McCarthyism in the News

In a recent class we talked about “McCarthyism” and how it relates to the media in general and to the news cycle specifically. Every year I think of deleting it from my syllabus. Whenever I include a topic in my class I ask myself, “How relevant can this be to students today? Then I will undoubtedly encounter the topic within the next week as I scan the media. McCarthy was no different, as Congress moved to hold former IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt of congress. Many in the media compared Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-Calif.) probe of the Internal Revenue Service to the tactics used by Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-Wis.) and his Senate Committee on Government Operations.

For extra credit I watched the movie Chaplin, where one of Hollywood’s greatest creative geniuses is barred from returning to the United States for his perceived political views.