The Redhunter and The View From Alger's Window

Dear Eric,

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I know the Cold War is over. But that does not mean that we should cease to care about historical responsibility and the truth. As for the Hiss case, as so many commentators have pointed out, it is the one single case that came to symbolize the differences between the old Popular Front pro-Communist Left and the new Cold War anti-Communist liberalism.

I also find it quite strange that you attack Sam Tanenhaus for criticizing an article you wrote in which you refer to the funding of the Yale University Press series on Communism as coming from "hard-line conservative sources." But in a previous Nation article (April 29,1996) you wrote, "Far-right foundations sponsor research they can be assured will hew to their ideological line." That indeed was Tanenhaus' very point; he attacks you for arguing in effect that "if conservatives back the book, then the book is wrong. Scholarly questions have political answers. Follow the money, for it is all we need to know." And that is precisely what you have done in the past, even though you deny it now. Don't you read your own columns? And that is why you wrote that in The Amerasia Spy Case, "The authors [Harvey Klehr and myself] declare the accused spies guilty as charged." But of course, had you read the book, you would have found that we argue that John S. Service, whom McCarthy of course believed was a Soviet agent, was in fact not a spy, although he clearly crossed the line between reporting on his findings and advocating a change in U.S. policy, as well as being disingenuous in his testimony before Congress. You would also find that both Klehr and I were more than critical of the explanation offered about the case by men of the Old Right such as Ralph DeToledano and M. Stanton Evans, and that in their own response to our book, they were not surprisingly both quite negative. Not exactly fitting the point you argued, that "when the [right-wing foundations] invested in Klehr and Radosh, they had a pretty good idea what to expect," since, as you put it, "right-wing foundations do not give authors large sums of money to undermine the conservative case ..."

You also quote Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. in his criticism of Klehr and Haynes' work that he had a problem with their "eagerness 'to blacken the names of innocent people.' " Using that quote is inexcusable. You know, because they answered in the pages of The Nation, that Mr. Schlesinger was referring to the charge that Laurence Duggan was a Soviet agent, a charge that Schlesinger rigorously disputed, calling Duggan a man he "knew as an able public servant." New Venona releases, in fact, proved beyond dispute that Duggan was indeed an active Soviet source. And to his credit, Schlesinger wrote Klehr and Haynes that he now "must confess that the case [against Duggan] is strong ... Those Venona documents are pretty damning and would seem to justify your reference." So, what is the point of bringing this canard up again, when it has already been answered? Are you trying to score points with Slate readers who are unaware of this previous exchange?

As for "going bonkers" whenever anyone mentions Hiss or Chambers, is this not a case of the kettle calling the pot black? After all, your own columns about the case make it quite clear that you in fact understand why it is important. We are, after all, fighting about historical memory about the past. And your side is still trying to justify anti-anti-Communism. Finally, in signing off, I notice you refer to me as "your pal." Do you really want a pal as the person you referred to in The Nation as a "well-funded right-wing hatchetman?" What will your Ayatollah friends at the magazine think?

Yours,
Ron

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Eric Alterman is a columnist for The Nation and the author of Who Speaks for America? (click here to buy the book). Ronald Radosh is senior research associate at the Center for Communitarian Policy Studies at George Washington University and co-author, with Harvey Klehr, of The Amerasia Spy Case: Prelude to McCarthyism (click here to buy the book). This week they discuss The Redhunter: A Novel Based on the Life and Times of Senator Joe McCarthy, by William F. Buckley Jr. (click here to buy the book), and The View From Alger's Window: A Son's Memoir, by Tony Hiss (click here to buy the book). Addendum: William Buckley Quotes Himself in Self-Defense

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