"You knew Joe McCarthy? What was he like...?"

(This post does not concern current events and thus probably should have appeared on the weekend. But I want to tell the story while my memory is fresh.)

Some of you may recall the Student on the Sofa, so gallantly aided by generous readers last Christmas. I did not tell you that she has been seriously ill for quite a while. On New Year's Eve, I took her to the emergency room. Two days ago, she went to the hospital for surgery.

As a dangerous operation stretched into its sixth hour, We Who Waited Outside became -- as you might imagine -- more than a little anxious. In other words, I was crawling the walls like Peter Parker.

During those hours, a number of fascinating characters wafted in and out of a small waiting room that would have provided an ideal setting for a one-act play. Among them was a young man frantic over the fate of his girlfriend. The girl's mother -- a Jehovah's Witness -- had forbidden a blood transfusion, despite the danger to her daughter. I had no idea what to tell the poor fellow.

My next chat was with a remarkable silver-haired gentleman named Art Peterson -- aviator, educator, and old-school Republican political operative, back in the days when politics was a sport for gentlemen. (He was gentlemanly enough to permit this post.) Although a conservative, his closest friend was the late James Michener -- a classic liberal who, like Peterson, had once made an unsuccessful congressional bid.

In his novel Recessional, Michener ingloriously kills off a character based on his friend. Peterson had come closer to attaining office, and Michener wanted vengeance.

Not all of Peterson's friends were liberals. He used to go out for drinks with Joe McCarthy -- although no mere mortal could match "Tailgunner Joe's" intake.

I had to ask about the infamous McCarthy. What was the man really like? Was his anti-Communist zeal genuine, as Ann Coulter and other latter-day apologists maintain? Or was he a tool of unseen manipulators, as some others have insisted?

(To read the rest, click "Permalink" below)

"Joe was once a boxer," Peterson explained. Back in those days, a fighter would try to beat the hell out of an opponent in the ring, and then he might have a beer with the same guy an hour later. It was nothing personal.

McCarthyism was largely theater. The crusader wore greasepaint. Imagine a Hamlet ending with real rapiers inserted into real ribcages.

Peterson pictured McCarthy as a hollow creature -- he certainly had a hollow leg -- unsure of his politics and desperately in need of a gimmick. At first, "his" issue was low-cost housing: McCarthy intended to establish himself as a liberal Republican, back in the days when such things existed. But a well-heeled backer in Wisconsin, Walter Harnishfeger, convinced McCarthy to support the Nazis responsible for the Malmedy massacre. (The previous sentence might be more accurate if you substitute "paid" for "convinced.")

Then, said Peterson, "this fellow at Georgetown" assured McCarthy that he could achieve fame by exposing alleged "communists" in Truman's administration. The Georgetown mentor was, I believe, Father Edmund Walsh, although Peterson did not recall the name.

"I kept telling Joe that Communism was far too important a matter for him to use for political gain," said Peterson. But McCarthy had a seat to keep. The circus came to town, and the spectators cheered the elephants. Never mind the ruined lives.

My thoughts wandered to Harvey Matusow, a fake "witness" against alleged commies in the labor movement. Matusow, a flamboyant thespian, considered his testimony a species of performance art. He realized only belatedly that innocents had gone to jail as a result of his hamming.

How many of history's actors have been...actors? How can adults lose sight of the difference between reality and professional wrestling? Is Ann Coulter, like her hero McCarthy, faking it?

In the future, perhaps one of her current drinking buddies will reveal the truth.

Toward the end of our chat, Peterson recalled a story told to him by William Shirer, the author of Inside the Third Reich. (Like Michener, Shirer was impeccably liberal.)

"Shirer told me that Jack Kennedy always kept his word." And how, asked Peterson, could Shirer make that claim with such confidence...?

Shirer revealed that JFK, as a Senator, had gone on a few dates with the college roommate of Shirer's daughter. "He told that girl that if he ever got elected President, she'd be the first girl he slept with. And he did!"

PS: My ladyfriend's operation was a success. Despite a rough night after surgery, she is now recovering. Art Peterson's loved one is also doing well. So is the young lady from the JW family. Despite the interesting company, I would prefer not to see the inside of a hospital waiting room again.