At the end of the talk, we will have a question and answer session and after that he will sign the up here on the stage. Dwight eisenhowers reputation is on the rise. For a long time he was caught between the rising reputation of that man of the people and man of independence with three truman. The Eisenhower Administration and reputation was seen not as a failure but inevitably modest compared to the big decisions. Truman and the style of john f. Kennedy. Thereve been defenses by Fred Greenstein added the presidency and Stephen Ambrose and his biography. David has picked up the banner first in his and my yearbooks much admired book a matter of justice. In the Detailed Research look at the battle in 1953. The Republican Party certainly and many antidefamation certainly morally of the nation. It is a small area in a enjoys but thanks for contrasting the toll in the buck. Its the International Information agency and the books and american libraries are abroad. Eisenhower said when this was said just did he said this pretty directly they are the protectors of the precious liberties of the nation freedom of them. Them. Them very, freedom of the spoken and written word, freedom of the exchange of ideas. The democracy is full of ideas with the dying democracy. And h he wouldnt let the bookse removed. Dwight eisenhower became as i read this afternoon one of the heroes i cant argue with that. The whole story of eisenhower and mccarthy is well told in the simple story of the voice of america. It is the current ease that is always the right thing to do to return to the basics in the valley of the country, basic values like an important word in the eisenhower versus mccarthy moment and it may be an important word today and that is decency and we are profoundly grateful for that. Ladies and gentlemen, david nichols. Thank you for coming to share with me about this. March 27, 1953, Dwight Eisenhower won a victory over joseph mccarthy. The nominee for the ambassador to the soviet union was confirmed 7413. He had been fiercely opposed by joe mccarthy. Eisenhower crumbled that the only thing joe mccarthy wanted was headlines. Mccarthy ran for the presidency in 1956 and the president declared the only reason i would consider running again is to run against him. Knowing eisenhower, he probably punctuated that with a theologically incorrect expletives. You can think about that. Fast forward to december 2, 1954. On that day, joe mccarthy had a vote of 6722. After mccarthy stood up to speak on the senate floor, the chamber was empty. When he sat down with other senators in the dining room, his colleagues would make lame excuses and leave a. Of the reporters who had one sononcehung on his every word we gone. Late 1955 the army council visited mccarthy and his home in 1955. They sat down with 6 ounces of jim. He looked awful, he recalled. He lost about 40 pounds in his hands shook. Jane trickled from the corners of his mouth when he took a sip. Adams describes the man he left at the door as he cut cadaverous mccarthyism standing silently in the shadows slowly dying. Joe mccarthy did die in a second, 1957 at the age of 48. That is a peek into a very complicated story. And if i confuse eve confused ye next few minutes, just remember the book is better than the speech. [laughter] in terms of mystery stories, i am a mystery buff. This is a how done it, not a whodunit. We know who did it but the question is how and why. We wrote a book a generation ago with a title who killed joe mccarthy. The final conclusion was somewhat ambiguous but mine is not. Dwight eisenhower did it. I ache and trusted aides clandestine in the operation designed to wrap the scandal around the neck of a prestigious United States senator in the president s own party. That is about as big of political stuff that ever happens. A word about the lovers of scandal. In 1950 was a horrendously homophobic period. Just the rumor, not the fact that someone was gay could cost them their job and was widely believed that they were a Security Risk because people thought communists could blackmail them. Lets consider for a moment the traditional exploration for Joe Mccarthys political demise. Mccarthy and alcoholic did himself in. He was damaged by the legendary c. Its now on television program. During the hearings they showed him as a lying demagogue that he was ending his conviction will version it was the vote by the United States senate. Those are all legitimate factors, but until now, we have not known that Dwight Eisenhower masterminded a c. Or a campaign to discredit mccarthy. We have wrongfully assumed that he had a response with the senator refusing to use the bully pulpit against him. In d. Eisenhower refused to mention his name in public or even giving president ial attention would only enhance his reputation. John adams observed eisenhower is a difference deceptive. He could be in control while continuing to move. Who was joe mccarthy . He represents what Richard Hofstadter called the paranoid style in american politics. Such paranoia, he contends, boils up every generation. Once every generation we just get scared. In the 