The Redhunter
Page 44
Harry flipped the pages. “Here’s Senator Anderson. Clinton Anderson. No friend of McCarthy. ‘Generally, I never agreed with his manner of expression nor subscribed to his selection of sentiments. But I never failed to understand where he stood; and that steadfast quality of heart and mind is, I believe, of some value in this Chamber to the American people.’ ”
“ ‘Selection of sentiments.’ Oh, dear. Eulogy time.”
“But hang on, Alex. Anderson didn’t have to volunteer to say anything. It’s a very long list, the people who paid tribute. Crowned by—Everett Dirksen; king of Orotundity. He really put out. His talk must have lasted twenty minutes. He told an interesting story. I knew about it because Jeanie had confided it to me. But others didn’t. He told the assembly that when the debate on censure was raging, Joe’s arm acted up, and he was in the hospital, his arm in a cast. Dirksen went to him. Here, let him tell it:
“ ‘The night before I visited him in the hospital, hours were spent drafting the text of three different letters addressed to the president of the Senate, letters which I thought would be helpful. So I sat with Joe McCarthy in the hospital, and he had his arm propped up.
“ ‘I said, “Joe, make it a little easier, because this is a rough go, as you know. I will do the best I can. But look. I have a letter. I am going to read it to you. I want you to sign it. I think it will make the job a little easier.” ’ ”
Harry closed the volume. “Well, you guessed it. McCarthy wouldn’t consent to sign draft one, which was a pretty straightforward apology on the Zwicker and Hendrickson count; or draft two—which was a milder quasi apology; or even draft three, which was practically a reaffirmation of what he had said.—But listen to old Ev Dirksen.” Harry reopened the volume. “This is heady stuff for me, even after thirty years.”
Harry’s voice registered a profound sadness when he read out, “ ‘What was his reward for this loyalty? Oh, the contumely which was heaped upon him, the imprecations which were hurled against him; the vindictive fury which was unleashed against him; the vilification with all its bitterness which was poured upon him. Mr. President, what is the monument to him? It is not in the feeble words we utter, which will pass on the afternoon breeze. But, rather, it is the living, pulsing shrine of hundreds of thousands of hearts in America as attested to by the letters and other expressions.’ ”
Alex lifted his hand as if to say: Please, no more.
“Wait. Two more sentences. Ciceronian stuff. ‘As I came away’—Dirksen is talking about the funeral at Appleton—‘I thought, He was only forty-eight years old. On the plane returning to Washington there first came into my mind a line one frequently reads in Scriptures. It refers to an individual and the length of his days. Then I thought, What is the worth of a man’s days? After all, the length of one’s days is not so important. What is important is the worth of one’s days, when he is here, measured in terms of achievement and what he has done for the enrichment of mankind. The events in the life of Joe McCarthy tell in large measure the story; as the wind caresses the trees in the great cathedral over the placid waters of the Fox River, I believe it will waken living memories of a man who served his country well, fighting for the perpetuity of the Republic.’ ”
There was a half second’s silence. Then from Alex, “Well. Dirksen said a mouthful, didn’t he.”
“Yes,” Harry said. “In my own book I’ll say a mouthful too, not quite the same way, not quite the same thing. Not exactly a funeral eulogy, not like Ev Dirksen. Dirksen was unique. So was Joe.”
Alex agreed. “Yes. So was Joe.”
FICTION
“I have here in my hand … a list of names that were made known to the secretary of state as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department.”
From America’s most celebrated conservative writer, William F Buckley Jr., comes an engrossing and unexpected historical novel about one of the most controversial figures in American political history–Senator Joe McCarthy.
Senator McCarthy rose and fell in just four years, yet he gave a name, lastingly, to an era. In 1952 he was the most lionized and the most hated man in America. But little was known about the man or his background. McCarthy’s personal charm and single-minded determination took him from Wisconsin and his’indigent life as a chicken farmer to Washington, D.C., as the youngest United States senator. But it wasn’t until February 9, 1950, in Wheeling, West Virginia, that McCarthy bewitched the nation–and unleashed a crusade–with’ his claim that Communists had infiltrated the United States government.
In The Redhunter, a wonderful blend of fact and fiction, Buckley tells the story of Harry Bontecou. Freshly graduated from Columbia, Bontecou joins McCarthy and remains at his side for three critical years. But when McCarthy’s judgment becomes clouded by prosecutorial zeal and reckless extravagance, Bontecou, delivers an ultimatum: McCarthy must choose between Bontecou and Roy Cohn, McCarthy’s ruthless aide. By then we have seen at close hand HarryTruman, Dwight Eisenhower, J. Edgar Hoover, and Dean Acheson in memorable portraits of leaders in action.
As a young man, WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. was part of a coterie of conservative intellectuals who on balance endorsed McCarthy’s crusade. Drawing on a close-up view, Buckley now portrays the senator who provoked more headlines than any other elected official in American history this side of the White House. Informed, surprising, and subtle, The Redhunter brings to life the main figures and events of a critical period, re-creating a historical drama without parallel.
An industrious writer, William F. Buckley Jr., the founder of the National Review and host of TV’s longest-running program, Firing Line, is the author of eleven novels: His most recent work is Nearer, My God, a religious memoir.
Advance praise for THE REDHUNTER
“A splendid novel. There are things that I would have put differently, but that does not matter. Buckley has produced a book that will attract the attention and applause of all serious students of the period. Equally important, it’s hugely entertaining”
—THOMAS C. REEVES, AUTHOR OF THE LIFE AND
TIMES OF JOE McCARTHY: A BIOGRAPHY
“The Redhunter is a riveting and complex evocation that will, fascinate even those who, like me, believe that Joe McCarthy did far more harm than good, including to the cause of anti-Communism for which hey so ruthlessly fought. As a novel this book delights and as history it instructs, which is to say that it shows us a two-sided William F. Buckley at his brilliant best. Indeed, I find it hard to tell what has dazzled me more: the richness with which Buckley summons up the period dominated by the notorious senator, or his amazing success in cutting through all the conflicting stereotypes and bringing McCarthy to life as a fully realized flesh-and-blood character.”
—NORMAN PODHORETZ. AUTHOR OF
EX-FRIENDS: FALLING OUT WITH ALLEN GINSBERG,
LIONEL AND DIANA TRILLING, LILLIAN HELLMAN,
HANNAH ARENDT, AND NORMAN MAILER
“To redeem even by fiction the career of Joe McCarthy is a challenging task for a truly brilliant writer. So it had to be William F. Buckley. All who marvel should read.”
—JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH