Senate unseals 50-year-old McCarthy ‘witnesses’ transcripts

PUSHING an anti-communist crusade that riveted America a half century ago, Joseph McCarthy manipulated his Senate hearings

Tue, 06 May, 2003 - 01:00

calling witnesses he could intimidate and ignoring those likely to oppose him, newly released transcripts show.

Among the 400 witnesses covered in transcripts of closed door meetings, made public by the Senate yesterday, are composer Aaron Copland and Eslanda Goode Robeson, the wife of blacklisted singer-actor Paul Robeson.

Some 4,000 pages of newly released documents also show McCarthy was convinced that many writers, government officials and secretaries had access to classified information.