Billy Graham Quotes
While nobody likes a watchdog, and for that reason many investigating committees are unpopular, I thank God for men who, in the face of public denouncement and ridicule go loyally on in their work of exposing the pinks, the lavenders and the reds who have sought refuge beneath the wings of the American eagle …
Billy Graham, Christian Protestant Evangelist, Radio Broadcast, 1953
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb. Oppenheimer, like most sophisticated intellectuals and scientists of the time had acquaintances who were communists or Communist sympathizer in Oppenheimer's case his brother and wife were both members of communist organizations. They too severed their connections. At the time Russia was on major ally in the war against Hitler and fascism. However since the Communist Revolution of 1917 there had been an animus between the American and Russian governments. The work on the atomic bomb was so secret that everybody was a potential suspect and security risk, even our allies. In the final analysis it was a spy in the Manhattan project who was there as part of the British contribution to the project. The security people were chasing after all the scientists who had friends or acquaintances who were communists and missed the real spy who had no such connections.
The investigations were by the House Un-American Activities Committee and Senate Internal Security Subcommittee. At the time we were in the midst of the Red Scare and McCarthyism was rampant.
After this, no other member of the Executive branch went before McCarthy again
Referring to Senator Joseph R. McCarthy:
The nation was facing the scourge of McCarthyism. Senator Smith was the most courageous member of the Senate in denouncing the lying demagogue of her own party who was so powerful at the time—Joseph R. McCarthy. At the same time, there were some communists trying to undermine the values or the nation as well as the fascists. Smith was one of the first to recognize the danger of both.
Reacting to accusations that he was soft on communism:
Recipient of the National Security Medal
This was the typical language of the 1940’s and 1950’s at the height of the Red Scare used by the FBI and others to smear their opponents and political enemies. Seldes had published an article very critical of the FBI and its investigations of labor unions and other liberal organizations. See George Seldes, 1940 quotation.
At the time the some conservatives in America were on witch hunts claiming that all sorts of undesirables were “infiltrating” the Federal Government. As we know, in any large population of people, there will be some tall people, some gays, some leftists, some drug users, some creative people, some ultra patriots, etc. The Federal Government has millions of employees. The deduction that if a sex pervert is one of the millions, he is “infiltrating” the government is silly. 60 years later, a few others claimed that Muslims were having children in America to “infiltrate” the nation with terrorist “sleeper agents.” Politicians are a large group and some of them are bound to be fanciful and somewhat paranoid.
Miller refused to answer with this statement. He was charged and convicted of contempt of Congress and sentenced to a year in jail. His conviction was overturned on appeal.
Referring to Senator Joseph R. McCarthy:
Even the President was not spared during the McCarthy era. The red scare was so pervasive, that a lunatic fringe ultra right wing organization could call the President a “communist dupe” and be taken seriously be much of the media who were themselves intimidated and might be accused of being communists at any moment. It was a very low point in America’s history.
William Franklin Graham Jr. was an American evangelist, a prominent evangelical Christian figure, and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. One of his biographers has placed him "among the most influential Christian leaders" of the 20th century.