50s it was communism and now it is terrorism. In any event, mccarthyism out of the period became a staple in our political electioneering. February 9, joe mccarthy delivered a speech in west virginia. The senator announced he had the names of 205 communists in the state department. The joe mccarthy did not have those names. He invites those that presided over a press conference lights, cameras, microphones everywhere. In 1953, he required a new platform for the crusade and the republicans captured a one vote majority in the senate and mccarthy became chair of the Government Operations committee and is mor more important its permanent investigative subcommittee. And in that capacity the senator subpoenaed witnesses, conducted one senate hearing, accused the witnesses of guilt by association and labeled it as obviously communist and anyone that dared to invoke constitutional protections against selfincrimination. Mccarthy hired roy cohn to the subcommittee chief counsel. He insisted that mccarthy add g. David shyne a handsome son of a wealthy family as an unpaid chief consultant. Cohn had an relationship that would trigger the 1954 mccarthy hearings. Eisenhower they dont have time tonight to get into this but theres a lothere is a lot in tt it the senator repeatedly opposed the key appointments. He held hearings in the filtration of the voice america as mentioned in my introduction. It is an overseas library started from the shelves and so the Eisenhower Administration was accused of book burning and mccarthy sent roy cohen through europe as scandalized. But the Dwight Eisenhower in fact hated censorship and on june 14, 1953, he spoke at commencement at Dartmouth College and he did this i will read a little bit for you hes headed to the graduates dont join the book burners dont think that you will conceal votes by concealing evidence they ever existed. Dont be afraid to go to your library and read every book and defense documents that doesnt defend our own ideas of decency. How will we defeat communism unless we know what it is and what it teaches and why does it have such an appeal for men. Why are so many people swearing allegiance to that . Dwight eisenhower moved joe mccarthy. Still he appears to, quote, be down in the gutter with mccart mccarthy. The president of the United States cannot afford to name names, he wrote to a friend. Nothing would be more than to get the publicity that would be generated by public repudiation by the president. During the 1953, eisenhower had priorities other than joe mccarthy. The nation was still at war in korea which finally ended in july. The American People were still recovering from the trauma of depression and world war ii. The cold war with the soviet Union Created a climate of fear. Especially the fear of subversion. In january, 1954, Joe Mccarthys prestige was an Approval Rating of 50 favorable, 29 unfavorable. By 1954, Dwight Eisenhower had a conclusion that mccarthy was more than a nuisance. He was a threat to th the president s Foreign Policy goals to the legislative program, to the countrys political stability and to his partie pard his own electoral prospects. In july of 1953, is boyfriend was notified that he had been drafted into the army. Cohn launched a frantic campaign seeking an assignment from the army in the subcommittee within. He constantly asked the army asking what was available for what was euphemistically labeled committee business. Nights and weekends and nearby hotels. At every turn he angrily threatened to wreck the army and in august of 1953 at cohn blank behest, joe mccarthy launched hearings in the United States army. He launched those with a five Star Army General in the white house. Mccarthys first hearing took place august 31, 1953 with quite a bit of the transcript i can only share a little bit with you. Imagine that you are Doris Walters powell, an innocent, bright and africanamerican clerical worker on Maternity Leave just sworn in as Joe Mccarthys first words to you are whats the status. We have information of communist Party Membership on your part. I still get a cold chill when i read the transcript. However, eisenhower was at the scenes about the same time that david noticed, they called in nebraska. Now this family coming from manhattan, that is the town down the road they considered it kins kind of a suburb of manhattan i think. Anyway, just down the road from the eisenhower family, his father had been a secretary to senator joseph who had ignored his application to west point. In 1937, he moved to nebraska to become the publisher of the hastings daily tribune and upon the death of the republican senator in december 1951, the governor appointed him to the seat for just a year and in the senate they developed a friendly relationship with joe mccarthy. So in july, 1953, he called fred and asked him to take an assistant secretary position in the defense department. He would serve as the pentagon liaison with the present congress but among other things he was the manager related to joe mccarthy. He told Charlie Wilson the secretary of defense that he always looked at fred as a reserved Division