In-Text References

Historical and Political References

National Lawyers Guild

McCarthy makes reference to an organization Fred Fisher belonged to that was "obviously" a Communist Front. The group was the National Lawyers Guild, a politically progressive group of attorneys founded in 1937 who lobbied for civil liberties and social justice. They helped organize unions, fought against racial discrimination in the Jim Crow era, and opposed things like HUAC, illegal FBI surveillance of American citizens, and other violation of First Amendment rights.

They were definitely left-leaning and some of its members had acted as defense attorneys for Communists. For these "treasonous" activities, HUAC labeled the group as the "legal bulwark of the Communist Party." (McCarthy uses this exact phrase in the hearings.) A HUAC report listed the name, addresses, and affiliations of the NLG members. You can imagine what that list did to their careers.

In 1953, the Attorney General of the U.S. tried to indict the group as a subversive organization, which decimated its membership and resulted in the disbarment of some of its members. The group successfully fought the allegations and eventually regained strength. They're still crusaders for social justice.

Biblical References

Forgiveness

Welch makes a side reference to the Bible when he admonishes McCarthy to seek forgiveness from someone other than him. (Welch.90) He's talking about God's forgiveness, natch—something that might have given McCarthy, a devout Catholic, something to think about.

References to This Text

Pop Culture References

The Crucible, Arthur Miller

Miller intended his play about the Salem witch hunts to be an allegory for the McCarthy Era, which terrorized the artistic community he was part of. Many films and plays in the '50s and '60s made reference to the McCarthy era in general, even if they didn't mention the specific hearings that we've been discussing.

Quiz Show

In this 1995 film about about the quiz show scandal of the '50s, one character specifically says "This isn't McCarthyism." This scandal was all about the quiz shows that focused on obscure trivia and found to be rigged, with the contestants being given the answers beforehand.

The character clarifies that he's going after the shows themselves for falsely representing themselves. He's not looking for exposure for the sake of exposure, like Senator Shameless.

Good Night, and Good Luck 

It's not too surprising that director George Clooney would have chosen to have Welch in his anti-McCarthy movie. Though this film centers around McCarthy's grudge match with Edward R. Murrow, the conflicts were happening right around the same time.

Tail Gunner Joe 

This 1977 movie about McCarthy's life included the famous exchange between the Senator and Welch. Roy Cohn and David Schine unsuccessfully sued Universal, who produced the film, for defamation. Guess they didn't like how they were represented on film.