New Non-fiction Book: Witch Hunt

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by poet Patricia Franz, Here. Thanks for hosting, Patricia! Make sure to check out what she has for us this week.

While I was at the Jamesville DeWitt Public Library near my home, this 2024 book for young people caught my eye. I love non-fiction for high-school age kids and this book does not disappoint. WITCH HUNT, was written by Andrea Balis and Elizabeth Levy.

If you sometimes think that we live in political times that are unique, you are right. However, the United States has survived through other times when human rights, such as the right to free speech, and our democracy, was threatened. During the early 1950’s, during the “Red Scare,” Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy held his famous senate hearings and challenged the freedom of speech of many Americans.

In the center of the story is Republican Senator McCarthy who was supposedly a large imposing, heavy drinking, seemingly powerful man. He kept lists of people suspected of being Communists and stirred up tremendous fear, for instance that the State Department was run by communists, which was false.

McCARTHY: I have here in my hand a list of 205---a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless less are still working and shaping policy in the State Department.

The story is put together by a “FLY ON THE WALL” narrator along with the use of quotes from all sorts of government officials to tell the story. For Example:

SAM RUSHAY, ARCHIVIST AT THE TRUMAN LIBRARY:
President Truman was blamed for the communist victory in China. 

FLY ON THE WALL: In advance of the midterm elections of 1950, the Republicans saw a way to use the growing fear that an international communist revolution would sweep the world and drown American democracy and freedom in its wake. 

REPUBLICAN STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES:
We deplore the dangerous degree to which Communists and their fellow travelers have been employed in important Government posts...We denounce the soft attitude of this Administration toward Government employees and officials who hold or support Communist attitudes. 

Joseph McCarthy used the Senate hearings to accuse Americans in government and in Hollywood of being communists who were seeking to destroy the country. McCarthy ruined lives and careers of countless talented and loyal Americans.

You will read in this book about Roy Cohn, a ruthless, relentless lawyer, well- versed in cruelly and falsely defaming his enemies. He who worked alongside McCarthy as they ruined lives. Recognize the name? He was a mentor and inspiration to our 45th president and then, tragically for him, Roy Cohn eventually died of AIDS. You can’t make this stuff up.

The details in this book are fascinating to anyone interested in history. Where does the title Witch Hunt come from? Here’s a quote from the book about the ordeal of dunking those accused of being witches:

VEENA PATEL, HISTORIAN:The ordeal of the swimming test originated as an old Germanic rite and . . . usually involved the tying of a suspect's wrists to their ankles and then throwing the individual into a body of water ...If the suspect sank, they were presumed innocent and hauled up . . . Should they float, however, this was taken as confirmation of their alliance with the Devil. 

Here’s a poem, for my personal amusement:

TRYING A SUSPECTED WITCH

Bind her four limbs,
dunk her in a pond,

if she floats,
she's a witch.

If she sinks, 
poor sot,
she is not. 

©Janice Scully 2024

McCarthy in the end was discredited and in 1957, a few short years after his famous hearings, he died of alcoholic liver disease.

McCarthy was riding high for several years in the early fifties. But nothing good comes in the end to tyrannical leaders who, for a time, seem like kings. Other examples? Hitler killed himself as the Americans closed in and Mussolini was executed while attempting to flee in 1945, by Italian partisans.

A little history helps you to connect what went before to what is happening today, to understand it better.

Thank you, Patricia, for hosting! Have a great weekend.