Ready to go into action. Mccarthys hearings to be a legit subversion continued for months. Eisenhower wrote in his memoirs that by january 1954, joe mccarthy was, quote, riding high. Then came the turning point. January 21, 1954 b. Aids ca aids convened the Attorney Generals Office and during that meeting the army council john adams provided the details of the repeated attempts to secure special privileges for david. The chief of staff ordered john adams to prepare a report into the army council then sent a stack of documents in midfebruary shortly thereafter at the whitthe white house retue documents to the pentagon with secret president ial orders to add them into the report for publication. Meanwhile, mccarthy continued hearings on the army and he asked the business drafted in the army during the war who had invoked his Constitutional Rights rather than to answer whether hed ever been a member of the communist party. He branded him a communist and subpoenaed the commanding general for testimony. He was one of the blaze, boys,e hero of the war in europe. Now february 18, 1954, joe mccarthy sabot chablis confronted the general. Again and again, mccarthy wanted details of how they got promoted and honorably discharged and finally, mccarthy delivered the ultimate insult to this war hero he charged that he was, quote, not fit to wear the uniform of the United States army. Eisenhower on vacation in california was a fenced when he heard about the attack but as usual, he said nothing to the press and when he returned to washington on february 24, he didnt know that the Army SecretaryRobert Stevens that very day had not agreed to secret luncheon meetings with joe mccarthy and the other applicants on the subcommittee. Stevens went to the meeting to conference mccarthy about how he treated the other Army Personnel and instead, they talk to stevens into signing an agreement that the newspapers quickly labeled he surrender. When stevens arrived back at the pentagon that afternoon, they bluntly told him you have been had. The next morning the New York Times ran a devastating front page photograph of mccarthy was putting in his ear. The newspaper i newspapers alson another false conclusion. They ordered him to surrender. They describe the president as, quote, very mad and getting fed up. I assure you we know enough about how there is plenty. He was having a fullblown president ial temper tantrum. It was about his army. This guy is going to get into trouble over this. Im not going to take this lying down. My friends tell me it wont be long before mccarthy starts using my name instead of stevens. He is ambitious, he wants to be president. He is the last guy in the world will ever get therbut will everi have anything to say. Eisenhower ordered to stevens to the white house accompanied by fred. The team drafted a statement to issue the repudiating agreemen agreements. He edited for 30 minutes and haggerty noted that made it stronger. I shall never accede to the abuse under any circumstances including committee hearings, stevens declared. I shall never accede to them being browbeaten or humiliated. When he finished, jim haggerty said on behalf of the president he has seen the statement and approves and endorses its 100 . From that moment on, the political war was on. The work rewriting the report in early march of 1954 the forces exported to important events. On march 9, 1954 the republican senator of vermont attacked joe mccarthy in a speech on the floor of the United States senate. Did the white house recruited him, probably. He had lunch the previous week at the white house with his good friend doug white house, chief of staff and former New Hampshire governor sherman adams. In the speech he asked about joe mccarthy to what authority does he belong. One must conclude that the senator said that his is a oneman party and his name is mccarthyism. He concluded his speech with a riff on mccarthys persecution of curbing pariahs. He said he dons his warpaint and he goes into the dance and admit and goes forth to battle and probably returns with the scalp of a pink army dentist. He already signed copy of the remarks to eisenhower who publicly commended him. That evening march 9, edward r. Murrow condemned mccarthy on this he is now a television program. He had quotations from the flanders speech and he quoted him as a oneman committee that had demoralized the president state department and leveled charges of conspiracy against the army including declaring the general was unfit to serve. He argued that the line between investigating and prosecuting is a fine line into the junior senator from wisconsin stepped over it repeatedly. He closed with devastating eloquence that i think would speak even to our time. We will not walk in fear. