ENOUGH ROPE

by Arthur Watkins ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 22, 1969

Roy Cohn's had his say (McCarthy, 1968), and now comes the word from former Senator Arthur Watkins, who was chairman of the Select Committee established by the Senate in 1954 to ""Study Censure Charges against Senator McCarthy."" Watkins submits his own background credentials, provides a brief account of the political climate and McCarthy's prior activities; details the course of his committee's censure hearings and the outcome, reports on his own subsequent appearance before McCarthy's Subcommittee on Investigations probing the Army's handling of the promotion of Dr. Peress, and explains his behavior in the episode of Congressman Stringfellow, conveying throughout a sense of the accompanying public stir that he believes cost him his bid for re-election. Watkins' understandable desire to defend his actions, his integrity, and his own firm anti-communism prevents this from being a point blank testimony. Although he does provide historically valuable insights into the deliberations of his beleaguered committee, the overall approach and the emphases are those of a personal vindication rather than a sober evaluation. (Thus the inclusion of the Stringfellow affair, relevant only because McCarthy partisans belabored Watkins for his more charitable attitude toward fellow-Mormon Stringfellow in his disgrace, and the exposition of Watkins' pique at Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson for his role in Watkins' election defeat.) History that's still heated.

Pub Date: Oct. 22, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Prentice-Hall

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION