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Witness History: The McCarthy Era

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28/04/2016 GMT

The McCarthy Era

BBC World Service - Witness History, The McCarthy Era

In spring 1950, an American academic was wrongly named as the main Soviet agent in the US

In spring 1950, China expert Owen Lattimore was wrongly accused of being the main Soviet agent in the US by Senator Joseph McCarthy. It would ruin his academic career in America.

In spring 1950, American academic and China expert Owen Lattimore was one of the first Americans to be publicly accused by Senator Joseph McCarthy of communist connections. Senator McCarthy named professor Lattimore as the main Soviet agent in the US; it would take him four years to clear his name. The professor's career in America, like that of many others accused by Joseph McCarthy of being Communist sympathisers, would never recover. Witness talks to one of Owen Lattimore's students about that time. 

(Photo: Senator Joseph McCarthy (centre) during hearings into the US army, which McCarthy accused of being soft on communism. Credit: APA/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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