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason. It is no time come he concluded, for people that oppose the methods to keep silent. We cannot, he declared, defend Freedom Abroad by deserting it at home. Two days later on march 11, fred released a 34 page shine report on behalf of the army and i emphasize not the white house that the army. But the army. Eisenhower even in his memoirs never acknowledged this role writing that the army, not the white house moved over to the attack. He didnt mention fred who in fact was operating under his direct orders. Jim haggerty called the report a pit and said it showed constant pressure to get a job in and out of press. Hegarty believed the report put things wide open and it did. The result was a firestorm of controversy leading to the televised Army Mccarthy hearings. For two solid months remember there were only three Major Networks in those days. For two months the public watched hours each day as the cameras showed mccarthy as the obnoxious bully he was. I can cite only two episodes from the hearings but theres much more in the book. The hearings interrupted at the label by both parties had testimony about the january 21 meeting. Remember the media which he the eisenhower forces first examined the relationship. He refused to allow his personal advisors to be subpoenaed so may 17, eisenhower invoked the executive privilege citing precedent for the residential advisors and in response, mccarthy challenged Government Employees to disobey their superiors and report directly to him because their oath to protect and defend the enemies foreign and domestic is a commitment that towers far above any president ial secrecy productive. Eisenhower shot down the tirade of a Statement Issued under the attorney generals name, and not his name. Then he called his press secretary into the oval office and admitted the company to air the games of mccarthy. Pacing behind his desk he showed to the challenge tthe challengel employees to disobey their superiors amounts to nothing but a whole subversion of public service. Mccarthy he barked is making me the same loyalty to him that hitler made it to the german people both trying to set up personal loyalty in the government by using the pretense for fighting communism. Mccarthy i is triangular berkley to subvert the people we have in government, people that are swearing to obey the law, the constitution and superior officers. I think this is the most disloyal act we have ever had anyone in the government of the United States to. The famous confrontation took place june 9, 1954. The hearings have been going on since april 22 and mccarthy charged a young man named fred fisher who had once been accused, had been associated with an allegedly procommunist organization. A hush fell over the room and he sat with his head in his hands staring at the table. Under these circumstances he was chasing about ordering the gauge to retrieve this file on fred fisher. As i tried to get mccarthys attention about the success, finally, he declared until this moment, senator, i think i never really engaged your cruelty or recklessness. Fred fisher is going to be a brilliant career with us. Little did i agree it would be so reckless and cool to do in injury of that. I fear he shall always be needlessly inflicted by you. I like to think that i am a gentleman. But your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me. Thats mccarthy resumed his attack and welch interrupted in a commanding voice. Let us not assassinate. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency and long last have you left no sense of decency. By the time the hearings ended the following week, joe mccarthy was upside down in the polls down to 34 . In july 1954, roy cohn resigned to his law practice and by the way, become the mentor for 15 years to another story not in the book. Afterwards, the president issued a statement commending him for a job imagining the process. That was more than joe mccarthy could take. At december 2 he walked into the first hearing of the subcommittee and apologize to the American People for supporting Dwight Eisenhower but that the struggle was over a. Its no longer mccarthyism. Eisenhower emerged publicly prior to his death. They edited the harshest criticisms and couldnt resist the hint of what he did. What a lot of people today dont know is behind the scenes i was doing all i could to assist those that were wrongfully accused. The former critic of the approach i said to him you were right about mccarthy. And he smiled, sometimes i am. [laughter] he died on march 28, 1969. For all his editing, Dwight Eisenhower finally denounced joe mccarthy. Thank you. [applause] theres no sucthere is no such b question in my classroom. I cant see you very well out there. Would you think that if mccarthy had been a healthy and vigorous person with the same characteristics he had do you think that he would have been more of a threat to eisenhower in the country and Everything Else . The services were not as available as they are now. He is a tragic figure certainly. He couldnt get started without a big ddelta pretty early in the morning. And all day long just putting it their way. I dont know. There would be speculation. But it is an interesting thought. Richard nixon as the Vice President s what was his role if any in the intrigue . Richard nixon does a speech accusing the administration of being half eisenhower, half mccarthy. He was a political adviser including on all