July 22nd, 2009
No Sense of Decency by Robert Shogan
No Sense of Decency
by Robert Shogan
In the Spring of 1954, Senator Joe McCarthy was one of the most feared men in Washington. In the Summer of 1954, McCarthy had lost his power and no one was afraid of him. What happened in between was the Army-McCarthy hearings and why the hearings changed everything was because they were on TV. For thirty-six days, America got to see Joe McCarthy and what they saw they didn’t like. His fall from grace in the eyes of America gave the Senate the nerve to censure him.
This is the story of those hearings but more it is the story of how television changed the world. The book starts with an introduction to McCarthy and how he came to power by using accusations of communism without actually finding any communists. It also introduces us to how early television covered the news and how the first televised Congressional hearings (the Kefauver organized crime hearings) changed how the public viewed Congress. But all this leads to a detailed look at the Army-McCarthy hearings and how McCarthy’s massive ego led to his downfall.
The book is very well written by a journalist turned historian. Far from a dry historical outlook, the book is written as a fascinating, fast moving (less than 300 pages) view of a few short months of American history. Shogan then ties those events to today showing how TV news has and hasn’t changed through Vietnam, Watergate, and 9/11. I can recommend this book to anyone interested in the topic.
