From the Archives 20: Emile de Antonio & Daniel Talbot, Point of Order! (1964)

In the 1940s and early 50s, Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin ((November 14, 1908 to May 2, 1957) was the face of the United States government's anti-communist crusade known as the "Red Scare." His tendency to make reckless and unsubstantiated accusations became known as "McCarthyism."In 1953, McCarthy became the Chair of the Senate Committee on Government Operations, which included the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. McCarthy used the Subcommittee to investigate the presence of communists in the United States Government, including in the United States Army. In response, the Army accused McCarthy of seeking special treatment for Private G. David Schine, a consultant to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and close friend of Roy Cohn, chief counsel to the Subcommittee.The Senate decided to use McCarthy's own committee to investigate the conflicting allegations. The hearings were held from April 22 to June 16, 1954, and became known as the "Army-McCarthy Hearings." They were broadcast nationwide, and led to McCarthy's disgrace and censure by the Senate.On January 14, 1964, filmmaker Emile de Antonio released the documentary film "Point of Order!", which consisted entirely of edited Kinescope footage of the Army-McCarthy Hearings. The idea for the movie was suggested by Daniel Talbot, who co-produced it with de Antonio.The movie was very successful, and this LP was released later in 1964. It consists of excerpts from the soundtrack of the movie, as well as additional narration by the television journalist Eric Sevareid.While the Army-McCarthy Hearings are remembered primarily as the beginning of the end of the Red Scare, they also reflect a profound homophobia on both sides, which is quite uncomfortable today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.