things mccarthy. He wasnt directly involved in the operation that is tied to scandal around his neck and he was an important political adviser after robert taft died so nixon was a very effective advisor and we are all afflicted with him because of the way that he left his presidency but actually, hes the most interesting. I noticed the last century in the last 30 years mccarthy anticommunist him and Ronald Reagans hair dowreagan caretn the revolution and now its another 30 years and it looks like china and russia are aligning and we have a russian first lady so whats the possibility for the new world order now . You have a soft . America might end up being communist if we wind up in chi china. We are hitting them pretty hard. They get scared about every generation to. They are dangerous and i dont minimize that and you are alluding to that certainly. What is the rationale for not stepping up and helping all of the artists that were persecuted . People didnt work for 20 years, some people died. It took 50 years before some writers wrote Wonderful AcademyAward Winning movies to be recognized for their work. Why would you keep quiet when these people suffered greatly . I think it is a legitimate question though i would point out most. Mccarthy went after the government but more or less eisenhower didnt speak out about it and the legitimate criticism is heated take on the role of being the public educator. But i will swear to you i can prove, and i do not use that word likely, if it isnt in a document or the counter telling dave compelling evidence, he believed doing him in politically is the best way to do that. But i cant dispute that. Hes a man of action, not of words. Thathat isnt who he was on the civil rights. His actions were better than his rhetoric. I will say there is more than talking and it can get them into trouble, so thank you. Joseph sort of dated him into the conversation that they had the decency and he had reason to know mccarthy was going to get into the thing about fred fisher and kind of led him down the road into that or is that not accurate . When they first met at the pentagon, he asked them is there anything that is going to haunt you and he said yes i belong to this Lawyers Guild and he said you cant just go on and be part of the team but they knew that it would come up and he would get outraged if this came up and he wa would plan his attack if e did. Having said that, it is a little complicating in the buck because they made a deal not to bring up the lack of service and volunteering in the army if he didnt bring up this thing with fisher but he violated up and brought it up and i think you are correct that he was ready. It would be considered an innuendo. It is a sort of back and forth about putting this out there. It was a portion of the memorandum that he shouldnt have had. So it was partly fraudulent and partly not. He brought that in so he asked one of his aides where do they come from, debbie pixie gave it to you and he knew very well that roy cohn gave it. Then mccarthy chimes in and says whats a pixie and he said its Something Like a fairy. [laughter] if you know the 50s, some of you are old enough, it was a homosexual slur in those days. The interesting thing is they didnt talk openly. You dont find any books anywhere that talk about this scandal so we have been reluctant to talk about it. I worry when i talk with people like you about it because i will get in trouble if i see some of my best friends in the gay marriages but we didnt talk about it and it was all innuendo and whispering and then at that moment i think it came out. There have been allegations for decades and one of the questions is why he didnt hired him and get rid of this problem and i asked a journalist who was in his 90s at the time and hes now gone i said what do you think that he had on joe mccarthy and he said we all thought he was but they wouldnt let us write about him. I am not sure that is the case. Im not sure about that but thats what the journalist said to me and he was reputable at the time. With all of the documentation and research, has there ever been evidence that there was a list . Not to my knowledge. Eisenhower had tough procedures for bringing people into the government and allowed for the execution to go ahead. He was conflicted but he went ahead. Having said that there is no evidence that joe mccarthy ever identified one. Whatever happened to David Schlein . To get to after this was al over, he married a ms. Universe candidate and had six children. That confuses people but all i can say is that some people are bisexual. The men in those days still to this day would marry and have children. I know some of them that have gone through that and its tou tough. But at a minimum, he was infatuated with David Schlein and i have evidence in my book that goes beyond the. If there are no more questions there is a question. [inaudible] now that you ask me wh, he dd in a plane crash and i cant remember when. [inaudible] i learned something tonight, thank you. Lets thank david nichols. [applause] the book is for sale in the hall and he will sign your butt up