Back in 1953, in the early months of the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration, the new president found himself in a political minefield related to his nomination of Charles E. Bohlen to be U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union.
Worse, Bohlen had been at the 1945 Yalta Conference, site of Franklin D. Roosevelt's secret agreements with the Soviets over the postwar map of Europe.
Perhaps Bohlen could have doused the flames had he criticized the Yalta agreements during his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Before Bohlen's nomination was sent to the floor, the committee had focused on his views; now the ambush specialists turned to his character.
The FBI's investigative files, it was suggested, contained damaging information about Bohlen's homosexual proclivities.
McCarthy called on Bohlen to take a polygraph test to refute the vague allegations swirling around the Capitol.
Most senators in Bohlen's day knew they didn't want a messy public battle, with the likes of McCarthy and McCarran wielding their big pikes.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-joe-mccarthys-of-our-time/
Worse, Bohlen had been at the 1945 Yalta Conference, site of Franklin D. Roosevelt's secret agreements with the Soviets over the postwar map of Europe.
Perhaps Bohlen could have doused the flames had he criticized the Yalta agreements during his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Before Bohlen's nomination was sent to the floor, the committee had focused on his views; now the ambush specialists turned to his character.
The FBI's investigative files, it was suggested, contained damaging information about Bohlen's homosexual proclivities.
McCarthy called on Bohlen to take a polygraph test to refute the vague allegations swirling around the Capitol.
Most senators in Bohlen's day knew they didn't want a messy public battle, with the likes of McCarthy and McCarran wielding their big pikes.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-joe-mccarthys-of-our-time/
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