The McCarthy tapes were released today. They are the tapes of all the ordinary Americans McCarthy questioned and as such they offer an opportunity to focus on what I view as the real tragedy of the McCarthy Era. Undoubtedly getting dragged before Sen. McCarthy was uncomfortable, but, as this story from the Washington Post points out, the Congress and even the government as a whole didn't really cause the majority of the damage:

no McCarthy target ever went to jail. The few that ever went to trial were either acquitted or had their cases thrown out on appeal.

The most severe hardships of the McCarthy era were caused by private people, who fired suspected employees and make suspected friends pariahs. McCarthy, I think, gets such vitriolic treatment because we'd rather blame him than ourselves.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:52 AM