Ordeal by Slander: The First Great Book of the McCarthy Era

by Owen Lattimore, David Lattimore (Preface), Blanche Wiesen Cook (Introduction)

Joseph McCarthy was not yet a household name in 1950 when Owen Lattimore was labeled by the senator from Wisconsin as the “top Russian espionage agent in the country.” Lattimore, in Kabul, Afghanistan, learned about the accusation a week later. Having already lost valuable time to rebut the smear, he succinctly cabled back that the charge was “pure moonshine,” and returned to the United States to defend his good name. He soon dared McCarthy to utter his slander in a venue other than the Senate, where congressional immunity shielded him from lawsuits, but he refused to do so. Following a torturous Senate inquisition, Lattimore published this riveting book which he wrote in white-hot indignation. Judged at the time to be “a masterpiece of factual exposition [and] a social document of first-rate importance,”* this absorbing narrative chronicles how the ordeal threw Lattimore’s life into perilous straits, and how he defended himself, while undermining the credibility of his accusers. In a battle for his very liberty, Lattimore prepared for the equivalent of an alley fight with the brawling senator. His supremely competent wife, Eleanor, was his trusted aide; along with attorney Abe Fortas they drew out of Lattimore’s writings passages that would prove his loyalty. Yet, as a scholar who was accustomed to nuanced interpretations of current affairs, his accusers were able to conflate the same writings into a traitor’s hidden agenda. Ordeal by Slander was the first great book to come out of the McCarthy era, and it remains a supremely topical book for today. “A tremendously stirring, human drama.”—The Atlantic Monthly “A disturbing and illuminating book.”—The New Yorker

Genres: Nonfiction, History

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 17, 1950

About the author

Owen Lattimore was an American author, educator, and influential scholar of China and Central Asia, especially Mongolia. From 1963 to 1970, Lattimore was the first Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Leeds in England, where he taught Chinese History, richly flavoured with personal reminiscences.

Reviews

[Rhuff · Rating 5 out of 5]

McCarthy-era memoir by one of its survivors, perhaps the only one who successfully fought off the attempted witch-burning - not that he emerged unsinged. Owen Lattimore was an Asian-area academic of the John Hopkins University (readers will learn why they must always use the determiner when referring to said institution). As once a member of the Institute of Pacific Relations, he had been critical of Chiang Kai-Shek and US involvement with a decaying Kuomintang. Hence the China Lobby's grinding axe went looking for his scalp. Said Lobby, under PAC leader Alfred Kohlberg, was the power behind Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon; as the AIPAC of its day it had undue influence behind the scenes of who lived or died in US public life.

But McCarthy didn't count on someone unafraid to dish it back. In repeated Senate hearings, under grilling by Joe himself or minions like Bourke Hickenlooper, Lattimore stuck to his own tailguns defending himself and his record point-by-point, refusing to be cowed by slandering professional "witnesses" dredged up the FBI or slander others himself. The Committee hacks, unable to prove their own charges or refute Lattimore's answers, reluctantly let him go. As such Lattimore's ordeal was an example of a lone and courageous man thrown into a lion's den to emerge alive and whole - perhaps the only one of his time.

Lattimore recounts the hearings, the traps and tricks, his replies and the culture of fear gripping academia and the government, to which he refused to knuckle. Despite its detail it does not make for dull reading. As such it is a poignant lesson for today's McCarthyism, the twin dragons of Cancel Culture and contrived anti-Semitism - those smear machines that prove the art of witch-burning is by no means lost.

One watched with pain at the university professors bullied seventy years later under new thug-led committees for alleged anti-Semitism, how they tried to play by the rules only to succumb. Lattimore's strategy was to go on the attack, to forcefully deny everything, force his inquisitors to define their terms and charges, and prove him wrong with hard evidence. Hardball played with an honest hand beat the witch-hunters at their own game. An example now needed but - unfortunately - not heeded for today.

[Kit · Rating 3 out of 5]

It behooves us all to read about the McCarthy era. This is a good first hand account by one of the victims.