"Newman, Kim - The McCarthy Witch Hunt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Newman Kim)

question would be 'are there any witches in the State Department?' Now it
was 'how many ... ?'
Dwight kept scribbling as a curtain moved in the house. Good. Mrs Stevens
had noticed them. That was important. A slight breeze, pleasantly scented
with new-mown grass, rolled down the street. Somewhere, a radio was
playing. 'If They Asked Me, I Could Write a Book,' from Pal Joey, by
Rodgers and Hart. There was a song from that show you never heard any
more, 'Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered'. It had slipped from the
playlists, along with 'That Old Black Magic' and 'We're Off to See the
Wizard'.
'That McCarthy,' Dwight said, looking over at the paper, 'he's a real
pistol, right?'
Finlay nodded and kept reading. It was hard to keep the tribunals and
committees straight, and he was supposed to be an expert. First and
foremost, there was the Committee on Un-Christian Activities of the House
of Representatives (HUCAC), founded under Martin Dies (Texas) in 1938,
currently chaired by Harold H. Velde (Illinois). That had a blanket brief
and was there for everybody, the Committee of Committees. Then there was
the Internal Security Sub-Committee of the Senate Episcopal Committee
(SISS), chaired by Pat McCarran (Nevada), which handled affairs, like the
Hiss and Rosenberg cases, with bearing on national security. The Permanent
Sub-Committee on Investigations of the Senate Committee on Government
Operations (SSCGO), under Joseph McCarthy (Wisconsin), probed government
employees: civil servants, teachers, the armed forces, postal workers, law
enforcement agencies. The Sorcerous Activities Control Board (SACB), with
five full-time members appointed by the President, was there to oversee
HUCAC, SISS, McCarthy and anyone else it cared to include in its remit.
Not forgetting the boards entrusted with enforcing the Truman Piety Order
of 1947 by extracting oaths of religious observance from all manner of
public and private individuals, and the Immigration Department Boards, who
were empowered to deport summarily anyone of suspect faith who happened to
have been born outside the United States of America. Plus the boards
convened by state and legislative bodies, or for self-examination by
various government departments, industries, trade unions, citizens'
groups, denominations, and so on. As an apparatus of national policy, this
whole grouping - including, of course, the Federal Bureau of Inquisition -
was unwieldy but undeniably effective.
'Look,' Dwight said.
Mrs Stevens was coming out to play. She wore a blue housedress with
starched skirts like stiff petals and a pristine apron the size of a
G-string. She marched sternly across lawn, sidewalk and street, as if
called out to see to a naughty child. This was her neighbourhood and she
was queen of it. No one could defy her on these streets, surrounded by
homes and backyards and bicycles and leafy trees.
'Goodwife Stevens, good afternoon,' Finlay said, taking off his hat,
easing up from his car seat, so he was perched on its back, feet against
the dashboard, casually. His gun hung down, rapping his ribs as he
shifted. He played with his hat.
Other women, from other houses, were a hidden audience. He understood
that. This had better be played broad, to impress the back of the stalls.