He was chairman of the Government Committee on Operations of the Senate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y_feldblum Posted April 4, 2004 Report Share Posted April 4, 2004 Did Ayn Rand have anything to do with either McCarthy or the Senate committee, as she did with the House committee in testifying before it? On a sidenote, Ann Coulter's Treason is the extend of my knowledge on the subject. Scattered through the pages are plenty of shocking facts, most of which I've forgotten already. I read the book more for its shock/entertainment value than as a resource to aid me in researching the answer to Youth's question. Still, for those who like lots of aggressive humor mixed in with their history-textbook research materials, it's both fun and informative. On a further sidenote, though Ann Coulter (who is by no means Objectivist) is the embodiment of the maxim, a good offense is the best defense. She's a master at the rhetoric of the polemic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WGD Posted April 11, 2004 Report Share Posted April 11, 2004 According to George Reisman, in 1954, she said if she wasn't busy writing Atlas Shrugged she would be McCarthy's Zola to his Dreyfus. In Roy Cohn's book, he said Ayn Rand came up to him at a party and said someone got to McCarthy[concerning McCarthy backing down on a issue] implying McCarthy didn't go far enough. Letters of Ayn Rand: To Edna Lonigan Mar. 26, 1949. Concerning Friendly Witnesses to HUAC getting blackballed by Hollywood. "...the worst part of it being that our side has not risen to their defense. If we do not defend the people who take the risk of standing openly on our side, we shall defeat our cause completely, and we shall deserve to be defeated." Ayn Rand: "Suggestions regarding the congressional investigation of communism" "When Congress investigates the Communist Party, it is investigating a factual matter, a criminal conspiracy, and not a matter of ideas." "Congress was not inquiring who believes in Communism. It was inquiring who belongs to an organizaition that has defined itself, by its own acts and statements, as criminal." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Link Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 (edited) I just came across this transcript of Ayn Rand's HUAC testimony: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand%27s...ican_Activities Wikipedia says that Gregory Ratoff, the director of "Song of Russia" (the propaganda film that occupied most of Rand's testimony), was born in Russia in 1897 and came to the U.S. in 1922. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Ratoff John Link Edited September 5, 2008 by John Link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Anthem Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 "In the late 1940’s, another newly coined term was shot into our cultural arteries: “McCarthyism.” Again, it was a derogatory term, suggesting some insidious evil, and without any clear definition. Its alleged meaning was: “Unjust accusations, persecutions, and character assassinations of innocent victims.” Its real meaning was: “Anti-communism.” Senator McCarthy was never proved guilty of those allegations, but the effect of that term was to intimidate and silence public discussions. Any uncompromising denunciation of communism or communists was—and still is—smeared as “McCarthyism.” As a consequence, opposition to and exposés of communist penetration have all but vanished from our intellectual scene. (I must mention that I am not an admirer of Senator McCarthy, but not for the reasons implied in that smear.)" “‘Extremism,’ or The Art of Smearing,” Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, 176. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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