Good Night, and Good Luck

The movie was released on the 7th of this month, I believe. It's about the battle fought between renouned journalist Edward R. Murrow and the infamous Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (R-Wisconsin). In the 1950s, McCarthy rose to fame by claiming that hundreds of Communists were working in the U.S. government as Soviet spies. This, at a time when the Cold War was getting started, kept the nation in a constant state of paranoia and fear of a Soviet nuclear attack. China had just fallen to Mao and his Communist party, the Soviets developed their own nuclear warhead, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed on charges of being Soviet spies, and the Korean War had just begun. People had decent reason to be concerned, but McCarthy's methods essentially consisted of pointing fingers and flashing lists in public, declaring that these were the names of X number of communists working in the United States government. His smear campaign threatened the careers of many Democrats on Capitol Hill and even within the ranks of the military, as per his accusations of General George C. Marshall. He continued to make accusations within the government, even after the Republicans took control.

His downfall began when he took his investigations deeper into the United States Army. His harsh media attack on General Ralph W. Zwicker backfired, bringing more attention to himself than Zwicker. McCarthy compared Zwicker's intelligence to that of a 5-year old and said he was "not fit to wear the uniform of a General". After this incident, more people began to speak out against McCarthy, including a few Republican members of Congress.

"See It Now" was a show produced by CBS and served as a TV documentary series by Edward R. Murrow. He used the show to oppose McCarthy and generate public contempt for the Senator. On March 9, 1954, the show ran a series of clips, mainly of McCarthy accusing Democrats, other elected officials and berating witnesses. The image proved disastrous for the Senator, and in a response, he appeared on the show himself three week later to explain his actions. He brought numerous personal attacks and charges against Murrow and his live-performance style of delivery resulted in a further decline in popularity. The show is considered to be the nail in the coffin.

On December 2, 1954, the Senate voted to condemn McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute". In the end, it was discovered that McCarthy was right about a few of the people he accused, but could provide no evidence against them to bring up charges. Most, however, were false accusations.

The movie is directed by George Clooney, who has received a lot of praise for this film. It's a stellar cast, starring David Strathairn as Murrow and Clooney playing producer Fred Friendly. Also on the list is Jeff Daniels, Frank Langella, Robert Downey, Jr. and Patricia Clarkson. They couldn't find anyone nutty enough to play McCarthy, so they used footage of the good Senator himself. Kinda scary.

Clooney can say that he isn't trying to lambaste the American political scene right now, but the comparisons are too great. We have our lovely Department of Homeland Security trying to freak everyone out with their color charts. The Patriot Act still exists, allowing unwarranted searches and confescations of materials that the Feds suspect of being a threat or having links to a threat. Trust in our national security and the ability to handle a disaster isn't very high right now, evident by the mess response after Hurricane Katrina. And journalists, up until the hurricane, sat there and twiddled their thumbs, without any critical response to what they saw. So yeah, there are comparisons. I'm not dogging Clooney, but at least own up to what the movie is saying. This isn't a simple history lesson (although some would say it's a glorification of Murrow…which, it could be).

I'm intrigued by the premise of the film and hope to check it out either this weekend or the next. I'll post a review if I see it…maybe.