Prelude to McCarthyism: The Making of a Blacklist (2006)

https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/fall/agloso.html

by mergy • 2 years ago

51 11 2 years ago

archives.gov

gotoeleven• 2 years ago

[flagged]

mbostleman• 2 years ago

Completely honest observation, but I can’t tell if this comment was meant to be parody.

mergy2• 2 years ago

I understand what you mean. I look at some comments now as feeling like they are just AI generated. Factual and soft but reserved/flexible opinions etc.

shrubble• 2 years ago

It's strange to me that the Venona Project, run by the NSA from the middle of WW2 until 1980 and not declassified until 1995, is not mentioned at all in the article. It would seem reasonable that AGLOSO and whatever the NSA discovered would have some relation.

Hilift• 2 years ago

Venona Project was a gold mine for sure. I think The Mitrokhin Archive (The Sword and the Shield in the US) had more revelations though. It was released around the same time, but not published until 1999. Something to keep in mind, the Russians were accomplished spy experts for decades before WW2. The US did not have a spy department. The Roosevelt administration had numerous Russian spies, which ultimately led to various assessments and heightened paranoia about the "red scare".

Venona confirmed the Rosenberg's affiliation with Russia. However, it also confirmed Theodore Hall provided the most detailed and complete information, including specifications for a complete device. Hall was never prosecuted. Hall's older brother Edward was the father of the inter continental ballistic missile (ICBM) program.

Charlie Chaplin ran into this. He associated with numerous communists, attended Russian social events, and was effectively deported from the US in 1952. His granddaughter, Oona Chaplin is a bit salty about this in her documentary "Hollywood Exiles", but the reality is he wasn't a US citizen so it probably wasn't a good idea to consort with the Russians while living the US.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitrokhin_Archive

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_spies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_N._Hall

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin#1939%E2%80%931...

thephyber• 2 years ago

Seems timely, given that HR 9495 just passed the House last week.

Buckle up. The next few years are gonna be wild.

cafard• 2 years ago

McCarthy's activities did nothing in particular to improve the security of the US government, and retrospectively tarnished earlier investigations. But there certainly were Russian spies active in the US government earlier on, and since.

Since about the 1960s, most of the damaging spies have been in it for the money, not for ideology, or so it seems to me.

mergy2• 2 years ago

Agree. Security was the distraction but the goal was to degrade opposition and deflect judgement by playing on inclusive vs. those not us.

I posted because many may think what we are stepping into is new or "unprecedented" but the truth is it's a remix.

trod1234• 2 years ago

Since about the 1960s, most of the damaging spies have been in it for the money, not ideology.

That isn't true as a general statement. It is true that American's in particular are generally more open to the money than other motivators compared to other nationalities, but these differences are not that large and are very much based on the individual, so no real general statements can be made. Romeos and Ideology have played a big part in espionage and subversion over the years equally if not moreso.

Mccarthyism was a response to a growing threat, one that has not subsided over the years. Those that lived through, or participated in some of these events often saw a correlation between the adoption of the elements derived from Marxism and its relatives, albeit they are almost always obscured by intention; and the progressing ruin of individual life and western society at the broad scales.

Subversion works insofar as it is sufficient to cause regime change when you are unable to respond to it or stop it as a society. The next generation doesn't know any better and are developmentally vulnerable to such overtures. They lack the discernment to catch sophisticated lies and liars, and before they know it themselves they've joined the cause as an adversary.

If you are interested in detailed accounts from this time period, and more specifically part of what prompted these movements. There's two books that are particularly good that cover in detail with regards to the East German Stasi which operated during this time frame internationally in conjunction with other red perils (Russia/China) often with terroristic aims.

The first is written by an American, John O. Koehler "Stasi, the Untold Story of The East German Secret Police". The second is written by Markus Wolfe, who was a Spymaster for the Stasi, and it is called, "The man without a face".

Both are particularly good as resources, and cover the time period in the various perspectives up until the fall of the Berlin Wall in the 90s (starting late 1989).

The threats which sparked McCarthyism are still threats today and haven't diminished, in many respects they've increased with the level of technology, and progression of the related sciences, exponentially, but this type of threat is a cursed problem for open societies.

There are many ways subversives can effectively brain wash the unsuspecting, induce delusional or schizophrenic-like behavior, and agitate others indirectly towards sedition and treason. Few working adults today are prepared sufficiently to recognize or defend themselves against many of these threats.

immibis• 2 years ago

None of this is wrong, but it's not really relevant and it's also missing important facts.

WealthVsSurvive• 2 years ago

"Ghost jobs." Would anyone even notice, if this is already occurring currently?

Prelude to McCarthyism: The Making of a Blacklist (2006)

Related Stories