McCarthy

by Roy Cohn

Biographical sketch (not a full-length, in -depth biography) of Sen. Joe McCarthy, by his Senate committee counsel. Stresses his Senatorial career, mainly through Cohn's personal recollections.

Genres: History, Biography

Paperback

First published June 1, 1968

About the author

American attorney mostly known for his investigations into Communist activity in the United States 1950-1956.

Cohn gained special prominence during the Army–McCarthy hearings. He was also a member of the U.S. Department of Justice's prosecution team at the espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

Cohn helped to secure convictions in a number of well-publicized trials of accused Soviet operatives.

Cohn was a homosexual and died as the result of AIDS.

Reviews

[Christopher Saunders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any memoir by Roy Cohn must be read with extreme caution: the man dissembled like most humans breathed. That said, I found Cohn's recollections of his time with Joe McCarthy more convincing and plausible than expected. Cohn obviously holds his old boss in high esteem, working to debunk or at least downplay some of the more odious claims about McCarthy (particularly his alcoholism), with varying degrees of plausibility. Nor is the book a whitewash of McCarthy: Cohn readily concedes his boss's faults, taking him to task for tactical errors and unnecessarily provoking his enemies, and even occasionally admitting to his own mistakes (especially the Irving Peress case, where Cohn argues that a legitimate security concern was undermined by his and McCarthy's misframing the "Pink Dentist" as a major risk). He argues that McCarthy's investigations, whatever their faults, achieved more good than bad, a highly dubious assertion but one ably defended here. But Cohn is unsurprisingly less circumspect about himself: you'll get little hint of his browbeating investigators, threatening rivals and reporters, and abusing his own staff in this work, while his relationship with David Schine is marginalized and treated with kid gloves. A mixed work of debatable value: Cohn is more credible about his boss than himself, and modern readers must decide how persuasive, or convincing Cohn's arguments are.

[Bruce · Rating 2 out of 5]

Historical curiosity from one of the key players in the McCarthy hearings.

[Moses · Rating 3 out of 5]

Propaganda. Well-written propaganda.

[Sean Murphy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing book. Hoping to find a good old book on McCarthy. Turns out the book should have been titled Cohn. It was much more about the author. Not really well written. Way too biased and preachy in a bad way. A few nuggets hidden in the pages, but you had to really look for them.

[Eric · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think i remember doing a book report on this in grade school. I don't remember a thing about the book, though.

[Randy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Self-serving whitewash, save your time.