Good Night, and Good Night

One of the interesting things about flying is that I see movies I would never otherwise see. On this flight, I saw the critically acclaimed, “Good Night and Good Luck”. I am a greater lover of history so I hoped that this film would probe some of the real circumstances surrounding the McCarthy hearings.

The film shows how the CBS newscast of Ed Murrow taking on the abusive McCarthy anti-communist interrogation machine. By showing actual McCarthy footage, the film does an excellent job of showing the abusive nature of McCarthy. The film concentrates on the lack of honesty and strong arm tactics which became the defining characteristics of both McCarthy and the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC).

What the film fails to provide as background is the damage done by Soviet spies to US interest during this time. Since the cold war has ended we have learned that the Soviets had spies like the Rosenbergs, Theodore Hall, Klaus Fuchs, Dexter White and others. Klaus Fuchs treachery allowed the Soviet Union to know that the US was not ready for a nuclear war in the late ‘40s or early ‘50s by providing the exact amount of uranium and plutonium production in the US. This is the type of data which if not revealed may have changed the Soviet support for the start of the Korean War and its subsequent 50,000 US deaths. As with any spy work, the consequences of the damage are always speculative.

Does this justify McCarthy? No, his fall is well deserved. But what do we do with the apologist who defended every Soviet spy brought up on charges during this era? If McCarthy deserves to be run down, how about more the folks that defended those who betrayed their country and may have lead to many US, Korean and other UN deaths in the Korean War?

This movie provides only a half-baked story that Hollywood left wants to celebrate. The truth is every generation will have to weigh the proper balance of civil liberties within the context of national security and public order. The proper point will always be hotly debated by those with the best of interest in mind of the country on both sides and those who do not. Only a country of high morals will provide a check on the worst of both extremes.